LOCATION: PROGRAM   PROGRAM     SPEAKERS     CAREERS MARKET         CONFERENCE PROGRAM     Thursday 30 November: Master Class Program Friday 1 December: Conference Program Saturday 2 December: Conference Program Saturday 2 December: Careers Market   THURSDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2006 Time Sony Master Class - Paul Holman - SCEE Technology Group - Nick Rooke - SCEE Third Party Relations - Colin Hughes - SCEE Technology Group - Michael Werle - SCEE Technology Group Autodesk Masterclass 1 Autodesk Masterclass 2 8:00 - 9:00am Registration Registration Registration 9:00 - 9:30am - Guest Speakers: Reflections on MX vs ATV (Mark Feldman & Andrew Bailey, Tantalus) - PSP Update Autodesk Maya 8 Session Autodesk 3ds Max 9 Session 9:30 – 10.15am PSP Now and Beyond Autodesk Motion Builder Session FBX - transferring data between the Autodesk 3d Suite 10:15 - 10:45am Morning Tea   10:45 – 11.15am - Programming for PSP TRC - PSP Network Update and Resumable Downloader API - PSP Networking: Downloadable content for www.yourpsp.com Autodesk 3d Suite presentation Creating a feature quality cinematic - Allan McKay 11.15 – 12.00am   Autodesk Maya 8 Session Guest Speaker Presentation 12.00 – 1.00pm Lunch Lunch   1:00 - 1:45pm - PlayStation®3 Business Update (Zeno Colaco) - Supercharging your PS3 development plans: Ageia, Havok, UE3, PSSG updates (Paul Holman) - Introduction to PS3 (Colin Hughes) - Graphics (Colin Hughes) - Network Platform (Michael Werle) - PS3 TRC (Paul Holman) Autodesk Motion Builder Session Autodesk 3ds Max 9 Session 1:45 - 2:15pm Autodesk Maya 8 Session Autodesk 3d Suite presentation 2:15 - 2:45pm Afternoon Tea Afternoon Tea   2:45 - 4:00pm Graphics Network Platform PS3 TRC Guest Speaker Presentation Autodesk Motion Builder Session 7:30 - 10:30pm Game Connect: Asia Pacific Conference Dinner and Awards (including Adam Lancman Memorial Address).   Please note: If you wish to attend the Sony Masterclass you MUST register on PSP DevNet - https://psp.scedev.net/ext/gcap_seminar06 - as well as on this site. In addition to any registration you make:- (a) you will need to be a professional developer/publisher/tools provider and (b) you will need the appropriate NDAs in place. If you do not have these in place contact: nick_rooke@scee.net   Legend Production Art Programming Design Audio Business   FRIDAY DECEMBER 1, 2006 Opening Keynote: What Is The REAL Next Gen? Zeno Colaco, VP, Publisher and Developer Relations, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) Process And Tools Used In La Noire Cameron Dunn, Team Bondi Team Bondi’s massive new title has been a huge challenge, and would not have been possible without disciplined development teams, excellent tools, and strong management methodologies. Cameron Dunn, Team Bondi’s CTO gives a behind the scenes look into the development of LA Noire. Max Vs Maya Autodesk Presenters: Ben Richards, 3ds Max Specialist, Autodesk Asia Pacific Kevin Schooler, Autodesk Maya/Autodesk Motionbuilder Specialist Join us as we discuss the benefits of using each of these packages in the game development environment, how they can interoperate effectively and how studios can make the most of both.   TY the Tasmanian Tiger C++ For New Architectures Zsolt Mathe, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Game Technology Group Xbox 360, Playstation® 3, and 64-bit PC processors have CPU architectures that are radically different from past consoles and PCs. Programmers accustomed to having CPU silicon devoted to out-of-order execution units are in for a rude awakening. A few brave souls will turn to assembly language optimizations, but what about the rest of us who use C++ on a daily basis? This talk is for you. Find out how to write C++ code that runs like a dream on modern console architectures and 64-bit PCs. How To Use User Testing Feedback To Shape Your Game Design Matthew Ford, Auran   TY the Tasmanian Tiger Is Hardware Accelerated Audio Dead? Brett Paterson, CEO/Lead Programmer, Firelight Technologies Brett shows how to create much more advanced, realistic audio in your game, using demonstrations and technical discussion to show what is possible in today's multi-core environments such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Test-driven Development For Games: What, Why, And How Noel Llopis, High Moon Studios Test-driven development can be an extremely useful development technique that addresses directly the major problems we're facing as game developers. The Secret Alchemy For Creating Outstanding Next Gen Visuals Adam Myhill & Kirk Gibbons, Pandemic This presentation will explore the process and