Wednesday, March 30 10:45 AM - Noon Track I: Cable, Satellite, Broadband & Games: As the Games Industry Migrates to the Broadband Universe – Commerce Content & Branded Entertainment Games and the broadband experience was a partnership waiting to happen. Now that cable, satellite and telco all provide the broadband opportunity for the games industry, the spectrum of game options being delivered to the consumer by the operators, publishers and advertising partners is only now starting to take shape. Not only will the games industry be providing individual and multiplayer game communities online, it will also soon become a primary provider of retail game downloads, providing not only updates to major game titles, but taking a significant role in the first time distribution of the game. The relationship between the broadband carriers, the cable, satellite and telco communities and the games industry is about to blossom. In this session we bring together a group of the most experienced executives in this developing market. Garry Kitchen, CEO, Skyworks John Welch, CEO PlayFirst Claudia Ceniceros, Senior Director, Media and Content Strategy, Cisco Systems, Inc. Mike Vorhaus, Managing Director, Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc. Nicholas Longano, Chief Marketing Officer, Massive Inc. Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Director Strategic Planning, Comcast Online, Moderator Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Director Strategic Planning, Comcast Online: Ty began his career at the New York Times in their graphics department, working in National and International news. While there, he covered the Waco, TX standoff, the Los Angeles riots, the Gulf War, the Oklahoma City bombing and other large news events from a visual perspective, using schematics, databases and cartography. This was done under the guidance of Tom Bodkin, the chief Art Director at the paper. In 1995, his last year at the paper, he wrote articles on the emerging Internet, special effects in cinema, and the video game industry. From the Times he moved West to join the @Home Network and the designer Roger Black. Ty became the Creative Director of @Home in 1997, and led their efforts to create next-generation portals for broadband and interactive television. After a year sabbatical in 2000, where he took cooking and French lessons, he returned to technology, working as the Chief Creative Architect for MetaTV, an iTV concern based in Mill Valley, CA, just north of San Francisco. While there, Ty generated user interface patents, and led the design of interactive television portals for Comcast, Cox, Echostar and other MSO and cable operators. He is currently the Director of Strategic Planning for Comcast Cable Corporation, working with their broadband group, their new media development group, and their cable set-top box group to develop interactive convergent products for Comcast customers. His mandate includes devising and executing Comcast's wireless (GPRS, UMTS and WiFi) strategy, gaming products, and interactive content and applications. Ty has over seven years of experience in designing for broadband, six years in interactive television, and 13 years in information design. He has lectured at AIGA conferences, HOW Design Conferences, Seybold Seminars, as well as the Poynter Institute for Journalism in St. Petersberg, Fla. Ty lives in New York City, though he is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Claudia Ceniceros, Senior Director, Media and Content Strategy, Cisco Systems, Inc.: Claudia Ceniceros spearheads Cisco’s overall content and media initiatives across all categories of media entertainment, including movies, games, and music. Working with teams throughout the company, she is responsible for driving strategic initiatives that support digital media content delivery over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, and communicating the company’s vision and strategy to outside media partners. She also forges deals with premium content owners and distributors to enable home network consumers to access premium digital media services via Linksys media devices. Claudia also works closely with Cisco’s business development team. She is responsible for identifying leading edge companies for investment that are developing new technologies, services and business models that will accelerate the delivery of premium digital content to the home. Previously, Claudia was head of corporate public relations at Cisco for four years. Prior to joining Cisco, Claudia was vice president of corporate communications for Acclaim Entertainment, a developer and publisher of software for a variety of gaming platforms. Earlier, Claudia was vice president of strategic communications at ABC Television Network, where she supported a variety of network initiatives, including the World Cup, HDTV programming, and the launch "Disney’s One Saturday Morning." Before joining ABC Network, Claudia was vice president at Robinson Lerer & Montgomery/Sawyer Miller Group. During her four year tenure with RLM, she worked on a variety of entertainment accounts, including Time Warner Six Flags, Nickelodeon, MTV Europe, and Philips Media, as well as corporate accounts, including