SOLID PLATINUM, GOLD AND SILVER SUPPORT FOR DEVELOP

Sony, Philips, Autodesk and Nokia are all once again sponsoring the Develop Conference & Expo, Europe's leading event for the game development community, which takes place in Brighton from July 24-26.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has re-signed as the event's Platinum Sponsor, with Philips amBX and Autodesk securing Gold and Silver sponsorship status, respectively. Nokia returns as the Develop Mobile Sponsor.

"Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is delighted to be the platinum sponsor of the Develop Conference for a second year. This is becoming a key event in the European development calendar, and we are proud to be supporting it," said Jamie Macdonald, vice president, SCE Worldwide Studios Europe

Jo Cooke, chief marketing officer, Philips amBX, added: "Philips amBX was a sponsor of the Develop Conference & Expo in 2006 and we were so impressed with the depth of the conference and quality of the delegates that we've decided to become the Gold Sponsor for 2007. It's always difficult launching a brand new conference yet, from a standing start, Develop was a resounding success last year and we're very much looking forward to repeating that success for amBX this year."

With Develop lining up to be a fantastic three days for delegates, exhibitors and speakers, event director Andy Lane explained: "Delegate registrations are up on this time last year, we are lucky enough to have video games heavyweights Chris Satchell and Richard Garriott delivering keynotes and we have an impressive line up of world-class speakers set to deliver a 60-session strong conference. Our sponsors can be 100 per cent confident they are aligning themselves with a first class event."

Participating companies at this year's Develop Expo include Animazoo, artemdigital, Audiokinetic, Autodesk, Beyerdynamic, CRI Middleware, Develop Magazine, Emergent Game Technologies, gamesindustry.biz, Hansoft, IGDA, Instinct Technology, Mobile Entertainment, Nokia, Perforce Software, Philips amBX, Sony Computer Entertainment, Southampton Solent University, Tech Excel, Testronic Labs and Tiga.

Develop's European focus has been further strengthened for 2007 with a pan-European PR and marketing campaign, the appointment of European media partners including IGM, Game Face and jeuxvideo.com, and an exciting line-up of European industry experts on the speaker list: Michal Valient - Guerrilla-Games; Richard Jacques - Richard Jacques Audio; Achim Stremplat - Gameplay Data; Hannes Seifert - Games That Matter; Pascal Lubin - The Game Design Studio and Michael Khaimzon - Crytek.

The Develop Conference takes place at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton, UK, from July 25-26 2007. Specialist one-day conferences - Develop Mobile and GAMES:EDU 07 - both take place on July 24.

Running alongside the conference, Develop Expo will bring together around 40 of Europe's most innovative companies from every sector of games development, providing visitors with the opportunity to find out about the latest development tools and technology, make new contacts and catch up with old ones.

About Develop Conference and Expo

The conference programme is available to view at www.developconference.com where updates will be posted regularly.

Please visit www.developconference.com to register. Delegates can apply for Super, Standard, Mobile, GAMES:EDU 07, Audio and Expo passes. An early bird discount of up to 20 per cent applies to all passes purchased before July 1 2007.