GC Asia 2009

Sony's Yasuhide Kobayashi, EA's Takahiro Murakami and Nexon's Eundo Chae join the speakers list.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on Sept. 2, 2009

---- Press Release ----

GCA Games Convention Asia

GC Asia Conference (GCAC)

Suntec Singapore International Convention

& Exhibition Centre

(September 17-20, 2009)

LEIPZIG, SINGAPORE, LOS ANGELES- September 2, 2009- LMI Asia Pte Ltd. and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) announced three more illustrious speakers for the first D.I.C.E.® Summit Asia; Yasuhide Kobayashi, senior vice president for Sony Computer Electronic Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Takahiro Murakami, senior producer Electronic Arts, Japan, and Eundo Chae, general director for Wizet Studio, Nexon.

Kobayashi will discuss "The history of cultured localization: Taking on the eternal challenge of crossing cultural borders." He is best known for producing the Everybody's Golf series published by Sony Computer Entertainment, which is known in North America as Hot Shots Golf.

Kobayashi, who began his career at Sega Corporation where he worked in marketing and sales promotion for child-directed computers and software, has been credited as a producer on over 40 games, among them Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, Patapon, Resistance: Fall of Man, The Edge of Judgement and most recently infamous.

Chae will speak about Maple Story in "How Nexon was able to create a property that was relevant across the world." Maple Story is the world's first 2D massively multiplayer online role playing game, which has more than 92 million subscribers worldwide. In the game, players travel the "Maple World" defeating monsters and developing their characters' skills and abilities.

Chae graduated from Seoul National University, School of Computer Science and Engineering in 2000 and went right to work at Nexon. In 2004 he became director of Wizet Studio, Nexon. Wizet developed a system of different teams in various regions to cultivate Maple Story for an international bi-lingual community and their different cultures.

Takahiro Murakami is based in Electronic Arts Japan Studio. He was the lead producer for Populous DS and most recently SimCity DS. Murakami will be speaking on turning Asian content into global franchises.

Yasuhide Kobayashi, Eundo Chae and Takahiro Murakami join Chris Taylor and Masaya Matsuura as speakers at the premiere D.I.C.E. ® Summit Asia. The Summit will take place on September 17th, the first day of the GC Asia Conference, which takes place September 17-18, 2009, at the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Center. The goal of the summit is to bring visionaries from digital entertainment to the region to stimulate thought, conversation, and to inspire attendees of all levels.

Early bird registration for the D.I.C.E. ® Summit Asia and GC Asia Conference is available until September 11, 2009.

For more information on D.I.C.E. ® Summit Asia, please visit: http://www.gc-asia.sg.

About Games Convention Asia/GC Asia Conference

Founded in 2007, the GCA Games Convention Asia is the only business platform or developers, publishers, distributors, manufacturers and service providers of the games industry, focusing on interactive entertainment, infotainment, edutainment, hardware and the latest server technologies for the entire Asia-Pacific region. The event takes place over four days in Singapore and is organized by LMI Asia Pte Ltd., a subsidiary of Leipziger Messe International. The innovative concept, consisting of the four pillars of exhibition, a business center, matchmaking area, and GC Asia Conference, attracted more than 92,000 visitors to the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre in 2008. The GC Asia Conference, the only game developer conference in the Asia-Pacific region, allows developers and industry experts to exchange knowledge and know-how in panels and lectures and grow their international networks of business connections. For more information, please v isit: http://www.gc-asia.sg.

About the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) was founded in 1996 as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of the interactive arts. The Academy's mission is to promote and advance common interests in the worldwide interactive entertainment community; recognize outstanding achievements in the interactive arts and sciences; and conduct an annual awards show (Interactive Achievement Awards) to enhance awareness of the interactive art form. The Academy also strives to provide a voice for individuals in the interactive entertainment community. In 2002 the Academy created the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit, a once yearly conference dedicated to exploring approaches to the creative process and artistic expression as they uniquely apply to the development of interactive entertainment. The Academy also oversees Into The Pixel, a juried exhibition of art from games, and this year started the Randy Pausch Schola rship fund for students in the games industry. The Academy has more than 20,000 members from the games industry: publishers such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, as well as developers Bioware/Pandemic, Day One Studios, Epic Games and Insomniac Games. More information can be found at http://www.interactive.org, http://www.dicesummit.org and http://www.intothepixel.com.

CONTACTS:

Europe

Leipziger Messe

Nancy Pfaff, Press Officer

49 (0) 341 678 8186

n.pfaff@leipziger-messe.de

North America

Rogers & Cowan PR

Wendy Zaas / Debby Chen

310-854-8148 / 310-854-8168

wzaas@rogersandcowan.com / dchen@rogersandcowan.com

Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences