.....dedicated to the development of
an
interactive media cluster in Colorado
The Interactive Gaming & Simulations Alliance (IGSA) is a trade
organization comprised of gaming, interactive entertainment, simulations
companies, and academic institutions located in the Denver, CO metro
area. The organization is focused on promoting business and community
between our members and supporting the development of an interactive
media cluster in Colorado.
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Organization Events and News
Jun 7, 2010--TerraFrame, a software company that develops ontologically-based enterprise level software has joined the IGSA. Welcome!
Mar 12, 2010--Chris Williamson assumes role as lead developer for Regis Learning Systems. This placement was assisted by the SimGameExchange.
Dec 16, 2009--Net Devil's Lego Universe and Jumpgate Evolution in the top 10 games for 2010. Congratuations to NetDevil for leading the way in the development of our local interactive industry.
Jun 10, 2009--The IGSA, the Colorado Film Commission, and the Boulder Film Commission begin discussions aimed at a joint event in the fall intended to bring together all beneficiaries of legislation granting tax credits for the development of interactive and other media projects in Colorado.
Jun 4, 2009--Governor Ritter signs HB 1010. The legislation does not include the desired tax incentive, but lays a solid foundation for future efforts.
Apr 24, 2009--Denver Business Journal publishes article about the IGSA. Please see Press.
Apr 6, 2009--Rep Anne McGihon and Kevin Shand, Executive Director of the Colorado Film Commission discuss HB 1010 with the IGSA membership. IGSA forms an alliance with the Colorado Film Commission to promote HB 1010 and the concept of a tax credit for film and interactive entertainment productions.
Mar 23, 2009--Simgame Exchange and Accessibility Launch of Montreal, Canada launch joint venture to access the viability of developing audio and other games for the visually impaired market.
Feb 14, 2009--Colorado Assembly House Bill 09-1010 supports the video game industry. Go HERE to read the bill. We are making efforts to learn more about the bill and perhaps get some input directly from the bill's sponsors.
Dec 2, 2008--The IGSA and Sun Microsystems presents Michael Gialis, New Business Director at Sun Microsystems and Open Source Technologies for Building Interactive Solutions. This event will be held at the Sun Microsystems campus and professionals from the gaming, simulations, academic, training, and business community are invited to learn about open source solutions. Click on Meetings for additional information.
Oct 11, 2008--Raymond Hutchins, Pres of the SimGame Exchange, accepts invitation to speak at the Montreal International Game Summit on Nov 19, 2008. His presentation title will be Raising Money and Structuring Interactive Media Deals in a Recession.
Sep 10, 2008--Raymond Hutchins, Pres of the SimGame Exchange, announces a new partnership with Moedus, LLC to market LIDAR 3D scanning and processing services to the interactive entertainment industry.
Sep 4, 2008--Tony Harmon, Pres. Realtime Worlds, provided a first class look at the life of a successful gaming entrepreneur. He also gave us a peek under the hood of what is going on at Realtime Worlds and some new technologies they are developing in conjunction with the rollout of APB.
August 10, 2008--Denver Editorial services provider EditPro has become a member.
August 1, 2008--Mialis, Director of Business Development for Sun Microsystem's Project Darkstar agrees to speak at the Dec 2, 2008 IGSA meeting. Michael is a keynote quality speaker and this will be a major event for our community.
July 22, 2008-- NetDevil's Scott Brown's interviewed with Gamasutra on Learning from Mistakes for Jumpgate Evolution. This is a great interview with one of our area's premier business leaders--a must read!
June 20, 2008--BattleScores, Inc. receives 3rd round of funding and announces COD4 tournament launch.
June 15, 2008--AgentSheets, Inc. has received the 2008 "Colorado Top Tech Education Initiative" award at the Apex Awards ceremony hosted on June 5, 2008 by the CSIA, Colorado's Technology Association. The Apex Awards recognize outstanding accomplishments and leadership by Colorado's advanced technology companies and people.
May 20, 2008--Boulder-based Realtime Worlds, the developer of APB (All Points Bulletin) and IGSA member announced that it raised $50M.
"This is an exciting moment for the company," said Tony Harman, co-founder and president of Realtime Worlds, which released its first title, "Crackdown," last year. "We've been very quiet, pretty humble. ... This is the year we get to show what we've been working on."
The "go-to-market" funding will allow Realtime Worlds
to finish building the online server tools, hire additional marketers
and fund the initial marketing for "APB," which should start its beta
testing phases in the summer and fall and have a roll-out of early 2009,
Harman said.
April 18, 2008--the SimGame Exchange becomes the first local employment recruiter to specialize in the video game industry. It's unique relationship with the Austin, TX gaming community and the IGDA should help the Colorado industry continue its growth.
