The IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games, will take place on October 1-4, 2009 in Culver City, California. The culmination and celebration of its annual competition, IndieCade 2009 will present 30 independent games selected from hundreds of entries.  The International Festival of Independent Games marks the only independent gaming event in the US open to the public.

The finalist games represent the best creativity, vision and work of independent game designers from around the world with games encompassing all types of interactive media – art to commercial, ARG to abstract, mind-bending to mobile, serious to shooter. Finalists being announced today include “Papermint” from Avaloop in Austria, “Moon Stories” by Daniel Benmergui from Argentina and “Gray” by Mike Boxleiter & Greg Wohlwend of the United States.

The festival will open on October 1 and run through October 4.  There will be a gala opening night event “The IndieCade Happening” from 6:00 to 10:00pm at the Royal T gallery/shop/café hosted by Richard Lemarchand (Naughty Dog).  At the event Lemarchand will introduce many of the gamemakers who will each offer a specialized capsule presentation of their work.

Hands-on exhibitions of the top 30 finalists’ work will be showcased during the entire run of IndieCade 2009 at three Culver City locations: Wonderful World of Art Gallery, Culver Hotel Mezzanine and Gregg Fleishman Gallery daily from 11:00am to 7:00pm daily.

Click here for a full schedule of events!

A video of my TEDx (x=independently organized)talk on video games as art is now up at the USC Stevens Institute website. I was instructed to give “a talk of a lifetime.” I think I did. Some or all of what I say might be controversial to readers, but it definitely sums up everything I think about video games and entertainment today.

Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to do another one in the years to come, and see what changes.  Click here to watch the video.

Click on the link below to hear Jenova’s journey from Shanghai to Los Angeles, his game design philosophy, and how the heck he got the name “Jenova.”

Click here to listen to the interview!

MOCA Shanghai is hosting an exhibition entitled, “Fantastic Illusions – Media Art Exhibition of Chinese and Belgian Artists.” Jenova is out there this week as part of the opening festivities. If you can’t make it this week, here’s information on how to catch the rest of the show: