Systems of Play, a free video game design workshop series sponsored by local developer Arkadium, jumped off at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan last Wednesday. The event, titled Game Design Fundamentals, drew a crowd of around 40 people and was an entertaining and informative evening.

In the first episode of local game development podcast "Another Castle", Frank Lantz discusses his career, his games, the creative process, and the future of games.

Click through to listen.

We're pleased to announce the next NYCGI Meet n' Drink will take place on February 11th. Come on down and enjoy brews and excellent conversation with other members of the local community.

Join visionary game designer Will Wright, whose creations include SimCity, The Sims, Spore, and many others, for a discussion on digital games and how they support and encourage learning.

Well, we always thought the brews at Barcade were a little otherworldly; now it’s been confirmed! It was recently discovered that our favorite gaming theme pub was actually built on an old burial ground... spooky.

Want to meet others involved in the creation of games in the NYC area? Then swing on by the monthly NY Gaming Meetup for drinks and demos on February 9th.

Registration has opened for the second session in Arkadium's game design workshop series. Titled, "Casual Game Design", the session plans to cover topics such as casual games, games & meaning, form & content, and designing interaction.

The 2010 Engage! Expo is coming up in February, and there are a lot of great events and speakers lined up. To make the event even more exciting, Engage! will invade the Jacob Javits center on February 16-17th along with the 2010 Toy Fair in a partnership that is expected to bring together thousands of professionals from the toy, game, technology, media and entertainment industry.

Games for Health, a non-profit organization supporting the development and use of game technologies to improve health and healthcare is holding a half-day informational session next Tuesday.

A quick recap for those that missed last Thursday evening. NYCGI held it's first official Meet n' Drink and it turned out to be a great time!