News
The Carolina Games Summit takes great pride in announcing that The Escapist, the leading video gaming destination for video game enthusiasts, will be this year’s Platinum Sponsor. With more than 3 million active users and over 35 million page views per month, The Escapist will serve as the exclusive video and online media partner at the Carolina Games Summit, with substantial involvement on site during the event.
The Escapist will be using its own extraordinarily active and vocal online community to raise awareness and participation for this one-day gaming event as well as increasing the validity of the constantly growing North Carolina videogame industry and community. They will also be presenting a new feature to this year’s Carolina Games Summit, an arrangement of four 30-minute video blocks to be screened at “The Escapist Theatre” which will be free to all attendants and feature some of The Escapist’s most popular video content.
“The Escapist was created to capture and celebrate the contemporary video gaming lifestyle and the diverse global videogame culture,” said Alexander Macris, CEO and co-founder of Themis Media, publishers of The Escapist. “We feel the Carolina Games Summit was created for the same purpose and we are very pleased to announce our sponsorship of the event.”
“The Carolina Games Summit is excited about this partnership. Our attendees will have the unique opportunity to experience the online phenomenon known as The Escapist in person” said Michael Everett, creative director for Carolina Games Summit. “We consider this an excellent addition to a packed fifth anniversary event!”
The Carolina Games Summit will be held Saturday, February 6th, 2010 from 10AM to 9PM at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, NC. To purchase tickets and see a list of events, visit
www.CarolinaGamesSummit.com.
About The Escapist
Founded in 2005, The Escapist is a leading video gaming destination offering video game enthusiasts high-quality, innovative and exclusive content. The mouthpiece of the gaming generation, The Escapist aims to capture and celebrate the contemporary video gaming lifestyle and the diverse video game culture by way of in-depth features and thought provoking articles authored by leading video game authorities, as well as cutting-edge video shorts, engaging forums and robust and innovative social media elements tailored to its audience. The Escapist is part of Themis Group, Inc.'s online media arm Themis Media, and currently generates over 28 million page views each month. Additional information can be found on the official web site at www.escapistmagazine.com
Carolina Games Summit is pleased to announce the addition of a costume contest to an already exciting lineup at our fifth anniversary event which will be held Saturday, February 6th, 2010 from 10AM to 9PM at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, NC.
The contest is being produced by one of last years most popular exhibitors, Penny Dreadful Productions. Penny Dreadful Productions is a group of professional artists from the Metro-Atlanta area who collaborate to “bring your imagination to life”. Penny Dreadful Productions will also be available to speak to attendees at their exhibition booth during the event.
More information about the contest can be found here and don't forget to purchase your tickets early.
About Penny Dreadful Productions
Penny Dreadful Productions is a company based in Atlanta GA which offers a number of services to their consumers. Lead conceptualists Mathew Silva and Erin Bushko work with a team of specialized artists to create props, costumes, and special effects for theatrical productions, film, special events and festivals. Their work has been seen in the haunt industry at Netherworld Haunted House, in films such as Zombieland, Ben 10: Alien Swarm, Book of Eli, Halloween 2, and in several projects with Whitestone Motion Pictures.
http://www.getdreadful.com/index.html
Organizers Collaborate to Fuel Video Game Industry Growth in North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 13, 2009 — The Triangle Game Initiative (TGI), a non-profit trade association for the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. interactive entertainment industry and organizer of the Triangle Game Conference, has aligned with the Carolina Games Summit to serve as a conference partner, offering mutual support in conference activities and in advancing the North Carolina video game industry and community.
The Triangle Game Conference and Carolina Games Summit represent two premier gaming events on the East Coast that aim to provide a forum for networking, career building and sharing gaming industry expertise. The organizers of the two conferences will collaborate on speakers, exhibition booths and educational sessions.
“The Triangle Game Initiative’s goal is to create a community of industry professionals within the Triangle and surrounding areas that can share best practices and develop a hub of knowledge that will attract the best talent and companies to our region,” said Alexander Macris, president and chief creative officer of Themis Group and TGI president. “By supporting other events in the area like the Carolina Games Summit, we can work together toward strengthening our industry’s profile on a national level.”
