ViGaMus

The Italian Videogame Developer Conference (IVDC) 2010, held at the LUISS University in Rome on the 3rd-4th December will play host to the unveiling of one of Europe’s most ambitious videogame projects to date.

ViGaMus, an abbreviation of Video Games Museum, will be the first Museum outside of Japan and the United States focused purely on the videogame medium. ViGaMus is scheduled for completion in 2011 and will be situated near the beautiful Piazza Mazzini in the centre of Rome.

Marco Accordi Rickards, President of the IVDC and Director of AIOMI staid, “ViGaMus is the first of a raft of ambitious projects which sees the Italian Videogames industry, Italian government and private investors working closely together towards a common goal. Building enterprise, skill sets and inspiration into the Italian videogames industry, ViGaMus sends a message to the world that Italy is confident, innovative and open for business.”

ViGaMus will not only focus on the beginnings of worldwide videogame culture, but will also showcase current trends and games, and look toward the future with exhibitions and seminars on new videogame directions and technologies.

Raoul Carbone, President of the Italian Videogame Developer association (IVD) said, “Italy is quickly becoming one of the biggest consumers of videogame products and this trend shows no sign of abatting. We’re also seeing many aspring Italian videogames companies being established and developing new and radical ideas which, in many ways, help create the next steps for the industry. ViGaMus represents where Italy is now and our ambitions for the future. Italy is beginning to make its mark.”

The announcement and presentation at the IVDC in December will be made by project leader Jason Della Rocca and will feature the premiere of the new ViGaMus film illustrating the full extent of the project and its hopes for the future.

Marco concludes; “Overall, the ViGaMus project is a clear indication of Italy’s ambition within the videogames industry. We need good and great ideas for the industry to move forward and projects such as ViGaMus will work very well to help provide the necessary inspiration.”

Please contact Eliana Bentivegna at direzione@aiomi.it or Kristien Wendt at Kristien@charactercomms.com for more information.

For further details on ViGaMus, visit www.vigamus.com. For more details on the IVDC 2010, visit www.ivdconf.com and follow the conference on www.twitter.com/ivdc2010

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Editors notes

IVDC 2010

The Italian Videogame Developers Conference is the first and only conference in Italy for the videogames industy, and is the official annual summit of the IVD (Italian Videogame Developers association). Now in its 3rd year, the IVDC has become the main platform for an increasingly confident Italian games industry to present itself nationally and internationally.

Held on 3rd and 4th of December 2010, the IVDC will take place in the conference hall of the internationally respected LUISS University in Rome. The official langauge of the conference will be English, with translation into Italian optional. This two-day event is totally free to attend.

Dedicated to the progression of Italian and international game development, the IVDC is the ideal place for meetings and exchange of knowledge, tools and techniques among the most important professionals in the field.

The IVDC has been supported and partnered with prominent Italian and international companies in the videogames industry, and the 2010 programme will includes presentations by some of the leading professionals in Italian and international game developing and publishing. The programme and workshops will also be dedicated to independent game development and all the other aspects of the industry.

AIOMI

AIOMI, the Italian Association for the Interactive Multimedia – Movement for the Videogame Culture, was born to promote, diffuse and preserve the videogame culture, intended as a form of art, human cultural expression and excellence product of the industry.

The Videogame is effectively part of the collective imagination, and AIOMI fights to make it recognized, respected, studied and understood. AIOMI will therefore help any initiative to valorize the Videogame and promote its culture through any form and means.

In the same way, the Association will intervene every time videogames are the object of disinformation.

AIOMI has a partnership with the City of Rome for the creation of the Italian Videogame Museum - ViGaMus, which already has the place (about 1.000 square meters), with the Patronization of the Youth Ministry, of the Presidency of the City Council of Rome, of the Councillorship of Culture, of Assoknowledge / Confindustria and of the Faculty of Science of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.

AIOMI helped the Italian Videogame Developers to constitute into a group in Assoknowledge / Confindustria Innovative and Technological Services, where the main Italian videogame developing companies are, and represents the 95% of the Italian videogame industry gross income. Raoul Carbone and Marco Accordi Rickards, founders of AIOMI, are the President and Vice President of the Group.

AIOMI organizes every year the most important business event in the videogame field in Italy, the IVDC, the Italian Videogame Developers Conference, which is the official conference of the Italian Videogame Developers.

Marco Accordi Rickards, President and co-founder of AIOMI, teaches Interactive Multimedia Theory and Critics in the Course of Information and Editorial Systems of the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy in Rome, University of “Tor Vergata”.

Raoul Carbone, Vice President and co-founder of AIOMI, is creator and coordinator of the Triennial Course of Virtual Design – CG Animation and Videogame Development in the European Institute of Design in Rome.

For further press information relating to the above companies, please contact:

Mr. Kristien Wendt

Character Communications Ltd.

Tel (Main): +44(0) 1376 322621

Tel (Mobile): +44(0)7876 252811

Email: kristien@charactercomms.com