Tag Archives: Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Science has announced Gabe Newell will be the 17th inductee into the AIAS Hall of Fame. Valve’s co-founder and president will also headline the D.I.C.E. 2013 Summit stage as Thursday conference keynote speaker.

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It has been announced that Mark Cerny will be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

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SXSW may not be the best for games news, but at least the Texan festival’s got some pretty pictures to look at.

ESA’s Michael Gallagher has said he’s excited about the Into The Pixel art exhibit his organization and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences co-curate at the event.

“We’re excited to bring Into the Pixel here to SXSW, because this is one of the premier art shows in the country”, he said. “Video games are art. Without a doubt… look at the creative energy. It belongs here with film, it belongs here with music.”

Going on about game as art, Gallagher said that the first thing people notice about a game is graphics, which are all rendered artistically.

“I think graphics are one of the powerful components that draw people in”, he added.

More through the link.

DICE has released a list of the big names now convened in Las Vegas for DICE, and it’d be fair to say that anyone with half a brain and a dictaphone could do some serious damage. Maybe we’ll go next year.

Here’s who’s there:

• Gabe Newell – Valve, Founder
• John Riccitiello – Electronic Arts, CEO
• Jun Takeuchi – Capcom, Producer
• Randy Jackson – The Planning Center, President
• Chris Cao – SOE Austin, Creative Director
• David Perry – Acclaim Entertainment, Creative Officer
• Lars Gustavsson – D.I.C.E. Studios/EA, Creative Director
• Bruce Shelley – Ensemble Studio
• Rich Hilleman – Electronic Arts, Chief Creative Director
• Chris Taylor – Gas Powered Games, Creative Director
• Mona Hamilton – Capcom, VP Marketing
• Dan Bilson – THQ, SVP Creative Director
• Ted Price – Insomniac Games
• J. Paul Raines – GameStop, COO
• Anita Frazier – NPD, Senior Analyst
• Brian Raffel – Raven Software, Co-Founder & Studio Head
• Alex Laurant – Lucas Arts & ILM, Art Director
• Todd Howard – Bethesda Studios, Game Director
• Alex Evans – Media Molecule, Co-Founder
• Tom Prata – Nintendo
• Ben Bell – Maxis/EA, Producer
• Ralph Osterhout – Serial Inventor
• Michael Denny & Mike Haigh

Gabe Newell gave his keynote last night, focussing on entertainment as service.

The event ends tomorrow. The Interactive Achievement Awards are being broadcast live tonight.

Bethesda’s Todd Howard’s said his main industry concern is that Wii’s being under-served with shoddy software aimed at exploiting children.

“I’m worried the Wii is getting stuck with quick-buck games aimed at children who don’t know any better,” he said, speaking in an interview with the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.

And it’s not just Wii being pigeon-holed, apparently. Reiterating a comment he made at ComicCon recently, the developer said that “360 and PS3 are all about M rated killfests.”

He added: “As an industry, we have to make sure the world knows that gaming is for everyone, and not just kids or thirtysomethings who never grew up.”

Howard was speaking with the Academy ahead of DICE, which starts in Las Vegas today.

Clearly having something of a Blair moment, EA boss John Riccitiello has claimed it’s a little early to be talking about how he’s going to be remembered by the games industry, speaking in an interview with the AIAS.

“I think it is a bit early to talk about my legacy,” he said. “Some of my greatest beliefs regarding gaming are that our art form is today – or certainly has the potential – to be recognized as the peer of the best of Hollywood movies. I want to help others see that.”

The exec added that the link between sales and creativity still hadn’t been solidified, in his view.

“I also believe that there is no inherent conflict between great creativity and achieving strong profitability – I believe they go hand in hand,” he said.

“More than trying to work on my legacy, I want to work to prove both of these points are true and see a day when these ideas are seen as common knowledge.”

Hey, John. You’re firing 1,000 people because you didn’t make enough money last year. Let’s hope you don’t have that chiselled on your gravestone.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president Joseph Olin has claimed that PS3′s Blu-ray drive may not be the winning asset Sony had hoped.

“I look at Blu-ray being the obvious short-term differentiator, but if everything goes to digital download – and over time, it will – then the Blu-ray device no longer has the same competitive advantage, or the benefit is not as strong as the feature is,” he said.

And when’s digital distribution going to wipe physical media from the face of planet game, Big Joe?

“Perhaps maybe five years? Maybe seven years? I think the challenge with digital distribution is more because of piped-to-the-home bandwidth than the technology within the systems,” he added.

More through the link.