| | | | 15 years celebrating the impact of games!
It's a wrap! This year's 15th annual Games for Change Festival was a major success! We hosted over 1000 attendees with many of them coming from countries around the world. The 3 day event kicked off with the proclamation from Mayor Bill DeBlasio that Thursday, June 28th was officially Games for Change Day. We were fortunate to have Deputy Commissioner Kai Falkenberg to give the award to founders Barry Joseph, Suzanne Seggarman, Benjamin Stokes, G4C's chairman Asi Burak and G4C's president Susanna Pollack. We are so proud to see G4C's diverse community grow and to be a platform where everyone can join forces to discuss and build impactful projects together.
We would like to send a special thank you to Matt Parker, Alexander King, the Institute of Play and Ryan Seashore for curating the different tracks and providing such insightful programs and sessions to the G4C and XR4C communities.
From the XR Brain Jam to the speed networking and Meet the Funders sessions, we saw so many people meeting each other and forging new partnerships. We hope you keep in touch throughout the year and let us know about the amazing work that is born out of this gathering.
Meanwhile, take a look at the Festival and XR for Change Summit photos on our Flickr account and share away with your networks and friends. Also don't forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel to be notified when the Festival videos are uploaded. | | XR for Change Summit — join the XR4C community
Our second XR for Change Summit featured over 13 immersive experiences presented by Microsoft, UNICEF, Oculus VR for Good, Conservation International, Emblematic Group, Sundance Institute, Stanford University, Columbia University and many other leading content creators. We are excited to see what impactful XR projects NGO's, technologists and game studios continue to produce to tackle social issues.
We are very excited to grow the XR for Change community and we continue to look for ways we can add value to the people pioneering this space. Join the ever-expanding #XR4C community to be part of our year round programs such as the XR for Change Talk and Play. Sign-up to our newsletter and follow us on social media to learn on how to get involved. If you are interested in partnering or supporting any of the XR for Change programs, please send us an e-mail on partnerships@gamesforchange.org.
| | Round of applause and congratulations to the G4C Award winners and nominees!
Congratulations to all the winners of the G4C Awards, specially Life Is Strange: Before The Storm for winning Most Significant Impact and Game of the Year. A special shout-out to tech ethicist David Ryan Polgar for making us laugh hard and emceeing the G4C Awards. Here are the 2018 winners:
Game of the Year & Most Significant Impact awards
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm: In this choice-based narrative prequel, players see the world through the mind of Chloe Price, a 16 year-old rebel whose self-destructive lifestyle threatens her relationships and well-being. At the helm of this angsty and emotionally powerful protagonist, the player must navigate Chloe's life decisions when an unexpected friendship throws everything off-kilter.
Best Gameplay Award
What Remains of Edith Finch: Set in the home of "America's most unfortunate family," this immersive and unsettling first-person narrative drama delves into hereditary issues. As Edith, players explore the colossal Finch family estate on a quest to discover why she's the last one alive in her family.
Most Innovative Award
Tree: Through virtual-reality, players are transformed into a majestic rainforest tree. With arms as branches and their body as a trunk, players experience firsthand nature's life cycle, starting as a seedling in the ground to seeing the view at the top of the canopy, and humanity's ecological footprint.
Best Learning Game Award
Attentat 1942: Using cinematic-style interviews with survivors, interactive comics and historical footage, this dialogue-based game places players in the center of Nazi occupation during World War II. Players speak to eyewitnesses, live their memories and uncover compelling details of one family's story.
Polygon x Games for Change People's Choice Award
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice : Made in collaboration with neuroscientists and personal accounts of psychosis, this action-adventure hybrid pulls the player deep into the mind of Senua, a broken Celtic warrior fighting for the soul of her dead lover. As Senua, the player wrestles with mental illness and the rationalization of the incomprehensible to progress.
Vanguard Award
Katie Salen, founder of the Institute of Play, was awarded the Vanguard Award for her inspiring contributions to the field of play based learning and advancing the games for change community. | | Here's what G4C's friends are up to - Join G4C at the Game Devs of Color Expo, taking place July 14th from 11 am - 6 pm at The Schomburg Center. The Game Devs of Color Expo is an inclusive games expo and conference that features creators from across a spectrum of backgrounds showing off their games, building culture, and pushing games forward as an artform. Get your tickets for as little as $20, $5, or for free here.
- Be part of Playcrafting's Play NYC on the weekend of August 11th and 12th at The Manhattan Center. Play NYC will feature over 90 games and 85 game developer studios showcasing the best in indie video games and VR. Don't miss the interactive playground for all ages and buy your tickets here.
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