technologies behind beautiful next-generation games. The demands of the consumer are ever growing, more stunning, more realistic, more lifelike. More work. Two of Pandemic Studios graphics team discuss the ways to get the most out of the next gen platforms and create the WOW factor the public craves. Challenging The Given: Is There A Better Language Solution For Programmers? David Jewsbury, IR Gurus For most game developers, C and C++ is the language of choice, but does this acceptance require more scrutiny. David Jewsbury addresses the potential pitfalls of this complacency and highlights the features required of a language for development into tomorrow. Are there advantages associated with adopting a new, custom built specifically for the game industry and what are the risks? Self Publishing & Funding Your Own Intellectual Property Moderator: Mike Fegan, IR Gurus Panelists: Tom Crago, Tantalus Interactive; Scott Brown, President, NetDevil (US); Luke Carruthers, CEO, Imaginary Numbers; Tony Hilliam, Auran Many developers are looking to develop their own titles and funding it themselves in order to escape the control of the big publishers. This panel discusses the experiences, successes and pitfalls of development of your own intellectual property and how to avoid the mistakes that the experienced have already made. Developing Games For Xbox Live Arcade Jason Strayer, Developer Support Manager, Microsoft Game Technology Group Xbox Live Arcade represents a brand new delivery mechanism for the casual game development community. The console market that previously seemed inaccessible to most casual game developers has become a platform with stellar conversion rate numbers and great gaming press. This session covers development for Xbox Live Arcade heading into 2007. Come find out what it takes to create the next generation of casual games on the console, and how your game can be part of it. Interactive Storytelling Chris Avellone, Obsidian Entertainment & Tony Reed, Reed Interactive Is it a game? Is it a movie? Is it a story? Through a series of challenging questions, Chris Avellone discusses disciplined game design from a new angle, and looks at how to best use game narrative to achieve gameplay outcomes. Game Audio Australia - How To Survive In The Outsource World Mick Gordon, Game Audio Australia & Andrew Curnock, Game Audio Australia Mick Gordon and Andrew Curnock give an insight to the world of successful outsourcing. Topics covered will include working remotely with clients, understanding contracts, landing jobs, next-gen audio, handheld audio and getting the right sound for the game.   FRIDAY DECEMBER 1, 2006 8:00 - 9:30 Registration EXPO   LEGEND 9:30 - 10:30 Opening Keynote - What is the REAL Next-gen? EXPO Keynote 10.30 - 11.00 Morning Tea EXPO Business 11.00 - 12.00 Process And Tools Used In La Noire Cameron Dunn (Team Bondi) Max Vs Maya Autodesk C++ For New Architectures Senior Game Developer from Microsoft EXPO Programming Stream 12.10 - 1:10 How To Use User Testing Feedback To Shape Your Game Design Matthew Ford (Auran) Is Hardware Accelerated Audio Dead? Brett Paterson (Firelight Technologies) Test-driven Development Noel Lliopsis (Highmoon) EXPO Art Stream 1:15 - 2:15 Sponsored Lunch #1 EXPO Design Stream 2:15 - 3:15 The Secret Alchemy For Creating Outstanding Next Gen Visuals Adam Myhill & Kirk Gibbons (Pandemic) Challenging The Given Self Publishing & Funding Your Own Intellectual Property PANEL EXPO Production Stream 3:15 - 3:45 Afternoon Tea EXPO   3:45 - 4:45 Developing Games For Xbox Live Arcade Microsoft Game Technology Group Interactive Storytelling Chris Avellone (Obsidian Entertainment) Game Audio Australia - How To Survive In The Outsource World Mick Gordon & Andrew Curnock (Game Audio Australia) EXPO Audio Stream 4.45 - 5.00 Sony Foundation Awards     5.00 - 6.00 Executive Cocktail Party     6.00 - 7.00 Break     7:00 - Midnight Sony Party Autodesk Dinner (invitation only)     Legend Production Art Programming Design Audio Business   SATURDAY DECEMBER 2, 2006 Developing Games In The Asia Pacific Region Panelists: Moderator: Graeme Edelsten, Auran Mr Wei Huang, VP Shanda Games, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd (China) Mr Park Jinho and Mr Jun Sukman, NC Soft (Korea) Mr Salil Bhargava, CEO, Jump Games (India) A discussion between representatives from China, Japan, Korea and India where they will give an overview to what’s happening, growth areas, success stories, opportunities for partnering and collaboration across the region. Gameplay Over Graphics: The Loco Roco Story Tsutomu Kono, Sony Japan How one of the most popular titles