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LG Event Showcases Opening of LG G5 Ecosystem to Developers

Paul Philleo
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LG Event Showcases Opening of LG G5 Ecosystem to Developers

LG Electronics has opened the new LG G5, inviting developers to learn about the modular design smartphone and companion devices as an invitation to develop within the LG5 ecosystem. At LG’s fourth annual LG Developer Event, hosted on Friday, April 15 in San Francisco, attendees learned some data points about new software development kit and hardware development kit, as well as from partner companies showcasing a range of hardware, platforms and/or ideas.

The Friday evening event was emceed by Mario Tapia, president of Mobile Monday Silicon Valley and mobile industry pundit, and included “keynote presentations from LG executives involved in LG G5’s product development, SDK and HDK partners, technical demonstrations and breakout sessions. Developers will also learn how to create their own camera control apps for the new LG 360 CAM and LG 360 VR viewer and also learn more about Google’s Open Spherical Camera API,” according to a press release in advance of the event.

Additional event speakers also covered the Alcacruz VR content development and distribution platform and Parrot drone control (hint: the smartphone).

The Future of VR

With gamers and new technology specifically in mind, arguably the most thought-provoking talk at the event would be the intensive virtual reality predictions talk authored by LG’s chief research and virtual reality evangelist Albert Park. Park focused on only the fast-moving recent past of VR, from 2013 to 2016, beginning with the shipping of the Oculus DK1 model a few years ago to current-day VR hardware launches.

What’s more interesting is where Park gazes into the crystal ball for VR and augmented reality, to as far as forward as 10 years from now (2026). While he presented an exhaustive set of slides covering field of view predictions, input predictions and display resolution predictions, his summary slides cover the arc where he projects virtual reality to head to in the near science fiction-future.

For 2016, Park sees it as the start of the early adoption of virtual reality, starting with gamers and adult content providers. The early adopters become an early majority in 2018, as developers expand content into education, research and treatment. On the experience side, developers are predicted to add eye-tracking atop touch and traditional hand-based control mechanisms, with higher resolution experiences on PC/console.

The third generation (2021) of VR will add cinematic, social and productivity content in its early majority status, according to Park, as the content reaches higher fidelity on all platforms and includes facial; and hand tracking to forms of user input. The fourth generation of VR, in the hazy and futuristic world, of 2026, will see the late adopters of the majority take on the technology, as full immersion and incredibly high resolutions are achieved. AR, Park predicts, will take off in this generation of VR, too. Not the HoloLens version or the phone digital projection versions of it either, but something closer to the translucent holographic projections atop reality imagined in the 2002 science fiction thriller “Minority Report.”

Not everyone agreed with all the predictions, but you have to admire the boldness of anyone willing to predict the long-term technical and market changes in a relatively new tech sector like modern VR.

Summary of the Event

Overall, my best guess was that about 200 to 250 attended the event at the sprawling Village venue along the bustling Market Street in San Francisco, which is impressive given the changes to the event this year.

In the past, LG’s developer event was tethered to the Android developer-centric Google I/O conference in San Francisco (now moved south to Mountain View). This year, it was held about a month earlier, closer to the LG5 phone launch, and apart from any conference, and yet did not seem to lose any interest from attendees.

Part of the reason why the event was well-attended, even on a Friday night and even with an upfront charge to attend, had to be in part because of the expected developer hardware giveaway at the end of the evening, which is part of the tradition of this particular developer event. The press release accurately tipped LG’s hand of a “sweet, picture-perfect surprise,” the LG 360 Camera accessory.

Since “LG Friends” was a key focus of this event, you may want to keep an eye on the soon-to-be-launched marketplace for LG G5 companion hardware, www.LGFriends.com.

For more news from, and for developers with an eye on LG platforms, visit developer.lge.com. This is also the site to watch when watching out for future events. Given the apparent evangelical success of this event to developers and other interested folks in San Francisco, there’s no reason not to expect another LG developer event in 2017.

Experiential Technology and NeuroGaming Conference & Expo Returns to San Francisco

Paul Philleo
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Experiential Technology and NeuroGaming Conference & Expo Returns to San Francisco

Virtual reality, augmented reality and internet of things definitely commands the headlines these days. But, “neurogaming” has also had its share of hype over the years. Involving other highly hyped concepts such as wearables, VR, AR and IoT, neurogaming is not benefited or beset by a flood of conferences and events.

