Edinburgh Interactive 2010
A full conference schedule for you.
Monday 23rd August/... Edinburgh Interactive is now celebrating its tenth successful year, and this year is primed to showcase the continued popularity, growth and significance of video games. This year is more integrated with the world famous Edinburgh Festival than ever, appealing to the press, public and professionals from film, television and interactive media backgrounds alike – offering a larger forum for delegates and consumers.
Edinburgh Interactive is an annual festival celebrating the creative culture of interactive entertainment. Delivering a dynamic schedule across a wide range of industry sectors, Edinburgh Interactive also plays host to the Free Play Public Area and Game Screening Sessions, which are an integral part of the Festival.
The Free Play Public Area, hosted this year at Edinburgh’s Festival Square, is for everyone who has a passion for videogames and would like to come along to play some of the biggest games of the year for FREE before they go on sale.
Chris Deering, Edinburgh Interactive Chairman, said: “Edinburgh Interactive is a very special aspect of the annual Industry calendar, celebrating and expanding the creative culture of games, and drawing energy from the creative underpinning of the Edinburgh Festival. This year also marks a new event partnership between Edinburgh Interactive and the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, bringing the decision makers from games and television together for the first time. Edinburgh Interactive provides a unique level playing field where key Industry figures mingle with students and members of the public alike in an environment of innovation and enterprise.”
Edinburgh Interactive Conference Schedule
Edinburgh Film House, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ
Wednesday 25th August 2010
12:00 - 13:30 Registration & Lunch - Filmhouse Foyer & Café
13:30 - 13:45 Introduction
Chris Deering, Chairman - Edinburgh Interactive
13:45 - 14:30 From lens to living room
Ray Maguire, CEO - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Ray Maguire will talk about why Sony is committed to 3D in games, where 3D technology is going and will share some of Sony’s new 3D games.
Chaired by Matt Rothman, Managing Partner - Hemisphere Capital
14:30 - 15:15 From product to service - it's not that simple
Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
The games industry is at a turning point. There is greater and greater free and micro-monetised activity and for the first time in decades a drop in income from direct purchasing. Game publishers have been quick to react with acquisitions, cuts and rapid changes of direction - but are we in danger of losing the baby with the bathwater. Games are sticky. Well presented and sensitively updated they can provide lifelong relationships for consumers. Relationships that consumers are more than willing to pay their part in...Sean Dromgoole will present an original analysis of the games in people’s lives.
Chaired by Matt Rothman, Managing Partner - Hemisphere Capital
15:15 - 15:30 Comfort Break - Filmhouse Café
15:30 - 16:15 Disruption = Value creation in Games
Paul Heydon, Managing Director - Avista Partners
With a detailed look at the sector and where the value was, is and going by sub-sector, where investors are placing their bets and which companies are getting the best exits. Paul will show how disruptive, fast growing companies are creating the most value faster than ever before.
Chaired by Matt Rothman, Managing Partner - Hemisphere Capital
16:15 - 17:00 Creating a Successful Mobile Game
Igor Pušenjak, President & Founder - Lima Sky
Igor Pušenjak, co-creator of the bestselling iPhone game Doodle Jump, will talk about what it takes to make and market a successful mobile game. Through a combination of addictive gameplay, frequent updates, direct communication with players, and employment of social networking tools, Doodle Jump, created and published by two brothers, has managed to stay in the Top 5 Paid Apps on the App Store far longer than any other app and is currently one of the top selling iPhone apps of all time. This presentation will cover Lima Sky’s humble beginnings on the App Store, lessons we’ve learned, and what Lima Sky is doing today to keep Doodle Jump on top of the charts.
Chaired by Matt Rothman, Managing Partner - Hemisphere Capital
17:00 - 17:45 The Great Debate
"This house believes that the future of gaming lies in game creators dealing direct with consumers without the intervention of publishers..."
Four industry heavyweights lock horns using the most adversarial discussion format developed since the invention of speech. Two teams, each team have two speakers and then it’s for the conference to decide.
Chaired by the tough but fair, Ian Livingstone, Life President - Square Enix Europe
18:00 - 21:00 Networking Drinks Reception in Festival Square
Delegates will have the opportunity to preview the consumer games area in Festival Square, a 2 minute walk from the Filmhouse, and experience what the likes of Nintendo & Sony have in the pipeline in the near future.
18:00 - 20:40 Screenings
18.00 - 18.30 Train2Game
Clive Robert, CEO of Train2Game, will be hosting an evening Games Screening session about the lack of industry relevant and recognised courses available with pathways for successful careers in the industry, a topic which lead him to embark on the creation of Train2Game. The seminar will discuss the skills shortages within the gaming industry, despite its growth, technological advances and soar in creativity over the last five years.
