// Keynotes and International Speakers

Glenn Entis

The Gamification of Digital Media

This talk starts with a guided tour of the key digital media trends that are re-shaping the way we learn, play, work, communicate, form communities and spend our money. With those trends as a backdrop, we will focus on how games and the principles of game design are influencing digital media and experiences beyond games - in other words, how digital media is becoming “gamified”. A game includes rules, challenges and rewards that lead players through an interactive experience. A good game is easy to pick up (and is fun right away) but is hard to put down. What design principles has the game industry developed to deliver this, and how are game mechanics and vocabulary influencing other forms of non-game media? What opportunities does this open up for current and future game designers? And is game design primarily just a set of tricks used to amuse people, or is it a (somewhat) unified set of deep observations about human behavior and motivation?

Dante Anderson - KUMA Games

Media Convergence: Games and TV (and Social Networks)

Dante is a veteran of the video games industry with nearly 15 years of product development and technical project management experience. As a Senior Producer for GT Interactive, Dante oversaw the development of such best-selling titles as the one million plus seller "Duke Nukem: A Time to Kill", "Nam/Napalm" and "WWII GI". Previously, Dante was a member of the Saturn Launch Team at Sega of America where he produced showcase titles "Panzer Dragoon" and "Clockwork Knight". At KUMA, Dante directs all production-related activities for the growing episodic game network, leading a mix of creative and technical talent to deliver free, high-quality video games and machinima in regular episodes. The games include original titles "Kuma's War" and "The DinoHunters" plus licensed titles "ShootOut!" and "Dogfights" from the History Channel and "The Kill Point" from Spike TV.

Jason Della Rocca

The Changing Landscape of the Global Games Industry

Games are simultaneously a global product of our flat world and a hyper localized form of pop cultural. From a business point of view, the game industry is a globally competitive marketplace, attractingop talent from around the world creating content for playersworldwide. Not only are games played and enjoyed by a global audience,but more and more, games are being developed from every corner of theglobe. And, this competition is taking place at a time when thedesign, technology and business models are all in a state of flux. Inshort, you are competing against everyone, everywhere for everythingat an extremely disruptive time.

Given such intense competition and change, how can you stay ahead ofthe curve? Beyond just thinking at a company or project level, how canindustry work together with governmental and academic stakeholders tonurture and promote a local game cluster? What policies and strategiescan make your city/region, as a whole, be more competitive at timewhen disruptive innovation is at every turn?

Jason is the founder of Perimeter Partners, a consultancy focused on developing game industry clusters around the world in partnership with stakeholders from government, academia and the game industry. For nearly nine years, he served as the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a professional society committed to advancing the game industry and the careers of developers. Jason was honored for his industry building efforts with the inaugural Ambassador Award at the 8th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. He continues to be an advocate for the expressive power of games and their capacity to change the world. As a sought after expert on the game industry, Jason has spoken at conferences worldwide (e.g., GDC, Tokyo Game Show, Nordic Game, ChinaJoy, etc), lectured at top universities (e.g., National University of Singapore, McGill, University of Tokyo, Penn State, etc), and has written for or been interviewed by countless news outlets (e.g., Wired Edge, Nightline, LA Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal, The Escapist, etc). Jason has been a member of the game industry for over a dozen years, and has previously worked at IGDA, CMP, Quazal, Matrox Graphics, Silicon Graphics and Price Waterhouse. He blogs at www.realitypanic.com and can be reached via Jason [at] PerimeterPartners.com.

Bruno Matzdorf and Michael Foster - Sony Computer Entertainment

Navigating the development map for PlayStation platforms.

This session will address the different licenses available for development on the PlayStation platforms. Recommendations will be made to know which license to target. From recent announcements, SCE will provide a more detailed view into PSPMinis from the developer perspective. In addition, there will be an update for the Developer Incubation Program, and Academic Program.

Bruno Matzdorf – Resource Development Program Manager, SCEA Developer Support Group. Bruno Matzdorf has supported console developers for the past 12 years working for companies like Metrowerks (CodeWarrior), Criterion Software (RenderWare), and currently with Sony Computer Entertainment America (PlayStation). Currently, Bruno is helping SCEA find and foster development talent for all of the PlayStation family platforms. This effort includes the development community in Latin America.
Michael Foster – Senior Product Evaluator, SCEA Third Party Publisher Relations. Michael has been working in the video game industry for 18 years. For the past 13 years he has been with Sony Computer Entertainment America (PlayStation). During that time, he has worked with numerous developers on all platforms in the PlayStation family, analyzing game design to insure the best possible quality of game, given the developers available resources. Michael is also part of an initiative to bring support to the development community in Latin America.

John Nordlingler - Microsoft

Games and Learning

John will discuss the new Games for Learning Institute and why games are perfect to address the trouble issue of declining STEM skills in many parts of the world. He will explain why games must be fun first, and if learning tools, need to be assessed to move the state of the art of education games further.

He will show some examples of great games including a couple from Brazil. John will also discuss trends in computing that will affect the G4LI and Brazil and eventually some local activities he will invite everyone to participate.