So, the Experiential Technology and NeuroGaming Conference & Expo is fortunate to stand out as relatively unique in its space. Previous attendees might note the change of the event’s name; as it has enlarged its reach to encompass more concepts, the “Neurogaming Conference” moniker has been dropped to reflect the broader reach of concepts beyond neurogaming alone.

Zack Lynch, conference chair, author and neurotech visionary, adds his thoughts from the official press release:

“We are bringing together the innovators driving the future of experiential technology who are using VR and AR infused neuroscience to impact everything from health to entertainment. This year we’ll explore how XTech is impacting multiple $100 billion industries, creating entirely new markets such as digital therapeutics, neurowellness, accelerated learning and experiential entertainment.”

Organized in conjunction with JAZZ Venture Partners, the 2016 edition of the hackathon, conference and expo “bundle” should benefit from its uniqueness. Now in its fourth iteration, the annual conference and expo focused on the convergence of emerging digital platforms informed by advances in neuroscience.  The event zeroes in on the impact of new experiential technologies on health, wellness, learning, training, sports and entertainment — which, of course, includes gaming.

The two-day main conference, to be held May 17-18, 2016, will bring together more than 50 CEOs, executives and industry experts to share ideas, network and showcase products. Among the products to be demoed include PlayStation VR, Emotiv and other products. A highlighted sample from the press release includes the following speakers and ideas:

This year’s line-up of expert talks and panels will explore a range of topics, such as Digital Reality (AR, VR, MR) Platform for the Masses, XTech for Peak Athletic Performance, Experiential Entertainment: Full Immersion, Emotional Analytics: Coding and Decoding Experiences, Digital Therapeutics: Healing the Mind, and Think 2.0: Cognitive NeuroGaming. Full lists of speakers and panels are posted on the website, but highlights will include:

Tim Ferriss, Bestselling Author of the 4 Hour Workweek on high performance living and unlocking human potential
Richard Marks, Director, PlayStation Magic Lab — Sony Interactive Entertainment on how new experiential technologies are shaping the future of entertainment
Rosalind Picard, Director, Affective Computing Research Group — MIT on the potential of neural plasticity and its application to learning and well being
Andy Walshe, Head of Human Performance, RedBull Stratos on XTech applications for peak athletic performance
David Eagleman, PhD, Bestselling Author, Host of PBS series BRAIN; Director Laboratory for Perception and Action, Baylor on the potential of neural plasticity on human performance
Tom Insel, Director of Clinical Neuroscience, Verily and former Director of NIMH on leveraging digital technologies and game mechanics to heal the mind
Amy Kruse, VP & CTO, Cubic Global Defense on XTech for accelerated learning and competitive advantage

Poster sessions will be shown on May 17th, to highlight ideas from the academic field. Immediately ahead of the conference, though, a hackathon aiming to turn ideas into action amongst makers, developers, and more kicks off on May 14-15th, hosted at Pivotal Labs.

In the event (see what I did there?) you want just the gist of the news, the Experiential Technology and NeuroGaming Conference and Expo is co-hosted by the human performance technology fund JAZZ Venture Partners and the NIO; the event will take place on May 17-18 at City View at Metreon, located at 135 Fourth St., San Francisco. The XTech & NeuroGaming Hackathon is scheduled for the weekend prior to the main conference on May 14-15 in San Francisco.  For more information, and to register, visit www.XTechExpo.com.

What’s Next for Virtual Reality at Silicon Valley VR Expo 2016

Paul Philleo
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What’s Next for Virtual Reality at Silicon Valley VR Expo 2016

The consumer launches of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR have occurred, so the next set of questions involve what kind of content will emerge on these virtual reality headsets. Furthermore, what might the next generation of hardware bring? Predictions on market potential widely vary, but it’s clear there is a lot of buzz around VR.

The upcoming Silicon Valley VR Expo aims to answer these questions and more. Presented by Silicon Valley Virtual Reality, this three-day conference and expo will take place Wednesday-Friday, April 27–29, 2016, at the San Jose Convention Center.