Pfizer, Revlon, and The Special Olympics Games. Claudia graduated from the University of Illinois, Chicago, with a B.A. in philosophy and political science. Garry Kitchen, Skyworks’ Founder, President and CEO, is one of the world's leading authorities on client-branded interactive entertainment. Skyworks originated the category of client-branded online games with the creation of Lifesaver’s Candystand in 1997. Since then, Skyworks has created over 300 different branded games for Abbott Labs, BMW, ESPN, Ford, Fox Sports, GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft Foods, Mattel, Microsoft, MTV, Nabisco, Pepsi, Post Cereal, Toyota, and many others. Over 1 billion Skyworks’ client-branded games have been downloaded from clients’ websites. Over 40 million client-branded games are downloaded each month. Garry has been a creative leader in interactive entertainments for over 25 years. His innovative, patented, hand-held electronic game Bank Shot, marketed by Parker Brothers in 1980, was named one of the 10 best toys of the year by Omni magazine. In 1982, Kitchen designed and programmed Coleco’s smash hit Atari VCS home version of the Donkey Kong arcade game, a video game cartridge whose sales eclipsed $100 million. Moving onto Activision, Kitchen’s 1982 release Keystone Kapers received critical acclaim and achieved worldwide sales of more than 750,000 units. Kitchen’s Gamemaker, a top-selling Activision title for the Commodore 64, earned him the title of Video Game Designer of the Year in 1985. In 1986, Kitchen founded Absolute Entertainment, Inc., building it into one of the leading video game developers in North America. Under his leadership, Absolute created more than 120 software titles while working with such leading entertainment companies as Nintendo, Sega, Sony, 3DO, Paramount Pictures, MCA, 20th Century Fox, Acclaim, and Electronic Arts. Kitchen’s 1991 release, The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, published by Acclaim Entertainment, was praised by Variety magazine as a breakthrough in the video game licensing of television properties. The "Bart vs...." line of Simpsons’ games went on to sell more than 2 million units, establishing Bart and family as a mainstay property in entertainment software. Kitchen’s 1992 release, Super Battletank, was named Best Simulation Game by Game Informer Magazine. Kitchen has received numerous awards for his work, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in Video Games and a nomination as Entrepreneur of the Year in New Jersey in 1993. His knowledge and experience in interactive content is well respected, with numerous television appearances including CNBC, ABC Eyewitness News, NBC’s Today Show and CNN as well as innumerable interviews in consumer and trade publications. Kitchen is also a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences on the emerging use of interactive entertainment for advertising. John Welch, co-founder and President/CEO of PlayFirst, is one of the most visible figures in the popular games industry today. Prior to forming PlayFirst, John spent 5 years at AtomShockwave Corp. as the company's Vice President of Games and Product where he drove the product strategy and acquisitions for Shockwave.com. While at AtomShockwave, John built Shockwave.com in to one of the internet's top games portals at 20M unique visitors/month and discovered some of the top independent game developers in the world. During 2003-04 John was Chairman of the International Game Developers' Association (IGDA) Online Games group and in that capacity he led the creation of its annual industry benchmark white paper and spoke at numerous games industry events including the Game Developers' Conference and the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Prior to Shockwave.com, John was at SEGA from 1998-1999 where he designed and built the Sega Dreamcast game console network. John launched his career as a systems integration consultant at Andersen Consulting, then co-founded his own firm which specialized in enterprise solutions. He holds a Bachelor's in Mathematics with Computer Science from MIT and a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts. Mike Vorhaus is the managing director who founded the Magid Internet and New Media research and consultation practice in 1995, beginning with projects for AOL and Excite. Mike has participated in hundreds of studies for our clients and personally consults a number of leading Internet and gaming companies. Mike has been involved in strategic and tactical consulting, including the launch of new services and programming, as well as development and implementation of online and offline marketing programs. Mike has also been extensively involved in video and PC gaming strategies for a number of our companies, as well as the development of game concepts. Mike has also consulted on a number of film projects such as You've Got Mail and The Matrix. He holds a B.S. in psychology and sociology from Wesleyan University and has worked as a fundraiser and transfer of technology officer at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. Mike also worked for the U.S. House of Representatives, The U.S. Senate, and for two administrations in the White House.