As we speak, Gaplus, Star Force, The Tower of Druaga, Mappy and more with Space Harrier are all available to download and play on your Wii, priced at 500 Wii points a piece with the exception of Gaplus, where the plus apparently translates to 100 more Wii points. Space Harrier and Solvalou named as two additional titles coming soon.

As McWhertor pointed out during the liveblog of Nintendo's keynote, that means Sega, Namco and Taito has all signed on to provide their arcade hits to Wii owners. What games would you like to see show up on the Virtual Console Arcade?

I'm putting the finishing touches on my proposal for FDG '09 and kind of wish the timing worked out better for this conference, too (damn quarter system). Last year sounded like a pretty good time — and it's even bigger this year. So if you've got a paper or presentation up your sleeve, you've got until February 16th to submit it. The full CFP is below:

Games+Learning+Society 5.0: Learning Through Interaction
http://glsconference.org
June 10-12, 2009 Madison, WI
CALL FOR PAPERS

Back by demand and now expanded to accommodate last year’s waiting list, the GLS conference this year will features substantive discussion and collaboration among academics, designers, and educators interested in how videogames –- commercial games and otherwise -– can enhance learning, culture, and education. This year’s theme of “Learning through Interaction” highlights the expansive nature of our definition of games & game culture to include research and design in areas including popular culture and fandom, interactive design more generally, and digital/visual cultures. This three-day conference will be held at the UW’s historic Memorial Union, overlooking downtown Madison's beautiful Lake Mendota.

Conference highlights also include keynotes by leaders in both academics and industry, interactive workshops on game design and games research, both individual and symposia presentation sessions, “chat n’ frags” in the arcade for hands-on gameplay, an evening poster session over cocktails & hors d'oeuvres, an evening machinima festival in the playhouse theatre, and fireside chats that enable thorough, cozy conversations among speakers and attendees. We encourage the submission of traditional paper sessions as well as innovative talk formats which focus on game design, game culture, and games' potential for learning and society more broadly.

Confirmed Speakers include: James Paul Gee, Idit Caperton, Alex Chisholm, Doug Church, Mia Consalvo, Elonka Dunin, Drew Davidson, Lisa Nakamura, Bonnie Nardi, Kurt Squire, Constance Steinkuehler, Steve Thorne, Eric Zimmerman.

Submissions are due online by February 16, 2009. Complete submission guidelines can be found on the submissions site at http://glsconference.org.

The Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Conference is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Academic ADL Co-Lab. For information on how to sponsor this event, contact the conference coordinator at gls(at)seanmichaeldargan(dot)com.

[via Terra Nova]

I mentioned the Games, Learning & Society Conference in Madison, Wisconsin back when a call for papers was put out. Michael Abbott of the Brainy Gamer has some interesting notes on the conference, which was held this past Thursday and Friday. The wrap up of the keynote speech, delivered by James Gee of Arizona State University, is an interesting meditation on the role of games (and not just 'edutainment') in education:

Gee sees broad implications for students in this regard. “Give students smart tools and let them use them and modify them to suit their purposes.” Such self-motivated learning moves students away from merely consuming knowledge and encourages them to produce knowledge and apply it in meaningful ways. Furthermore, Gee observed, when communities form around these activities, they are linked by a common endeavor, rather than by race, class, gender, or disability.

Gee clearly situates video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy with genuine power to transform students and equip them to address complex problems. If passion communities could be formed to solve real-world problems like hunger and environmental degradation, Gee believes we would be much better equipped to face these issues head-on. The challenge, according to Gee, isn't just about teaching our kids; it's about ensuring they have a viable world to live in.

Abbott's discussion of the environment of the conference — sounding quite different from your typical academic/professional gathering — is also worth a read.