ever for PSP came into being, and how game design was used to create the user experience rather than being driven by look. Delivered by Tsutomu Kono this session is sure to be one of the conference highlights. Key Risks In Next Gen Moderator: Tony Albrecht, Pandemic Panelists: Andrew Bailey, Tantalus; Robin Maddock, Pandemic Studios, Glenn Watson, Krome Studios and Dave Pevreal, Krome Studios The next generation of technology provides for new architectures, new hardware, and new programming paradigms as network functionality becomes a key driver of product development. This panel will discuss what leading programmers in the local and international industry believe are the core risks to successful development in the Next Generation of technology and platforms. SPU Programming For PS3 Colin Hughes, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe The latest architecture, the latest hardware – Sony’s Technical Team provide some sought after detail, and tips to make the most of the pipeline structure in this talk. A not to miss discussion for every PS3 developer. Agile Methodology Agile Methodology focuses on an iterative and incremental approach to the creation of games. Most games are developed in phases...a design phase is followed by a prototype phase, followed by production and then an Alpha/Beta phase at the end. This approach assumes that if we create a big document and plan and develop to that plan, we can create a game that not only meets its budget, schedule and scope, but also be fun. More Than Pretty Pictures: Getting Your Thousand Words Out Of Concept Art Steve Stamatiadis and Tony Parmenter, Krome Studios Methods to streamline the concept art process to produce the art and information the team needs yet still allow the concept artists room to be creative. Letting Designers Design Moderator: Tony Reed, Reed Interactive Panelists: Chris Avellone, Obsidian Entertainment; Matthew Ford, Auran, Mark Angelli, Game Mechanics; John Passfield, Pandemic; Andy Satterphwaite, Sidhe & Ed Orman, Irrational Games Games design has often been an amalgam of ideas from graphic artists who want things to look pretty, and techies who will tell the artists what they can and can’t do. For a really successful game however, you need to let the people who design games do just that – knowing the limits of both creativity and technology, and bringing them together into a gameplay experience. This panel discusses the above assertions, and how studios can use a design methodology to enhance game product rather than ending in design by committee. Medieval 2: Total War Ken Turner, Creative Assembly Ken Turner discusses the tools and technology behind the creation of Medieval 2 Total War.   TY the Tasmanian Tiger Key Project Management Best Practices Pre production is key in managing the game development lifecycle, and in this session Dylan will present key pre production best practices he has participated in implementing while working on the EA FIFA Soccer, EA MVP Baseball and THQ WWE Wrestling franchises, and how to manage development from end to end for successful outcomes.   Game Speed Industrial Revolution: The Ghost of Henry Ford Rises Again Ross Brown, Senior Lecturer, School of Software Engineering and Data Communications, QUT A successful modern production studio will often have a budget that is getting to be bigger than Ben Hur. However, just to be contrary, we now have outsourcing deflating the size of some brave teams down to small design cores, and the emergence of other small team, high churn development scenarios, such as portable, mobile and casual gaming applications. Meanwhile, content quality approaches cinematic levels, and players want to chip in and design their own game content as well. What software tools and processes will support game companies addressing these forces in the industry? How will companies deal with the challenges of next generation content, with fluid team structures across multiplying target platforms? This will be a session to talk about what QUT Faculty of IT researchers think is happening in this area, from a game manufacturing, software toolset perspective.   