Women In Games Jobs (WIGJ) is pleased to invite women and men from France and all over Europe to this year’s European Women In Games conference which will take place on September 26th 2012 at the Hilton Hotel, Kensington in London. The theme of this year’s conference is the evolving of the games industry and the opportunities that this creates for all.
Ella Romanos, MD of Remode Studios will give a keynote on “HTML5: Fad or Future?” Martha Henson of Wellcome Collection will also speak on “Drugs, bugs and neuroscience: a formula for successful learning games?”
Gina Jackson CEO of WIGJ, commented: “I am delighted that we can announce our first two women speakers. Ella and Martha are innovators in their areas and I believe we can learn much from them both. The conference will be a celebration of the achievements of women working in the games industry and I hope will act as an inspiration for other women at all levels to come and join us. We invite anyone wanting to be inspired and learn about our changing industry to come and join us on September 26th”
Tickets and the latest programme are available now at starting at only £25 from : http://wigconference2012.eventbrite.co.uk/ The conference starts at 1.00 on 26th September and finishes at 5.00 with sponsored drinks to follow until 7.00 pm. Registration for the conference opens at 12.15 at Hilton Hotel Kensington.
Nicolas Gaume, President of the French developer trade association Syndicat National du Jeu Video and also of Mamba Nation developer Mimesis Republic in Paris, France, talks to David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers at gamescom in Cologne, Germany. Nicolas Gaume founded Kalisto Entertainment, a video game development studio, in 1990, at the age of 19. Over its 12 years of life, Kalisto produced more than 50 titles for PC and consoles. Kalisto also worked with Orange to launch their mobile games efforts. The company employed a staff of over 350 people in the USA, Japan and France. Besides his Kalisto venture, Nicolas Gaume founded NGM Productions in 1994, a children book publishing company in China. NGM published popular French series such as “Père Castor” (Flammarion) or “Les Incollables/Brain Quest” (Play Bac) between 1994 and 1999, when the company was sold. He was also board member of the French media group Sud-Ouest, of the TV animation production company, Xilam, and the German data management software publisher, NXN, sold in 2004 to Avid. Nicolas has also worked as a consultant advising media groups, primarily on their development & partnerships strategies, and for three years, Nicolas was Senior VP & GM of the mobile games & applications division of Cellfish Media.
In Early 2008, he founded Mimesis Republic, focusing on the design, development and operation of virtual worlds and social networks. He also currently serves as chairman of the French national video game development school -ENJMIN- and president of the French game developers association, SNJV. His advice to people thinking of applying for a job with Mimesis Republic: “For Mimesis, besides the usual standard of quality, expertise, demanding, passion, a demonstration of all these skills that we require for any games studio. I think its also eagerness to understand the new digital lives of teenagers and adults and how people will actually go to on social networks and mobile phones and try see how the game expertise that we have can apply to these new fields. So particularly we are interested beyond the expertise, in the eagerness to learn the new behaviours of the new gamers and games to come.” See the full clip here:
France Games Jobs is the professional group for all working in the video games industry in France or all interested in moving to work in games in France. This is a forum to exchange ideas, help and advice on current topics and trends in jobs and careers within France. If you are a member of LinkedIn, you can now get together with over 1000 others who share the same interests.
Too busy, too far away, just thought it a waste of time or never even heard about it, you can now get a flavour of what you missed. Whatever reason you could not make it to the European Women in Games Conference, London on 22 September 2011, here is the highlights video of the conference brought to you courtesy of James Hakesly Photography. Sold out and packed into the downstairs conference suite of the NH Harrington Hall Hotel, London, some of the games industry’s most successful female achievers inspired other women seeking to enter the games industry and those wishing to progress their careers at the annual European Women in Games Conference and Networking event. If you are interested in joining the WIGJ professional network, we recommend you should join over 2500 other supporters in our LinkedIn group.
Change the default resolution of 360p to 720p and see the full clip below in glorious HD.
Oskar Guilbert, Chief Executive and Founding Partner of DONTNOD Entertainment in Paris, talks to David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers at GDC Europe. Oskar, the former Head of Developer Relations at Criterion Software, founded DONTNOD Entertainment with world-renowned art director Aleksi Briclot and award-winning science fiction author Alain Damasio in 2008. The independent, Paris-based studio develops AAA games for next-generation consoles and far-reaching cross-media products, based on original concepts and innovative technologies. In 2008 DONTNOD Entertainment won the French Innovative Companies Competition prize for its cutting-edge 3D real-time fluid simulation technology. DONTNOD is currently working on Adrift, a futuristic Action Adventure title set in Paris, due for release in Autumn 2012.
