CMP's Game Developers Conference Expands Casual Games Summit Into a Two-Day Event to Serve Veterans and Newcomers AlikeGDC Creates Casual Games Summit '101' to Educate about the Space, '201' for Deeper Discussions of Design, Licensing, Portal Relationships, Revenue Streams and MorePRNewswire SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Game Developers Conference (GDC), CMP Technology's annual conference dedicated to the art, science and business of games, has expanded its Casual Games Summit into a two-day series of sessions to better serve the fast-growing casual games market. Sessions include programming for both casual game novices and professionals. The Casual Games Summit will take place March 5-6, 2007 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco as part of the 2007 Game Developers Conference. Day one of the Summit, titled "Casual Games Summit 101," aims to educate those new to casual games about getting into the industry with introductory sessions on design principles, art direction, technology, business models, the key publishers and more. Day two, "Casual Games Summit 201," provides an arena for sharing and debate among casual game industry veterans on a variety of topics, including downloadable games on the consoles, the evolving relationships between developers/publishers and portals, the use of licenses, increasing revenue through international opportunities, design innovation and more. "The casual game market has grown to be an integral part of the videogame industry, making gamers out of anyone with a PC, a mobile phone or an iPod," said Meggan Scavio, Senior Conference Manager of the Game Developers Conference. "The GDC is here to help the entirety of the game industry come together and grow, and we felt the expansion of the Casual Games Summit to be the natural step as this segment of the market matures." The Casual Games Summit brings together all of the key players of the casual games space, from the leading developers and publishers to the biggest licensors and portals. Speakers include representatives from Adobe, Shockwave.com, Big Fish, Funkitron, Gamelab, GoPets, Her Interactive, iWin, JoJu Games, Kongregate, Oberon, Microsoft, MuddyC, Nickelodeon, PlayFirst, PopCap, Real, Reflexive, Sandlot Games, Sony Online Entertainment, Sun, Three Rings, Twofish, Wild Tangent, Yahoo and Zylom. "Videogames are for everyone, even those who don't fall into the category we tend to think of as the traditional hardcore gamer," said John Welch, President and CEO of PlayFirst, Inc., and co-organizer of the Casual Games Summit, with Steve Meretzky of Boffo Games and Dave Rohrl of PopCap Games. "The Casual Games Summit provides a forum for everyone making -- or wanting to make -- quality games for the incredibly wide and varied casual gamer demographic. Historically, people have thought of this segment as being largely made up of women over the age of 35. While that remains a critical segment, we are seeing two major new market trends: diversification of demographics and the emergence of a segment of super-dedicated and not so 'casual' casual gamers. We'll be exploring topics like these over the two-day Summit." The speaker line-up, session descriptions and registration for the total Game Developers Conference, including the Casual Games Summit, are available at http://www.gdconf.com/. Press registration is also currently open. More than 12,500 game industry professionals will convene during GDC, the world's largest games industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of resources, tools and technologies used to create interactive entertainment. The GDC features more than 300 lectures, panels, tutorials and round-table discussions on a comprehensive selection of game development topics taught by leading industry experts. 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: Sibel Sunar, sibel@fortyseven.com, or Brian Rubin, Web site: http://www.gdconf.com/ Web site: http://www.cmp.com/ Web site: http://www.cmpgame.com/ |