“North Carolina has a robust interactive entertainment industry, including immersive technologies, video game development and publishing and game media,” said Michael Everett, creative director for Carolina Games Summit. “We’re thrilled to be working with the Triangle Game Initiative to showcase the excitement, success and industry excellence that comes from our state.”
The Carolina Games Summit, held at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, N.C., features a day filled with industry speakers, video game tournaments, exhibition booths and educational sessions for attendees to explore all that the video game industry has to offer. Attendees can learn how games are created and how to break into the industry or explore education and career opportunities by speaking with school and university representatives. The 2009 conference attracted more than 1,400 attendees, special guests and exhibitors. The 5th annual Carolina Games Summit will be held on February 6, 2010. For more information, visit www.CarolinaGamesSummit.com.
The Triangle Game Conference is the leading East Coast event for developers and professionals working in the interactive entertainment and serious game industries. The inaugural 2009 conference featured more than 40 participating companies and over 700 attendees for the two-day conference. TGC returns this coming year on April 7-8, 2010 with more than double the space at the Marriott City Center and Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, N.C. For more information, visit www.TriangleGameConference.com.
About Triangle Game Initiative
Triangle Game Initiative is the trade association for the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. interactive entertainment industry. Its members are market-leading companies and prominent industry figures who have gathered in the Research Triangle area to master the arts and sciences of gaming. The Triangle Game Initiative’s mission is to build a thriving community of companies and professionals dedicated to the advancement of the interactive entertainment industry in the Triangle region. For more information and to register to become a member, visit www.trianglegameinitiative.org.
The fourth annual Carolina Games Summit wrapped up at 9 pm Saturday, Feb 7, with a full crowd experiencing the closing cinematic of the awards ceremony while Entertainment System played a classic gaming score from Castlevania 2. The band's lead guitarist Chris Baines stated, "We have performed at over thirty events and this is one of the most organized we have seen, with attendees representing a friendly and engaged gaming community."
Over 1400 attendees, special guests, and exhibitors made up the largest gaming event in the Carolinas. For twelve hours Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, NC, was transformed into a mecca for the video game community. A bus left early Saturday morning from Virginia Beach, VA, full of excited ITT Technical Institute students, while professional MLG gamers and members of the PMS and H2O clans flew in from across the country a day before the event.
These two groups represent a unique formula that makes the Carolina Games Summit different than other video game-related events. Visitors to the event can experience presentations from industry visionaries, interact with exhibitors, and plan for their future in the game development career field, or they can dedicate their day to one of eighteen fiercely competitive tournaments.
Michael Everett, creative director of the event, reported that "831 attendees registered for at least one tournament, reflecting about 60 percent of our attendees. This tells us that at least 40 percent of our audience is here to enjoy speakers, exhibitors, and bands while expanding their knowledge of North Carolina's game development industry." Tracy Schmeltzer, the event's producer, added that "It is important to note that while both groups were well represented this year, there are many people who overlap these two groups and get the full benefit from attending a hybrid event like ours."
Highlights of the day included keynote speeches by both Insomniac Games and Media Sunshine. In addition, Len Annetta from NCSU spoke on the benefits of educational games and the various serious game projects his team is working on. Kris Dell of Applied Software, along with Roy Kimmins and Phyllis Jones, both game development teachers in the Guildford County School system, spoke on North Carolina's latest efforts to expand a game development curriculum into the public school system and the tools needed to achieve this goal.
Chad Dezern of Insomniac Games commented on the Summit, "It is a great way to meet people who are playing games, and people who are really involved in game development, and it's a great way for everyone who has an interest in games in North Carolina to meet under one roof."
Robert Rice, CEO of Neogence Enterprises, spoke on the future of mobile games, augmented reality, and massively multiplayer online role playing games. Kwame Hawkins, from the School of Communication Arts, gave attendees an introduction to lighting effects in computer-generated environments. Hands-on sessions allowed attendees to learn perspective sketching from North Carolina State University School of Design professor Timothy Buie or to explore costume and prop design from movie industry veterans, Penny Dreadful Productions.
