Kicking off tomorrow, the LA Games Conference features an outstanding collection of speakers and panelists from across today’s gaming landscape. The conference is slated to have over 250 senior decision makers from games, media, entertainment and tech companies all under one roof.
Held at the historic Roosevelt Hotel, in Los Angeles, California, this year’s conference features a number of presentations and talks by a number of industry leaders. Featured keynote speakers include:
Nolan Bushnell – founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, CEO of uWink and Chairman, NeoEdge.
We’ve previously highlighted Bushnell’s innovative concept and use of microtransactions in the traditional ‘diner’ setting. Bushnell is expected to talk about his thoughts on game consoles like the Nintendo wii and the new and emerging landscape of gaming (presumably with a heavy focus on microtransactions).
“Distribution of Games and Digital Media – A Glimpse of the Future”
Mike Yuen – Senior Director, Game Services, Qualcomm
Yuen is expected to give his thoughts on what drives the move towards digitally distributed content. He’ll also be discussing Qualcomm’s investment in the new wireless 3G game console in developing countries, called Zeebo. This new console targets middle class gamers in emerging markets including Brazil, Russia, India and China. This console plays only downloadable games, combating the piracy of disc based games.
“Casual is the New Black – If You Want to Avoid the Red”
David Roberts, CEO, PopCap Games
Quickly becoming one of my personal favorite gaming destinations, PopCap Games’ CEO David Roberts plans on discussing the future where innovations in casual games help create the environment for tomorrow’s hardcore game experiences. Roberts will lay out the PopCap vision of bringing games to the other 80% of the market that even the broadest appealing casual games have yet to reach.
“Finding Money in Games”
Mitch Lasky, General Partner, Benchmark Capital
Given the current economic situation, Lasky’s talk on the latest investment trends and opportunities in games and digital media, might just be the one not to miss. A 20+ mobile gaming, new media, and interactive entertainment business veteran, Lasky has served as EVP of Mobile and Online at EA before joining Benchmark Capital.
Other top panelists and Moderators include:
John Kavanagh, SVP, Interactive / Head of Games, Paramount Pictures
Gareth Davis, Platform Manager, Facebook
Spencer Hunt, VP, Game Production & Digital Development, Sony Pictures TV Int’l
Kuk Yi, Managing Director, Best Buy Capital
Bill Young, Western Region Sales Director, Electronic Arts
Jason Oberfest, SVP of Business Development, MySpace
Robert Norton, Managing Director, North America, King.com
Jana Friedman, SVP of Worldwide Advertising Sales, Double Fusion
David Reitman, VP, Content & Ent. Practice, Switch and Data
Kate Connally, Vice President, AddictingGames/MTV Networks
Bill Kispert, VP, Interactive, NBC Interactive
Jesse Redniss, Vice President, USA Network Digital
Ned Sherman, CEO and Publisher, Digital Media Wire
Eric Goldberg, Managing Director, Crossover Technologies
Nick Williams, Director, Media &, Entertainment Insights, OTX Research
Jay Baage, VP of Content, Digital Media Wire
Anu Shukla, Founder and CEO, Offerpal Media
Scott Scherer, VP of Product Management, Hands-on Mobile
Michael Rubinelli, SVP of Game Development, Genius Products
George Kurtyka, 3P Account Manager, Nokia
Nash Parker, Director, Emerging Technology & Media, Alcatel-Lucent
Braden Moulton, Senior Manager, Partner Development, Massive (Microsoft)
Nichole Goodyear, CEO & Co-Founder, Brickfish
Michael Chang, CEO & Co-Founder, Greystripe
Vijay Rao, VP, Director of Open Planning, Optimedia US
Ted Cohen, Managing Partner, TAG Strategic
Kyle Laughlin, Senior Director, Yahoo! Games
Bob Ferrari, VP, Publishing & Bus. Dev., Sanrio Digital
Michael Cai, Vice President, Video Games, Interpret
Kyu Lee, President, Gamevil
Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors
Dave Long, CEO/Co-Founder, Exponential Entertainment, Inc.
Matt Palmer, EVP & GM, Stardoll Network
Jim Drewry, Executive Director of Marketing, Turbine
Michael Rosenberg, COO, Future Ads (Owner and Operator, Gamevance.com)
Teemu Huuhtanen, President, N.A., Sulake Inc. (Habbo)
Matthew Bellows, VP, Consumer Strategy, Vivox
Ryan Barkan, Senior Director, Advertising & Video Games, Primary Wave Music
Mark Friedler, Partner, Worlds and Games LLC
Greg Short, Executive Chairman, EEDAR
Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners
Bjorn Book-Larsson, COO & CTO, K2 Network
John Canning, Principal, MediaSherpa
Dennis Fong, CEO & Founder, Raptr
Alex Hackford, Head of A&R, Sony Computer Entertainment America
John Hayase, Exec. Director of Development, Sony Online Entertainment
Steve Hoffman, CEO, RocketOn, Inc.
James Hursthouse, Bus. Development Director, Japan/Korea, BigWorld PTY
Dave Laux, Global Executive, InterActive Media
Nicole Lazzaro, President, XEODesign, Inc.
Calvin Ng, CEO & CSO, iLemon
Ken Rutkowski, President/Host, KenRadio
Tommy Tallarico, President, Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc.
Dan Yue, Co-Founder & CEO, Playdom
David Zemke, Director of Marketing, Glu Mobile
Ethan Titelman, VP Media & Ent. Group, Penn, Schoen & Berland (PSB)
Jon Snoddy, Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, Big Stage Entertainment
Ron Williams, CEO, The Zeev Exchange (Zeevex)
Stay on top of the LA Games Confernece at www.lagamesconference.com