GLS - Beyond Games and the Future of Learning [The Brainy Gamer]

The fourth annual Games, Learning & Society (GLS) Conference will be held July 10-11, 2008 in Madison, Wisconsin. Sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education and the Academic ADL Co-Lab, the GLS Conference fosters substantive discussion and collaboration among academics, designers, and educators interested in how game technologies - commercial games and others - can enhance learning, culture, and education. Speakers, discussion groups, and interactive workshops will focus on game design, game culture, and games' potential for learning.
For three years the GLS Conference has been the space for academics, industry leaders, educators, and policy makers to meet and to engage, not just in industry building, but in serious discussion about the current state of the field: where we ought to be headed, and what impact games can and ought to have on culture and society. We are planning the biggest and best year ever for this very important gathering, and we hope you will join us.

This two-day conference will be held at Frank Lloyd Wright's Monona Terrace Convention Center, overlooking downtown Madison's beautiful Lake Monona. Conference highlights include: a special session of hands-on workshops designed by and for videogame researchers and designers; a two-day lounge featuring Chat 'n' Frag sessions with key scholars and designers; fireside chats with industry leaders and special guests; a game room; webcasts of selected conference sessions; and our signature Thursday night dinner party.

We invite creative and interactive proposals for presentations, discussions, symposia, workshops, debates, respondents, and exhibits on topics and issues related to conference themes. To continue providing a high-quality program, all submissions will go through peer review and be evaluated with respect to quality, originality, clarity, and relevance to conference themes. Based on positive feedback from last year's conference, we especially encourage interactive session formats such as workshops, debates, and hands-on events for the GLS lounge.

Complete submission guidelines are listed inside the submissions site at http://glsconference.org. Submission format includes: Title; Abstract (500 words or less); Author name(s), picture(s), and short bio(s); and lastly, whether you would like your presentation to be considered for an interactive (workshop, chat 'n' frag, poster) or more expository (symposium, plenary) session. Submissions are due online by March 31, 2008.

The second day of MetaverseU had much more of the University in it. While the first day certainly had an academic bent, it also featured discussions of technology developments, products, and practices. TL Taylor led the second day with a discussion of online embodiment, ranging across game and social worlds. Jeremy Bailenson took a more quantitative approach, quickly running through 9 experiments and studies, looking at identity, avatars, and persuasion. (Amazing and fast!) Kari Kraus then took the stage to look at how people are approaching the preservation of virtual worlds.

The whole set of entries relating to Metaverse U is great and worth a look through, if you're into that sort of thing.

Liveblogging MetaverseU: TL Taylor, Jeremy Bailenson, Kari Kraus [Virtual Worlds News]

The Game Developers Conference, now the largest industry-only event in the world, just kicked off their updated website and registration for next year's event which runs from Feb. 18 through the 22.

Next year's show will include an extra track dedicated to game outsourcing, helloooooo China, and all of the usual suspects.

More than 16,000 industry types will be hitting up San Francisco during the show, if you want to be one of them you better snag a registration but quick.

THE 2008 GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE®
INVITES THE VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO FOR
FIVE DAYS OF NETWORKING, LEARNING, AND INSPIRATION FEBRUARY 18-22, 2008

Registration Opens and Website Goes Live with Enhanced Navigation and a Focus on Community Through New Pass Structure, Online Social Networking, and
Newly Expanded Lineup of Industry Relevant Summits

SAN FRANCISCO—Oct. 9, 2007—CMP Technology's 2008 Game Developers Conference® (GDC) returns to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco to bring the videogame industry together for a week of networking, learning, and inspiration February 18-22, 2008. The world's largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment has taken steps this year to boost its focus on community-building and networking with the expansion of its lineup of summits that take a closer look at the industry's emerging trends, and through its myGDC initiative, which features enhanced social/professional networking capabilities on the GDC site. The conference is also simplifying the pass structure, to provide more intuitive access to the diverse experiences at the GDC. Complete details and registration for the conference are available now at www.gdconf.com.

"Now that the Game Developers Conference is the world's largest professionals-only game industry event, it's more essential than ever for us to foster microcommunities that will enable clusters of attendees with similar interests to share with and challenge each other," said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference. "We are taking a cue from our own content this year by broadening our trademark exploration of breakthrough game development with particular attention to the rise of casual and social online spaces. To embody these trends, we are increasing our support of focused communities through summits, and have enabled more individual profile development and professional networking on our website starting next month."

