Casual Games Summit expands into two day event

The organisers of the Casual Games Summit have announced that next year's event, which is being held as part of the Games Developers Conference 2007, will now take place over two days.

The summit is designed to inform industry professionals about the opportunities presented by casual gaming, and offer guidance on game design, technological developments and business models.

Day one presentations will include a session on art direction by Tysen Henderson of PopCap Games and PlayFirst's Kenny Dinkin, plus a discussion of design principles by Gamelab's Nick Fortungo.

Day two sessions will cover topics such as downloadable console games, the relationships between developers, publishers and portals, the importance of licensing and innovation in design. Speakers will include PopCap's James Gwertzman, Erik Bethke of GoPets and Twofish's Lee Crawford.

Other speakers set to attend include representatives from Sony Online Entertainment, Microsoft, Yahoo, Adobe, Shockwave and iWin.

The Casual Games Summit will take place between March 5 - 6 at the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco. For more details, visit the GDC website.