Interactive Entertainment

CES Conference is in Las Vegas January 5

2011 is going to be a very interesting conference year, and I'll be speaking at some very interesting venues in North America and in Europe. Unfortunately, project deadlines have forced me to decline some other really interesting opportunities that fell on the wrong dates.

First up is CES in Las Vegas, where the conferences start the day before the exhibit floor opens.  On Wednesday, January 5 I'll be taking part in the Digital Hollywood track of the conferences, at a session called "The Gaming Addiction - Game Networks and Social Gaming - Massive User Communities and Commerce."

Other speakers on the panel are:

John Cahill, President & CEO, Meez

Tim Harris, Senior Vice President, Denuo

Hany Nada, co-founder and partner, GGV Capital

Chris Petrovic, GM, Digital Ventures, GameStop

Don Reilley, Director, US Ad Sales, Entertainment & Devices, Microsoft

Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors, Frank N. Magid Associates, Moderator

 

Petrovic has one of the most interesting jobs in the world as Digital GM for GameStop, and is a very thoughtful guy.  The panel overall covers a lot of different areas of expertise, and Vorhaus always makes sure that the panel prepares well for sessions ahead of time.  Should be a good one -- I think I'll get to do some learning during the hour.

 

 

Copyright (c) 2011, Don Daglow.  All Rights Reserved.

Digital Hollywood is in Santa Monica October 18-21

Digital Hollywood is a conference that can adjust the attitude of a game developer. For once we are not the center of attention.  It's more like being the second cousin at a wedding -- everyone agrees you should be there and they're glad to see you, but you won't show up anywhere in the Bride's photo album.

Like I say, a little humility is a good thing.

I'll be speaking on October 19 on this (interesting) panel:

Innovation in Games, Game Networks and Social Gaming - Massive User Communities and Commerce

    Ian Ali, National Sales Manager, Massive, Microsoft

    Don Daglow, President, Interactive Entertainment

    Jesse Redniss, VP of Digital, USA Network, division of NBC Universal

    Brad Foxhoven, co-founder & CMO, Ogmento

    Andrew Schneider, Co-founder & President, Live Gamer

    Nishad Pai, Manager, Business Dev., Entertainment Group, Google

    Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors, Frank N. Magid Assoc., Moderator

It's a large group of speakers, but Vorhaus is a very experienced, very prepared moderator who keeps a session moving well.

Copyright (c) 2010, Don Daglow.  All Rights Reserved.

GDC Europe is in Cologne, Germany August 16-18

I'll be speaking at GDC Europe in Cologne on Monday, August 16.  

The conference runs alongside Gamescom, the huge European games show for consumers, which draws over 200,000 visitors from August 18-22.  

It just so happens that the Gamescom logo this year features a Kraken tentacle, always a good way to get people thinking about Cthulhu, the potential game references or Lord of the Rings connections.

My topic at GDC Europe is "All These Platforms and Business Models: How do I Target My Game?"  I'll cover choices between traditional and digital delivery, packaged goods and online sales, and purchase vs. virtual goods models.

My talk will not be about how to pick the right category so you make zillions of dollars.

You're building a game you're passionate about, and you need to make money. Several options for combining platforms and business models may be available.  I'll share guidelines on how to walk through these choices and make good decisions to maximize the potential of your game.

This conference has a great sense of community and I'm looking forward to seeing many old friends there.

 

 

Classic Gaming Expo is in Las Vegas July 31 - August 1

 
I'll be speaking at the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, which this year runs at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas on July 31 - August 1, 2010.

This event is always a wonderful reunion for the game developers of the 1980's, and we noble Knights of Intellivision even have a good time visiting with the former evil lords of Atari, Activision and Imagic.

In addition to being part of the Intellivision game designers panel, I'll be doing a presentation on "Game Design Before Pong" and discuss mainframe game development in the early 1970's.

All of us from the first generation of video games owe a lot to John Hardie, Joe Santulli and Sean Kelly for creating this show over ten years ago.  These guys have done more than anyone else to preserve the memory of the games and the people from that era.  If you're at CGE and see them please be sure to thank them for what they do.

Global Game Jam Starts January 30

The Global Game Jam

The Global Game Jam is now less than two weeks away!  Sponsored by the IGDA Education SIG, the concept is simple:

A Game Jam is a weekend (usually) in which groups of people come together to create a game together in just that two day (and sometimes three night!) period.  Whoever signs up participates.  Whatever gets built belongs to the group who built it. 

The results tend to be focused on fun and gameplay, since there's no time to get distracted trying to wow people with production values.  They also tend to be innovative, since nobody wants to lose that much sleep to build a me-too game.

The Global Game Jam takes the concept one step farther: there are groups in every populated time zone in the world, sometimes more than one in the same city.  The organizers announce the constraints or guidelines for each time zone at the opening of the event (hence no secret 30 day running starts!)  Since the kickoff is a rolling process by time zone, the teams all over the world are all jamming simultaneously for the middle 24 of the same 48 hours.

For procedures to sign up and take part, see the Global Game Jam website.