The Open Gaming Alliance (OGA), a non-profit trade association focused on building business opportunities for the games industry, has named Wanda Meloni as its executive director effective. She has been serving on the organization’s board since January of this year as VP. In her new role, Meloni will spearhead the OGA’s efforts to build and expand business opportunities and innovation within the games ecosystem.
As executive director, Meloni will be dedicated to strategic planning, positioning and implementation of the OGA’s initiatives while creating valuable membership programs and aligning with key industry partners. In addition to her work with the OGA, Meloni is the founder and CEO of M2 Advisory Group (formerly M2 Research), and the editor-in-chief of Games Business Review.
“Wanda’s industry knowledge, energy and hard work has helped revitalize the OGA’s efforts as we evolve to better reflect all platforms, sectors and business models that make up the game industry today,” said Drew Johnston, OGA president. “Her insight and guidance will help the organization respond to emerging trends and issues important to our members, and shape the OGA’s growth.”
The Open Gaming Alliance provides an array of resources to its industry members, ranging from research and best-practice guidance to marketing support and networking with some of the industry’s premier technology vendors, hardware providers, and publishers. Founded in 2008, the organization has evolved. Now focused on supporting all gaming platforms, the OGA’s mission is to support business opportunities for developers, create expansion and promote innovation in gaming.
2015 has been an explosive year of growth and activity for the Open Gaming Alliance, which has added several high profile corporate members including Lenovo, Unity3D and Webroot.
Several new initiatives were announced at this year’s E3, including new membership levels, and new Special Interest Groups focused on VR/AR, Tools and Middleware, and Cloud Gaming. Additionally, the OGA unveiled a significant expansion of its indie developer support through its new Indie Collective Program and partnerships with top accelerators through the OGA Incubator Program including MassDigi, Washington Interactive Network and Execution Labs.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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