Game Connect 2008

I will most probably be there

I'll be flying in from NZ, all dependent on guests & networking opps. Not that I can network to save myself, but it'll be good to see employers.

Also interested in some cheap accommodation recommendations.

I've been hunting around the hotels around that area, and they're pretty expensive. I don't think I found too many budget hotels, although there are a few backpacker places... and, well, backpacker hostels scare the crap out of me. Some of the reviews for one of the nearest places to the venue that I looked up was fairly concerning. Bed bugs, the smell of urine, noise etc.. :(

I'll let you know what I've settled on.

Yipes, concerning indeed. Do let us know!

I think there are a few serviced apartments around the city. If there are a few people going, you can always share a 2BR place among 6 or so - and having a kitchenette will also be good for keeping costs down.

Hmm.. I wouldn't mind going, haven't been to GCAP yet. I will only go if work pay for my stay etc though. I think it will mostly be based on budget if I get to go or not.

Then remembered there were forums!

I'll be going with my awesome student fees, speaking of accomodation I thought the website mentioned there would be discounts in the surrounding areas? If not I'll travel miles out to get in (anyone want to share a cab?) for a cheaper rate. Only going to be 4 days, so I don't need to get a great setup going. LETS ALL BUNK WITH SOURI!

Hoping to actually come out of this with a job/interview/prospects but I'll be happy enough with some contact with the industry. Oh man, only a month to get my portfolio finalised @_@

Is anyone having a headache with finding affordable accomodation? It seems like all the best places are getting snapped up pretty quickly as people are heading into Brisbane for the Rugby World Cup and Schoolies week (which starts when GCAP finishes but people want to get in early, I'm guessing).

I tried to book a backpackers place at http://www.vipbackpackers.com , but I haven't received a confirmation email yet. I've sent an email to their contact address, but no response from that either. I'll call them up tomorrow, but I'm worried they've pilfered my credit card details :X

Ok, I've settled on one of the hotels recommended at the Game Connect accomodation page. I remember I paid about $135 a night at Formule1 in Melbourne, so the price seems pretty reasonable..

Hotel George Williams ***½
317-325 George Street, Brisbane

Queen Room - $140.00
Parking - $15.00
Breakfast - $12.00

Just a 10 minute walk to the conference venue, Hotel George Williams is a prime example of quality affordable accommodation.

I was close to booking at this place:

http://www.wotif.com/hotel/View?hotel=W57079&page=3&viewType=all

...but the thought of staying at a backpackers place by myself scares the heeby jeebies out of me. Good prices though.

Base Backpacker's has a club in the bottom of the building, and with very poor sound insulation the noise resonates throughout the entire building (even w/ earplugs). Plus the latest reviews say a great number of the showers are broken & occasionally run cold.

I too am considering staying at that hotel, or maybe the Hilton itself. All the odd jobs in the world aren't going to help how ridiculously fine I'll be cutting it time-wise!

Look forward to seeing you there.

I walked past that back packers when I was living in brisbane every day. I was even glad from the outside with that club noise thumping away I wasn't staying there.

Nice price on the Hote George Williams, I looked at that place earlier and the price was more expensive. Obviously they have dropped the prices.

Also at the George Williams in a Queen Room. Let's party together Souri!

They had single rooms up for $120, but I think they only lasted one day. The moment I clicked them, they said "booked out". I even tried to get the singles on wotif, but they were booked out because of the Rugby Union.

So who's seen the program? I can't decide between design, production and business on the second day. Design sounds up my alley, but some of the other talks sound really interesting.
E.g: Thursday 1410-1510: Design - Bringing deBlob to Reality, Business development - Panel Session Winning the Battle for Talent, Art/Production - Towards a Theory of Everything. I seriously can't pick on this one.

Yeah that was me above, dam cookies.

Didn't you book the hotel through Game Connect? I sorta thought the $120 rooms would be hard to get once they were available at Wotif, so I guessed the safest route was just to pony up the extra cash for the queen rooms.

I'm quickly looking through the program, and I'm really keen on checking out:

Sculpting for Games: David King - Autodesk
Bringing deBlob to Reality: Nick Hagger & Terry Lane, Blue Tongue Entertainment (THQ )
Panel Session: The Brass Tacks of Game Design: Beyond the Big Idea: David Hewitt, Tantalus, Jared Pearson, Pandemic & Luis Gigliotti, THQ Studio Australia
How to Loose Your Team in 10 Steps: Andrew James, Ed Orman, Martin Slater, Penny Sweetser, 2K Australia
Heroes of the Next Generation: Matt Delbosc, Transmission Games

There are a few sessions which run at the same time as some of the above which I would love to be at. Namely:

Panel Session - Winning the Battle for Talent Chair: Mike Fegan, Transmission Games Panel: David Smith, Interactive Selection, Riges Younan, 2Vouch & Celeste Aguado, Tantalus
Game Industry Trends Worldwide: Mary-Beth Haggerty, Autodesk
An Innovator's Perspective - The Future of Online Gaming: John De Margheriti, Big World

I'll be recording as much as I can, and just like our effort last year, I'm gonna be pretty damn exhausted by the end of it all!

Anyone else going to the Game On opening night party?

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibit/cur/game-on

Saturday night this weekend, might be something to do for Game Connect delegates. $30 entry fee.

I don't see any reason to go...it's gotten extremely expensive, there aren't any outstanding speakers that I'd be interested in seeing, and it's all being held in another state (I'm in Melbourne). Also the organizers this year seem to be lacking in energy.

It's become too much of a hassle to attend it when it's across the country. Maybe next year...but then again, who knows. Let's just hope they'll pick up their game (PUN IN YOUR FACE! :P).

I'm from another country and I see plenty of value in going! So much so that I put down money for a return airfare and am enjoying the hospitality of Brisbane already!

Outstanding speakers there are, lacking in energy they are not! All this speculation is just that, opinions are a dime a dozen! But boy do I need to find a fan, and in a hurry.

Just wanted to say that it was an awesome experience. Didn't feel it was overpriced, a lot of great speakers, enough food and drink to keep me happy and just a great atmosphere altogether.

I spoke to someone who had been to the last 3, said this was one of the better ones especially as he found the last couple severely lacking by comparison.

Just an update on the Game Connect 2008 footage which I captured. I was planning to start encoding everything as soon as I came back from holidays, but since youTube have gone widescreen, I'm mucking around with encoding and uploading in high definition to try and get it right before I upload any new files.

I've finally got a small sample video to work in high def, but holy crap, the file sizes are huge. The previous 10 minute high quality files I've uploaded were around 50 megabytes each, but these high def ones are nearing a gigabyte! I may just encode and upload high quality widescreen instead, I've just got to figure out what dimensions they accept. In any case, you should be starting to upload the new Game Connect footage sometime after the new year.