NLGD Festival of Games

UTRECHT, The Netherlands - June 05, 2008 The NLGD today revealed the complete program for its Festival of Games will be held June 14-21, in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The NLGD Festival of Games is one of the largest European game festivals with more than 40 speakers at the Game Conference, 35 speakers at other events such as Brands and Games, and more than 40 exhibiting companies on the expo floor and career fair.

One of the main events of the festival is the Game Conference (June 18- 20), where the past, present and future of gaming will meet. Shinichiro Kasama (Executive office Senior General Manager, Taito) will talk about the evolution of the Space Invaders brand and Taito’s strategy for the future; Andreas Lange will launch "The Video Game Timeline" that his Berlin Computer Game Museum made based on documents that Ralph Baer provided to them. Ralph Baer (Father of Video games) himself will also be present at the Festival of Games.

Among the speakers are Margaret Robertson, games consultant and former editor of Edge, Chaim Gingold, independent / former game designer of Spore, Lennart Sas, Director and Owner Triumph Studios, Ben Sawyer, producer of Virtual U / co-founder of Digitalmill, Inc., Chris Swain, USC / co-founder and director of the EA Game Innovation Lab, Heather Chandler, founder and executive producer of Media Sunshine, Incorporated, James Spahn, CELL, and many, many more.

The Expo (June 18- 20) will have a variety of companies on hand, including various Dutch game developers (Khaeon, Whitebear, and Ronimo Games), the Dutch Game Garden (a foundation that accelerates the growth of the Dutch games industry), Nintendo Europe, Nokia N-gage, and others.

Brands and Games will cover the complete scope of Game Advertising, from the point-of-view of the developer and the advertiser. The speakers are representatives from companies active in the digital entertainment advertising space such as Proctor & Gamble, Ubisoft, Red Bull, EBay Motors, and RealGames.

For more information on all of the events that will take place during the Festival of Games and for the list of speakers and the full program check: www.nlgd.nl

About NLGD Foundation

The NLGD Foundation is a European cross-disciplinary platform, the European hub to synergy, vision and inspiration in the games industry. The main goal of the NLGD Foundation is to stimulate the Dutch games industry and to position this industry internationally. In order to accomplish this, the NLGD Foundation offers room to all disciplines within the games industry that work either directly or indirectly with serious- or entertainment games. Included herein are publishers, developer, but also research organizations, educational institutions and trade and industry. Another goal of the NLGD Foundation is therefore to bring together various perspectives on games. With its activities the NLGD Foundation attracts visitors from all over the world.

About Festival of Games

The Festival of Games is one of the largest professional game festivals in Europe; it sets the stage for the fast growing European game market.

The Festival of Games consists of a main thought leader conference, workshops, a professional expo with a career fair and a serious connection. The event is a platform and a meeting point for the European games community. The festival harnesses Europe's creative power and gives an insight in the unique European approach. Industry, academic and business leaders share and combine their opinions and visions.

The NLGD Festival of Games takes place from June 14-22, 2008, in Utrecht, The Netherlands. For more information, visit the NLGD website at: www.nlgd.nl

Note for the press: you can register for your complimentary press badge on the NLGD website: http://www.nlgd.nl/fog/content/view/203/1/

Alessandra van Otterlo, Event Manager, NLGD

+31 6 12 42 6884

alessandra@nlgd.nl