Blizzard's Rob Pardo to Headline Austin Game Conference
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The Game Initiative, the leading producer of conferences for professionals in the computer and video game industry, today announced keynotes and speakers for this year's Austin Game Conference (AGC) taking place September 6-7-8, 2006 in Austin, Texas. Headline speakers include: Michael Dell, Chairman of the Board, Dell, Inc.; Rob Pardo, Blizzard Entertainment's Vice President of Game Design and lead designer for World of Warcraft; and Vernor Vinge, Hugo Award Winning Science-Fiction Author. The full speaker roster includes 100 speakers participating in seven detailed conference tracks.
Austin Game Conference is the definitive worldwide conference for online game development, including massively multiplayer online games, casual games, online PC and console games. An international event held over three days, more than 2,400 attendees from 20 countries will participate in concentrated discourse and network with colleagues, learn from industry leaders, stay informed about the latest tools, technologies and techniques and get business done in a relaxed atmosphere. The worldwide online game market is forecasted to grow from $3.4 billion in 2005 to over $13 billion in 2011, driven by the increase in broadband households, higher PC penetration and more connected console video game systems, according to research firm DFC Intelligence.
"We are extremely pleased to have so many visionaries and industry leaders join us at the fourth annual Austin Game Conference," said Game Initiative Executive Director Christopher Sherman. "With this year's theme of "Brave New Worlds" the Austin Game Conference hosts industry influencers, including game developers, technologists and business professionals from around the world. Austin is one of the top 5 cities in the United States for video game development with more than 60 video game development companies in the local area."
Headliners and Keynotes
Michael Dell, Chairman of the Board of Dell, Inc., will speak with conference attendees in a special fireside chat in the Austin Game Conference Technology Pavilion on Thursday, September 7, 2006 at 4:45pm. Dell founded Dell, Inc. in 1984 with $1,000. In 1992, Mr. Dell became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. In March, Dell Inc. bought Alienware Corp., a Miami-based company that specializes in making computers for video game players.
Blizzard Entertainment's Vice President of Game Design Rob Pardo will deliver the conference opening keynote address on Wednesday, September 7, 2006 at 10am. Rob is the lead designer for the hugely successful World of Warcraft and he also supervises the progress of Blizzard's PC and console titles in development.
Hugo Award Winning Science-Fiction Author Vernor Vinge will deliver the Friday, September 8th keynote address at 9:30am entitled "Inside Out". Vernor is best known for his science-fiction stories, which include "True Names", "A Fire Upon the Deep", and "A Deepness in the Sky".
Conference Program
Conference tracks include: Games in Asia; Multiplayer Business/Production; Multiplayer Design; Multiplayer Tech/Art; Multiplayer Service and Support; Future of the Development Pipeline and Next Generation Game Development. Conference agenda and early registration is now open at http://www.GameConference.com .
In addition to the Austin Game Conference, The Game Initiative is hosting three conferences concurrently: Game Writers Conference (Sept 6-7) at http://www.GameWritersConference.com , Game Audio Conference (Sept. 6-7) at http://www.GameAudioConference.com and Casual Games Conference (Sept. 6-7-8) at http://www.CasualGamesConference.com . Registration to AGC grants full access to all 4 events. All events take place at the Austin Convention Center.
Early Registration Now Open - Save 40 Percent Before July 21st The fourth annual Austin Game Conference is affordably priced, with online registration for professionals just $295 until July 21, 2006, a discount of 40 percent off the onsite registration price of $495. Student registration is $250 until July 21st. Conference details and registration information are available at http://www.GameConference.com
Speakers for the three day program include:
Alan Crosby Director, Global Community Relations Sony Online Entertainment Alexander Macris, President & CEO, Themis Group, Inc.
Andrew Mayer, Senior Designer / Producer, PlayFirst, Inc.
Andrew Pedersen, Vice President, Executive Producer for Pogo, Electronic Arts April Burba, Community Manager, NCsoft Betsy Book, Director of Product Management, Makena Technologies, Inc.
Bill Bishop, CEO, Red Mushroom
Bill Clifford, General Manager of Advertising Platforms, WildTangent, Inc Bill Dalton, Principal Software Engineer, BioWare Austin Bill Money, Creative Director, Iron Will Games Brian Green, Near Death Studios, Inc.
Bruce Woodcock, MMOG Analyst, MMOGCHART.COM Carly Staehlin, Artist, Carly Staehlin Design Charles Dane, Community Manager, CCP Games Chris Early, Studio Manager, Microsoft Casual Games Group Chris Kramer, Senior Dir., Corp. Comm., Sony Online Entertainment Chris Mancil, Senior Online Community Relations Manager, WEBZEN America, Inc.
Chris Melissinos, Chief Gaming Officer, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Christopher Natsuume, Creative Director, Boomzap Pte. Ltd.
