Round Up: Slamdance Deadline, Digital Advertising, Limelight Live

Today's round-up includes news of an extension to the deadline for the Slamdance GGC, the unveiling of Microsoft's Digital Advertising Solutions, and an extension of the partnership between Microsoft and Limelight Networks for Xbox Live, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - The organizers of Slamdance, one of the "alternative" independent film festivals in Park City, Utah alongside the better-known Sundance festival, have announced that the deadline for submissions for the show's 2006 Guerilla Gamemaker Competition has been extended until October 6. The Slamdance festival will run from January 19-27 in Park City, Utah as well as Salt Lake City alongside the more well known Sundance festival. Competition finalists will be announced in December, and will have their games shown at the Games Venue during the Slamdance Film Festival. The GGC features several award categories, including a Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, and two awards recognizing student achievement in Art and Technology. - Microsoft representatives have confirmed plans to unveil the company's Digital Advertising Solutions during this week's annual Advertising Week 2006 event. According to the major technology company, the solution “combines the company’s broad set of global advertising products and services into a unified offering for advertisers.” In essence, Digital Advertising Solutions is Microsoft's way of connecting advertisers with a target audience across a range of devices, including PCs, Xbox consoles, web-enabled mobile phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). “As today’s consumers spend more and more time online across various digital devices like mobile phones and video games, advertisers are finding they can no longer reach their entire target audience by advertising on a single medium,” commented Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president of global sales and marketing and chief media revenue officer at Microsoft. “Microsoft is uniquely positioned because of our extensive global audience, high level of consumer engagement, and engaging ad opportunities across Microsoft’s platform to connect advertisers with a million different audiences of one. We’re addressing the reality of media fragmentation and enabling advertisers to get back to what they do best: creating engaging and creative ads.” - Content delivery network provider Limelight Networks announced that it has renewed its partnership with Microsoft as the content delivery network for Xbox Live. Under the agreement, Limelight Networks and Microsoft will continue to work together on the popular online service, which includes online games, content and downloads from Microsoft and leading game developers via the Xbox Live Markerplace. "Since we began partnering with Limelight one year ago, the Limelight network has confirmed its solid reputation for fast, reliable delivery of rich digital content, ensuring that our customers have a superior online entertainment experience," says Ernie Chen, Xbox Live operations program manager at Microsoft. "The Limelight platform clearly supports the needs of Xbox Live subscribers today, and can scale with Xbox Live as we continue our rapid growth." - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a collection of pictures taken at a recent concert at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, an interview with Lexaloffle's Joseph White, and a recent letter from Montreal-based indie developers. - News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Game Career Guide includes news of a masters program for game design and development at the Rochester Institute of Technology. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Activision / Infinity Ward, BioWare, Concrete Games, Crystal Dynamics, Dynamic Animation Systems, LucasArts, Perpetual Entertainment, Riot Games, Vivendi Games.