The bad news is that many of these games are pretty much now loss leaders to get people to buy into the video game with little originality or creativity. Witness the large number of new and useless CCGs based on recent video games, included in the packaging or given away at conventions.

"I'm hoping to be helpful to someone now who may be in a situation similar to the one I was in at Atari, said Bailey, " I often wish there had been a group of WIGI colleagues back then from whom I could have gotten advice!"

Women in Games International to present conference at Austin Game Developers Conference "She Got Game" Looks at Experiences of Women in the Interactive Game Industry

August 30, 2007—-Austin, TX—-Women in Games International will hold its next conference on Saturday, September 8 in Austin, Texas. Entitled "She Got Game," the conference will offer information on current trends in diversifying the games industry talent pool and how these efforts will impact the industry and its products in the future. This half-day seminar provides timely, useful information for women and men alike, as well as new and veteran game developers.

"She Got Game," presented in conjunction with CMP Game Group's Austin Game Developers Conference, will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2007 from 11 am to 5 pm. Speakers include industry experts from Amaze Entertainment, BioWare, Midway, NCsoft, Sony Online Entertainment, Ubisoft, and numerous other games industry companies.

"WIGI and its commitment to organizing these meaningful events is invaluable to the game community," said Izora de Lillard, Event Manager for Austin Game Developers Conference, "The impact of offering this level of information, community and expert information to an often overlooked sector of the industry has been profound. We're proud to be involved." Fiona Cherbak, Chair of WIGI's Strategic Alliances committee, adds "Co-locating this latest WIGI conference at the Austin Game Developers Conference creates a unique opportunity to supplement the overall experience of peers and professionals who attend the various games industry events in Austin this September. This promises to be the most abundant games-related event offering in Austin to date."

Keynote speaker is Dona C Bailey, Professor at University of Arkansas. She was one of the few female game programmers in the industry in the 80's, and was also the programmer and designer responsible for ever-popular Centipede game. "I'm hoping to be helpful to someone now who may be in a situation similar to the one I was in at Atari, said Bailey, " I often wish there had been a group of WIGI colleagues back then from whom I could have gotten advice!"

Bailey's keynote will focus on how women in the industry can cultivate powerful ideas, how to communicate those ideas effectively, and how to use artful creativity to perhaps broaden game audiences. Bailey is one of many other industry notables, visionaries and experts scheduled at the event. Her keynote speech will be offered in the morning, the event then moves on to a variety of panels after lunch and finishes the day with an array of roundtable discussions.

Topics vary to include issues of the past, present and future of women and their impact in game development, including panels such as "Diversity Equals Dollars: Why having a diverse development team is good for your bottom line." Industry experts will discuss how workplace diversity and environments have evolved in the games industry over the last 2 decades, what the experience is like now for people entering the industry, and why diversity equals profitability.

Another panel is titled "Her Virtual Life: Women and Online Games." With the statistics showing that MMO's are the second largest market for women gamers, industry experts will address how game developers can utilize this information to expand MMO content and game play. Roundtable discussions will include topics such as "Attracting and Retaining Female Players in Virtual Worlds," "Looking Good on Paper" and "Making Good Industry Connections."

Located at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, registration for "She Got Game" is $55 for general attendees, $40 for WIGI members and $30 for students with I.D. AGDC pass holders will be admitted for no charge, but must pre-register. Space is limited, so interested attendees are encouraged to secure their spot by registering online today at www.womeningamesinternational.org.

Three games hit Live this Wednesday at 2 a.m. Pacific and one of them is Catan.

Big Huge Games' take on Settlers of Catan will cost 800 points and is getting some big thumbs up from Klaus Teuber, the creator of teh original board game.

"I had no doubts that Brian Reynolds would do a great job, and the first version of the game exceeded my highest expectations. The AI is so clever that I even lost several games in a row! Hands down, this game for the Xbox LIVE Arcade is an amazing achievement."

Hit the jump for more Catan details and the rundown on the Centipede/Millipede combo pack and a ton o pics. Brian Crecente

Catan
Cost: 800
Features:
Learn As You Play tutorial, making the game instantly accessible even to players who have never played "Settlers of Catan" before
All New 3D "Living World" Board
Play against any combination of 13 historical personalities such as Alexander, Cleopatra and Tokugawa, which provide a range of play styles and difficulty levels that will test players' wits and strategy
Fans of the board game will enjoy the inclusion of popular house rules like Friendly Robber and Friendly Resources
Multiplayer gameplay over Xbox LIVE for up to 4 players
The ability to taunt opponents with engaging animations and use emotes to compliment (or belittle!) the opposition over Xbox LIVE
Voice Chat enabled
Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points

"Centipede" and "Millipede"
Cost: 400
Features:
Two games in one! Enjoy both classic and evolved versions of both "Centipede" and "Millipede"
Dolby Digital surround sound
Earn up to 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points

Thanks Invaderbacca for helping me develop yet another gaming-based obsession. Michael Fahey

Wow, when you watch this you can really tell that most of the advertising industry in the eighties were out of their minds on coke. Obviously that's where all the money went on this little doozy circa 1982. I'm sure they didn't have to pay much for all that glorious stock footage that was sitting in the back of someone's closet. Still, the centipede costume is rather nice and the Metamorphosis like ending shows at least someone in the office was reading between snorting lines off the secretary's ample bosom. Flynn De Marco

Since my constant craving for cupcakes is surpassed only by my actual ingestion of cake and cake products, I give you photos of game-flavored cakes. Because you must also suffer for want of cake. It is fair and just. Thanks for the tip, Rick.

Says Slashfood:

According to blogger r4kk4, these cakes, which include the Nintendo you see here, arcade versions of Centipede and Ms. Pacman and a Gameboy with Tetris pieces, were created for a cakewalk to benefit the nonprofit youth literacy group 826 Seattle.

These cakes are nearby, you say? I see...yes, it all becomes clear. Cake = reading. Got it. Eliza Gauger

Cake [GlitterPissing, via Slashfood]

Back in the good ol' days of Atari, there wasn't a lot of story you could cram into a few kilobytes. To counter this, Atari teamed up with DC to distribute mini-comics along with Atari 2600 games. One was a long-running series of comics about a group of extraterrestrial super heros called Atari Force; Swordquest, a line distributed with Waterworld, Earthworld and Fireworld, Centipede and Yar's Revenge.

It's great trashy, marginally game related reading for a lazy Friday morning. The Yar's Revenge one has particularly striking, minimalist art to it. Centipede, on the other hand, is just plain creepy, about a small ugly elf child who likes to play with gigantic, nightmarish insects. Florian Eckhardt

Atari Comic Books [Atari Age]

Stop-motion impressario PES lets loose with food and Frogger in this classic-gaming stop-motion carnival of deeeeelight.

I'm video-whoring today because I'm exhausted from driving to Utah and back this weekend. I was trying to intercept Crecente before he got out of the country, and I knew he had a layover in Salt Lake City. I found him in one of the sleazy airport bars, swilling watery Utah beer and trying to pick up a stewardess who'd been finely aged in recycled cabin air, like fancy cheese in a French cave.

'What is it, Gauger?" he snarled as he caught sight of me. "I'm on vacation, you little twerp."

I told him to untwist his official Day of the Tentacle boxer-briefs and settle down, I wasn't there to steal his frag. "You forgot something," I said, slipping the seemingly empty phials under the lip of the bar to his sweating hand. "You forgot your mission."

He should be well on his way by now. Just between you and me, faithful readers, I'd stock up on surgical masks, Spaghettios and bottled water while there's still time. Eliza Gauger