Registration is open from 10:30 to 11am, but trains take ~2hrs to get there, so be sure you know what train you need.

Let me know if you are going to the camp!

-Michael

Microsoft is running a 3 day camp dedicated to XNA and the Imagine Cup at the University of Wollongong. Now they realise that UOW is a bit of a distance away, so the first 50 students to register will get free accommodation for the duration of the event.

http://www.microsoft.com.au/events/register/home.aspx?levent=374345&linvitation

Want to learn how to make your own video games for Windows PC and Xbox? Already know a little about game development but heard that XNA can make your life a lot easier? Currently playing around with XNA and want to do something more with it?

Answer yes to any of these questions and this camp is for you.

The Imagine Cup Game Dev Camp will run Friday December 18 through to Sunday December 20 2009 and will be a nonstop experience full of gaming, development, learning and fun. You’ll hear about Imagine Cup and how you can help change the world through technology, learn about XNA and how it makes development for Windows and Xbox as straightforward as possible for both 2D and 3D games.

You’ll also team up with others who are as keen to get into game development as you are, potentially forming up proper partnerships to enter Imagine Cup, the world’s biggest technology competition for students.

And, best of all, it’s free to attend. And, even better, if you’re one of the first 50 students to register by December 8, Microsoft will cover your accommodation as well – you just need to get to the event, and we’ll look after the rest! How good is that!?
Prizes, gaming, learning game dev, fun, teamwork, challenges, all rolled up into one 3 day experience. Sounds good to me!

If you’re NOT a student, please read this:

You are more than welcome to attend the Game Dev Camp if you’re not a student but please note that you will need to book your own accommodation so that we can make sure the students have an opportunity to attend. Also, there will be student-specific activities around Imagine Cup that you might not get as much value out of.

The game development sessions though – they’re all good! Come and be a part of this three day experience into the world of XNA.

Agenda:

December 18

10:30 – Registration

11:00 – Camp Day 1 Begins

18:30 – Camp Day 1 Ends

19:00 – Pizza and Xbox Gaming Night

December 19

8:30 – Camp Day 2 Begins

18:30 – Camp Day 2 Ends

19:00 – LAN Party

December 20

8:30 – Camp Day 3 Begins

16:00 – Camp Day 3 Ends

Agenda subject to change.

http://www.microsoft.com.au/events/register/home.aspx?levent=374345&linvitation

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198990192353&ref=mf

Then you must attend our information session to get all the details!

Find out how you can:

•             Get involved in the world’s premier student competition, Imagine Cup, sponsored by Microsoft

•             Apply for internships with Microsoft in Australia and Abroad.

•             Learn more about Microsoft’s new student initiatives such as DreamSpark and Windows 7

•             Talk to representatives from the Microsoft Student Partner’s Program

•             Discover how you can have the opportunity of a life time to go on an Internship. Learn a new language, create new networks, develop your skills and gain invaluable industry experience through AIESEC.

Date: Wednesday 28th October, 1 – 2pm

Location: CM05C.01.31

Cost: FREE + showbags for those who register!

RSVP: Register at: http://www.aiesecaustralia.org/UTS/Microsoft/

The theme this year is the same as last year, the UN Millennium goals. So you can either continue the project that you started last year, or choose from one of the many problems that need to be solved.

Simply head over to http://imaginecup.com and read all about the competition, previous winners, the theme, and then register for IC 2010.

You can find out more about the UN goals here, and decide whether you want to sign up for the Software Design, Game Design or Digital Media category. (Other categories open in August 2009)

Recently students gathered in Cairo, Egypt to compete for the 2009 trophy, and this also marked the first year that the Millennium goals were used as the theme for the competition. You can find the winners here, and some interesting information about this years competition:

Worldwide Competitors:

• 300,000 registered
• 59,000 students competed from 142 countries
• 148 finalist teams

Comparing these numbers to previous years, the number of registrations and finalist teams have increased dramatically, so lets work to make 2010 even better!

Let me know if you register, and good luck!

