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Critical Hit: IAM’s one-and-only Gaming Podcast is LIVE

Episode #2 (Recorded 7/1/09)

Episode #3 (Recorded 7/7/09)

Once a week your hosts will bring you the best in gaming editorial, industry news and design talk with a healthy blend of humor, special guests, interviews and more!

Visit this very blog weekly to download the fresh show, and soon on iTunes as well!

Episode Two features special guest Anthony Sixto, who talks with us about 6 Days in Fallujah, Kodu, and our favorite features in video games.  Episode Three introduces IAM Faculty member Andrew Hicks, who brings to the table a discussion about games as storytellers, and how they SUCK at doing so!  Also in that episode John brings forth the question ‘Why do we have that ‘games as art’ talk? What’s the deal there?’”

Enjoy!

Special thanks to Jason Geistweidt, Greg Jenke, Uriel Brajas, Anthony Sixto, Mindy Faber, Terrence Hannum and Jeff Meyers for the help in producing the show!  Contact the show at josef.locastro@loop.colum.edu , leave a comment here, and let us know what you’d like to hear!  If you’d like to be a guest on the show, contact Joe for more information.

Thanks, and tell your friends!

(more…)

If you get this, I love you.

Building Challenge
Hosted by I AM Columbia and Hibiki Ochs.

Bring your best, most open and expanded mind and try your hand at building something fresh! Every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm SLT!

Twice a week I’ll be picking the freshest new inspirations for you to build off of. Keep it under 50 prims and keep it incredible! Bring your friends, family, enemies, etc.

If you’ve never done a build challenge, here’s what we got going on:

I post a quote onto a billboard at the start of it.  You have 50 minutes tops to make something based of that quote, and then the onlookers vote on their favorite.  I’ll have a voting board, I’ll try to get some side games going for people not building (SLopoly or otherwise), and there’s always the island to explore!  Once the winners have been decided they will get ribbons, and their creations will be lauded until the next contest!

Hit me up in world anytime with questions and such, and while you’re here check out the freshest island in all of SL, the I AM Columbia Island!

-Hibiki Ochs

Interactive Arts and Media department’s Mindy Faber recently worked with a team of two dozen teens to build a collaborative interactive application using the online social utility tool called Google My Map.

The team worked across the globe (some of the teens were in Chicago, some in Barbados) to create “OurMap of Migrations”; a map that allowed the youth participants to add their own photos, videos, bios, travels and research.

Read more about the project at Google Maps: A Tool for the Youth Media Field!

Congratulations to IAM student Eric Boyer who has been awarded a $1500 scholarship from Leo Burnett for Fall 2009!

The Rockstar Games the king of unlimited action killing and open environment that can be interacted with that company announcement seems like it is no change except that it is going to be another Grand theft auto but you are based between Russia and United States during the cold war. I really don’t see much change or challenge to the company. I feel I would be shock it they would of come out with a game that it am RPG or a detective mystery game but no it is another action game that is being in the works of being designed. It seems people don’t what to step out of the box lately. I point my finger at the recession. 

http://http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6211142/rockstar-details-agent?tag=top_stories;story;19            

SL Workshop Flyer

So I’m running a workshop. ^_^

Second Life is that trusty little application installed on every machine in the IAM department.  “Why?” I hear you cry, “What’s the good of Second Life?”  Well I’ll happily tell you.

If you’re an artist looking to get your work into a new medium, or out to hundreds of people, you can do that using Second Life.  If you’re a modeler who enjoys making and building vehicles, clothing, buildings…anything at all, you can use Second Life to create and sell your constructions.  If you want to dive into scripting, and work with a scripting language that’s fun and easy to edit, Second Life is for you.  If you want to play a FREE online, massively multiplayer game, Second Life has dozens of combat/roleplay simulators to enjoy and explore.  Countries (Mexico, Switzerland and more) have virtual embassies in Second Life.  Your favorite DJs spin live sets in Second Life (and so can you).

The goal of this workshop (which runs from now until school’s end) is to introduce and familiarize anyone with even the most fledgling interest in the program to the program.

So come on by, stop in for a bit, or stay a while, and learn about why we put this program on all the computers.  Because like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere or even Word, Second Life gives you the power to create what you see with your mind’s eye, and share it with the world.

The workshop runs Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Tuesdays @ 4pm

Thursdays @ 1pm

Room 133 in the IAM Department building, 1000 S. Wabash.

Critics Are Wild About

“There’s nothing in the city’s mainstream-performance scene with which to compare it. Inducing the kind of double-takes reserved for Pixar movies – the actors and puppets against a black background resemble high-res animation – the bold, optically startling Dr. Egg… is the first Redmoon show I’ve seen that left me not satisfied but craving more…. Creatively, it’s a treat. Visually, it’s a new standard.” (Chris Piatt, Time Out Chicago)

“What’s so exciting about the show’s marriage of physical objects with ghostly projections is that the combination enhances the emotional heft of the story being told.” (Leon Hilton, Centerstage)

There are only three weeks left to catch the show called “provocative and creative” by the Tribune, and “ingeniously directed” by the Sun-Times!

Performances are selling out fast, so buy your tickets today!

Visit us at www.redmoon.tix.com, or call 312-850-8440 x111.

From the IGDA announcement:

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Joshua Tsui and David Michicich from Robomodo will discuss how they were able to put together a team, a studio and a publishing deal in such a short time. In one month Joshua and David went from being unemployed to heading up a new Chicago game development studio working on one of the biggest franchises in the industry. Find out the details of all that happened during that time and what is about to happen. Topics to be covered:

• Getting a team together in short time
• How did we get our project and publisher?
• Recruiting for a Chicago studio
• Legal Issues
• Challenges ahead of us

MEETING DETAILS:

When: Wednesday, July 15th, Doors Open at 6:30, Presentation starts at 7:00.
Where: Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lakeshore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605
South Box Office Entrance**, Universe Theater: http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/index.shtml
Meter or lot parking is available
Members: $5, Non-Members: $10

RSVP: Please send your name & email to igdachicago@gmail.com. Space is limited so make sure to RSVP fast!! We also need a few volunteers, so if you’d like to help, please note this in your email.

**Please note: It’s very possible the Adler Planetarium will be closed to the public except for our meeting and the main doors will not be open

FREE

Our SL5B exhibit is in progress! We will continue working on it this week for the launch on June 30th. Even though our exhibit space isn’t officially launched, it is open to the public. If you have Second Life installed come by and see our progress (if you don’t have SL you can download it for free at secondlife.com).

The view from the road on the west side.

Information about the IAM department, and part of the Virtual Public Housing Museum mini-exhibit.

The view from the road on the east side. On the left is Ti Mosienko’s Women’s History Project and on the right is part of Man Michiniga’s Empire State building.

More screenshots are online with close-ups of some of the exhibits.

Exhibit coordinator avatars: Man Michiniga, Ti Mosienko, Mira Runo, Talus Nemeth, and Prijian Toland (two faculty, one staff, one alumnus, and one student).