SATURDAY DECEMBER 2, 2006 8:00 - 9:00 Registration EXPO   9:00 - 10:00 Developing Games In The Asia Pacific Region - PANEL Gameplay Over Graphics: The Loco Roco Story Tsutomu Kouno (Sony Japan) Key Risks In Next Gen - Programmers PANEL EXPO   10:10 - 11:10 SPU Programming For PS3 Sony Technical Team Agile Methodology More Than Pretty Pictures: Getting Your Thousand Words Out Of Concept Art Steve Stamatiadis and Tony Parmenter (Krome Studios) EXPO Careers Market STUDENT INFO SESSIONS 11:15 - 11:45 Morning Tea EXPO Careers Market STUDENT INFO SESSIONS 11:45 - 12:00 Letting Designers Design - PANEL Medieval 2: Total War: Postmortem Ken Turner (Creative Assembly) Key Project Management Best Practices EXPO Careers Market STUDENT INFO SESSIONS 12:00 - 12:45   12:45 - 1:00 Lunch (Own Arrangements) EXPO Careers Market   1:00 - 1:45 STUDENT INFO SESSIONS 1:45 - 2:45 Game Speed Industrial Revolution: The Ghost of Henry Ford Rises Again Ross Brown (QUT)   Careers Market STUDENT INFO SESSIONS 3:00 - 3:30 Closing Address / Independent Game Awards Presentation       3.30 - 5.30 QANTM After Party   SPEAKERS TOP KEYNOTE SPEAKER         Zeno Colaço: Vice-President, Publisher & Developer Relations, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Zeno Colaço is one of the original members of the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe team responsible for the spectacular introduction of PlayStation in 1995. Over the next 5 years, he gradually migrated away from manufacturing responsibilities within the organisation to head up SCEE’s Third Party Relations Group and was tasked in delivering Third Party development support for the launches of PlayStation2 in 2000 and PSP in 2005. In his current role as Vice-President, Publisher & Developer Relations, he is responsible for the day to day management of SCEE's PAL licensee community and business management on the PlayStation platforms. This includes licensee relations, product planning and development of strategic partnerships and key content for current and future platforms. As Sony commercially debuts their latest hardware, he and his team are the focal point at SCEE for content creators to realize their future visions of Next Gen Content and Network Services on PlayStation3.       INVITED SPEAKERS         Adam Myhill, Sr. Technical Artist, Pandemic Studios Adam works for Pandemic Studios Brisbane as a Sr. Technical artist, with a focus as Interactive Director of Photography. He has a deep passion for lighting, shaders, and real-time camera systems. He previously worked at EA Canada for 10 years as an Art Director and CG Supervisor shipping over 21 games like NBA STREET, SSX, James Bond 007, NBA Live and Need for Speed. Before gaming Adam worked as a commercial fashion, product and portrait photographer. In his spare time he builds robots which make ‘art’.           Andrew Curnock, Director of Handheld Audio, Game Audio Australia With a broad background in various media roles, Andrew Curnock has capitalised on his programming and music production experience to establish himself in the game audio industry, with a particular focus on handheld platforms. Since 1991 coding mod tunes on the Amiga, Andrew has refined his craft and kept abreast of new technologies to successfully delve into production for radio, television, as well as film. His most recent productions have seen a return to the oldschool art of tracking, in producing music and sound design for 2 nickelodeon titles for Gameboy Advance.         Allan McKay – FX specialist, Catastrophic FX Allan McKay is a veteran visual effects TD and supervisor and founder of Catastrophic – a visual effects house in Australia. His film credits include Superman Returns, Blade Trinity, Scooby Doo 2, Paycheck Hellboy, Day After Tomorrow amongst dozens more. Allan is well known both working around Australia as well as all over the world for creating cutting edge visual effects work and usually being a rescuer to most films at the 11th hour. He has worked for many of the prestige studios in Hollywood and won dozens of awards including winning an academy award in addition to being nominated for another. Now founder of Catastrophic, Allan’s focus has been on pushing the limits with what can be done with rendered game cinematics for next gen and current gen games, with delivering Hollywood quality cinematics that are within modest game industry budgets. He is responsible for work on dozens of highly acclaimed game cinematics – Halo Wars, Bioshock, Justice League, Warhammer: Dawn of War, Full Auto 2, Call of Duty to name just a few. Separate from working with both the film and games industry, Allan consults for game and film studios alike helping better their production pipelines, workflow and creating new technology and tools to better their products as well as giving talks all over Australia, Asia and the United States on various subjects related to CGI and visual effects in film.         