TIGA Takeout: May 2006

Those of you who missed the E3 US Opportunities seminar will not have seen the presentation by Therry Thoren (Vibrant Animation) looking for games partners on a series of 26 kids animation pilots - as he left the room you might have been reminded of your kiddie days and the pied piper - check out the website for the presentations. Meanwhile preparations are now well underway for the next TIGA sponsored events:

Edinburgh Interactive (August 20-22) is shaping up well, maybe the best so far, under the able stewardship of Chris Deering. Stakeholder partners include Nintendo, Sony, Nokia, Microsoft and Future (Edge). David Gardner of EA who knows the UK well will be one of the keynote speakers. More speaker info to follow shortly!

The Edge Awards and Festival Party will be held in the Jam House live music venue and restaurant on Monday 21st August - where rumours have it a live band featuring some of the old rock and roll heroes of the industry will put in appearances.

The programme can be seen on eief.co.uk - it includes sessions focusing on the film/games interface in collaboration with the Film Festival who will promote the Tuesday sessions to their members too and a stunning series of 'Screenings' to which the public are invited and which will be announced in the near future.

The conference is not GDCE and it's not Develop - it offers a forward thinking, convergent, irreverent and cultural programme you get nowhere else. It's cheaper, more fun and the networking with top level industry players and decision makers could not be better. All delegates are equal, from the Chris Deerings to the Dare to be Digital graduates!

September 14th will see another of TIGA's national regional conferences held with partners Game Horizon in Newcastle, which will review 'The Future For UK Games Development' - Rod Cousens, Ian Baverstock and Jason Kingsley are confirmed for this with others in the pipeline.

London Games Festival, October 2-6th - Unlike Edinburgh the LGF is not an event in itself, but a banner for the whole industry to chip in with events and actions that will promote the industry and the UK. To date we have ELSPA's games summit, the new revamped BAFTA film style Games Awards with an expanded list of awards focusing on the creatives not the marketers, and a GDC-lite looking at the challenges of next gen development.

But not least TIGA's London Content, Outsourcing and Middleware Market will take place on the 2-4th October at St Mary's Church, Wyndham Place, W1. Supported by the London Development Agency and working with UKTI, we will continue to target US and non UK based acquisitions executives including mobile and will also provide a forum for outsourcers and middleware suppliers to speak to developers, including one or two highly focused best practice sessions on how to make these relationships work.

TIGA members will benefit from accustomed high discounted prices. To register interest and for further information, please contact stephanie.rickwood@tiga.org / +44 (0) 1273 605053.

Networking over a free beer with your buyers and suppliers will take place on Tuesday 3rd October at Soho House Bar 1921 and Roof-top terrace, where we will also celebrate TIGA's 5 year Anniversary - pencil in the date and watch out for some special celebratory features!