BEYOND THE GAME, from director Jos de Putter is finally here, after its long festival tour of the Margaret Mead Film Festival, the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam, the Vancouver Film Festival, and beyond. BEYOND THE GAME is widely considered the best film about virtual reality and online worlds. Our disc also features an extremely rare interview with the founders of Blizzard Games, makers of Warcraft, Starcraft, and so many more absolutely crucial and influential movements in online culture.…

CALL FOR PAPERS Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC) Vol9 No2, 2012 Special issue – Encountering the Real Virtuality: Digital Games in Media, Culture and Society Digital games have emerged as a significant sector of the media and cultural economy. It is very important for industry practitioners, regulators and media academics to understand the social and cultural impacts of gaming and the interactive and immersive experience involved for gamers. Digital games today are not simply used for entertainment. The global ‘serious games’ movement, for example, aims to maximize the potential of ‘play’ and is expanding the possibility of digital…

Foundations of Digital Games 2012 May 29-June 1, 2012 Raleigh, North Carolina http://fdg2012.org Call for Papers, Demos, and Posters Important Dates Full Paper & Panel Submission: 19 December 2011 Paper, Panel & Doctoral Consortium Author Notification: 1 March 2012 Doctoral Consortium Submission: 9 January 2012 Posters and Demo Submission: 12 March 2012 Poster and Demo Notification: 30 March 2012 Camera Ready Full Papers: 9 April 2012 Camera Ready Posters and Demos: 20 April 2012 FDG 2012, the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, is a focal point for academic efforts in all areas of research and education involving…

Doctoral Colloquium on Games and Play DIGRA 2011 At the Digital Games Research Association (DIGRA) 2011 conference 15-17 September, we seek to connect game and play research to the creative industries and society by fostering an integrated practice of research, design, engineering and entrepreneurship. The Doctoral Consortium at the DIGRA 2011 Conference will bring together +- 15 PhD students researching Games and Play for an afternoon of presentations and interactions with the organizers. We specifically encourage students who’s research focus is on: Game Design, Playful Interaction, the Role of play in contemporary culture and Playful Identities…

THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY SINGULARITY SUMMIT 2011 AUGUST 20-21 RMIT UNIVERSITY MELBOURNE What will tomorrow look like? Few could predict just how fast and dramatic the social, economic and political impacts of computer technology could be in our lifetimes. If present trends are to continue, computers will have more advanced and powerful ‘brains’ than humans within 25 years. This August, leading scientists, inventors and philosophers will gather at RMIT to discuss the upcoming ‘intelligence explosion’ that many now refer to as ‘The Singularity’- a technological breakthrough that promises to eclipse previous computing developments with the creation of super-human machines. The…

ATA 2012: American Telemedicine Association 2012 Meeting & Exposition Call for Presentation Now Open Participate in the biggest telehealth event of the year! April 29 – May 1, 2012 / San Jose, CA www.ATA2012.com Abstracts accepted thru September 15, 2011 Recognized throughout the world as the primary forum for the telemedicine industry, the ATA 2012 program meets the changing needs of professionals who utilize telehealth technologies. Whether you are a novice or expert, the ATA 2012 offers a revitalized approach to presenting and learning about telemedicine.  Submit an abstract before September 15, 2011 to participate in the biggest telehealth event of…