On the “fun facts” side of Silicon Valley VR Expo, make a mental note (or scribble it down if you want) that there will be 3,000 industry professionals in attendance. Who are these folks? The official press release details those interested in the SVVR Expo: “developers, content creators, industry professionals, game developers, investors, 360 video professionals, researchers, metaverse architects, interaction designers, filmmakers, hardware engineers, 3-D modelers, user-experience designers, marketers and professionals passionate about the future of virtual reality. SVVR Expo 2016 featured sponsors include: NVIDIA, Nokia, Noitom, Oculus VR, Vizuality Studio, Boost VC, High Fidelity, VideoStitch, Virtually Live, AltspaceVR, Sixense, OSVR, VREAL, Samsung and Google.”

Now that we have an idea who’s attending SVVR Expo, what will they have to check out? Over 150 exhibitors will be showing off their technology on the expo floor. Over 200 unique VR demos will showcase new hardware, content and more. The SVVR Expo show floor will feature, according to the press release, “the largest collection of VR companies ever assembled and will represent all categories of VR: gaming, filmmaking, enterprise, medical and fitness, social, health and wellness, and more. The show floor will include hardware, content, applications, B2B technology and more from large companies and startups alike.”

On the conference side, dozens of speakers from many different backgrounds will be sharing their facts and informed opinions about the growth industry that is VR. To follow along as the agenda is added to and finalized: featured speakers will be continuously added to: http://vrexpo.com/2016-speakers-panelists/ and http://vrexpo.com/schedule/.

SVVR Expo pass types (to register: http://vrexpo.com/attend-svvr-2016/):

  • Full Conference Pass ($450): Includes all general admissions sessions, keynote, workshops, expo floor access, plus lunch on April 28 and April 29 and a ticket to the reception

  • VIP/Early Access ($695): Includes early access to show floor (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 27), early access sessions, executive/VIP lunch on April 27 plus all general admissions sessions, keynote, workshops, plus lunch on April 28 and April 29 and a ticket to the reception

  • Friday-Only Expo Pass ($75): Includes access to show floor 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 29; no access to speaker sessions or lunch

Karl Krantz, founder of SVVR, added his context on the role the SVVR Expo plays in the VR business.

“Now is the time for the industry to show the true potential of virtual reality. Not only is VR going to revolutionize the way games and media are experienced in the home, it also has nearly limitless potential to change every industry. That’s what we’re showcasing at SVVR 2016  SVVR Expo is both a platform for industry leaders to connect and share ideas and also a place to discover the next big idea. We’re proud to have established a community dedicated to advancing a healthy, diverse VR ecosystem.”

For more information about SVVR Expo 2016, visit www.vrexpo.com. For additional information about SVVR, visit www.svvr.com.

Warcraft Movie “Secrets” to Be Discussed at PAX East Event

Mathew Anderson
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Warcraft Movie “Secrets” to Be Discussed at PAX East Event

From GameSpot: Warcraft fans looking for the latest news about the upcoming movie will want to pay attention to PAX East next week. It’s been announced that writer/director Duncan Jones and actor Robert Kazinsky (Ogrim) will appear on a panel at the event to discuss “secrets” behind the upcoming movie.

The panel, which is titled “Warcraft: A Look Inside the Upcoming Cinematic Adventure,” will take place on Saturday, April 23, starting at 4 PM EST. The show, held in the Main Theater, is expected to run for an hour.

Read more at GameSpot

GDC: An Old Timer’s Survival Guide

Mathew Anderson
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GDC: An Old Timer’s Survival Guide

From GamesIndustry.biz: First of all, you want to go to GDC. You know you do. And maybe you’re driving toward a milestone, and your studio is in crunch, and you can’t get away, but you know what? Screw that. Happens all the time. You see the people in your studio every day, but you get to see old friends from the industry rarely. You can at least do Wednesday to Friday, and your managers can deal.

