Press Release

Nominees for Nordic talent award to be found at Nordic Game Jam 2010

The nominees for the “Best New Nordic Talent” award at next years edition of the Nordic Game Awards will be found among the participants of the upcoming Nordic Game Jam 2010.

The organizers of the Nordic Game Awards, the award show being held during the annual Nordic Game conference, have joined forces with Nordic Game Jam in search for new Nordic talents.

- We are very happy to announce a cooperation with Nordic Game Jam, says Jacob Riis, Communications Director at Nordic Game.
- The Jam is the perfect platform for finding nominees for next year's talent award, as a great amount of talented game developers from all over the region gather here to make games and challenge them selves. 

The organizers of Nordic Game Jam  expect to increase the number of participants from 150 to 250 this year. Peter Molyneux, the Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios, Europe, will kick-off the game jam by giving a keynote on Friday 29 January 2010 at 18:00.

Nordic Game Jam runs from 29-31 January 2010, and is the 5th annual game jam at the IT-University in Copenhagen. The event is organized by the International Game Developers Association's Danish Chapter (IGDA DK) and the IT University. The game jam is an event that has been running successfully since 2006 - each year increasing in participants. For the last two years, the Nordic Game Jam has had over 150 participants and is now the largest game jam in the world. 

The concept of Nordic Game Jam in Copenhagen is the flagship, inspiration and model of the establishment of the Global Game Jam, which last year had a total of 53 game jams in 42 different countries with more then 1600 participants - creating more than 300 games.

This year the Nordic Game Jam will have two additional competition tracks running at the same time as the game jam. One of the competition tracks is the Machinima Track. Machinima is a competition, where the participants make a film based on recordings from a computergame or an online community. Machinima is a new way of interpreting the computer game media, as it opens up for collaboration with other people across online networks. You can read more about Machinima on: http://machinima.com/

The other competition is accommodated by participants from Unge Spiludviklere - an association, that was founded in January 2009: http://ungespiludviklere.dk/ This competition track is targeted highschool students that are interested in game development. Prior to the actual competition, they will attend a workshop on game engines and how to develop games.

Why participate in Nordic Game Jam?
Nordic Game Jam is a space where talented individuals, professionals, hobbyists and the new generation of game developers meet on common ground and work together in a fun and intense atmosphere of creativity and experimentation. The Nordic Game Jam is more like an "idea space" rather than competition, where participants can challenge their skills and ideas. Every year the Nordic Game Jam participants are given a new set of rules and constraints that they work on - and it is amazing to see how diverse and unique the games turn out be.

But why participate in a game jam? And why go through 48 hours of very little sleep, hard work, great ideas, crunching, problem solving and technical issues? Because a game jam encourages innovation and experimentation. It is one of the vehicles behind the new generation of game developers that can experiment with platforms and game ideas in an intense and yet still informal atmosphere. This is the space where the new generation of talents can be found.

If you urge to create a game, collaborate and meet other game developers, and maybe even be considered for nomination for Nordic Game Awards - then Nordic Game Jam is the perfect place for you. As a participant at the Nordic Game Jam you will be part of a global event of creativity and fun.

The Nordic Game Jam 2010 will follow the same format like previous years, as an event where students, hobbyists and professional game developers, meet up for a weekend to develop and experiment with new and innovative game ideas. The friendly competition of 48 hours will take place at IT University from 29 - 31 January 2010.

Like last year, Nordic Game Jam has teamed up with a number of sponsors to be able to make this event as enjoyable and fun for you as possible. The organizers thank the Primary Sponsors Microsoft, the Nordic Game Program and NOGAP. Thanks a lot to them and our program sponsors for their help in making this event possible.

About Nordic Game Jam

• Keynote speaker at the Nordic game Jam this year will be Peter Molyneux, the Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios, Europe

• Best New Nordic Talent Nominees for the annual Nordic Game Awards will be found at Nordic Game Jam 2010

• Over 150 students, amateurs and professional game developers attended the Nordic Game Jam in 2009!

• The worlds largest game jam for 2 years in a row

• Used as the primary inspiration for the Global Game Jam

• Internationally acclaimed titles such as the 5 Minute MMO, 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness, Sheeped Away, as well as the Dark Room Sex Game all originate from the Nordic Game Jam

• 3 of the Nordic Game Jam organizers talked about their organizing experiences at GDC in San Francisco 2009, which is the world largest conference for professional game developers

• The Nordic Game Jam organizers gave a talk at the Nordic Game Conference. According to gamer website http://www.dailyrush.dk/, the talk was the height of the first day.

• The event is based on hardware and software resources. Software and hardware used at previous events include Python, Game Maker, Unity, .Net, iPhone SDK, C#, C++, XBOX 360, XNA, Deadline's internal Kapow Engine, Photoshop, 3DS Max, OpenGL, OGRE, Blender and many more