Austin GDC Program Guide 2008

K E YN O TE SPEAKERS OPENING KEYNOTE: Lane Merrifield Executive Vice President, Walt Disney Internet Group & Co-Founder and General Manager, Club Penguin At Their Service: Making a Difference by Putting Players First 11am-12pm | Room: Ballroom A Service with a smile. Service above self. At your service. Have phrases like these lost all meaning in this age of making a quick return and rising to the top as quickly as possible? Lane Merrifield thinks they have. Lane says it’s time our industry shifted its focus back to what matters most: serving customers. In this keynote address, he will explore the idea that success is derived from a mindset of focusing on the creation of a culture of excellent customer service. Lane argues that if you do that correctly, monetization will take care of itself. Bio | Lane Merrifield is general manager and co-founder of CluB penguin, a popular virtual worlds for children. He helped develop and launch CluB penguin in 2005 and played an integral role in its phenomenal growth and success. The company’s commitment to creating a safe and ad-free online playground helped propel CluB penguin to international acclaim and a partnership with the Walt Disney Company, which acquired CluB penguin in August 2007. TUESDAY KEYNOTE: Bruce American Science Fiction Author 11am-12pm | Room: Ballroom A Sterling Computer Entertainment 35 Years From Today pong is 36 years old, and pong marked the birth of popular computer entertainment. Imagine if someone from 2008 walked into the office of Nolan Bushnell in 1973 as he prepared to launch pong, to explain today’s “computer entertainment” to the great pioneer. For instance: hundreds of thousands of networked people evolving their own Sim space aliens. Or: an artist in residence in New York City fabricating an eighteen foot tall digital statue of Gandhi, as, using a treadmill and SeConD life, he mimics Gandhi’s epic march to the sea. How could you explain that insanely great stuff to Nolan Bushnell in 1973 – even though it’s all perfectly true? It’s par for the course for us – but for him, could you even find the words – the most basic concepts? Now imagine the kind of “computer entertainment” our grandchildren will be tackling in 35 years. What if some visitor from the future frankly told you what was going on – your industry, in his own language, from the year 2043? Nobody can do that -- but Bruce Sterling certainly knows how to fake it. And he will! Bio | Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre. He has written many books including The Hacker Crackdown and Heavy Weather, and has contributed to The New York Times and Newsday. He also won Hugo Awards for the novelette Bicycle Repairman and the novella Taklamakan. WEDNESDAY KEYNOTE: Jason Page Audio Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s R&D division Is That It? Next Gen Audio 11am-12pm | Room: Ballroom A Now that “Next Gen” is “Current Gen”, Jason discusses what it has given both us and the end user. He looks at how much potential is still left untapped and how – or if – it is possible to truly push the boundaries of audio with the current methods of game development. What is it that developers expected from next gen audio capabilities? Has it been delivered and if so, where do we go next? How do the tools and methods used within the games industry compare to the pro audio market, and what could we learn from each other? Coming from a unique perspective of having helped many developers integrate audio into games, Jason knows how many of the titles use audio to enhance the gaming experience and discusses the differences between developers attitudes towards the importance of audio. Bio | Jason has worked in the games industry since 1988 and has held positions of games programmer and audio programmer. He is currently the audio manager at SCEE’s R&D division and oversees management of the PlayStation3 audio SDK libraries. Jason has worked on music and sound effects for rainBoW iSlanDS, the ChaoS engine2, and gran turiSmo. 6 Austin Game Developers Conference | September 15-17, 2008 | Austin Convention Center | Austin, Texas | www.AustinGDC.net http://www.austingdc.net/?cid=AGC08_PGWPX2 http://www.austingdc.net/conference/keynotes.htm?cid=AGC08_PGWPX2 http://www.AustinGDC.net

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Austin GDC Program Guide 2008

Austin GDC Program Guide 2008 Contents Conference-at-a-Glance General Information Conference Overview Advisory Board Keynote Speakers Conference Sessions Game Career Seminar Worlds in Motion Summit Austin GDC Events Austin GDC Evening Events Speakers Sponsors & Media Partners Exhibitor Directory Expo Hall Map & Exhibitors

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