“You’ll want to check out the IGF entries. Anything to make yourself believe that the industry isn’t a brain-dead agglomeration of people working on version VI of a franchise, or a clone of something else”

Second, the conference is expensive, no doubt about it. Maybe you got it together to put together a talk proposal, and maybe it was accepted or maybe it wasn’t; or maybe your employer will spring for a full pass. If you get a free pass, of course there will be sessions you want to see. The Experimental Gameplay Workshop, for sure. You’ll want to check out the IGF entries. Anything to make yourself believe that the industry isn’t a brain-dead agglomeration of people working on version VI of a franchise, or a clone of something else, or some VR piece of crap because that’s the new hotness and it’s what the VCs want to see… Certainly you’ll want to avoid anything with “marketing” or “monetization” in the title. And some sessions you can sniff from a mile off; we’ve been on the “story vs. system” debate since the ’80s, and recasting it as “narratology vs ludology” just means the academics have awoken to an ancient argument. The arguments have all been made, no need to hear anyone rehash them. Most sessions are eminently skippable; find the ones that aren’t.

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz

Video of the Month comes from GDC 2016 – VR!

Mathew Anderson
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0
Video of the Month comes from GDC 2016 – VR!

This Video of the Month comes from GDC 2016, showcasing all of the PlayStation VR trailers! Watch now:

New Scholarship Opportunities Open From IGDA and AIAS

Paul Philleo
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New Scholarship Opportunities Open From IGDA and AIAS

In the last week, two new rounds of scholarships for students interested in participating in the game industry have been announced, from two top-tier organizations in the games industry, the International Game Developers Association and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS).

International Game Developers Association

The IGDA Foundation works with several key industry events a year, to help several students gain entry to networking and opportunity-heavy conferences and expos. Most recently, the IGDA Foundation sent a group of scholars to GDC 2016. The scholars stories are collectively told here.

This time, the IGDA has announced it’s sending accepted student applicants to GDC Europe and Gamescom 2016. Applications are open for undergrad students, graduate students and recent graduates (up to 6 months before the conference), until May 31, 2016. Why should this be considered a highly prized opportunity? Accepted student applicants will receive an all-access pass, industry mentorship and Q&A opportunities with leading industry figures.

The IGDA is the largest nonprofit membership organization in the world serving all individuals who create games.

For more details and to go all in to apply, stop by the IGDA Scholarships page.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, which also has a philanthropic arm, the AIAS Foundation, has opened submissions for two of its annual scholarship programs in support of students investing in their future in the interactive entertainment industry. Included in the scholarship programs are opportunities to participate in a yearlong mentorship program, which includes engagement at the D.I.C.E. Summit, GDC and E3:

The two scholarship programs, as described in the official press release:

·         The Randy Pausch Scholarship, which awards two $2,500 scholarships, was established in 2008 to honor the memory of Computer Science Professor and Co-Founder of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, Dr. Randy Pausch. The Pausch Scholarships support students pursuing careers in the development of interactive entertainment, including art, animation, programming, engineering, game design, sound design, and music composition.

 

·         The Mark Beaumont Scholarship, which awards two $2,500 scholarships, was established in 2010 to honor the memory of the previous COO of Capcom North America and Europe, Mark Beaumont. The Beaumont Scholarships support students pursuing careers specializing in the business of interactive entertainment, including management, law, marketing, public relations, and business development.

To see information from past recipients of these scholarships and to peruse some of the success stories, visit this page. For those folks looking ahead to their opportunity, applicants must have a GPA of at least 3.3 and be a full-time student and attend an accredited college or university in the United States during the 2016-2017 academic school year.

From the AIAS website, “The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences was founded in 1996 as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of the interactive arts. The organization has more than 20,000 members.”

For more information about the scholarships, qualifications and application forms, please visit http://www.interactive.org/foundation/scholarships.asp. The deadline to apply is June 30, 2016.

Students: ready, set, go, apply yourself and apply for these opportunities!

Return of the Austin Game Conference

Paul Philleo
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Return of the Austin Game Conference

The Austin Game Conference was started in 2003. It ran under various management teams and identities until 2012, and its loss from the United States’ fourth-largest video game development hub was felt by many in the community and industry. For the last few years, except for the massive catch-all SXSW Interactive mega-event, Austin and its 175 game development studios and thousands of professionals attached to the games industry have been without a traditionally structured sort of flagship conference.

Now, the rumors of the return of the Austin Game Conference have solidified with a formal press release confirming a September 21-22, 2016, event date and return to the Austin Convention Center and a presenting sponsor in Electronic Arts.

