Asian Game Developers Summit Reports Attendance

Organizers of the inaugural Asian Game Developers Summit have reported in excess of one hundred attendees to the two day event last week in Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian grassroots event attracted attendees from all over Southeast Asia and beyond, include those from Japan, Korea, the Philippines, the US, Singapore and Thailand. "We are definitely overwhelmed by such a strong response from the regional community," said Terence Tan, the event producer of the Summit. "Now we face the task of organizing an even better event next year. There are already requests as to when and where AGDS '06 will be. We are already in the midst of discussing these details, and I hope that all the attendees and sponsors who supported this year's event will return again next year." The conference began with keynote speeches from Valve’s Mike Dunkle and Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone who spoke about digital distribution and recent changes in game design methodologies, respectively. These keynotes were followed by seventeen more sessions with speakers sponsored by companies including ATI, IBM, Maya and Microsoft. The event was closed by a roundtable where various local game developers, the vice president of Malaysia Debt Ventures and an industry financier discussed game development in Malaysia and the region. "The AGDS formally puts Southeast Asia on the map as far as game development is concerned. The event is a great boon to all the developers around the region, who now know each other and can leverage their strengths into being a competitive force in the game industry," said Gabby Dizon, president of Flipside Games in the Philippines, who was also a speaker at the event.