Inside a packed auditorium the top three winners of each tournament were recognized during the awards ceremony. Wayne Community College Simulation and Game Development Students designed and produced the ceremony complete with custom music videos of each game.
Sponsors of this year's event included, BFG Technology, Chick-fil-A, Cobalt Flux, Coca-Cola, CPU Magazine, DigitalRecruiter.com, FSP, Hampton Inn, Time Warner Cable, Vitamin Water, Wireless Xpress, and this fine video game community.
Tournament results, pictures, and video footage from the event are currently being added to the official web site, www.CarolinaGamesSummit.com and our official profile on GatheringofGamers.com. The date for the next Carolina Games Summit will be Saturday, February 6, 2010. Contact the event organizers, Michael Everett and Tracy Schmeltzer, at (919) 735-5151 or info@carolinagamessummit.com for more information on attending, exhibiting or speaking at future Carolina Games Summit events.
We are pleased to announce Digitalrecruiter.com (
http://www.Digitalrecruiter.com) has been named the exclusive career community sponsor of the Carolina Games Summit. Digitalrecruiter.com is produced by Rob Humphrey, the only talent agent focused squarely on senior level entertainment software talent. Rob is also a local ambassador for east coast based game developers and publishers. Membership at Digitalrecruiter.com is free and gives you access to special features such as un-published jobs and game industry recruiting gurus willing to help you land a job in the industry.
Rob's game credits as a recruitment consultant include Harmonic’s Rock Band 2. The Digitalrecruiter.com team will serve as tournament directors for the Carolina Games Summit’s official Rock Band 2 tournament.
Due to issues at our web server cluster and possibly our events popularity, we have experienced several instances of downtime over the past 24-48 hours. Luckily the system engineers at our hosting company have been working around the clock to limit this downtime and fix all the issues.
If our page does not display or you are unable to log in it is likely because of these issues.
On a positive note we have experienced record online registrations and extended the registration period until Thursday Feb 5th at Midnight. You will be able to purchase tickets online until this time. Online tournament registration will continue to be available until the actual tournament starts Saturday morning.
If you are having a hard time figuring out the tournament registration system please visit this forum post about the topic:
http://www.carolinagamessummit.com/forums_topic.php?topicid=2677
I have a special message from our new official power supply brand that should excite all our attendees! They have donated over $2,000 in power supplies to be given away at our event. The company is FSP Group and they are a returning sponsor. Please click read more to get all the detailed information on this new sponsorship.
Dear Carolina Games Summit Attendees,
FSP Group, one of the leading (Global Top-10) Power Conversion Designer and Manufacturer, has been a proud sponsor of Carolina Games Summit and for 2009, we are here once again in continuing to pledge our support to this great event.
In an effort to further enhance our products and services to benefit gamers, FSP Group has launched an exciting Gamers Direct website, www.shopfsp.com , a FSP Group Direct website to Gamers, IT professionals, Electronic Engineers, System Designers, and Platform Developers, of whom are seeking a comprehensive, hassle-free, secured and direct source of high-quality power conversion technology for their respective applications.
For this event only, Carolina Games Summit attendees can benefit from:
1. A $10 OFF PER ORDER, PROMOTIONAL CODE: CGS09, starting from Feb 1, 09 and expires on Feb 17, 09.
2. FSP Group is giving away a FREE, high-quality power supply EVERY MONTH, ground shipping is included, by simply signing up for the Shopfsp.com Newsletter using a valid email address. One entry per email address, per household only.
3. There will be random SURVEY questionnaire available (visit link CUSTOMER SURVEY), and it will be updated frequently. The survey is to help FSP Group improve its products and services to better serve you. BY COMPLETING THE SURVEY, YOU'VE DOUBLED YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING THE MONTHLY DRAWING.
4. FREE "SURPRISED" GIFT IN EVERY ORDER, included FSP logo hats, T-Shirts, and many other promotional items. One gift per order, selected at random depending on availability at the time when order is being processed.
