NEWS - Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Montreal Gaming Summit Info
Alliance numériQC, Quebec’s Digital and Multimedia Industry Network, today announced the schedule for the Montreal Game Summit, a new event for video game industry professionals which will take place in Montreal on November 3rd and 4th, 2004. Alliance numériQC has secured the participation of several leaders in the video game industry including, the two Canadian founders of Bioware, Greg Zeschuck and Ray Muzyka, co-producers of successful titles such as Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic and Baldur’s Gate, Tim Shafer from Double Fine Studios who brought us Grim Fandango, Tom Sloper from Activision and Atari, Michel Bastien from Bungie, producer of the highly anticipated Halo 2 and several others. “It’s a great privilege for Alliance numériQC to host such major players – in literally every sense of the word – for the very first edition of the Summit. We are thrilled to be presenting such an outstanding group of guest speakers, with such levels of expertise, to professionals attending the event,” says Gilles Bertrand, General Manager of Alliance numériQC. “The overwhelming response we have received from the guest speakers we have approached demonstrates at what point Montreal is a major force in the video game industry.” On the schedule, Alliance numériQC will offer some thirty training sessions, conferences and workshops spread over a two-day period. Some of the conferences already on the schedule include, “Mathematics for Animation in Video Games” by Philippe Beaudoin from the University of Montréal, an “Experimental Gameplay” seminar by Patrice Désilet from Ubi Soft’s Montreal studio and “Critical Stage Analysis” by Tom Sloper, whose resume includes Atari and Activision and has participated in the production of over 100 products. The complete list of conferences and seminars is available for your review at the events official website, www.montrealgamesummit.com . The event, taking place at the Mount-Royal Center, will host over 400 professionals involved in the creation, development and production of video games. The event will target professionals working in Quebec’s vibrant gaming industry in addition to attracting attendees mostly from rest of Canada, the eastern United States and from Europe. This Summit was created to cater to the unique needs of the gaming industry, which includes more than 2,000 workers in Quebec. The Summit has three objectives: 1. Increase visibility and communication within the industry 2. Improve the development of the workforce’s expertise 3. Raise the profile of the Quebec industry abroad Alliance numériQC has chosen a specialized formula, on a small scale, in order to create an environment where learning and networking are facilitated, with high level and specialized content covering creation, production and programming and in-depth coverage of advanced topics for experienced professionals. An advisory committee, formed by representatives of local companies in the field, was created in order to assist with the content of the event. The companies on the committee are: A2M, DC Studio, DTI Software, Digital Fiction, Jamdat Canada, Microïds, Sarbakan and Ubisoft. The Summit also relies upon the support of generous sponsors for the successful execution of the event. Alias, a Toronto based company, will be a primary sponsor, while Ubi Soft, Electronic Arts and High Road Communications will act as associate sponsors. Other major partners have also confirmed their financial support to the project, including Développement économique Canada, ministère du Développement économique et régional et de la Recherche, ministère de la Culture et des Communications, Téléfilm Canada and SODEC, without forgetting the support of IGDA Montréal and Lyon Game of France.Source: http://www.montrealgamesummit.com/
