Start:	Feb 18, '08
Location:	San Francisco Moscone Center

This GDC session from the upcoming Feb 08 conference sounds interesting. Anyone planning to attend who could report back?

https://www.cmpevents.com/GD08/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=6226

Mashups, Mods & Machinima: Who Owns the Rights to Your Blood, Sweat & Tears
Speaker: Sean Kane (Attorney, Drakeford & Kane LLC)
Date/Time: TBD
Track: Business and Management
Secondary Track: Visual Arts
Experience Level: All

Session Description

This session will initially summarize the nature and differences of mashups, mods and machinima. The body of the presentation will be devoted to examining the copyright laws and other legal issues inherent in each of the above forms. The presentation will answer questions about the rights and responsibilities of content owners versus creators of mashups, mods and machinima. Attendees will learn of the profit potential in exploiting their rights to these new interactive entertainment forms. Specifically, the session will cover ownership rights in these derivative works and whether creation of them may violate the DMCA. The presentation will cover how the theoretical issues have been decided in several relevant court cases. Finally, the presentation will summarize some of the differing treatment these genres are receiving in the US and internationally.

Idea Takeaway

Attendees will leave the session with a clear and concise understanding of what legal issues are involved in mashups, mods and machinima; including relevant copyright issues, DMCA prohibitions and who ultimately owns the rights to the new creations.

Intended Audience

The intended audience of this session includes both the visionaries who are pushing the boundaries of the videogame industry by creating new forms of interactive entertainment, as well as the content owners whose titles may be or are being subject to such modification.

Microsoft has made it official. Like with a CC license, content from MS games can be used legally in your re-mixes. Specifically intended to support the machinima community, this should open up some interesting work.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/developer/rules.htm

Ever been interested in making your own computer game? Keen but put off by the marketing hype that cool games have to cost millions and require 100+ people. I recently met Jacob, one of the authors of this book, who is now focused on the task of teaching people the principles of game development. This book looks like a good crash course in what is fun and rewarding about making your own games. It won't result in you making the next Grant Theft Auto III on your own but with the principles set out here under your belt you will be in good shape to venture out into the world of casual game development, the "real" game industry and *hint hint* you might even develop the skills to make one killer MOD. And anyway the game industry is full of factory process lines where you only really get to do one job. Gamemaker, the software and the book, simplifies the overall process so you can try your hand at different areas. Diversity is the key!

http://book.gamemaker.nl/