Rensselaer’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences celebrated the addition of the Game Studies Minor by hosting a GameFest Symposium and Exhibition in 2004. Now an annual event, the symposium showcases computer games designed by more than 20 student teams, in addition to lectures by prominent game design practitioners, and a daylong workshop on game design.

New York Law School’s State of Play Conference will convene in New York to examine the past, present and future of virtual worlds.

If you haven't already, we'd like to invite everyone to join the official NYC Game Industry Linkedin Group! There are already a large number of local professionals in the group, and it’s just another great way for those of you who are new to the scene (or might not have known the group existed) to network with your peers.

Just follow the link to join-up: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=931537

The NYC chapter of Girls in Tech has relaunched with a new Managing Director and organizing team. Our goal is the enrich the experience of women in technology in the New York metro area, helping them to make connections, learn valuable career and life skills, and, above all, have FUN with other like-minded women in the thriving New York tech community. (Pssst...this event is co-ed. Gents are welcome too!)

How do you construct the audio for a video trailer overnight using an iconic theme song with no session musicians handy? Well I guess you might ask the guys at Bangolia since that’s exactly what they pulled off last year.

Video interview after the jump.

Games are becoming more and more ambitious, influential and important. They are expanding their reach to a broader, mainstream audience and becoming more sophisticated technically and creatively. As a result, there’s a lot of interest among designers, critics, gamers, and the public at large in the question of whether, and how, games can be meaningful.

New York City-based game company, Rebel Monkey, announced the Monkey Wrench platform, a real-time multiplayer gaming platform, today.  Monkey Wrench was created for CampFu, Rebel Monkey's casual MMO, but will eventually be available to other developers.

IGA Worldwide, a company that inserts ads into video games, is struggling with the recession. The New York company is trying to close a new round of funding, but it has also put itself up for sale.

KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games, New York's first major art exhibition about anime, manga, and video games, runs from March 13 - June 14, 2009, at the Japan Society.  Here you can watch anime films, find life-size characters from manga and anime, and hang out with Mario and Pac-Man.  Plus, it's free on Fridays from 6-9 PM. 

Learn more about the Cosplay Party after the jump!

Local game developer James Clarendon of Red Fly NY has contributed a chapter to Mike McShaffry's "Game Coding Complete: 3rd Edition". In it, James discusses integrating LUA scripting as part of a core data-driven architecture.