Nexon America’s Min Kim to keynote GDC China

Min Kim, vice president of marketing at Nexon America, is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the 2009 Game Developers Conference China. GDC China will take place at the Shanghai International Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year. The event is being presented by Think Services.
In his keynote address titled “A Fantastic Westward Journey,” Kim will share with Chinese developers Nexon’s experiences in bringing popular Korean games and new business models to North America. Once relegated to the continent of Asia, microtransactions have become a catalyst for the North American games market thanks to hit imports such as Nexon’s successful MapleStory franchise.

Nexon is also well known for developing the world’s first internet quiz game, QPlay, setting a world record of 700,000 concurrent users in China in 2004 with Crazy Arcade BnB, and developing South Korea’s most played online game KartRider (over 30% of the population). Nexon plans to re-launch its publishing efforts under a new portal, BlockParty.com, which will house a total of eight titles in the US by the end of 2010 including Dungeon Fighter Online (due to launch later this year) and Dragon Nest.

Prince of Persia creator to keynote GDC China

Jordan Mechner, creator of Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia franchise, will deliver a keynote address at the 2009 Game Developers Conference China. GDC China - the game developer’s event hosted by Think Services and not the other event which has caused more than its fair share of confusion - takes place at the Shanghai International Convention Center on October 11-13, 2009.

Mechner’s keynote address will attempt to explore the success of the Prince of Persia series, as well as his own success as a game designer, programmer, director and screenwriter.

For more information about the Jordan Mechner keynote at GDC China 2009, visit www.gdcchina.com.

Ian Livingstone to keynote GC Asia Conference

Ian Livingstone will be a keynote speaker at this year’s GC Asia Conference (GCAC). In his keynote entitled, “The Life of Lara Croft,” Livingstone will give a brief history of video games and use Lara Croft as a case study to demonstrate the value of creating original Intellectual Property. His keynote will also explore how to leverage games through licensing and merchandising to produce additional revenues and brand value.

Ian Livingstone is one of the founding fathers of UK interactive entertainment and fiction. He is the founder of Games Workshop, and together with Steve Jackson, launched Dungeons & Dragons in Europe and the Games Workshop retail chain. Livingstone has written a number of interactive game books including Deathtrap Dungeon. At EIDOS, he helped to secure many of the company’s major franchises including Tomb Raider and Hitman.

GCA and GCAC take place September 17-20, 2009, in Singapore at the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre Singapore. For more information on the conference visit www.gc-asia.sg.

image credit: this Flickr account

Blizzard headlines GDC Austin

The Game Developers Conference Austin will feature a keynote by Frank Pearce, executive vice president of product development and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, and J. Allen Brack, the production director on Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. In a joint keynote, entitled “The Universe of World of Warcraft,” Pearce and Brack will talk about the challenges involved with operating one of the world’s most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

Presented by Think Services, GDC Austin is a major event for game development, featuring three days of main conference content focused on connected games; online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play and four two-day summits including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits. The event takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009.

For more information on the event, check out www.GDCAustin.com.

Ron Gilbert to keynote PAX 2009

Industry legend Ron Gilbert will be a keynote speaker at PAX 2009, the sixth annual gaming festival to be held Sept. 4-6 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Legendary storyteller, game designer, programmer and producer Ron Gilbert has created countless classic video games, including the seminal LucasArts works Maniac Mansion and first two installments in the Monkey Island adventure series. His more than 20-year career in the games industry encompasses co-founding three game studios, creating the famous SCUMM scripting language and being inducted into the Computer Game Hall of Fame. He is currently creative director at independent development studio Hothead Games in Vancouver, Canada.

In addition to that keynote address, numerous panels and game demonstrations, Omegathon and The PAX 10 independent games showcase, PAX 2009 will offer attendees musical performances from Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Paul and Storm, Anamanaguchi and Metroid Metal.

PAX is a three-day celebration of games and gamer culture. The festival includes an exhibition floor filled with playable builds of upcoming tabletop, console and computer games; a conference program of game industry speakers; music concerts; freeplay areas; industry parties; game tournaments and more. For more information, visit www.paxsite.com.

Gameforge CEO to keynote GDC Europe

Klaas Kersting, CEO of German browser game company Gameforge, will deliver a track keynote at the 2009 Game Developers Conference Europe. The keynote, “Changes in the Games Industry - Free-to-play vs. Payment Models,” will look at the success of the free-to-play model that is used by Gameforge. That model allows gamers to play games for free, while premium items within the game or specific services are that enhance the play experience cost a small amount of money.

GDC Europe will take place from August 17-19, 2009 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Cologne, Germany. With an expected 1,500 attendees from 48 countries, GDC Europe will be Europe’s most important game developers conference. Learn more about GDC Europe at www.GDCEurope.com.

Club Penguin Co-founder Keynotes Austin GDC

Think Services Game Group announced that Lane Merrifield, co-founder of Club Penguin and recently-named head of development for the Walt Disney Company’s kids and family-targeted virtual worlds, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for the Austin Game Developers Conference. Austin GDC 2008 takes place September 15-17 at the Austin Convention Center.

Merrifield’s keynote, “At Their Service: Making a Difference by Putting Players First,” promises to explore some of the key elements that go into developing and maintaining a virtual world.Disney Online’s Club Penguin is an ultra popular virtual playground designed for children between the ages of six and 14.Lane helped develop and launch the site in 2005 and since its inception, has led the management, operations and business strategy.

In his keynote, Lane will explore the idea that true success comes from a mindset of focusing on the creation of a customer service-based culture.

More details on Austin GDC’s keynotes can be found at www.austingdc.net.