Tue 22 May 2007
Somehow, you expect Sweden to mostly be snow/cold country. When I was offered to stay at the “beach house” during the Nordic Game conference, I was somewhat confused, but delighted nonetheless to be staying with other speakers similarly invited.
Turns out the beach house was not actually on the beach (more like a 10-minute walk away), but no matter. The uniquely rustic experience isolated a bunch of us away from the main hubbub of the conference itself and afforded for one of my most different/special event experiences to date.
And, the conference itself was very good as well! With over 1000 attendees from the various Nordic game development communities, the conference was bustling with energy and enthusiasm. The speaker line-up was diverse and of a high level. The sub-theme on audio was unusual for the more general audience on hand, but it was certainly refreshing and inspiring to have that much game audio/design related talent in one place.
Now in its fourth year, Nordic Game is a significant regional conference and I am personally pleased that I finally got to participate at it (thanks to E3’s implosion ;)
Here are some photos from the trip - a few of the event itself and a few from the “beach house”…
Malmo’s historic town hall in the central square of the city.
My personal tour guide, Per Stromback (Spelplan) settling pre-conference logistics.
An idyllic scene from within one of the many parks of Malmo.
Nice to see all the bikes in use, making for a very green city.
Beach house host Sten Selander (NetPort) and Per loading up essential supplies.
Japanese Invasion: The bulk of speakers from Japan arrive at the beach house.
Tsutomu Kouno (Sony Japan) and Babsi Lippe (Avaloop) enjoy a beer on the “Hollywood swing”.
Masaya Matsuura (NanaOn-Sha) browsing Sten’s record collection.
Maki Hirami (NanaOn-Sha) and Yuki Grove enjoy the BBQ.
Watanabe san (RobotSound) succumbed to the jet lag.
Daniel James (Three Rings) out for a stroll on the beach.
Kouno san flirts with the waves…
…while Babsi and Dare Matheson (Harmonix) brave the freaking cold waters.
Daniel and I stopped in at the snazzy public library for free wifi access to work on our presentations.
Panoramic shot from the 54th floor of the Turning Torso (where the VIP reception was hosted).
And, the other side of town.
At the base of the Turning Torso…
…and looking straight up. Was very disorienting, especially with the clouds moving!
Erik Robertson (Nordic Game Program) struts his stuff on stage, welcoming the attendees and introducing the opening keynote speaker.
Kouno san discusses the creation of LocoRoco.
The career fair area was heavily trafficked.
Matsuura san (center) performs a techno-dance song to close out his lecture. Not viewable: the dancing Aibo!
Awesome viking-worthy trophies! Jorgen Tharaldsen (Funcom) picks up the award for most promising game for Conan.
Event party action at the Hipp (an revamped theater).
Danish Brain Power: Lisbeth Klastrup and T.L. Taylor of IT-U Copenhagen in lively debate.
Katsumi Mizushima (NTL) chills back at the beach house.
Babsi loads up while Paulina keeps back.
Babsi helping Mizushima san prep for his Dragon Ball Z talk.
Harmonix art duo Ryan Lesser and Dare Matheson give insight into the art direction/evolution for the Guitar Hero series.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:03 pm
*sigh*
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:00 am
wow.
your trips always look like a lot of fun but this one takes the cake.
May 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Cool. So how was the actual conference? What was the vibe like? I am ex-pat Canadian, who left Sweden to work in the UK, and am looking to return to work in the Nordic games industry some day.
May 23rd, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Yeah, seriously. This looks like an amazingly good time, with great people and potentially good talks. How was the conf itself?
May 23rd, 2007 at 4:00 pm
> and potentially good talks.
> How was the conf itself?
Overall good roster of speakers, nicely balanced between local stars and international invitees. There’s was a lot of diversity, though no overarching theme. But, the audio/design sub-theme was particularly interesting and inspiring.
Also, the audience was quite diverse (from studio heads to gov officials to educators and lawyers), though there was a seeming lack of in-the-trenches developers - which surprised me a bit…
May 24th, 2007 at 7:34 am
I envy you! I love that region of Sweden, I have family about an hour outside of Malmo. It’s a beautiful place to visit.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:18 pm
[…] NG 2007: LocoRoco and the Singing Aibo Two weeks after Nordic Game 2007 conference, I am already looking forward the next year. What a nice event it was indeed! Meanwhile being too busy to publish my own entry, I have been enjoying the notes and pictures of other NG07 participants, such as Sonja Kangas, Tanja Sihvonen and Jason Della Rocca. Finally, here comes my personal overview for the conference: […]
December 31st, 2007 at 12:06 am
[…] Malmo, Sweden (Nordic Game Conference) […]
January 14th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
awsome the beaches look beautiful
May 26th, 2009 at 11:35 am
[…] Nordic Game Conference. While I didn’t have the unique experience of staying at Sten’s beach house like last time, it was great to return to Sweden and enjoy this regional event (with big world […]