The GDC has made some significant changes in order to bring attendees closer together and provide them with the most relevant content in 2008. The timing for the content programming cycle was adjusted forward to ensure that sessions reflect the most current trends and issues for the game development community, and feature the most cutting-edge technologies. In addition, the conference has expanded its lineup of single-track summits dedicated to specific communities. The 2008 lineup includes the return of the Serious Games Summit, the Independent Games Summit and the Casual Games Summit. New to the schedule this year are the Game Outsourcing Summit, pioneered in 2006 at the GDC's successful standalone summit in Los Angeles, and the Worlds In Motion Summit, focusing on the intersection between games and online worlds. The standalone GDC Mobile event continues as well, as a dedicated conference with breakout sessions.

Community interaction before, during, and after the GDC is also being emphasized through new offerings including the myGDC social networking features on GDConf.com launching in early November. All registered conference attendees will be able to create, search and share profiles; connect and collaborate with other GDC attendees; and continue the networking long after the show. In addition to these virtual enhancements, conference attendees will also gain more onsite face-to-face time with this year's new option to purchase hourly attendee meeting rooms at the conference, for a more professional and distraction-free pitch or business meeting.

More than 16,000 game industry professionals will convene during GDC and, as such, intuitive access is another priority for the conference. GDC passes are therefore now being divided into five easily navigable categories. The All Access Pass offers entry into all GDC offerings including lectures, panels, roundtables, keynotes, tutorials, summits like the Serious Games Summit, and even the standalone GDC Mobile conference. The Main Conference pass gives attendees access to the GDC's lectures, panels, roundtables, and keynotes. The Summits and Tutorials pass allows entrance into the entire summit lineup listed above, as well as the GDC's popular technical one- and two-day tutorials. There are also Expo Passes for those who want to peruse the expo floor only without attending any of the GDC's editorial content, and a GDC Mobile pass for entry into that conference exclusively. Details, prices and registration for all passes are available now at www.gdconf.com.

A three day conference to be held in the UK starting April 19th, Women in Games is having a conference to discuss new platforms, players, and opinions the future in gaming.

Women in Games is an annual conference with the distinct aim of highlighting the most recent, groundbreaking work in computer game research and development to both academic and industrial worlds. It has consistently addressed the empowerment and professional development for women working in, and researching into, games and the games industry."

Rounding out the speaker list is Sharon Knight (EA's Europe Online VP), Raina Lee (publisher and editor of 1-Up), Kotaku (and the Beeb's) Alice Taylor and a very interesting doctor named Mary Flanagan who researches systems to educate women and minorities in particular.

Men invited, communal hair-braiding optional. Kim Phu

Women in Games Conference 2007 [Women in Games International]

Nottingham, famous for men in tights, is now about to be famous (in the circles that count, of course) for something else: videogame cultural celebration. Yes! Why rob the rich and give to the poor when you could be in a videogames-themed pub quiz with the luscious Lorne Lanning and infamous Ian Livingstone?

GameCity is a new festival starting in two weeks in Nottingham, England. The organisers have chosen to go the cosy route: there are game rants held over curry and poppadums, and cake-and-tea parties (Sonic's birthday party), pub quizzes, plus industry giants dropping by to talk up their new stuff - hell, I'll just list a few choice topics from the long and sparkling list:

• 
  
• Grumpy Old Games Industry
  
  Live Moaning in an Indian Restaurant, with Ian Livingstone, Dave Doak and Andrew Eades moaning at Keith Stuart from the Guardian Games Blog.
• Richard Jacques Live at St Mary's
  
  Legendary SEGA composer plays his greatest hits candle-lit in a 14th Century Church.
• 
  [Can you say OMG? -A]
• Lorne Lanning: The Appetite for Escape
  
  Oddworld visionary has some VERY exciting news to break, say the organisers...
• 
  Everybody Dies
  
  The lads from Introversion, makers of Darwinia, on their new game DefCon.
• 
  

Did I mention the fest is being opened by Lord Puttnam, our videogame-playing aristo? Jack Thompson can continue with his red-faced, spittle-spraying invective, but over the pond they're probably playing GTA in Buck Palace, by now. Go get on up to Nottingham, and have some fun. Alice Taylor

GameCity: Nottingham's Celebrity-Laden Game Fest.

