Games & Media
Today's audience demands fresh content and seeks new means of obtaining information and entertainment. Thought leaders from the Triangle, and the industry as a whole, lead discussion on games and media innovation. Be on the forefront of games journalism, original video content and effective community marketing.
Launching Your Game with a Bang
Attendees will learn how to create effective marketing campaigns to increase market share and sales. During the lecture you will learn how to identify important target consumers, channels to reach them, and developing appropriate communications to increase market share and sales. This lecture will also review web 2.0 marketing techniques leveraging Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs; these tools are particularly important to developers with a limited marketing budget. Used correctly these techniques can be low cost and high yield, increasing market share while building community around your brand and products.
Rated AO: Games, Ethics, and Censorship
This will be a whirl wind tour of changes in ethical thought and censorship. We will discuss top selling titles as well as several of the more obscure. This is not a presentation for the sensitive and some of the topics and graphics used should spur debate. We will discuss restrictive legislation as time permits. We will be talking about games such as "Grand Theft Auto", "Virtual Valery", "Super Columbine Massacre RPG", "Second Life", "Playboy: The Mansion" and more.
Teaching to the Test: The Impact of Reviews on Game Development
Are we making games for our customers or our critics? The correlation between review performance and sales is clear, but is that because reviews reflect customer opinions or influence them? What is the impact of numerical reviews and aggregate averages, or Metacritic averages making their way into game publishing agreements? Expect a lively panel discussion from representatives of game journalism, development, and publishing.
Games People Play: Social Media Dimensions of Online Gaming
Virtually all games involve a competitive or social element, but the advent of Web 2.0 has sharpened our focus on gaming as a social activity. MMORPGs are the most dramatic manifestation of game as social interaction, but the widespread adoption of social media has added another dimension to online gaming. From commercial games on Facebook to support groups where people can offer advice (or spoilers!), social media offer an increasingly inclusive audience for the gaming industry. Roger Harris, Social Media Manager at Capstrat, offers a strategic perspective of the interface of social media and gaming. His session will provide insight into the impact of social media on players, developers and vendors with particular focus on how social media will drive the evolution of online gaming into uncharted realms.
Right to Game: An interview with Hal Halpin
Join us for a conversation between ECA President Hal Halpin and The Escapist's Russ Pitts over the future of games as a media and a business, the role of the Electronic Consumers Association and the many key issues facing consumers today, including DRM, Net Neutrality, the economy and the ESRB.
Virtual Worlds, Mirror Worlds, and the Merging of Reality and Gaming
This presentation will cover a host of emerging issues, legal and otherwise, that will confront developer of video game worlds (and other virtual worlds) move ever closer to mirroring real life. In addition to a general overview of virtual and mirror worlds, this presentation will explore in-depth the emerging ramifications of mirroring buildings and other aspects of real life in realistic high definition, as touched on in the recent Grand Theft Auto "Pig Pen" lawsuit. Finally, I will cover user-generated virtual world content and the problems of digital circumvention measures in perpetual virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft.
Web Video Killed the Television Star
The audience will receive a 50-minute lecture on the importance of video in the new media landscape, and the principles behind identifying and fulfilling the needs of the online audience. Russ Pitts has produced entertainment for television, theater, film and the internet. He was a producer and head writer of the popular TechTV series, The Screen Savers, which developed an enormous cult following and pioneered a number of Web 2.0 concepts, including "Live Via Webcam". He is currently Director of Video Content for Themis Media, where he serves as Executive Producer for The Escapist's popular web series, including "The Escapist Show" and "Zero Punctuation."
Bringing Games to Life. Literally.
In a world where technology is converging, new ideas are springing forth and the future we have been dreaming of is bearing down on us. Innovations in virtual worlds, augmented reality, virtual reality, AI and ALife will give us the ability to take games to a new level, in many cases blurring the lines between simulation and reality. This lecture is a must for anyone looking ahead to where the industry is going, what will be possible, and how it will affect design, development, and business. Bring extra socks to the session; your old ones will be blown off.