On behalf of everyone at FSP Group, we thank you, enjoy this fantastic event and HAVE FUN !
Best Regards,
Magdalene Siu,
FSP Group, North America Marketing
We are excited to expand our connection with the attendees and participants of this year’s Carolina Games Summit, by highlighting our 2009 speakers, tournaments, and other features on a dedicated event profile at
www.GatheringofGamers.com!
You can setup your own free gamer profile and become our friend to get all the latest Carolina Games Summit highlights, while also enjoying this unique and growing
video game community. In an effort to make connecting with our GoG profile easy and smooth, you can get straight to the GatheringofGamers.com sign up page that has our unique Referral Code already dropped into the form, just click here:
Join and Connect with Carolina Games Summit Highlights
This will allow you to join the GoG video game community and automatically have the
Carolina Games Summit as a “Top Friend”.
Banners, “Chronicles”, and forum discussions will also point you to our exciting GoG event profile, so we’ll see you there!
About GatheringofGamers.com
The Gathering of Gamers (GoG) was an idea that was conceived while playing video games! This unique and growing
Worldwide Video Game Community is a place where people of all ages, locations, and levels of interest in video games, come to share photos, videos, stories, strategies, cheats, and anything else you want, with other friendly gamers around the world!
Whether it’s connecting with current friends, making new ones, or checking out video game event highlights…GatheringofGamers.com is a place where you can build and display all the aspects of gaming that you enjoy for FREE. The possibilities and power of this unique Video Game Community are endless and we truly hope you can you can embrace and enjoy the tools (and toys) we have built for you.
Many thanks go to our graphics designer Josh Berens and our programmer Joseph Pender. Together they have created and implemented the new site. Our team hopes you enjoy the new layout and will be able to find what you are looking for quickly and easily.
Josh Berens is a graduate of the Wayne Community College Network Administration program and has been designing graphics for the Carolina Games Summit since 2005.
Joseph Pender is a current student in the Simulation and Game Design program at Wayne Community College. He runs his own web design company and is a self taught game designer. For more info visit his website http://www.producerstudio.net/ He has been contributing to the Carolina Games Summit since 2007.
If you have questions or comments please feel free to post in the forums or fill out the contact form! Check back often as the new site continues to evolve with your feedback.
It is with great pleasure to announce that as of this morning our Tournament Registration System is online and fully operational. Individual tournament registration has been online for months but until now teams were unable to register together for a tournament. The current system was completely overhauled and now allows for team passwords, partial team registration, and an alternates team list.
To access this new feature you simply must upgrade your CarolinaGamesSummit.com account to pre-registered status, by purchasing a $10 ticket. Your account will be instantly upgraded allowing you to visit the existing tournaments page and register for tournaments. For those of you who like things in list form here are the steps once more:
- Create an account on CarolinaGamesSummit.com using your real name, a valid email, etc.
- Purchase a ticket: Ticket Purchasing Link
- Simply use the "Click Here to Register" link on the existing tournaments
page: Tournaments Page Link
- If the tournament is a team tournament you will be asked to join an existing team or create a new team.
- You can view your current registration status on the tournaments page listed in step #3.
- You can see all currently registered participants by clicking the tournaments name on the tournaments page listed in step #3
If you want to withdraw from a tournament simply LOGIN and then visit the tournaments page, find the tournament you are signed up for on the list and use the "Click Here to Withdraw" link.
Restrictions: You can sign up for more than one tournament ONLY when those tournaments have the same location aka are in the same room! So if you want
to sign up for all 2D Fighters you can. If you want to sign up for Halo FFA and 4v4 you can. If you want to sign up for all 2D and 1 3D fighter, you can not.
Please note that no team can exist without at least one participant. Therefore the last person to leave a team, even if it is not the founder of the team, will cause the team to be automatically deleted. Do not worry however because you can re-create a team and have it deleted an unlimited amount of times.
Please check the system out and let us know what you think. Users can join and leave tournaments an unlimited number of times UNLESS the tournament becomes full and subsequently stops accepting registrations.