Mar 26, 2008--Jim Ireton, CEO of Idol Minds, presents at quarterly IGSA meeting. As a seasoned veteran of the gaming industry, he discussed strategies for maintaining business momentum and growth in a turbulent economic environment.
Feb 27, 2008--Ray Hutchins, Pres. of the IGSA attends Sask Interactive in Saskatoon, CA as a guest of the Canadian government. Colorado gains an important technical ally in its quest for recognition as the nation's newest gaming cluster.
Jan 31, 2008--Ray Hutchins, Pres. of the IGSA is confirmed as keynote speaker at the Sask Interactive. The topic of his presentation will be Virtual and Real World Convergence; Raising Money and Structuring Interactive Media Deals
Jan 23, 2008--Mike Cohn, internationally recognized expert on Agile/Scrum makes a thoroughly dynamic and presentation on Using Agile/Scrum in Video Game Development at the IGSA meeting.
Jan 1, 2008--Raymond Hutchins, President of the IGSA reviews Edward Castronova's book, Exodus to the Virtual World. That review can be seen here.
Oct 10--Several IGSA members held meetings with Deborah Black, President of the Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association, Nataliya Pasichnyk, and Donna Prefontaine of Industry Canada. We discussed how local companies could take advantage of Canadian tax and other benefits for development projects. This was the first of what will be several on-going meetings as we expand this relationship.
Sep 27--IGSA meeting held at Joe's Crab Shack. Another huge success with three great presentations and networking and deal-making that went on until past 10 p.m. Shaun Tonstad, Pres. Suva Interactive, told presented his middleware solution and described how they used it to build a successful serious application for Morton Buildings. Robert Miller described the Virtual Brains neural net AI. Ray Hutchins told about the upcoming Canadian Trade Mission and how the Colorado industry could benefit.
Sep 10--The SimGame Exchange, NetDevil, and Denver High Def announce the release of Understanding and Breaking Into the Chinese Video Game Market.
Aug 8--Denver HighDef, Denver's acknowledged leader in digital media production is designated as the IGSA's official digital media partner.
July 30--The SimGame Exchange signs an agreement with iBeta, a Denver-based QA & Testing firm, to represent iBeta on software development projects.
Jul 25--Bi-monthly IGSA meeting held at NetDevil. The meeting was a huge success with over 40 attendees and presentations by Bryant Delaney of Battlescores and Scott Brown of NetDevil. Bryant described what he had learned from the process of raising $2.5M for Battlescores and Scott described what he and his team learned from their recent trip to China. This was an amazing presentation about the gaming industry in China.
Jul 23--Ray Hutchins, President of the SimGame Exchange, completes the certification process for Agile/Scrum software development project management.
Jun 22--NetDevil announces launch of its Jumpgate Evolution MMOG
Jun 16--SimGame Exchange enters into strategic alliance with Virtual Brains to market their patent-protected, asynchronous, neural net artificial intelligence.
Jun 15--Agent Sheets wins Phase I SBIR Grant for $100k for development of 3D Interactive Tool for educational game design. Seeks partner to pursue larger follow-on grants. Click here for details.
Jun 12--SimGame Exchange enters into strategic partnership with the International Game Developer's Association (IGDA)
Jun 8--Maxum Games, Colorado's newest gaming company, has just announced that it will unveil its new game at ComicCon on July 26th and will demonstrate its new production streamlining technology the following week at Siggraph
Jun 4--BattleScores, the world's leading independent scoring and ranking technology, receives 2nd funding round
May 31--IGSA regional meeting
May 23--NetDevil, Colorado's flagship game development company, announces the opening of its new 30,000 square foot headquarters office
May 1--SimGame Exchange, the only web platform focused on facilitating business between the interactive entertainment and business communities is launched
Mar 29--IGSA regional meeting
Mar 15--CGSA name changed to Interactive Gaming & Simulations Alliance (IGSA)
Mar 1--CGSA web site launched
Feb 21--IBeta designated as only one of two EAC accredited full voting test labs by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Full voting system test labs are sanctioned to test voting systems against both the federal 2002 Voting System Standards and the 2005 Voluntary Voting System Standards.
Jan 25--CGSA regional meeting meeting successfully held
Jan 2--CGSA is formally created and the first meeting set for January 25th.
Nov 3--The Colorado Gaming & Simulations Alliance (CGSA) is born at the 2006 TiE-Rockies TiEcon whose focus was Jump-starting the Gaming Industry in Colorado. At that conference a group of industry leaders decided that we wanted to build upon that event and create a gaming community for Colorado.