18.45 - 19.15 Musemantik
Maciej Zurawski and Diwakar Thakore, co-founders of Musemantik, will demonstrate Musemantik's pioneering emotion-aware entertainment technology, illustrating how to achieve emotional depth even in highly complex and non-linear games. During the public screening session, Zurawski and Thakore will present various application spaces and discuss some of the underlying principles.
19.30 - 20.30 Microsoft: Kinect Sports
Hot on the heels of Gamescom, Rare Studio’s Kinect Development Director, Nick Burton, will present the first public UK demonstration of selected games to be included on Kinect Sports. Launching in November Kinect Sports utilises Kinect for Xbox 360, Microsoft’s extraordinary new controller-free home entertainment system. In this screening, Nick will provide insights in to how this title was developed and demonstrate Kinect Sports’ track and field, ping pong and football experiences. For gamers wanting a first look at one of the major Kinect for Xbox 360 launch titles, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
20.30 - 20.40 Codemasters Showreel
There will be an exciting showreel from Codemasters that showcases its future releases, including F1 2010 TM, the official game of the 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TM, and a duo of brand new titles for the year ahead.
Thursday 26th August 2010
9:15 - 9:30 Welcome back
Chris Deering, Chairman - Edinburgh Interactive
9:30 - 10:15 Videogaming and TV, now is the time
Michiel Bakker, CEO - Ginx TV
MTV changed music forever, from the way it is consumed to the broadening of artist appeal to new audiences. Despite changing media consumption patterns, is Television about to do for games what it did for music? Michiel Bakker, CEO of Ginx TV and one of the founders of MTV Europe, will outline his vision for the first major worldwide TV channel dedicated to video gaming. He will share some exclusive research on the demographics of games consumers and how this can translate into compelling new TV shows and interactive content, and explain how he sees the same exciting television potential for the games industry as for music videos twenty years ago.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
10:15 - 11:00 How I learned to stop worrying and love digital distribution
Chris Anderson, VP of Product – Gamestreamer
Digital distribution of games is reaching the proverbial tipping point. Chris Anderson, VP of Product for Gamestreamer Inc and former Director of Digital Distribution for IGN's Direct2Drive will discuss the current state of digital distribution and share his thoughts on trends that will shape the retail landscape in coming years.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
11:00 - 11:45 Whales, power-laws, and the future of the Media Industry
Nicholas Lovell, Adviser / Author – Gamesbrief
The emergence of free-to-play games has revealed new truths about media consumption. Not all users are created equal. Some have little interest in a game and will only play it for free; others are so committed they will spend tens, hundreds, even thousands of dollars on a single title.
Drawing on examples from the music and games industries, GAMESbrief’s Nicholas Lovell charts the end of the “one price fits all” business model, the emergence of high-rollers as the primary driver of revenue and the dire consequences for games and media companies that fail to adapt.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch - Filmhouse Café
13:00 - 13:45 Making Games Good
Margaret Robertson, Development Director - Hide&Seek
We're used to working hard to make good games - good visuals, good audio, good mechanics, good stories. But the games we make pull in thousands of hours of attention from millions of players. And, as well as entertaining them, we're changing their lives in dozens of subtle but significant ways.
Margaret Robertson, drawing on her recent work with Channel 4 and Hide&Seek, talks about the kinds of impacts games have on their players, the steps game makers can take to ensure that those impacts are positive, and shows some projects that manage to be good games as well as good games.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
13:45 - 14:30 Xbox LIVE - Transforming Entertainment
Jerry Johnson, General Manager - XBox Live Studios
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
14:30 - 15:15 Second Screen Social TV
Tom McDonnell, Creative Director – Monterosa
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
15:15 - 15:30 Comfort Break- Filmhouse Café
15:30 - 16:15 Lessons Learned building Moshi Monsters to 25m+ registered users
Michael Acton Smith, CEO, Mind Candy
Moshi Monsters is now one of the fastest growing and profitable children's sites in the world. The session will go into detail about what the team learned during the intense period of growth - which features worked and which didn't. Michael will also discuss how traffic was acquired and which acquisition channels have been most effective, and will also share the warts and all story of how Moshi Monsters was built from scratch into a highly profitable online game with 25m users in a little over 2 years. The lessons will be valuable for anyone building social games, whether in the kid or adult space.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
16:15 - 17:00 Interactive Music - A new frontier for User Enhanced Entertainment
David Ratcliff, Founder - Music Myne
The recorded music industry is still trying to sell 'Space Invaders' to fans of 'World of Warcraft', it's not surprising there are some problems; but exciting new products are evolving that are relevant to the digital world of music fans today. Forget about fighting UGC and sharing behaviour, let’s harness it and multiply the revenue streams for everyone, but not from advertising, from interaction. The frame work of copyright that so often stifles innovation in the music space can be navigated and David will explain his vision of how to do this, gain the support of major artists and bring a whole new experience to the fans.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
17:00 - 17:45 PlayStation Minis 101
John Booth, Services Planning Manager – SCEE
What are minis and what opportunities do these downloadable PlayStation games provide independent developers? John Booth, Networked Products Planning and Development, SCEE, fronts an enlightening public games screening on the PlayStation minis phenomenon, entitled PlayStation minis 101 (or, "how to break into the games industry without being a millionaire)”. Looking at their performance to date, Booth will also feature case studies from indie game developers and more established publishers that explore the lessons learnt from nurturing a game from concept to console.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
17:45 - 18:30 It's about time
Simon Nelson, Controller of Portfolio & Media - BBC Vision
The BBC recently broke new ground in releasing two of four episodic adventure games, for free download, as additional episodes of its most recent series of Doctor Who. Simon Nelson, BBC Controller of multiplatform, will talk about why the BBC thinks the Corporation needs to learn from and experiment in the games world and will reveal exclusive details of episode three - the most exciting yet for Doctor Who fans.
