Category: Blog

This is the highly informal blog of the GAME-department. We use it mostly to document the things we do outside of running one of the worlds strongest game educations. For information about our education, programs and courses, check the official site at Uppsala University.

Posted on - 1 Comment on Nakajima Labs moving to GAME!
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Nakajima Labs moving to GAME!


Professor Masayuki Nakajima and his famous Nakajima Labs moves from Tokyo Institute of Technology to Gotland University GAME! Nakajima Labs has been doing bleeding edge research and development in convergent media at Tokyo Tech since 1975, and they will be fully established at our campus by March 2011.

Prof. Nakajima has run several international research teams, published 20 books and more than 250 scientific papers with a focus on Artificiell Intelligence (AI), augmented reality and virtual worlds. One of his goals for the new lab at Gotland University is to continue working on his “Autonomous Agent System: K4”.

K4 is a unique AI that understands both speech and body language. With a simple microphone and video camera, K4 allows you to communicate with a computer just as if it were another human being. With our advanced Motion Capture studio, GAME provides an opportunity for Nakajima Labs to improve the AI’s own body language – giving the artificial person an even more human expression by utilizing natural motion as a part of its communication.

One of the first projects for the team will probably be to translate the Japanese language engine to English. 🙂

Posted on - 1 Comment on Virtual Reality
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Virtual Reality

We’ve invested in virtual reality gear for our Motion Capture studio. The kit consists of a pair of goggles worn by the actor, allowing a real time view of the simulated world – including the actor’s own digital representation!

This system makes it easier for actors to get in to character, to act and react on the virtual world. Balancing on a high ledge is rendered more convincingly if the actor can see the landscape spreading out hundreds of meters below her feet. Acting terrified for and battling with a huge monster is easier if you can see the monster and your own sword- and shield.

Today was just a test run and we are really looking forward to seeing what our students manage to produce with this new hardware.

Posted on - 6 Comments on GamesCom 2010
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GamesCom 2010


We’re back again from the largest games trade fair in the world! One of the many ways in which we try to highlight our students and their projects from the Gotland Game Awards is to offer them floor space in our booths at various events. Largest of these by far is the annual Game Developers Conference and GamesCom. Let me throw some figures at you from this years event: 5 days and a total of 505 companies from 33 countries. More than 200 premieres. Over 4400 media representatives from 49 countries. A gross floor space of 120 000m2 and a total of 254 000 visitors. By comparison, the Tokyo Game Show draws around 185,000 visitors and the Electronic Entertainment Expo about 43,000.

Among the 18 900 trade visitors were 28 women and men from Gotland University, GAME. Our troop may have been somewhat smaller than for GamesCom 2009 but our presence was definitely not diminished. Our students got to build and man the 56m2 booth right next to Blizzard, Square Enix, Crytek, EA, Bethesda, BioWare and LucasArts, where we showed off some of our most ambitious projects to date; Abzolium, Colorless, Fumbies, Gods of Steel, Midnight, Pawns and the game of the year-winner Dwarfs, alongside several monitors looping computer generated animations.

Jonathan Lester over at dealspwn.com concluded:

it doesn’t get any more independent than Gotland University […] they’ve crafted some immensely promising experiences. Pay close attention, because these unsung games are quite unlike anything else you’ll see in the show.

Many thanks to Jonathan and all the thousands of visitors who spent time in our booth. We hope to see you all again in 2011!

For more photos, check out GamesCom 2010 official photostream.

Posted on - 5 Comments on GDC Europe 2010
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GDC Europe 2010

Game Developers Conference Europe 2010 was larger than ever with record high attendance not only from the industry and media, but from speakers and exhibitors as well. GAME – a seasoned veteran – shared the 650m2 exhibition space with more than 40 companies from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Our booth was right next to giants like Intel, Crytek, Bigpoint and Epic, and while it is called “GDC Europe” the 1,500 game professionals attending this year represented more than 45 different countries!

Speakers ranged from famed game developer Warren Spector of Disney’s Junction Point, to Hermen Hulst of Guerilla Games – the full schedule offered a selection of 170 international speakers, covering game development on PC, social networking sites, distribution, consoles and mobile platforms. 3 days chock-full of learning, networking, and inspiration – what’s not to love?

Video, audio, and presentation recordings from GDC Europe are available at the GDC Vault.
For more pictures, see the official GDC Europe photo set.
Gamasutra covered GDC Europe this year too.