GDC Mobile 2008 Announces New Speakers

The organizers of CMP's Game Developers Conference Mobile 2008 (GDC Mobile 2008) have published its roster of featured speakers and highlighted sessions. The annual two-day, multi-track summit will take place Monday Feb. 18 and Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference 2008. Featured speakers for this year's event (part of CMP, as is Gamasutra) include established mobile entertainment veterans John Szeder, CEO of Mofactor, Mitch Lasky, Partner at Benchmark Capital, Rich Moran, Partner at Venrock, Chip Austin, Managing Principal of i-Hatch Ventures, David Collier, President of Pikkle KK, Tom Park, Director of Operations for Digital Chocolate and Rick Marazzani, General Manager of iQ212. GDC Mobile 2008 will host the inaugural Independent Games Festival Mobile (IGF Mobile) Awards, the first official event to recognize and reward innovation and creativity in mobile game development. Award winners will be announced at the IGF Mobile gala ceremony, taking place during the two-day GDC Mobile conference. Headlining the Deals and Distribution track with "Put the Fun in Funding: Mobile Games Investments of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" is a panel of mobile industry heavy hitters including John Szeder (CEO, Mofactor), Mitch Lasky (Partner, Benchmark Capital), Richard Moran (Partner, Venrock), Chip Austin (Managing Principal, i-Hatch Ventures). Leading the Original Innovation track is David Collier, President, Pikkle KK, who will address "Social Entertainment: Next Big Thing from Japan." Tom Park, Director of Operations, Digital Chocolate will discuss "10 Ways to Run a Porting Team like Genghis Khan" in the Production track and "Tetris: Best/Worst Mobile Games Ever" will be presented in the Design track by iQ212 General Manager Rick Marazzani. GDC Mobile 2008 will provide mobile game developers from around the globe the opportunity to debate the future of the medium with executives from leading mobile network operators, advanced technology providers, handset manufacturers, and major console game publishers. The conference will offer in-depth technical and business oriented mobile game development sessions supported by research and market analysis for every region in the world. "GDC Mobile is uniquely positioned to bring together leading creative and business professionals in the mobile games industry to showcase and brainstorm innovation at both the development and business levels," said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director, Game Developers Conference. "We're also excited to put our thumb on the scale a bit, and reward some of the most ambitious mobile game developers at our first annual IGF Mobile awards." More information and a full lineup of speakers and sessions can be found at http://www.gdconf.com/conference/gdcmobile.htm.