Trends in Gaming: Exploring the Evolution of Digital Gaming from Different Industry Perspectives

• Game genre
• Game platforms
• Consumers - demographics and expectations
• Gameplay
• Licensing
• Game distribution
• Comparative cultural trends between US, Asia and Europe

Eric Zimmerman - President, gameLab

PRESENTER BIOS:
Anne-Marie Huurre - Founder/President, Women Wise Software
Anne-Marie has been involved in the computer game industry producing and bringing to market several "hit" game titles and edutainment properties since the early 90s. She started Women Wise to encourage women to be a part of the games and new media industry. Their first CD-ROM adventure game and e-book was marketed specifically for the female audience, particularly those new to gaming. Anne-Marie has been quoted and interviewed by CNN, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Wired Magazine, game sites and women's magazines. She has spoken on the topic to groups at E3, Milia, the South Korean Government, International Game Developers Association and various women's technology associations. Currently her company is launching a series of TeleClasses, wireless games and has several television properties in development.

Greg Costikyan - Independent game designer
Greg has designed 30 commercially published board, roleplaying, computer, online, and wireless games, including 5 Origins Award winners and the first online game to attract more than 1M players (MadMaze, for the old Prodigy service). He was founder and Chief Design Officer of Unplugged Games, a wireless games start-up. At present, he consults on game design and game industry business issues to clients including Unplugged Inc., the successor to Unplugged Games and the Themis Group, a company that provides community management services for massively multiplayer online games. Themis recently published an analysts' report on the online game industry, which Greg co-wrote. Greg has also published four science fiction novels, a clutch of short stories, and innumerable articles on games, the game industry, and game design.

Hal Halpin

- President, Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association ( IEMA)

Hal is the founder and President of the IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Assoc.), the $7 billion video and computer game industry's non-profit retail trade association. The IEMA member companies account for over 80% of the sector's business, and counts among its esteemed Board members Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Best Buy, and EB. He manages and runs the IEMA's annual conference and show, the Executive Summit, which is the game industry's premiere senior-level event - exclusive to the top 500 decision-makers in the business. Hal also founded IE Magazine (formerly GameWeek), which was the leading trade publication serving the sector, and Game Daily, the category's primary daily news outlet. He re-published the authoritative novel covering the business, Game Over

, and is frequently called upon to represent the industry in mass-media outlets, at conventions and trade shows, and to federal and state governments. Leveraging the aforementioned assets, Hal is responsible for providing networking opportunities, advice, counsel, and representation to retail, wholesale, manufacturing, analysts, and government figures regularly.

 

Steve Masur

- Esq., Partner at Masur & Associates

Steve is a partner at Masur & Associates, LLC, (www.masurlaw.com

) which has provided best-of-class legal services to artists, entrepreneurs and businesses in the entertainment, media and technology industries since 1995. Mr. Masur has worked with emerging companies and divisions of larger companies at every stage in their development, helping to address corporate, finance, contract, intellectual property and business development needs. In addition, Mr. Masur has maintained a vibrant entertainment practice working with clients in music, film, art, fashion, publishing, graphics, game development and web design. Mr. Masur has established an impressive record of completed transactions and regularly speaks regarding media industry trends as well as start-up business and legal issues.

 

Seth Rosenfeld

- Producer, NewKidCo

Seth has been working in the game industry for nearly ten years, at various New York publishing houses including Acclaim Entertainment and GT Interactive. As a producer, Seth has shipped over 20 titles, each across multiple platforms from the 8 bit era to the present day. As "The GameGimp", Seth has written game reviews and articles for commercial web sites such as "Happy Puppy" and Time Warner's "Speedzone", and has produced his own streaming interview show about the game industry for Pseudo Interactive.

Eric Zimmerman

- President, gameLab

Eric is co-founder and CEO of gameLab, a New York-based online game developer (www.gmlb.com). gameLab's titles, inlcuding BLiX, LOOP, and LEGO JunkBot, have been nominated for GDC Spotlight Awards and Webby Awards. Some of Eric's pre-gameLab titles include the critically acclaimed SiSSYFiGHT 2000 (www.sissyfight.com) and the PC CD-ROM Gearheads. Eric has taught game design and interactive narrative design at MIT's Comparative Media Studies program, New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, and the Digital Design MFA program at Parsons School of Design and has lectured and published extensively about game design and digital culture. Eric is currently co-authoring two books about game design, to be published in 2003.

Admission:
NYC ACM SIGGRAPH Members (including student members) - Free

 

NYC IGDA Chapter Members - Free

 

Faculty, Students, and Staff of The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) - Free with valid ID
Non-members - $7.00

 

Students - $3.00 with valid Student ID