Cindy Armstrong, CEO, WEBZEN America, Inc.
Craig Dalrymple, Editor in Chief, OGX.com & Grimwell Online D. Scott Mattson, Senior Game Consultant, Game Center Group Daishiro Okada, President & COO, Square-Enix Damion Schubert, Lead Combat Designer, BioWare Austin Dan Ferguson, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Blockdot/Kewlbox.com Daniel Connors, CEO, Telltale Daniel James, CEO, Three Rings Daniel Terdiman, staff writer, CNET News.com David Reese, CTO, Iron Will Games Dave Rohrl, GM - SF Studio, PopCap Games Dave Williams, Atom Shockwave David Swofford, Communications Direcor, North America NCsoft Dean Terry, Professor of Emerging Media & Online Worlds, University of Texas at Dallas Doug Mellencamp, Server Lead, Bioware Elina M.I. Koivisto, Research Engineer, Nokia EM Stock, Senior Community Manager, Sony Online Entertainment Erik Bethke, CEO, GoPets Ltd Eugene Evans, VP Marketing, Mythic Entertainment Greg Mills, Director of Premium Games, AOL Games Heidi Perry, VP of Marketing, PlayFirst Howard Marks, CEO, Acclaim Games James Hursthouse, CEO, Online Game Services Inc.
Jason Ryan, Online Events Manager, Sony Online Entertainment Jason Wonacott, Director of Corporate Communications, WEBZEN America, Inc.
Jay Lee, Vice President of Technology, Trion World Network Jay Moore, Garage Games Jessica Mulligan, Executive Consultant, Online Games Joe Ludwig, Lead Software Engineer, Flying Lab Software John Blakely, Vice President of Development, Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley, President, Sony Online John Song, NCSoft Jon Grande, VP - Biz & Legal, Sigil Games Online JØrgen Tharaldsen, Product Director, Funcom Joshua Howard, Microsoft Julie Pitt, GM, Planning and Distribution, Games, RealNetworks Ken Wells, Vice President of Marketing, Big Fish Kevin Richardson, Producer/Designer, iWin, Inc.
Lee Sheldon, Indiana University
Lisa Cosmas Hanson, Nika
Lisa Sikora, Marketing Lead, Microsoft Casual Games Mike Burns, Chief Creative Officer, Fuel Industries Monte Singman, Founder and CEO of Radiance Digital Entertainment Montgomery Singman, Founder and CEO, Radiance Digital Entertainment, Ltd.
Nicole Lazzaro, President, XEODesign, Inc.
Patricia Pizer, Game Designer, Freelance Patrick Wylie, VP Studios, Big Fish Games, Inc.
Paul Kim, Vice President, Business Affairs, Go Pets, Ltd.
Paul Tauger, Partner and Head - Computer Game Practice Group, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP Raph Koster Rhonda Giedt, Atom Entertainment Richard Vogel, Co-Studio Director, BioWare Austin Richard Weil, Community Relations Manager, Ncsoft Ruben Cortez, Chief Network Architect, Electronic Arts Inc.
Sam Lewis, Lead Game Designer, Cartoon Network Samantha LeCraft, Game Designer, Online Alchemy Sandra Powers, Producer, Sony Online Entertainment Sanya Weathers, Director of Community Relations, Mythic Entertainment Sara Jensen, Lead Designer, Wolfpack, A Ubisoft Company Scott Yun, Red Rocket Games Sean "Ashen Temper" Dahlberg, Designer, Community Manager, Stray Bullet Games Sean Kauppinen, Vice President, Kohnke Communications Sean Ryan, CEO, Meez.com Shawn McMichael, Director of Sales and Marketing, Microsoft Casual Games Sibel Sunar, Vice President, The Bohle Company Steve Parkis, Disney Online Steven Hoffman, North American Studio Head, Infospace, Inc.
Susan Choe, CEO, StrayFish.com
Tim Greenhalgh, Chief Executive, Galaxylife Limited Tommy Palm, Head of R&D, Jadestone Group AB Troy Hewitt, Community Envoy, Flying Lab Software Additional speakers will be added shortly.
About The Game Initiative
The Austin Game Conference is produced by The Game Initiative, a leading producer of conferences and events for game industry professionals. Game Initiative, events attracted almost 4,000 game industry professionals from around the world as speakers, attendees, sponsors and exhibitors in 2005. The Game Initiative serves the needs of companies and people involved in producing interactive entertainment software and hardware for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers and the Internet. Game Initiative events include the Austin Game Conference, the Mobile Game Conference, the Women's Game Conference, the Game Writers Conference, the Advertising In Games Forum, the Casual Games Conference, Game Technology Association Meetings and the How to Break into the Game Industry national conference series. More information about The Game Initiative can be found at http://www.GameConferences.com
