GCDC brings academia and the industry together

The Game Convention Developers Conference, which is being held alongside the Game Convention consumer show in Leipzig today and tomorrow, has revealed details of an Academic Day designed to bring universities, developers and other industry representatives together.

The event will feature presentations on the latest research into game design, technical development and the sociological impact of gaming from a number of research labs and institutions, including the FIT Fraunhofer institute, which will present research on the optimisation of user-friendliness in videogames.

Also presenting his research at the event will be Professor Maic Masuch, who has performed research into novel user interfaces - although we're not sure that his concept that "navigation in a computer game featuring pirates can be done with a wooden leg steered by your knee" is necessarily one that will float.

The day, according to the organisers, is designed to "create a forum for fruitful dialogue" between academia and the industry; certainly an important objective, as more and more industries begin to add game design, production and technology courses to their curriculum.