Anomaly 2012 is a dynamic showcase of talented artists from across North America, a fusion of an art workshop and party that brings 2D/3D artists together to share inspiration and creativity. It will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (at UBC), one of Canada’s favourite and most beautiful attractions.

Featured artsits include Craig Mullins, Daniel Dociu, Daryl Mandryk, and Vinod Rams.  This is a don’t miss event, especially for those interested in concept art.  Meet some of the best talent in the media arts industry.  The cost for students is $45.00 if you purchase before March 28th, 2012.  If you can’t make the deadline and still want the $45.00 price point, come to my office in 264 and I will sign you up.  If we get more than 10 students, they will honour this price.

Unity is offering their Android and IOS extensions for free until April 8th.  Check it out:

Wiley Interactive is holding a 48 hour game jam in Gastown on March 30th, 2012.  This event is hosted by Wyley and will be held at the Initio Group at #211-311 Water Street.

Next Level Games is looking for volunteer testers to test Square Enix’s upcoming game Sleeping Dogs.  If you are interested please contact me.   This is an amazing learning opportunity for the game design students to see a game in development and give critical feedback on they we can improve it.  Please let me know if you want more information.

Catacomb, an independent game produced by students in Vancouver was nominated for the Best Indie Game category in the Canadian Video Game Awards.  Since this was done with just students and donated time, it probably will be beaten by more established teams and larger and more complex Indie Games.  It is too bad that they did not add a student category that would even the playing field.

The Princeton Review has been published their list of top programs for video game design in North America.  It is nice to see more prestigious academic institutions placing importance on their design programs.  Gamification is creeping into many aspects of our lives and more people having an understanding on electronic game design will help the field evolve.

Princeton Review Top #10