His advice for those thinking of applying for a job at DONTNOD: “You have to be extremely good in your own field. We need people who are specialised and can work from day one, you need to be effective from the beginning. But also, be yourself, we want people who work in a team for the experience. with good technical abilities, and share our spirit within the company which is very human. We want people who will work on new projects and be part of a team that will grow.” Watch the full clip here:
I am pleased to anounce that Aurelie Busollo who spent 2 years working as HR & Communication Manager for Ubisoft Pune in India has now joined Interactive Selection as a Consultant based in the London office. Taking over from Lylia Seddiki, she will be managing the relationship with all French speaking clients and job seekers. She will aso be developing the market in India. Aurelie is a graduate of the AUDENCIA Nantes, School of Management and spent 2 years in India working for Ubisoft under the VIE programme. She helped build the Ubisoft studio in Pune to 160 professional staff as Head of the HR department. An experienced HR professional with excellent recruiting skills, she has recently moved to London to develop her career in the games industry. Job seekers may contact her directly on aurelie AT interactiveselection .com
Women In Games Jobs (WIGJ) announces this year’s women in games conference will take place on September 22nd 2011 in London. This first ever pan European conference for women is being supported and championed by an impressive Advisory Board.
Board members in alphabetical order include:
Ali Bergstrom-Allen, Production Lead, Sony Computer Entertainment;
Barbara Bernad, Lead Animator, Maverick Media;
Alison Cressey, Open Sauce Marketing and former European MD, Activision;
Geraldine Cross, HR Manager, Blitz Games;
Jo Goodson, Jo Wood Consultants and former European MD, Broderbund;
Helen Kennedy, University of the West of England and Women in Games;
Clare Maddalena, Maddalena Consulting;
Louise Murray, Head of Fable Franchise, Microsoft Lionhead;
David Smith, Founder, WIGJ;
Fiona Sperry, Studio Director and VP, EA Criterion Games
Giselle Stewart, General Manager, Ubisoft Reflections.
The conference focus is Career Development for women within the European games industry, featuring keynote and specialist speakers giving practical advice on getting into and getting ahead in the industry, where as few as 1 in 15 people are women.
Further announcements on the speaker line up and venue details will follow.
David Smith, founder of WIGJ, commented: “This year’s Women In Games Conference is aimed at both women in games education and women with firmly established careers in games development and games publishing across Europe – a ‘must attend’ event for women seeking to progress their careers in the male dominated games sector.”
Come and join us on the Brighton Seafront! Women in Games Jobs is pleased to announce its second Networking Lunch for women in games on Thursday 21 July at Develop 2011 in Brighton. Existing and prospective member of the Women in Games Jobs group who are going to Develop or live and work in reach of Brighton, Sussex, UK are invited to a free lunch and chance to network with up to 100 other women working or planning to work in the games industry.
There are only a limited number of places which are being offered to women in games on a first come, first served basis. This event is by ticket only so you will need to pre-register. For tickets and more details go to http://wigdeveloplunch.eventbrite.com/
Get the event in your diary. Book now!
TWO EVENTS TO BOOK FOR! Don’t forget this this years Women In Games Jobs (WIGJ) conference will take place on September 22nd 2011 in London. This year’s Pan European Women In Games Conference is aimed at both women in games education and women with firmly established careers in games development and games publishing across Europe – a ‘must attend’ event for women seeking to progress their careers in the male dominated games sector.” Early Bird Tickets priced at £20+ service fee are on sale at Eventbrite. Go to http://wigconference2011.eventbrite.com/
Lionel Barret, Chief Executive, and Bernard Legaut, Business Development Manager of middleware developer Gamr7 in Lyon met with David Smith of Game Careers at Game Connection in November 2010. Their advice for job seekers looking to apply for a job with their company is: “All the usual routes do apply – having a portfolio and track record are of huge importance. But in the end, the thing I value the most is tenacity because it is concrete proof of the patience of a person for the job and what you are doing. So as I said, we value all professional aspects of one’s career but it boils down to your ability to work with our team and to your patience for the projects we have.” (Lionel Barret – Chief Executive). “Be inventive….because the industry changes very quickly we need to adapt to the new needs of the industry, the emerging tendancies. This is a great challenge and there is a lot of innovation from a technical point of view within the team, but also on the business side. It is impressive” (Bernard Legaut – Business Development Manager). See the full interview in the video that follows:
Salima Bessahraoui is the Owner and Global Marketing Manager of Cosmocover from Lille, France which is a cutting edge international marketing and PR agency dedicated to the interactive entertainment industry. While at the Game Connection in Lyon, France in November 2010, Salima met David Smith to discuss Women in the Games Industry. Salima gave her advice to women wanting to work in the games industry, “Just go for it. Investigate, experiment, try to define your own personality in your job. Try to meet new people, try to learn, especially if you can meet a person with more experience that can teach you from his/her past mistakes. That is definitely something to do.” See the full interview that follows:
Women In Games Jobs (WIGJ) is pleased to invite women and men from France and all over Europe to this year’s European Women In Games conference which will take place on September 26th 2012 at the Hilton Hotel, Kensington in London. The theme of this year’s conference is the evolving of the games industry and the opportunities that this creates for all.
I am pleased to anounce that Aurelie Busollo who spent 2 years working as HR & Communication Manager for Ubisoft Pune in India has now joined 
Women In Games Jobs (WIGJ) announces this year’s women in games conference will take place on September 22nd 2011 in London. This first ever pan European conference for women is being supported and championed by an impressive Advisory Board.
Come and join us on the Brighton Seafront! Women in Games Jobs is pleased to announce its second Networking Lunch for women in games on Thursday 21 July at Develop 2011 in Brighton. Existing and prospective member of the