TriBeCa Games Festival 2017
Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal delivers opening remarks introducing the keynote speakers at the inaugural Tribeca Games Festival. Photo credit: @jive for @streetdreamsmag
Tribeca Games and Kill Screen partnered this weekend to launch the very first Tribeca Games Festival. The festival brought together the gaming community to examine the past and future of gaming and storytelling. Gamers were given a chance to get behind-the-scenes looks into some of the most popular games of the year and view panels with speakers who are cultural leaders and industry insiders.
Attendees at the inaugural Tribeca Games Festival get hands-on play with unreleased and newly-released videogame titles at the festival’s Arcade. Photo credit: @georgemckenziejr for @streetdreamsmag
On the opening night of the festival, attendees got the opportunity to be a part of the New York City Crowd Play premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series Episode 1. By just entering a code on a website from their phones, the entire crowd could play the same game together along with Job J Stauffer, Head of Creative Communications at Telltale Games, and Ryan Penagos, Vice President & Executive Editor at Marvel Digital Media. The game was the perfect example of the future for storytelling within video games, and every person at the festival was offered a free copy before they left. The night concluded with a concert by British electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist Mura Masa. Fresh off a Coachella performance, Mura Masa gave an incredible show to the packed audience and lit up the Tribeca Festival Hub at Spring Studios with the sounds of the future.
British multi-instrumentalist Mura Masa performs at Tribeca Games Festival’s Opening Night. Photo credit: @black_soap for @streetdreamsmag
On the second and last day of the festival, there were three keynote conversations. Sam Lake, who worked on Max Payne and Alan Wake, was joined for a panel by film director Neil Burger and and journalist Chris Suellentrop. Hideo Kojima, creator of the iconic Metal Gear franchise, discussed his game design philosophy with industry insider Goeff Keighley. Ken Levine, creator of the Bioshock franchise, spoke with Doug Liman, director of Edge of Tomorrow, and journalist Clive Thompson.
L-R: Film director Neil Burger (Limitless), game developer Sam Lake (Max Payne, Alan Wake and Quantum Break) and journalist Chris Suellentrop (Glixel) discuss approaches to storytelling in videogames during their keynote conversation at the inaugural Tribeca Games Festival. Photo credit: @jive for @streetdreamsmag
L-R: Legendary videogame developer Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear) and games industry mainstay Geoff Keighley discuss Kojima’s influences of cinema on his work and what’s next for him during their keynote conversation at the inaugural Tribeca Games Festival. Photo credit: @jive for @streetdreamsmag
L-R: Film director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) and videogame designer Ken Levine (BioShock), reflect on Levine’s legacy for interactive storytelling during their keynote conversation at the inaugural Tribeca Games Festival. Photo credit: @jive for @streetdreamsmag
The final day of the festival also included "X Post Conversations," a series of cross-cultural conversations that paired a creator from the gaming community with someone of equal stature from an outside field; "Retro Active," a series of conversations that look back on some of the greatest titles from 2016, exploring every element from art, design, and sound to storytelling. There was also an interactive arcade allowing attendees to be the first to get hands-on with new, unreleased games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Nier Automata.
L-R: Game developer Michael Chu (Overwatch), Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion (The Ringer/Achievement Oriented) discuss Overwatch’s lore and universe at the inaugural Tribeca Games Festival. Photo credit: @jive for @streetdreamsmag
L-R: Film director Brett Leonard (The Lawnmower Man) and journalist Alex Goldman (Gimlet Media) discuss how The Lawnmower Man influenced a generation of digital creators on the film’s 25th anniversary at the inaugural Tribeca Games Festival. Photo credit: @georgemckenziejr for @streetdreamsmag
The inaugural Tribeca Games Festival was a huge success, truly a dream for any fans of gaming and an enjoyable experience for anyone at all.
Photos courtesy of fortyseven