Andrew Bailey, Chief Technology Officer, Tantalus Interactive Andrew is one the video game world's most experienced and technically gifted programmers. After a period of solo development that saw him author, among many others, the hit game Druid, Andrew worked for five years at Beam Software (now Atari Melbourne House). Andrew left Beam in 1994 to co-found Tantalus. From day one, Andrew has designed and developed Tantalus. engine technology and in-house tools. The Mercury console engine, CRIS GBA engine, and the proprietary Tantalus DS and PSP engines are largely of Andrew's creation. In 2004 Andrew was honored with the Australian Game Developer's Award for Outstanding Innovation.           Brett Paterson, CEO and Lead Programmer, Firelight Technologies Brett has worked in the games industry for over 10 years, working for various companies such as Electronic Arts and Criterion. Always in the wings though was FMOD, a freely downloadable audio engine developed by Brett, which had a large grass roots following amongst the demo scene and hobbyist game community. In 2002 he started Firelight Technologies, a company dedicated to improving and porting FMOD and it became a success, being adopted by many commercial titles, including the ever popular “World of Warcraft”. Following this Firelight became dedicated to producing a new, ground breaking next generation audio engine and toolset, called “FMOD Ex”. FMOD Ex is the current industry leading audio middleware solution for game development.           Ben Richards, 3ds Max Specialist, Autodesk Asia Pacific A 3ds Max user for about ten years now, Ben Richards from Sydney, Australia, has worked in a variety of 3D fields and on literally hundreds of projects. His career started in the games industry after producing an award winning short film in his last year of High School and subsequently progressed to working for Seven Network in Sydney, which is Australia’s largest commercial television network. Having gained a strong passion for the medium of television, he took the natural step to post production and worked for Cutting Edge in Brisbane, Australia, one of the leading post houses in the country. Richards then returned to Sydney to form his own company Vertex3D and further enhanced his portfolio with various post production houses and all the television networks forming his clientele. During this time he worked on three Gold Promax award-winning jobs including two for Seven Network's Sydney 2000 Olympics campaign and one for MTV Australia. By 2001 he was profiled in Australia's leading newspaper as one of the top 30 rising stars under 30 for his contribution to the animation industry. As the Animation Specialist for Autodesk Media and Entertainment, he acts as a technical consultant to the 3ds Max customers in the games, TV, film and design visualization industries and also conducts training regularly. Ben Richards is currently based in Singapore to be closer to the action in the exciting world of 3D animation and digital entertainment in the Asia Pacific region.           Ben Palmer, Executive Producer, IR Gurus Ben has been involved in the interactive entertainment industry for more than 15 years. He has held a range of programming and producing positions with leading developers/publishers including Target Games, Peakstar Games and Infogrames. Ben founded his own development company, Thatgame, in 2000 and has worked with IRG since 2004.         Chris Avellone, Creative Lead and Co-owner, Obsidian Entertainment Currently creative lead and co-owner of Obsidian Entertainment, Chris started his escape from reality by freelancing for a number of Pen and Paper Role-Playing game companies in high school before Interplay foolishly hired him as a game designer in 1996. He worked on most if not all of Black Isle’s internally developed projects, including Planescape: Torment (Lead Designer), Fallout 2, the whole Icewind Dale series, and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, and a number of canceled titles that still make him weep, including Baldur’s Gate 3 and Fallout 3. Chris was the Lead Designer on Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and is currently working on Neverwinter Nights 2 and other unannounced projects at Obsidian Entertainment. He is reported to be non-toxic, and occasionally friendly to others.           Colin Hughes, Principal Engineer, SCEE Technology Group Colin has been working with PlayStation family hardware for longer than he can remember, with a particular emphasis on the lower level characteristics of the platforms.           Glenn Watson, Lead Engine Programmer, Krome Studios Glenn Watson is the Lead Engine Programmer at Krome Studios, Brisbane. He is now working on the design and implementation of the third generation of Krome's Merkury engine, for all next-generation consoles. Before taking on the lead engine role, he was the lead PS2 engine programmer at Krome. Glenn has a degree in computer systems engineering with a background in electrical engineering and hardware design.           