Casual Games Conference Moves To September 7-8, 2006 In Austin, Texas Alongside The Austin Game Conference

Austin, Texas - March 3, 2006 - The Game Initiative, the leading producer of conferences and events for professionals in the computer and video game industry, today announced the 2nd annual Casual Games Conference takes place September 7-8, 2006, in Austin, Texas, alongside the 4th annual Austin Game Conference. The Casual Games Conference provides developers, publishers and distributors insight into the current business and design considerations required to succeed in this rapidly growing game industry segment. The conference web site is http://www.CasualGamesConference.com

The Austin Game Conference is the leading event for online game development, attracting 2,000 participants last year. The 2005 Casual Games Conference attracted 500 participants and both conferences draw international attention with attendees, speakers and exhibitors from as far away as China, Korea, France, UK, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. The Casual Games Conference program is crafted by industry experts for industry professionals with several years of experience. The well-planned conference format provides ample opportunity for meeting key industry figures, networking or holding private business meetings. Microsoft Casual Games is supporting the CGC once again this year as leading sponsor of the event.

"By holding the Casual Games Conference alongside the Austin Game Conference we're creating an unique venue for developers, publishers and distributors of casual and online games to better understand the market challenges and business opportunities," said Christopher V. Sherman, executive director of the Game Initiative. "Working together with well respected industry leaders, the Game Initiative's Casual Games Conference will continue to promote the growth of the entire industry segment."

Casual Games are platform agnostic and can be easy to learn but hard to master. With their small size, casual games provide a fantastic venue for explorative gameplay, according to the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the leading game industry professional organization. Casual games can be produced with smaller development teams, shorter development cycles and with lower development costs than console and PC games. As a revenue-producing section of the industry, web and downloadable games are increasing in popularity.

About the Game Initiative

The Casual Games Conference is produced by The Game Initiative, a leading producer of conferences and events for game industry professionals. Now entering its 4th year, the Game Initiative produced 11 game focused conferences and events in 2005, attracting almost 4,000 game industry professionals from around the world as speakers, attendees, sponsors and exhibitors. The Game Initiative is chartered with the growth of the industry through events, public awareness, information and supporting programs and serves the needs of the companies and people involved in producing interactive entertainment software and hardware for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers and the Internet. The Game Initiative events include the Austin Game Conference, Mobile Game Conference, Casual Games Conference, Game Marketing Conference, Women's Game Conference, Game Writers Conference, Advertising In Games Forum, Game Technology Association Meetings and the How to Break into the Game Industry national conference series. More information about The Game Initiative may be found at http://www.GameConferences.com

Contact:

Tim Williams

Casual Games Conference

512.289.8687

tw@gameconference.com