Reminder: 24 Hours To Early Register For GDC Europe

Author: by Staff

With just a day until the July 21st midnight EDT early reg deadline, GDC Europe organizers have announced major talks on Limbo, Guild Wars 2 and Kane & Lynch 2 at next month's Cologne, Germany-based game conference. Coming shortly after the Guerrilla Games/Killzone 3 keynote, these new talks are confirmed for the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe event, which will take place August 16th-18th, and is located in Cologne, Germany alongside GamesCom, the leading European trade and consumer show. The newly announced GDC Europe lectures arriving just before the early registration deadline include the following notables: - In 'Limbo: Balancing Fun and Frustration in Puzzle Design', Playdead's Jeppe Carlsen focuses on the acclaimed Xbox Live Arcade title Limbo, discussing "creating an immersive game experience that is challenging to players without being discouraging." Along the way, he'll explore "relevant design principles using concrete examples from the game, focusing on considerations in the areas of accessibility, difficulty, learning by dying, and fun." - IO Interactive art director Rasmus Poulsen is speaking on 'Art Direction in the YouTube Era', discussing how he and his colleagues approached the distinctive look to the Square Enix-published console title Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. The game takes an alternative, documentary film-inspired look to visuals, and the description notes that "as the gaming industry continues to follow the trend of hi-fidelity graphics to convey realism, an exploration to find what ‘real’ is sparked a fresh artistic vision" for the title. - 'Designing Guild Wars 2 Dynamic Events' features the much-awaited ArenaNet MMO's lead designer Eric Flannum and lead content designer Colin Johanson outlining how the core content of games in the MMORPG genre has evolved over time. They "will discuss the inspiration for and the implementation challenges of their Dynamic Events system, with the goal of creating an exciting, living, breathing online world that encourages social interaction between players." In addition, GDC Europe organizers are presenting 'Focus Russia', presenting up-and-coming regions or countries that are important for the worldwide game industry. During the show, organizers will hold two workshops to analyze the current changes in the Russian market, present important players and trends as well as new business concepts and opportunities for cooperation. These latest announcements are part of a large GDC Europe line-up that includes a Rare-helmed lecture on Microsoft's Kinect, the BioWare co-founders on the Baldur's Gate franchise, a lecture from Another World creator Eric Chahi on his new title Project Dust, an ESA/G.A.M.E. panel on government intervention in games, and a Heavy Rain production talk. Also added are lectures and panels from Remedy art director Saku Lehtinen on Alan Wake, Ensemble co-founder Bruce Shelley on creating a design proposal, a keynote from Chinese online game powerhouse Tencent, significant lectures from Quantic Dream's David Cage, InstantAction's Lou Castle, and the creators of Crysis 2, and other lectures and keynotes from Sony, Playdom, and German gaming powerhouse Bigpoint (Battlestar Galactica MMO). The conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, aims to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals. The event will run alongside the major GamesCom event, to which free access is available for non-student GDC Europe passholders. With just one day to go until the early registration deadline, more information on GDC Europe, for which reduced price registration is in place until July 21st -- visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.