I was invited down to Buenos Aires by the Argentine Ministry of Culture, to attend their first ever cultural industries market/expo/conference called MICA. It was an ambitious event, commingling creators and biz types from across such diverse sectors as video games, book publishing, fashion and industrial design, among others. Was fascinating to walk around the venue and see everything all in one place (but my lack of Spanish speaking skills did limit my ability to network well with all the other sectors).
This was my first time to Argentina, and I was not disappointed by the vibrant city of Buenos Aires (in particular the quality of the beef!) and the welcoming game development community. Though it is a relatively small scene in Argentina (estimated at about 1500 workers), recent successes with emerging platforms and the street cred of indie developers (like Daniel Benmergui) bode well for the local industry.
In fact, the best part of the trip was spending an afternoon with Daniel, play testing his very work-in-progress new game. Think puzzles, comics, love triangles, 8bit style art and cages… Gonna be a good one!
Here are some pics from the trip:
Every other storefront had meat grilling!
They even have fast-food style steaks in the shopping mall food court.
The Galleria Pacifico shopping mall along pedestrian Florida Street full of street vendors.
Big obelisk along a major avenue.
Cool cranes in the Puerto Madero area.
The snazzy “women’s bridge” in Puerto Madero.
Odd baby treant art display thing. No clue what it actually was…
The Recoleta cemetery, where Evita is buried.
Church at the cemetery.
The National Library looks like a Cold War era rocket launching station.
Much like Europe, lots of big statues and monuments everywhere.
Also, lots of little (and big) parks and green spaces.
Adam Prewett (Playdom) discusses the rise of social games.
Lots of discussion about incubation and entrepreneurialism… too bad I couldn’t understand any of the Spanish :(
Daniel Benmergui rants on the need to focus on the creation and control of your own game ideas.
MICA main stage and packed house, awaiting various cultural spectacle…
…a mix of traditional of hip-hop style dancing…
…a mini fashion show…
…and tribute to famous film soundtracks.
Me drawing up one of my usual diagrams with SketchBook.
Awesome dinner with ADVA members and international guests, including Javier Otaegui (Sabarasa), Alfredo Cattan (QB9) and Mike Suarez.
Was great to visit the ImageCampus campus, one of the earliest schools to provide game development education in South America.
Cool dragon at the Green Bamboo, one of the best meals of the trip.
The Casa Rosada, the Argentine version of the White House. Yes, the Argentinian president works here.
The Metropolitan Cathedral.
The old town hall building.
Some cool tango graffiti/street art.
Oooh, what’s that cool electro-tango music playing? Better take a pic of the restaurant’s playlist so I’ll remember…
OMG! Mouth watering pizza here, for over 75 years!
