Macquarie University in Sydney's northwest will be hosting a three-day gaming symposium at the end of October to celebrate the launch of two new undergraduate gaming courses in 2012.

　　Titled GAME, the event will run from October 27-29 and will include keynote presentations from international game theorists, talks from Australian game scholars, policy debates with industry and government speakers--Queensland University's Dr Jeffrey Brand and ex-deputy director of the Australian Classification Board Paul Hunt, among others--panel discussions on the future of the gaming industry, and a festival day that will include game design workshops, competitions, prizes, game demonstrations, and family activities.

　　Three days of gaming goodness brought to you by Macquarie Uni.

　　The two international speakers will be Ian Bogost, game academic and creator of the social game satire Cow Clicker, and Espen Aarseth, author and principal researcher at the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen.

　　The final day of the symposium will serve as a family-oriented festival day, with indie game booths, an alternate-reality game, and Minecraft, as well as information seminars regarding the two new game studies degrees offered by Macquarie University--Bachelor of Arts majoring in Interactivity and Games, and Bachelor of Information Technology: Games Design and Development.

　　GAME will also serve as a celebration for the launch of the university's Interactive Media Institute, a hub for interdisciplinary research into digital media, gaming, Internet culture, and creative industries.

　　"We feel GAME will help everyone: connecting academics to each other, to creative people in the real world, to government and policy makers, to the public (including parents who want more information on this area), and, of course, to our students both current and future," said Adam Ruch, PhD candidate and lecturer for the Macquarie University Department of Media, Music, Communication, and Cultural Studies, and one of GAME's organisers.

　　The first and third days of the event will be free; the second day will require a A$120 entrance fee for the general public, or A$50 for students (high school, university, postgrad, and so on).

　　GAME will be held at Macquarie University's North Ryde campus. For more information, visit the official GAME website.