The Austin Game Conference has been rebooted by its original founder, Executive Director Chris Sherman, with Running Live: Game Development Evolved,” as the conference theme, which aims to offer “critical insight into the development of live, participatory games with real-time engagement between developers, players and spectators.”

“With the help of a cross-section of the development community, we’re off to a tremendous start in programming Austin Game Conference 2016 as the preeminent event for professionals in all phases of live, online game development,” Sherman said in a press release. “Whether you’re already pushing the envelope or eager to begin engineering, programming and designing leading-edge games — particularly always-on, run-live, play-live games — and crave new ideas and from innovators, technology vanguard and creative masters, the Austin Game Conference is for you.”

For the (as many as) 1,000 attendees expected to attend, they can expect an expo show floor and conference content  tracks to cover design, business/production/live, virtual reality (VR/AR) and audience participation (streaming and eSports).

Conference co-chairs and advisory board (listed in bullet points) are as follows.

Art & Craft Entertainment Inc. President Gordon Walton and BattleCry Studios Executive Producer/President Rich Vogel, in addition to a talented advisory board of game development community leaders including:

Registration for the Austin Game Conference 2016 is now open at http://AustinGameCon.com/register/. Super Early registration before July 29 is $249. A limited number of student tickets are available for $149. Group discounts are available as well.

It’ll be interesting to see if the 2016 Austin Game Conference recaptures the sentiment, attention, value and local flavor that was missed after its exit from the event calendar.  However, with a well-known and well-connected advisory board and a reasonable target for attendee numbers, this event may have a chance to return in strong form.

NVIDIA GTC 2016 Preview for Gamers

Paul Philleo
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NVIDIA GTC 2016 Preview for Gamers

NVIDIA has come a long way from the days of being the “gaming graphics card company,” after it unseated then acquired rival 3dfx, around the turn of the millennium. Nowhere is this clearer than NVIDIA’S own ecosystem conference, GPU Technology Conference (GTC 2016), which focuses on a diverse array of topics, like internet of things, deep learning, computational physics, augmented reality and virtual reality, and of course, game development. NVIDIA addresses these topics through the lens of its own technologies, embedded and discrete chips and virtualized cloud computing. Some of NVIDIA’s most high-impact, splashy announcements still directly affect gamers and the kind of hardware they visualize their games with, on both the software and hardware side. What kind of news, for gamers, might there be to watch for?

Pascal-Based Graphics Card

One of the biggest expected highlights (but not confirmed) is an announcement by NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang during the Tuesday morning keynote, of the long-awaited Pascal GPU architecture in a flagship graphics card product. In other words, a pricey but powerful graphics card with a lot of new capabilities for high-end gaming needs may not be far around the corner.

For the full list of known Pascal capabilities and comparisons against other chipsets, this article on WCCF Tech covers the gamut of specs.

VR

VR (and AR, too) is getting a spotlight at most technology-oriented conferences this year, so why not at GTC 2016, too? Full-featured virtual reality requires a lot of capability under the PC hood to run, and evolving hardware and software requirements for VR will likely keep it that way.

NVIDIA has highlighted eight virtual reality startups to be featured at the first VR Showcase to lead off the daylong startups-focused Emerging Companies Summit, which is embedded within the GTC event. Among these companies is Sixense Entertainment, which develops solutions for full-body immersion in virtual worlds, through 3-D modeling. Another with a gaming tilt is DeepStream VR, a company that has created an escapist and immersive virtual world for patients dealing with pain to do without drugs.

Bonus round: Here’s a few of the sessions from the dedicated 45 talk-strong VR track in the schedule NVIDIA has highlighted for GTC 2016.

Vulkan API and Games

Prominent within GTC 2016’s game development and real-time graphics tracks are talks focused on the impact of the recently launched 1.0 version of the Khronos Group Vulkan graphics and compute API standard. In a nutshell, Vulkan is a high-level, low-overhead cross-platform API designed to compete with OpenGL. Vulkan has quickly found early adoption among many game developers and hardware manufacturers, NVIDIA included. As NVIDIA states in a blog post, gamers should care about this new standard, because:

Vulkan’s low latency and high-efficiency lets developers add more details and more special effects to their games, while still maintaining great performance. Because a Vulkan driver is thinner with less overhead, application developers will get fewer performance surprises. This translates to smoother, more fluid experiences.