Chaired by Sean Dromgoole, CEO - Some Research & Game Vision
19:00 - 21:00 Games & TV Networking evening
Edinburgh Interactive for the first time will also take place in the same week as the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (MGEITF). This is part of our strategy to bring crossover with television.
We have joined forces to create a new event with the TV Festival. This will provide networking and discussions between both industries. It is supported by Edinburgh City Council and will take place early evening on Thursday 26th August. Tim Hincks, CEO of Endemol UK & Chairman of MGEITF, and David Yarnton, Managing Director of Nintendo UK who is also Vice Chairman of Edinburgh Interactive will host the evening.
This event is invitation only and you must be registered for Edinburgh Interactive or the TV Festival
19:00 - 21:00 Screenings
19.00 - 19.30 BBC – Doctor Who: The Adventure Games – Episode 3
Following the popularity of episodes one and two, the BBC will materialise an exclusive playthrough of episode three from Doctor Who: The Adventure Games. The games series has been produced by a team drawing on the very best talent from TV and gaming. The interactive episodes are executive produced by Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger, Beth Willis and Anwen Aspden (BBC Wales Interactive), alongside Charles Cecil, one of videogaming's most revered creators.
19.45 - 20.30 Total War
The Creative Assembly’s Mike Simpson, the Godfather of Total War, will provide attendees with a unique insight into the history and evolution of the Total War series, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary. The session will also play host to an exclusive demo of the recently announced Shogun 2: Total War, the sixth installment of the multi award-winning strategy franchise on PC. The public screening will then conclude with a Q&A session allowing members of the audience to grill The Creative Assembly on all things Total War.
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The Edinburgh Interactive conference delivers a lively schedule from a wide range of industry sectors including games, social networking, mobile entertainment, education, music, film and television. It also plays host to a range of free events including a games showcase and the Games Screening programme.
Edinburgh Interactive is part of The Edinburgh Festival – the biggest cultural festival in the world. EI delivers a lively schedule from a wide range of industry sectors including games, social networking, mobile entertainment, education, music, film and television. It also plays host to a range of free events including a games showcase and the Games Screening programme.
This year also marks a new event partnership between Edinburgh Interactive and Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. On Thursday 26th August 2010, the eve of the TV Festival and the closing day of Edinburgh Interactive, the two will host a creative industries network event for television and games, bringing the decision makers from games and television together for the first time.
Edinburgh Interactive 2010
Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th August
Filmhouse
88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ, UK
Registration is open now at www.edinburghinteractive.co.uk
Edinburgh Interactive 2010 registration details:
Standard registration - £175 + VAT
Scottish-based developers and companies - £125 + VAT
Students - £75 inc. VAT
If you are interested in getting involved with Edinburgh Interactive 2010 – through partnerships, sponsorship, or simply to find out more about the commercial opportunities at EI 2010, please contact Alexa Turness: Tel +44 (0) 1462 456780; alexa.turness@bhpr.co.uk
For press enquiries, please contact rosie.topps@bhpr.co.uk or tom.sargent@bhpr.co.uk
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About Edinburgh Interactive 2010
Now celebrating its eighth successful year, Edinburgh Interactive is powered up to showcase the continued popularity, growth and influence of video games. And this year, the Interactive Festival is more synchronised with the world famous Edinburgh Festival than ever, appealing to the press, public and professionals from film, television and interactive media backgrounds alike, offering a bigger event for delegates, more consumer focusing – an overall spectacle for all.
As ever, Edinburgh Interactive wouldn’t be complete without the cornerstones of conferences, keynotes, panel sessions, debates, games screenings and even more people than ever jostling to get through the doors. www.edinburghinteractivefestival.com
Edinburgh Interactive is managed by an Executive committee and a board drawn from all areas of the games industry, including publishers, developers and the two industry trade bodies: The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) http://www.tiga.org and the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) http://www.elspa.com. EIGF Ltd is the non-profit company behind the festival.