Jason Strayer, Developer Support Manager, Microsoft Game Technology Group Jason manages the game developer support team in the Game Technology Group (GTG) at Microsoft. GTG is responsible for supporting and educating game developers worldwide on Microsoft platforms and technology. Jason has been assisting game developers since the launch of the original Xbox in 2001. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology as well as Computer Science, and recently earned a black belt in Aikido.         John Passfield, Creative Director, Pandemic Studios John Passfield is a Creative Director at Pandemic Studios Australia where he directed the highly anticipated Destroy All Humans! 2. He is a veteran of the computer games industry with more than 20 years professional experience as a games designer, lead programmer, director and scriptwriter on numerous award-winning titles. John is also credited as a founding member of the Australian games development community having co-founded some of the first development houses including Interactive Binary Illusions in 1993, Gee Whiz! Entertainment in 1996, and Krome Studios in 1999. John co-created Krome Studios’ TY the Tasmanian Tiger series and also created and owns the innovative Halloween Harry, Jaruu Tenk and Flight of the Amazon Queen properties         Kirk Gibbons, Art Director, Pandemic Studios With a 10 year history in creating innovative interactive experiences, Kirk has directed industry-leading teams in both games and on the web. Currently, Kirk is an Art Director at Pandemic Studios in Brisbane focusing on creating an innovative Next Gen Title. Prior to Pandemic, Kirk was the creative director on NBA Street Next Gen and the Art Director of the multi-platinum NBA Street Series: V3 and Vol.2, at EA Canada. He is passionate about creating innovative interactive visuals and inspiring the teams and talent that create them. He has a B.F.A. from The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and a Degree in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.         Kevin Schooler, Autodesk Maya/Autodesk Motionbuilder Specialist Kevin has been working in the Film and Television industry for more than 6 years and in this time has worked for companies such as Walt Disney and Sony Pictures Imageworks. In this time he has worked on many feature films such as Matrix Reloaded, I Robot, the newly released animated feature Monster House and the yet to be released Beowulf starring Angelina Jolie. Kevin has worked extensively with Maya and Motion Builder during this time, completing entire projects such as the Airbus A380 Reveal show in Toulouse, France where people such as Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Sir Richard Branson were witness to a fully live show with virtual characters by Kevin using Motion Builder. Kevin has also used his skill for Video Games like "Streetball 2006" and most recently a trailer for the upcoming PS3 title Eight Days. Kevin has expertise in the use of all of the major Motion Capture systems and of course very large pipeline knowledge.         Dr Ken Turner, Lead Software Engineer, The Creative Assembly Dr Ken Turner is currently Lead Software Engineer at The Creative Assembly’s Brisbane studio, where he has recently completed working on the latest product in the multi award winning Total War series, Medieval 2: Total War. Prior to that, Ken worked on both Rome: Total War and was instrumental in the establishment of the CA Brisbane studio. Ken has worked in the interactive entertainment industry for over 11 years, gaining experience at Electronic Arts and Auran Games, prior to joining CA. Starting as a 3D graphic specialist, Ken’s vast range of experience has seen him cover almost every aspect of game development, from low level architecture to shaping the players experience through the in-game user interface and AI. Ken attended the Queensland University of Technology where he gained a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering (First Class Honours), Bachelor of Information Technology (with Distinction) and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Signal Processing.         Mark Feldman, Senior Programmer, Tantalus Interactive Mark is a video game industry veteran, having worked at Activision, Bullfrog, and Lost Toys. His game credits include Populous 3, Theme Park World and Battle Engine Aquilla. Mark joined Tantalus in 2004, primarily to focus upon PSP development. He has helped put Tantalus in a strong position on this platform, working on both game code and engine level programming. Mark was a senior member of the programming team on MX vs ATV: On the Edge on PSP and is presently working on anther PSP title.         Michael (Micha) Werle, Senior Engineer, SCEE Technology Group Michael, or Micha as he prefers to be called, joined SCEE in 2002 and has been applying his networking skills and knowledge in the area of online console gaming ever since. His current focus is implementing PSP networking features for release to the development community as well as working on new network-related technologies for PS3.         Matthew Ford, Auran Games In 1994, Matthew started as an arcade game designer and producer at Atari Games. After a stint at Accolade Games, he worked for five years in the games division at Microsoft, where he was Lead Program Manager for the Asheron’s Call franchise of PC online role-playing games. At Microsoft Matthew also advised game developers in MMP design and technology on the PC and Xbox. He worked at Micro Forte in Sydney as lead action game designer on the title Citizen Zero. Matthew and his family moved to Australia in 2004 to work for Auran Games on an MMP title and an Xbox 360 Live Arcade project.           Mike Fegan, Chief Executive Officer, IR Gurus Mike has over 25 years experience in the Toy and Interactive Entertainment industries throughout Australia, New Zealand, USA and South East Asia. He has held senior management roles with a number of international publishers most recently as Managing Director of Acclaim Entertainment in Australasia. Mike joined IR Gurus in March 2003.           Mick Gordon, Director, Game Audio Australia Prior to starting Game Audio Australia, Mick Gordon ran a successful outsource game audio studio called Lava Injection Studios. He has worked on 15 commercial titles in five years and his experience covers the entire game audio workflow. He has worked with companies such as THQ, NC Soft, Sony, Namco, Zipper Interactive, Relentless Software and Pandemic Studios.           Microsoft Game Technology Group The Microsoft Game Technology Group (GTG) provides consulting services, developer support, and in-depth game performance analysis for game developers working on Xbox 360 and Games for Windows. GTG works with developers worldwide to help improve the game creation process and to educate the industry on amazing new techniques and tools. We cover topics ranging from Direct3D 10 graphics performance optimizations to Xbox Live integration to Xbox 360 CPU tips and tricks.         Nick Rooke, European Account Manager, SCEE Third Party Relations Nick has worked within the industry for the last 13 years, beginning as a programmer before moving to design and then production. At SCEE he handles the relationships with 3rd party developers on all PlayStation platforms (PS1, PSP, PS2 and PS3) and has a current passion for procedural technologies and their contribution to next gen gaming.         Noel Llopis, Senior Architect, High Moon Studios Noel Llopis spearheads the research and development of next-generation technology at High Moon Studios. He has been successfully applying agile development and test-driven development to game development for several years. He regularly contributes articles to Game Developer Magazine and the Game Programming Gems series, and he is the author of C++ for Game Programmers. Some of his past games include Darkwatch and the MechAssault series. He earned an MS in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.         Paul Holman, Vice President of Technology, SCEE Technology Group Paul has led the Technology Group since 1995, and now reports directly to the CTO of Tokyo HQ's main R&D group. The Technology Group is focused on providing support, consultancy and the research and development of applied libraries, tools and techniques that will help developers to capture the power of PS one®, PlayStation®2, PSP®. and PLAYSTATION®3         Robin Maddock, Lead Programmer, Pandemic Studios On a dark and stormy night back in 98’ Robin fled the evil machinations of the IT industry to pursue his career in games. After a fun but bumpy ride through the fun but bumpy Australian industry he shipped a handful of titles in various programming, management and design roles and has most recently ended up a Lead Programmer in the Pandemic Brisbane studio. Currently he is sitting at his desk writing a bio whilst simultaneously working on an unannounced title (surprise surprise).         Ross Brown, Senior Lecturer in the School of Software Engineering and Data Communications, QUT Ross Brown works as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Software Engineering and Data Communications at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. He also chairs the Visual and Media Computing Research Group within the Faculty. His teaching and research interests are in computer games, computer graphics and related disciplines. In particular, he has recently focussed on research into intelligent manufacturing tools that provide support for the automation and augmentation of workflow practices for the video game industry. He also teaches shader rendering and games production as part of the new QUT Computer Games and Interactive Entertainment course.         Steve Stamatiadis: Creative Director and Co-founder, Krome Studios As Creative Director and Co-founder, Steve is the creative vein behind most of Krome Studios' award-winning art and visuals. He manages a team of more than 40 staff while acting as the chief character designer and is also in charge of original Intellectual Property including co-creating Krome's flagship TY the Tasmanian TigerTM series. Steve received the Best Original Character Design award at the 2002, 2004 and 2005 AGDC and in 2005 this industry veteran was awarded the Career Achievement Award, in recognition of his successful accomplishments within the Gaming Industry.         Tom Crago, CEO, Tantalus Interactive Tom Crago is the CEO of Melbourne based video game developer Tantalus Interactive, a company with over twenty-five internationally acclaimed titles to their credit. Hit games include Top Gear Rally, Unreal 2, and 2006 releases?SpongeBob SquarePants and MX vs ATV. Tom has degrees in Arts, Law and International Business, and also serves as the Vice President of the Game Developer's Association of Australia.         Tony Albrecht, Lead Engine Programmer at Pandemic Studios Tony Albrecht is currently the Lead Engine programmer at Pandemic Studios, Brisbane where he is most interested in cross platform parallelisation for Next Gen titles. His professional gaming career includes Midway Studios Australia, and Ratbag Games. Before that he worked in Defense and Mining, specialising in 3D graphics and engine construction on SGI machines (working in areas as diverse as meat analysis in an abattoir and missile guidance systems). He has been a consistent contributor at the late AGDC, presenting sessions at 5 of the last 7 conferences. Tony is also the proud father of 1.6 children.         Tony Parmenter: Lead Artist, Krome Studios As a Lead Artist at Krome Studios, Tony is responsible for providing technical and creative feedback to his team of around 30 people, including Animators, Prop Artists, Environment Artists, Concept Artists and Texture Artists. Tony completed a Bachelor of Science: Zoology (Honours) at the University Of Queensland, before joining Krome’s QA department in 2001. Since then he has risen through the ranks whilst working on the TY the Tasmanian TigerTM series, which received the Australian Game Developers award for Outstanding Visual Arts in 2004. A gamer at heart, he has a diverse background, having been involved in field research for the Flatback Sea Turtle for many years.           Tony Reed, CEO, Reed Interactive Now running his own consultancy business Tony has a 16 year history in game publishing and development. Having worked for some of the biggest publishers, including Sega, Virgin Interactive and Interplay and marketed some of the most successful games ever, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Earthworm Jim, Command & Conquer and the Baldur’s Gate series, Tony brings unique perspectives to the developer/publisher relationships. Since 2003 Tony has committed himself to the growth of the Australian games development industry.         Zsolt Mathe, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Game Technology Group Zsolt has been working with the Microsoft Game Technology Group for over two years, contributing technical expertise to dozens of the top-selling Xbox 360 tittles. He is an active participant in the portable game market. Zsolt has degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington.   CAREERS MARKET TOP A Careers Market will be held on Saturday 2nd December in conjunction with the conference. For further details on this component of the program please CLICK HERE.       RETURN TO TOP HOME • CONFERENCE PROGRAM • REGISTRATION • CAREERS MARKET • AWARDS PROGRAM • INDEPENDANT GAMES AWARD • EXPO • NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES • MEDIA CENTRE • NEWS • SPONSORSHIP • ACCOMMODATION • GENERAL INFORMATION • CONTACT US