Austin, Texas, July 5, 2006 - 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: Rob
Pardo, Blizzard Entertainment's Vice President of Game Design
and lead designer for World of Warcraft; Michael Dell, Chairman
of the Board, Dell, Inc.; and Vernor Vinge, Hugo Award Winning
Science-Fiction Author. Austin Game Conference is the
definitive worldwide conference for online game development,
including massively multiplayer online games, casual games,
online PC and console games. Over three days 2,400 attendees
from 20 countries will participate in concentrated discourse on
the worldwide online game market, which is forecasted to grow
from $3.4 billion in 2005 to over $13 billion in 2011.
Attendees will 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
speaker roster, available at http://www.GameConference.com ,
includes 100 industry leading individuals participating in
seven detailed conference tracks. "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 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.
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. 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
<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
<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 Contact: Tim Williams Austin
Game Conference 512.289.8687