Presidential hopeful Mark Warner recently held a press conference in the MySpace of MMOs, Second Life. The coverage of the event was decidedly subdued, and I've seen very little followup worth reporting.

Except, of course, for the article from which the following excerpt is plucked. Surprise surprise, all did not go as planned. Uninvited attendees were removed from the premises while shouting slogans about freedom and democracy; the invited reporters, fresh from Help Island, couldn't figure out how to use the provided chairs; and once the impertinent questions from the same reporters were silence by the moderator, the former quickly became restless and took matters into their own hands, making this the most entertaining political debate since the word "internets" was coined.

One reporter was a green Incredible Hulk type, one was a series of tubes, another was a knight with feathers in the helmet, still another carried a balloon proclaiming "Stop Slavery," and several turned themselves into buxom blondes. Warner chose a dark jacket and tan slacks.

[...]

The avatars became bored. Whirling Eddy and the tube guy began to fly. Others joined the governor on the stage or made some of the "gestures" in the program, such as muscle-flexing, yawning, rock-scissors-paper and a spanking gesture called "kmb" — kiss my butt.

After fending off the questions with increasing ferocity, moderator Hamlet Au pronounced the governor a virtual success. "You've performed quite well, sir," he said. "You are not a noob."

Eliza Gauger

edit: I updated with a new photo, which I graciously stole from Joystiq. Observe the Series of Tubes in the second row.

Do You Have a Question, Pixeleen Minstral? [Washington Post, via GamePolitics]

Harmonix's Josh Randall sends word that he will be delivering a keynote at the upcoming Cybersonica conference in London this weekend.

Randall will be talking about Interactive Music for the Masses.

"Josh Randall will discuss his experience at Harmonix Music, from the company's origins as a funky interactive music startup, to its growth into North America's leading music game studio. He'll trace the development of their award-winning music games Frequency, Amplitude, Karaoke Stage, and Guitar Hero, and discuss how teams of artists, designers, coders, and musicians all worked together to create these groundbreaking musical game experiences. He'll look at some of the pitfalls of designing interactive music products for a mass audience and describe lessons learned from over 6 years of music game development.

He'll discuss the role of creative expression within the game space, and how new interfaces and controllers are changing the way we interact with our music and TV's. Music gaming is bringing more and more people together every day, so what is the social impact of these games? Let's peer into the future of music gaming, and ponder what might be coming next."

Sounds interesting, on the off chance someone is going, take notes and pictures so we can pretend we were there. —Brian Crecente

I'll be there through Thursday night and looking at my schedule, it doesn't look like I'm going to have much free time on my hands. I'll make sure to live blog as many keynotes as possible. Of course, I'll also be updating the site throughout the day.

Stay tuned for all of the breaking news, excited speeches and interesting conversations.

Here's the official highlights list from the show, what would you like me to go cover from the list?

Monday
GDC Mobile - Keynote
Monday, March 20, 9:15am to 10:15am
Featuring: Mitch Lasky, Senior VP of EA Mobile, formerly CEO of Jamdat
Location: Fairmont Hotel

Serious Games Summit - Keynote
Monday, March 20, 9:00am to 10:00am
Featuring: Philip Rosedale, Founder & CEO of Linden Lab - the 3D virtual world company behind Second Life
Location: Marriott Hotel

Game Connection - Developer & Publisher Business Development Matchmaking Event
Monday - Tuesday, March 20-21, 9:00am to 5:00pm
Location: Fairmont Hotel

Tuesday
Press Preview
6:00pm to 8:00pm
Location: Blossom Hill Rooms at the San Jose Marriott

East Meets West Reception
8:00pm to 10:00pm
Location: The Vault Ultra Lounge, 81 S. Santa Clara Street

Wednesday
What's Next Panel
Wednesday, March 22, 9:00am to 10:00am
Featuring: Jamil Moledina, Masaya Matsuura, David Perry, Louis Castle,
Mark Cerny,
Cyrus Lum

