1 post tagged “dreamhack”

Jonkoping is a logistics center for Sweden since it lies in the north-south/east-west crossroads.  Known as the birthplace of IKEA, the Smaland region that surrounds the city is loaded with thousands of small, entrepreneurial manufacturing firms making furniture, precision systems, aluminum and plastic.

The town of Jonkoping just held a seminar painting its vision of the future, complete with a new performing arts theater, high-rise apartments and shops overlooking the small lake facing the Jonkoping International Business School where I work (www.jibs.se).

But the vision ignored one of the biggest local trends:  massive multiplayer online gaming (MMOGs).  Each November, Dreamhack (www.dreamhack.se) holds the biggest MMOG festival in the world, with over 10,000 players competing on their PCs.  Sponsored by Intel, Microsoft, Sony, and Telia, this festival points to the future of Jonkoping:  pushing bits.
In nearby Linkoping, ABB and Ericsson have advanced simulation and visualization systems, which could be linked to MMOGs. 

Intentac (www.intentac.org) wants to co-develop a DreamLab with Dreamhack to do MMOG development.  Perhaps this could be the foundation for a future MMOG/sim industry cluster.