Shiraz Akmal, Founder Of THQ's External Development Group (XDG), to Deliver Keynote at GDC Focus on: Game Outsourcing Summit

SAN FRANCISCO, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Shiraz Akmal, corporate vice president of Operations-Product Development for THQ, will headline the GDC FOCUS ON: Game Outsourcing Summit, slated for August 14, 2006 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. The event will explore the benefits of outsourcing in a world of increasingly complex game development.

Akmal's keynote titled, "Outsourcing: The Next Stage of Evolution in Game Development," will explore the evolution of game development and discuss how the industry has shifted to converge on a distributed approach. He will also highlight the benefits of outsourcing and explain how globalization is helping to raise the bar leading to better games.

"Outsourcing is a top of mind development tool for game producers and industry leaders, but given its relatively recent and sporadic use in game development, it presents a level of uncertainty to more traditional developers," said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference. "Shiraz's pioneering work managing leading publisher THQ's outsourcing makes him the ideal guide to show our attendees how to effectively and confidently integrate this tool into their own development processes."

In his role, Shiraz is responsible for streamlining and growing the company's global product development capabilities through outsourcing. With more than six years as an executive director and a founding member of THQ's Heavy Iron Studios, he brings more than 16 years of creative, technical, and operational experience to the company. Shiraz's career highlights include a series of multi-million unit hit titles, including The Incredibles, Sponge Bob Squarepants, and Scooby-Doo!

Sessions and speakers for the 2006 GDC FOCUS ON: Game Outsourcing Summit include:

* "Geography of Outsourcing" -- presented by Jonathan Hales, president,
      OutsourceReport.
    * "When Does It Work, Where Does It Fail? A Postmortem" -- presented by
      Rajesh Rao, CEO, Dhruva Interactive
    * "How Does it Work, and How to Implement it?" -- presented by
      Ben Wibberley, VP North America, Babel Media
    * "Just for the Big Boys?" -- presented by Paul Steed, creative
      director, Atari
    * "The 21st Century Art Director" -- presented by Justin Muir, art
      producer, Midway Home Entertainment
    * "Anatomy of an Outsourcing Deal" -- presented by Chris Lena, producer,
      Sony Online Entertainment, and Joe Shoopack, art director, Sony Online
      Entertainment
    * "Do-It-Yourself: Growing Your Own Outsourcing Group" -- presented by
      Lewis Peterson, CEO, 7 Studios

Presented by the CMP Game Group, host of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference (GDC), the GDC FOCUS ON: Game Outsourcing Summit is part of a series of mini-conferences dedicated to a significant sector or trend in the videogame industry. The Summit is the only industry event dedicated entirely to the serviceability of outsourcing and will provide objective data and insights on the investment value gained from off-shoring. Representatives from all facets of the market who drive this trend will gather to discuss business models and investigate ways to successfully outsource materials.

The early registration price of $495 is available until August 2. Regular ticket price is $595. For more information about the keynote, sessions, and sponsorship opportunities, please visit http://www.gdcfocuson.com/ or http://www.gdcfocuson.com/gos/.

About the CMP Game Group (http://www.cmpgame.com/)

A core provider of essential information to the professional game industry, the CMP Game Group offers market-defining content, and drives community through the Game Developers Conference, Game Developer magazine, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com, the Serious Games Summit D.C., GDC Mobile, GDC Europe, the Independent Games Festival, the Game Developers Choice Awards, GDC London, the London Games Summit, GDCTV, GDCRadio, and the GDC FOCUS ON event series. For more information, please visit http://www.cmpgame.com/.

About CMP Technology (http://www.cmp.com/)

CMP Technology is a marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.

SOURCE: CMP Game Group

CONTACT: Grace Kim of The Bohle Company, +1-310-785-0515, ext. 204,
grace@bohle.com, for CMP Game Group; or Tara Gibb of CMP Game Group,
+1-415-947-6219, tgibb@cmp.com

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