I’ve been keeping a close eye on a new gamer conference that was announced late last year called Looking for Group Expo. What is interesting about it for me is that it relates to my other past time (playing MMOs) plus it is going to be hosted locally to me. Every other gaming conference I’ve been to has either been on the West coast or on the East coast so this is going to be a nice change.
I’m very interested in the Costuming contest since I’ve done this in the past when I used to attend the DAOC Roundtable conferences. My current plans are to enhance the Warhammer White Lion costume that I wore for Halloween to wear at some point during the conference (potentially the Cosplay contest also). At some point I would also like to make an Archmage costume that I could wear as a floor costume since it would be a bit more comfortable than wearing armor all day. 
The conference’s web site is: http://www.lfgexpo.com/
As a side note, I also received the following press release about the developer awards that will be given out at the conference:
PRESS RELEASE: First Annual Last Straw MMO Developer Awards
Honoring the achievements of the MMO game development industry
Minneapolis, MN – February 3, 2010 – Last Straw Productions announced today the first annual Last Straw MMO Developer Awards. The world’s first award show designed specifically for massively multiplayer online games will be given at the Looking For Group Expo coming this June to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Winners are chosen by a board of media partners and by votes from players at the official LFGX site at www.lfgexpo.com.
Last Straw Productions will be unveiling the awards over the coming weeks starting with: MMO of the Year, Best Game Design, Best Artistic Design, Outstanding New Content, Best Sound Design, Independent Game of the Year, Best Cinematic, and Best Costume Design.
“MMOs are massive games that take an enormous amount of time and creativity to put together. Last Straw felt it was time to start recognizing the excellent people who have helped mold the future of online gaming” says Last Straw CEO Jonathon Stevens.
Looking For Group Expo media partners will sit on a board of award advisors who will help determine what awards to offer as well as who the nominees and winners will be. The award show will feature a couple fan-chosen awards which will be voted for on the official LFGX website by the fans of the games. For more information on becoming a media partner for LFGX, please contact Jonathon Stevens at jonathon.stevens@laststraw.info.
About Looking For Group Expo
LFGX offers a cost-effective solution for game developers and publishers to showcase their existing and future MMOs without the added overhead of creating their own events. Games will get exposure to current fans as well as prospective future fans with this unified event. Games will be able to create more brand awareness and connect with the current and future players on a level that all MMO fans will come to love as much as the games themselves.
About Last Straw Productions
Last Straw Productions, founded by CEO Jonathon Stevens, is built on a passion for building success in independent MMOs both in its own studio and industry wide through LFGX and IMGDC.
# # #
If you’d like more information about LFGX, please contact media relations at: Jonathon.stevens@laststraw.info
[...] MN). So far, there hasn’t been a lot of information circulating about it yet, but the recent press releases definitely show that they are moving ahead with getting the EXPO ready by June. Still, that [...]