GTC 2016 will feature an array of Vulkan talks, covering, among other topics, an API overview and rendering techniques, since low-overhead rendering is one of the main benefits of putting the Vulkan API to use.

There’s certain to be much more to talk about from GTC 2016 over the next week and beyond, so be sure to follow Events for Gamers’ coverage on the website or social media for more news from NVIDIA’s conference!

Oculus Powers Up Launch Pad Program

Paul Philleo
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Oculus Powers Up Launch Pad Program

Oculus, one of the early industry leaders in virtual reality, also appears to want to take an early lead in creating a broad spectrum of pioneers in VR development. The Facebook-owned VR company quietly rolled out a program based on the premise that “VR is for everyone, and the best way to foster a widely appealing breadth of content is to incorporate the full range of unique perspectives from our development community.”

The program seeks to create a class of 100 VR content-creating professionals, including “women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community and anyone who is willing to share how their perspective adds to the ‘diversity of thought’ in our community.”

Launch Pad Bootcamp

The program begins with an event, the Launch Pad Bootcamp at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Those selected to participate will receive a Samsung Gear VR headset and access to hands-on courses gained from being admitted to the bootcamp, plus a $1,000 travel stipend and meals. Beyond the bootcamp, from May 21 through August 27, online support and mentorship will be offered to help build upon their VR ideas while scholarships of $5,000 to $50,000 may be extended to leaders in the program, to realize their VR content creation ideations.

Afterwards, some of the best and brightest may be asked to return to the program in future years to mentor up-and-coming VR professionals.

Oculus and VR

For now, VR is a relatively blank slate with a multibillion dollar market potential to grow into, with this year representing the first major launches of full-feature VR hardware and the first AAA-label games being rolled out. The Oculus Rift VR headset has just launched to Kickstarter backers first, with waves of further rollouts to come.

Some prominent women from the game development business have said the point to begin with is with the VR industry recognizing the need for diversity and creativity. It appears that Launch Pad is the type of step toward early inclusiveness Oculus is taking.

Keep in mind the deadline to apply is until April 8, 2016, and is, based on follow-up comments from staff, open to U.S. applicants only. For all the background and details on the Launch Pad program, Oculus’ official post is here.

April 2016 Game Industry Events Calendar

Mathew Anderson
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April 2016 Game Industry Events Calendar

To help you plan attendance for this month’s game industry conferences, conventions, festivals and other events, we post a consolidated list of events each month. View the complete April event list below!

April 2016 Game Industry Events Calendar:

Click here for the main calendar view.

April 1-3: Girl Gamer Gathering (Ontario, Canada)
April 1-10: London Games Festival (London, UK)
April 3: Albany To Show (Albany, USA)
April 4-5: Unite Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
April 4-7: GPU Technology Conference (San Joe, USA)
April 7: EGX Rezzed (London, UK)
April 7: British Academy Games Awards (London, UK)
April 7-8: Unite Seoul (Seoul, South Korea)
April 8-9: Game Dev Days (Tallinn, Estonia)
April 8-10: ATRLAN (Troy, NY)
April 9: Sacramento Indie Arcade Gaming Expo (Sacramento, CA)
April 8-10: Nordic Game Jam (Sweden)
April 11-12: Unite Shanghai (Shanghai, China)
April 12-13: MGF Asia (Hong Kong, China)
April 13-14: European eSports Conference (London, UK)
April 14: Launch (Birmingham, UK)
April 16-17: WEGAME (Kyiv, Ukraine)
April 18: G4C – Games and Media Summit (New York, USA)
April 18-20: Quo Vadis (Berlin, Germany)
April 18-23: Play by Play (Wellington, New Zealand)
April 19: LA Games Conference (Los Angeles, USA)
April 19: East Coast Game Conference (Raleigh, USA)
April 21: EVE Fanfest (Reykjavik, Iceland)
April 22-24: PAX East (Boston, USA)
April 22-24: HavenCon (Austin, USA)
April 24-26: Ottawa International Game Conference (Ottawa, Canada)
April 26-29: FMX (Ludwigsburg, Germany)
April 27-28: Gaming Analytics Summit (San Francisco, USA)
April 27-28: Samsung Developers Conference (San Francisco, USA)
April 27-29: Silicon Valley Virtual Reality (San Jose, USA)
April 28-30: Reboot Develop (Podstrana, Croatia)
April 29-1: IndieCade East (New York, USA)
April 30: Vector (Richmond, USA)

The calendar moving into the year really begins to build up the event count!

