[Image: Kriegspiel by RSG; design by Mushon Zer-Aviv] IEEE Games Innovation Conference 2009 :: August 25-28, 2009 :: Imperial College, De Montfort University, South Kensington Campus Imperial College Exhibition Road, London, United Kingdom :: Call for submissions — Deadline: April 10, 2009.

The International IEEE Consumer Electronics Society’s Games Innovations Conference 2009 (ICE-GIC 09) aims to be a platform for innovative research in games technologies and to make these technologies more accessible to academia and industry. Areas of interest of ICE-CIG 2009 include, but not limited to: Designing for mixed-reality gaming.

Screen cultures to date have been dominated both by narrative and by its modes of framing. Dispersed modes of gaming interaction raise a series of questions about emergent new media forms, particularly in relation to an audience’s changing modes of participation and reception. The convergence of mobile technologies and pervasive computing methods are creating a world where information-rich layers can be mapped directly onto urban topologies. This opens up a series of interrogations around changing concepts of space and place and new perceptions of urban space for games designers. The blurring of the boundaries between physical and virtual demands a new theory-base to explain our changing concepts of the “real”, and, with the growth of hybrid environments, the concomitant changes in user engagement and behaviour patterns. The nature of audience interaction is responding to a socio-cultural dynamic that, although yet far from being quantified, demonstrates both a desire for a greater degree of ‘participation’ (evidenced in popular broadcast television e.g. Big Brother and its interactive outlets) and in the meteoric expansion of social networking on sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Where both these participatory and networking imperatives meet with pervasive media, an emergent games practice is developing, which is pushing at the boundaries of these technologies.

Papers and proposals in this stream may consider any aspect of the contribution of mixed-reality games innovations and technologies development, and will be considered in 4 categories. Papers and proposals may cover, but are not limited to, the following –

* Original uses of location in mixed-reality gaming environments
* Experimental/creative uses of games for hybrid environments
* Exploration of games tools, which enhance mixed reality gaming
* Evaluation of structuring and conceptual models and techniques for supporting mixed-reality games innovations

Call for Papers and Proposals

Paper Presentations: Papers must be submitted as per the conference guidelines for research papers. Presentations will be a maximum duration of 30 minutes and must include an opportunity for audience questions.

Panel Discussions: panels may comprise a chair and up to 4 members. Panels must comprise a brief introduction to the core theme by the chair, and introduction of members (including a biography). The chair will moderate the discussion, which will last one hour, including an opportunity for questions from the audience. Proposals must identify panel members on submission.

Workshops/Tutorials: Workshops/tutorials will focus on some aspect of production for game development. Workshop/tutorial durations may be 2 or 3 hours long and proposals must identify the aims and objectives of the session, the nature of activity and type of equipment, including any software that will be supplied and/or required for use in the workshop. Copyright permission for software or other content use in the workshop/tutorial is a prerequisite for submission in this category and any approvals should also be identified in the proposal.

Screenings (Curated and Non-Curated): screenings that illustrate some aspect of novel use of games tools, which might be of interest to games developers. (please contact mrieser@dmu.ac.uk to discuss). Proposals should include 2 screenshots , a brief overview of the area of interest and a synopsis of the screening including run time, games environment and other production tools used. Proposals accepted in this category will be required to provide full production team details.