The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) today announced that Warren Spector, the creator of popular videogame titles Deus Ex and Disney Epic Mickey, will visit Australia in June for the opening of the centre’s Game Masters exhibition as part of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces.
Warren Spector is the third international guest to be announced who will be attending the opening week of the exhibition. He will appear alongside Peter Molyneux OBE (Populous, Dungeon Keeper and Fable series’) and Tim Schafer (Psychonauts, Brütal Legend) and will take part in public programs, including education and industry programs.
To coincide with the announcement of Spector’s visit, ACMI today released an extract from a newly commissioned video interview with the game designer which will be shown within the exhibition.
Spector’s most famous and best-loved games marry role-playing game elements and immersive 3D combat, with a special focus on player choices and the in-game consequences that follow from those choices. From the cyberpunk action of System Shock (1994) to the broad, dynamic conspiracy-theorist paranoia of Deus Ex (2000), Spector’s games have always prized freedom, establishing a few concrete rules and tools and allowing players to employ their own ingenuity in overcoming the game’s challenges.
Spector gained a Masters degree from the University of Texas with a thesis on the history of Warner Bros. cartoons with the intention of becoming a film critic, but soon began developing board and role-playing games for Steve Jackson Games. He made the move to videogame development in the late 80s, working on games including Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990), Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992), Ultima VII: Serpent Isle (1992), and System Shock. In 1997, Spector founded the studio Ion Storm Austin where he worked on the seminal and immersive Deus Ex, widely considered one of the finest PC games ever created. In 2004, he created a new studio, Junction Point, which was later acquired by The Walt Disney Company and resulted in the creation of Disney Epic Mickey (2010), a video game that paid tribute to 80 years of rich Disney history and the world’s most popular cartoon star, Mickey Mouse.
The Game Masters exhibition will showcase the work of leading local and international videogame designers with over 125 playable games from the arcade era through to the latest console and mobile game technology. Spector’s games will be exhibited alongside those of leading contemporary designers, including the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario Brothers, The Sims, Rock Band and The Legend of Zelda. The portion of the exhibit dedicated to Spector’s career will include playable versions of his games, concept art and the newly commissioned video interview.
ACMI will provide opportunities for fans to hear from Spector. The details of these live events will be announced in the coming weeks. Fans are encouraged to sign up to the Game Masters e-newsletter to receive notification when tickets go on sale. These events are expected to sell out.
Tickets to the Game Masters exhibition go on sale Monday 23 April via the ACMI website.
Curated by Conrad Bodman and Emma McRae, Game Masters is the first entirely home-grown exhibition for the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces initiative and will open at ACMI on 28 June and run through to 28 October 2012. For more information, visit acmi.net.au