Successful Outsourcing on AAA Games - A Case Study of Forza Motorsport
Wednesday, March 22, 9:00am to 10:00am
Featuring: Rajesh Rao, John Wendl, Nick Dimitrov

Sex in Games: The Exciting Evolution of Adult Content
Wednesday, March 22, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Featuring: Brenda Brathwaite

Experimental Gameplay Workshop
Wednesday, March 22, 2:30pm to 4:30pm
Featuring: Jonathon Blow

Independent Games Festival Pavilion
11:30am to 6:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center - Main Concourse

Graphic Impact Art Gallery
11:30am to 6:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center - Main Concourse

Platform Keynote: PlayStation 3: Beyond the Box
10:30am to 11:30am
Featuring: Phil Harrison, President, Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium - Across the street from SJCC

Vision Keynote: Building a Better Battlestar
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Featuring: Ronald P. Moore, Creator and Producer, Battlestar Galactica
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium - Across the street from SJCC

GDC Expo Booth Crawl
5:00pm to 6:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center

Nominee Reception
5:30pm to 6:30pm
Purpose: Meet the nominees of the IGF & Choice Awards and other VIPs
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium - Across the street from SJCC

Game Developers Choice Awards & Independent Games Festival Awards
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium - Across the street from SJCC

Thursday
Designing Tabula Rasa: Lessons from the World of MMOs
Thursday, March 23, 9:00am to 10:00am
Featuring: Richard Garriott

The Game Design Challenge: The Nobel Peace Prize
Thursday, March 23, 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Featuring: Cliff Bleszinski, Harvey Smith, Keita Takahashi, Eric Zimmerman

Independent Games Festival Pavilion
11:30am to 6:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center - Main Concourse

Graphic Impact Art Gallery
11:30am to 6:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center - Main Concourse

Platform Keynote: Disrupting Development
10:30am - 11:30am
Featuring: Satoru Iwata, President, Nintendo Co., Ltd
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium - Across the street from SJCC

Game Design Keynote: What's Next in Game Design
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Featuring: Will Wright, Chief Designer, Maxis
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium - Across the street from SJCC

Graphic Impact Competition - Awards Reception
7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: Fairmont Hotel - Club Regent

Friday
What's Next in Digital Distribution and Mainstream Games
Friday, March 24, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Featuring: Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka, Gabe Newell, Greg Canessa, Lars
Brubaker,
Thomas Arundel

LucasArts and ILM: A Case Study of the Convergence of Game & Film
Friday, March 24, 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Featuring: Steve Sullivan, Chris Williams

Main Conference
8:00am to 5:00pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center

GDC Expo
11:30am to 3:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center - Main Concourse

Independent Games Festival Pavilion
11:30am to 3:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center - Main Concourse

Graphic Impact Art Gallery
11:30am to 3:30pm
Location: San Jose Convention Center - Main Concourse

Video Games Live
8:00pm
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium

The Women's Game Conference is only in its second year and the annual gathering is already courting controversy.

Brenda Brathwaite, host of this year's Sexuality in Games roundtable and author of Sex in Video Games (as well as a hell of a game designer), plans to deliver a "compelling, adults-only" talk on sex and games at the conference in Austin.

It sounds like the talk will touch on everything from MUD flirting to teledildonics. The conference, which runs from Oct. 26 to Oct. 27, will also include a slew of other well-known women connected to the industry including Nicole Willick of Activision, Tracey Rosenthal-Newsom of Harmonix and members of Clan PMS and Frag Dolls.

Women's Game Conference [Official Site]

More details are emerging on what is shaping to be the gaming event of the Summer. The Leipziger Game Developers Conference, which runs from Aug. 16 to the 21 in Germany, could well be host to a bunch of stunning announcements. First were the rumors that the Xbox 360's price and date would be announced, now comes word that Nintendo will be on hand to "expand the definition of gaming."

It also sounds like King Kong may be playable at the event. Any German Kotaku readers out there who happen to be attending the event, feel free to shoot me some dispatches and I'll post them up.

GC Germany [Official Site]