Wednesday, January 5 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM Track I - GP1: Game Power – Console, Mobile & PC Games Expand Total Entertainment Market Share The Games Industry is quickly emerging as the premier sector of the entertainment cultural experience. As all the new technologies, from chips and microprocessors to display, broadband and mobile reach new levels of sophistication, the quality of the consumer gaming experience is altering and manifestly enhanced. And this process has hardly reached its peak. Games as an entertainment experience is just starting to be felt and embraced by the consumer. As important as film and TV have been in our cultural experience, in the few years, games will emerge as an equal player in the entertainment pantheon. What we are calling Game Power, is the result of new and expanding creative technologies in development, in platform and in delivery. Dean Lester, General Manager, Windows Graphics & Gaming Technologies, Microsoft Corp. Tony Calandra, Senior Director, MTV Interactive Nathan Solomon, Director of Business Development, EB Games Warren Wall, Executive Producer & Director of Team Fusion, Electronic Arts Dennis Fong, Founder and Chief Gaming Officer, Xfire Keith McCurdy, President and CEO, Kayak Interactive Mark Friedler, CEO, GameDAILY/Gigex, Inc., Moderator Dean Lester, General Manager, Windows Graphics & Gaming Technologies, Microsoft Corp.: Dean Lester is General Manager of the Windows Graphics and Gaming Technologies, the specialized group within Microsoft charged with defining and driving the Windows gaming experience. Specifically, his group ensures that all Windows gaming is a rewarding and compelling experience for end users, as well as a profitable and viable platform for game developers and publishers. Lester's team operates at the cutting edge of graphics technology research to provide the most advanced graphic capabilities for tomorrow's PCs. At the same time, his team ensures that future Windows PC graphics remain robust and reliable enough to power everyday scenarios. Lester joined Microsoft in 1996 after more than a decade in the entertainment software industry. With manifold experience working for companies as diverse as Disney and Sega, upon joining Microsoft, Lester assumed responsibility for all of the company's Simulation titles, including the hugely popular "Flight Simulator" product line. In the past seven years, Lester has been integral in founding several new entertainment franchises for Microsoft that continue to enjoy significant growth today. In 2000, Lester began work on the Microsoft Office product family, heading up Microsoft Publisher, the company's desktop publishing solution. His team's product shipped with Microsoft Office XP and the business has enjoyed significant growth during his three-year tenure. Dean established a solid long-term strategy for Publisher that included an innovative broadening of the product line into the consumer space. A native of the United Kingdom, Lester has a degree in Psychology from the University of London and enjoys spending time with his wife and three young daughters. Tony Calandra, Senior Director, MTV Interactive: Tony Calandra currently serves as Senior Director, Interactive Products for MTV. In this role, he is responsible for identifying and developing partnerships for MTV's Interactive Products group. Most recently, Mr. Calandra served as the Executive Producer for MTV's "Stand and Choose", an animated music video featuring 50 video game characters encouraging young people to vote in the recent presidential election. This project was conducted in cooperation with 12 major computer and video game publishers. An industry veteran for over 10 years, Mr. Calandra helped to launch MTV's gaming division in 1994 with the release of the first Beavis and Butt-head video game and since then has produced over 30 games. Dennis Fong, Chief Gaming Officer, Xfire: Dennis is co-founder and Chief Gaming Officer of Xfire, a social networking tool for gamers. Regarded as the "Michael Jordan of Videogames" by the Wall Street Journal, he has always been passionate about finding ways to improve the gaming experience. At Xfire, Dennis is involved in business development, marketing, and product development, lending his unique experience in the gaming industry to build partnerships and help shape the direction of the product. Prior to Xfire, Dennis co-founded Gamers.com and Firingsquad, two popular gaming websites that averaged over 75 million page views a month, and Lithium Technologies, a Customer Relationship Management company with customers such as Dell, Nintendo, Sony, AT&T Wireless, and Ubisoft. Dennis is also the World Champion of Doom, Quake, and Quake 2. Keith McCurdy, President and CEO, Kayak Interactive: Keith has had an extensive and successful career in the interactive entertainment publishing business, including 10 years at Electronic Arts, the industry leader. During his tenure at EA, he held a number of roles including Vice President of Product Development and Vice President of Online. Keith founded Electronic Arts’ Internet business, where he led the creation of the interactive entertainment industry's first financially successful online subscription business, which became the industry standard business model and an overwhelming financial success. Keith has also been the CEO of an exciting and innovative venture backed internet company focused on Knowledge Management for IT Professionals and backed by blue chip venture capital. Mark Friedler, CEO, Gigex, Inc. - GameDAILY : Mark is CEO and co-founder of Gigex, Inc./GameDAILY (http://www.GameDAILY.com) a leading provider of video game news, reviews, free downloads and the leading provider of trade news with the GameDAILY newsletter. He has been with the company since 1995. He has 10 years experience marketing video games online and is a frequent speaker and panelist at industry events including CES, E3, Digital Hollywood and events sponsored by Microsoft, IQPC, Jupiter Communications, Digital Media Wire and IEMA. He was chairperson for both conferences "Best Practices for Marketing, Selling and Distributing Software over the Internet" and the European Electronic Software Delivery Conference. Mark’s television experience includes several features in 2003 including NBC’s "TechNow," "NBC Today About the Bay" (San Francisco/San Jose KNTV) and "Silicon Valley Business." He is the video game columnist for the IMedia Connection newsletter and he has written for industry publications Software Business , GameDAILY and SIIA’s Upgrade. Previously, Mark was Director of Marketing at Reach Networks in New York from 1994-1995 where he managed marketing and sales of integrated services to Fortune 500 clients. From 1992 – 1994, Mark was Managing Director of Teleworld Sweden AB, a division of Philips Media. Teleworld developed and operated interactive voice and television-based online entertainment and transaction services together with MTV Europe and other major European broadcasters. From 1988-1992, he founded and operated Sweden’s first chain of cookie stores. He holds a B.A in Political Science from Hamilton College in New York and has taken graduate courses in business law, programming and network management. Mark is 40 years old and lives in the San Francisco bay area with his wife and 2 sons..