Speakers announced for GAMES: EDU 06 event

Organisers of GAMES: EDU 06, an international conference for games education, have announced speakers for the July one-day event that includes representatives from Microsoft and EA amongst others.

Scheduled to take place as part of the Develop Conference in Brighton on July 14th, GAMES: EDU 06 aims to focus on the current and future educational needs of the games industry, offering a sharing of best practice and open debate amongst some of the key players in the industry as well as the future generation of developers, publishers and industry professionals.

The event will feature keynote speeches and presentations from Microsoft, EA, Codemasters, Activision, SCI/Eidos, Blitz Games and Climax, and will be supported by some of the UKâs foremost educators from Abertay University, The University of Derby and the National Centre for Computer Animation at The University of Bournemouth.

Mark Johnston, Microsoftâs education officer, commented. "Microsoft is fully committed to helping develop academic work in games in the UK. GAMES: EDU is an excellent opportunity for academics and games developers to begin a conversation which will help keep the UK as a growing centre of excellence in the gaming industry to ensure graduates have the right skills and knowledge to enter into the industry and contribute to that success."

GAMES: EDU 06 also features a series of three interactive workshops entitled: "The Skillset Sessions", which focus on disciplines that are currently being taught (Art, Game Design, & Programming) and how with industry involvement these disciplines can be better suited to industry needs, the overall aim being to develop the UK as the worldâs source of creative and innovative talent in the future for all forms of computer gaming.

The sector skills council for the audio visual industries (Skillset) is fully supporting the one-day conference and will announce the games courses to receive Computer Games Industry accreditation at a special champagne reception to officially launch GAMES: EDU 06, on July 13th.

Kate OâConner, deputy chief executive and executive director of policy and development at Skillset added: "Skillset strongly believes industry engagement is key to developing relevant and effective training and education. Skillsetâs accredited network of courses represents best practice in this area and offers targeted provision ideal for entrance to the games industry. GAMES: EDU will help the academic community understand why engagement is important and how industry involvement and industry focused tuition benefits students, employers and universities alike."

Further information on the programme of events, speakers, and registration information for GAMES: EDU 06 can be found by visiting the official conference website.