Wednesday night the top 5 teams, three from the University of Canberra, one from the University of Western Sydney, and one from the University of Technology Sydney.

More images and the results after the jump.

This year the AU finals were open to the public, and the turnout was very good. Many representatives from the press, industry and faculty attended and it looked like everyone enjoyed themselves.

The night was split into two parts, first three of the groups presented, then a light dinner before the final two groups presented and the judges ranked them. Those who attended also went into the draw to win one of two XBOX360 Elite consoles.

The first three groups were all from the University of Canberra, two Green solutions and an interesting solution for employment in areas like Africa where mobile penetration is high, but technology in general is not. Some slight demo mishaps occurred, however I think that all teams managed to convey their ideas very well. Team eGreen used RFID and a mix of Microsoft technologies including even Windows Sidebar to power a Carbon Emissions rating scheme, which allows the consumer to make informed decisions about how eco-friendly each product is.

Team iWork presented a system that allows for employers to contact casual employees for work using just mobile phones and SMS messages. The employee registers for the service online, and then is sent job offers based on their availability and skills. The system uses an intelligent parser to understand what the employer wants and send the offer to those interested, who can reply by phone, and even get information like weather or directions to the job. (Using MapPoint)

Team deCarbonate presented web solution using Silverlight that provides a social service for managing your eco-emissions. Users can logon to the website, provide information on their utilities usage, fuel consumption etc, and then can be provided with suggestions for ways to improve their emissions, with easy linking to carpool programs or green gas plans. The system adds a social element, with integration with Twitter, Facebook (future) and presents it all with some really nice charts and presentation.

After a nice light dinner, everyone returned to watch Team Firefighters from UTS present a system for monitoring bushland around vulnerable areas for fire conditions, and manage evacuations and response teams in the area. They used an interesting system of wireless nodes that consist of small, cheap monitoring devices that can even be airdropped into the bushland, and can survive for up to 900 days. These nodes monitor different environmental variables and if a potential bushfire is detected, the wireless network can send this information to a command station where appropriate action can be taken.

The nice part is that the system includes information about residents and local response teams, so for example, nearby emergency services can be notified about a disabled person near the danger zone, and using a mobile client, the emergency service can evacuate the person and update the command center.

Last but not least, Team Xtreme from UWS presented an awesome looking solution for helping fire services manage their hazard reduction activities. The system uses the CTP Virtual Earth ASP.Net control to present a visual interface that allows for park rangers, fire services, scientists, or anyone else, to mark down areas of fauna and flora, and appropriately schedule hazard reduction activities such as backburning. The cool part about this is it looks like a really polished WPF application, however it is all contained inside the browser.

This project, entitled FLAME,  was presented in one of the most engaging sessions of the night, and the presentation and level of polish was amazing. However no-one knew who would win when the judges left the room to deliberate, and in my opinion, the final result was a surprise.

But first, we got an insight into what Microsoft does with its partners to help those who are disadvantaged in Australia (aside from the Imagine Cup) through some interesting videos showcasing Indigenous learning through a “Clippy” style program, as well as a Tablet PC learning package created by Readify that allows disabled children to express themselves using imagery and the Text-to-Speech engine in Windows Vista.

Once the judges returned, everything got back underway, and after presenting the audience prizes, the winners were announced. In shared 4th place, Team iWork and Team Firefighters. In 3rd place, Team deCarbonate. Then presented together, in 2nd place Team Xtreme, and winning the oversized-novelty boarding pass to Egypt, Team eGreen. Congratulations to all teams for making it this far, and further congratulations to Team eGreen for gaining the chance to represent Australia in the 2009 Imagine Cup in Egypt! (No pressure)

Thanks to Michael Kordahi (@delic8genius) for taking the photos of the night, you can find them all on Flickr here. Thanks also to Microsoft for hosting the event, and running the Imagine Cup, as well as all of the other Microsoft staff that worked on making this succeed, awesome work!

For more information, keep watching this blog, and the official MS OZ Academic blog.