This list is obtained from the main calendar. Did we miss an event? Let us know!

Steve Wozniak’s Silicon Valley Comic Con Attracts Almost 60,000 Attendees

Paul Philleo
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0
Steve Wozniak’s Silicon Valley Comic Con Attracts Almost 60,000 Attendees

Go big or go home, the saying goes. The Silicon Valley Comic Con (SVCC) decided to go big before sending the last of the whopping 60,000 attendees home at the end of last weekend. Now, that may not be a lot to the likes of a comic con kingpin like the 130,000 attendee-strong San Diego Comic-Con, but for year one in San Jose, it’s a record setter. SVCC became the largest event ever held at the San Jose Convention Center and became the largest comic con in Northern California. Not bad for one weekend (and a Friday night). SVCC brought in science and fiction, featuring celebrities, science, tech and gaming discussions and panels, expo space with the familiar comic book vendors, artists, collectibles — plus, Silicon Valley-friendly VR and app developer spaces, too.

The event was arguably a victim of its own success in some ways, with long registration lines and densely coiled and sometimes indistinguishable lines of VIP and general attendees, waiting for the keynotes, in particular the “Back to the Future” panel. Still, it’s easy to make the the case it’s far better better to suffer from first year logistical hiccups from a crush of attendees versus a void of interest. Organizers, however, seem very pleased with the enthusiasm for the event.

“We couldn’t be happier with the turnout at our first Silicon Valley Comic Con—from passionate fans to engaging exhibits and talks,” said founder Steve Wozniak. “Version 2.0 in 2017 will be even better!”

Going into the highlights from SVCC, across the show, as neatly summarized in their press release:

Marquee events included the first North American reunion of the cast of  “Back to the Future,” “An Evening with William Shatner,” which included a spontaneous discussion with Steve Wozniak (a.k.a. Woz) about science and philosophy, and a fireside chat between the Woz and the founder and creator of Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey. Additional packed events included “Let’s Go to Mars!” which featured “The Martian” author Andy Weir, NASA’s Chris McKay and “MythBuster’s” Adam Savage, [X] Labs head Astro Teller and medical researcher turned author Danielle Teller with “Superbabies vs A.I.,” “Rockstars of the Internet” brought out social media superstars  Alx James, Brizzy Voices and Mamrie Hart and fan Q&As were held with Stan Lee, Nathan Fillion, Jeremy Renner and the teams behind “Deadpool,” “Big Bang Theory,” “Halt and Catch Fire” and “Con Man.”

Fan-favorite Hollywood celebrities joined the inaugural SVCC, including Stan Lee, William Shatner, Michael J. Fox, Nathan Fillion, Christopher Lloyd, Jeremy Renner, Lea Thompson, Alan Tudyk, Adam Savage, Peter Mayhew, Nichelle Nichols, Bonnie Wright,  Jon Heder, Ray Park, and Vic Mignogna.

Several companies leveraged SVCC as the launching pad for new products and companies including Loot Crate, which debuted its premium Loot Crate DX subscription line, Legion M, which launched its crowdfunding studio that lets fans own a piece of Hollywood and Yaksee, a mobile broadcasting platform.

The sold-out show floor featured hundreds of exhibitors and attractions including a VR Zone curated by SVVR, an indie-filled App Alley, rare collectibles from the Stan Lee Museum and Rancho Obi Wan, wax figures from Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, photo opps with the “Back to the Future” DeLorean Time Machine, Artists Alley, ScreenUsed memorabilia auction and more.

Silicon Valley Comic Con 2017 is already being planned, so a “save the date” announcement is sure to be made soon. With the explosive first year that initiated the con, it’s a sure bet to expect bigger, better and more.

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