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Top Gaming Executives Converge in Hollywood at LA Games Conference, April 28 - 29, 2009

Posted on: Monday, 6 April 2009, 23:01 CDT

The Evolving World of Gaming: Leading Players from Electronic Arts, PopCap Games, Microsoft, Best Buy Capital, Nokia, NBC Universal, Paramount and many more

LOS ANGELES, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- LA Games Conference (http://www.lagamesconference.com/) to be held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles on April 28 - 29, 2009, will feature many of today's most successful, multi-platform companies representing the latest emerging business models shaping the gaming industry.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090319/LA86400LOGO)

The LA Games conference focuses on the evolution of the business of gaming and multimedia. Leading representatives of major Television and Film studios will present how they navigate this new landscape, and gaming companies will show the latest in console, mobile, online and PC gaming. What is next in the popular music games genre with titles such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band? Will iPhone gaming finally lead to mobile gaming becoming a mass-market phenomenon? Is there room for a new game console in the digital living room? What is cloud-gaming and what will it mean for the traditional gaming business? How can traditional media companies incorporate gaming into their business model? Is gaming on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace the next big thing? What is next for MMOGs like World of Warcraft and Virtual Worlds such as Habbo Hotel?

Side by side with top gaming business executives and creatives, some of the most compelling and innovative speakers and companies across the gaming landscape appearing at the event include:

Nolan Bushnell, Founder, Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, CEO, uWink and Chairman, NeoEdge

One of the founding fathers of the video game industry and the man behind Atari, Bushnell basically developed the first gaming console. Historically, Bushnell gave Steve Jobs his first real job and paved the way for a generation of Silicon Valley companies. "One of the 50 men that changed America" will reveal his thoughts about new game consoles like Nintendo Wii and the new landscape of gaming.

David Roberts, CEO, PopCap Games

A leading casual gaming developer and publisher, based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka. PopCap's games have been downloaded more than 1 billion times. PopCap's success is the casual gaming space that has been born out of the vision of turning everyone into gamers. Popcap is one of the few companies who saw a rise in sales during 2008, which has caused intrigue in the search for a recession-proof business model.

Mike Yuen, Sr. Director, Games Services, Qualcomm

Qualcomm was founded in 1985 and has just invested in a new wireless 3G game console for developing countries called Zeebo. Rather than be aimed at the saturated U.S. gaming market, they target middle-class gamers in emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China, and it only plays downloadable games, in order to combat the piracy of disc-based games.

Mitch Lasky, General Partner, Benchmark Capital

Mitch has spent more than two decades in the mobile gaming, new media and interactive entertainment business. Prior to joining Benchmark Capital, Mitch served as executive vice president of Mobile and Online at Electronic Arts.

These companies and executives join over 200 decision-makers, creatives, analysts, press and leading professional gamers. Speakers include:

Nolan Bushnell, Founder, Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, CEO, uWink and Chairman, NeoEdge Networks

Mitch Lasky, General Partner, Benchmark Capital

David Roberts, CEO, PopCap Games

Mike Yuen, Sr. Director, Games Services, Qualcomm

John Kavanagh, SVP, Interactive / Head of Games, Paramount Pictures

Gareth Davis, Platform Manager, Facebook

Spencer Hunt, VP, Game Production & Digital Product 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

Reuben Steiger, CEO, Millions of Us

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

Eric Goldberg, Managing Director, Crossover Technologies

Nick Williams, Director, Media & Entertainment Insights, OTX Research

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)

Michael Chang, CEO & Co-Founder, Greystripe

Vijay Rao, VP, Director of Open Planning, Optimedia US

Ted Cohen, Managing Partner, TAG Strategic

Nichole Goodyear, CEO & Co-Founder, Brickfish

Bob Ferrari, VP, Publishing & Bus. Dev., Sanrio Digital

Michael Cai, Vice President, Video Games, Interpret

Kyu Lee, President, Gamevil

Kyle Laughlin, Senior Director, Yahoo! Games

Dave Long, CEO/Co-Founder, Exponential Entertainment, Inc.

Matt Palmer, EVP & GM, Stardoll Network

Jim Drewry, Executive Director of Marketing, Turbine

Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors

Teemu Huuhtanen, President, N.A., Sulake Inc. (Habbo)

Matthew Bellows, VP, Consumer Strategy, Vivox

Ryan Barkan, Senior Director of Advertising & Video Games, Primary Wave Music Publishing

Michael Rosenberg, COO, Future Ads

Jay Baage, VP of Content, Digital Media Wire

Ned Sherman, CEO and Publisher, Digital Media Wire

Event sponsors and media partners CEA, OfferPal Media, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Switch and Data, Parks Associates, OTX, EEDAR, Mary & Margaret, International Game Developers Association (IGDA), Casual Games Association, Conexion, UCLA Anderson, PGA, ECA, New York - Tokyo, Visual Effects Society, Music4Games, Terpin Communications and SocialRadius.

For complete agenda, registration and event details please visit:

http://lagamesconference.com/

Other prominent Digital Media Wire events include NY Games Conference, Future of Television East & West, Digital Music Forum East & West, and Digital Media Conference East and West.

About Digital Media Wire, Inc:

Digital Media Wire is an events, news, and publishing company serving the digital entertainment & media industry since May 2000. Digital Media Wire produces executive forums featuring the leading executives in digital media and entertainment. Digital Media Wire also publishes an authoritative daily email newsletter and industry directory. For more information, please visit: www.digitalmediawire.com.

SOURCE Digital Media Wire, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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