Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood Events at CES 2009 Wednesday, January 7th 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Track II – GP5 - Game Power Casual Gaming – The Next Great Platform in Gaming – Console, Broadband and Mobile Casual games are now big business. With all the major players from the consoles to the broadband and mobile portals in the middle of the action, this sector is the hottest player in the games field. With the expansion of the games industry reaching into all demographic sectors, from kids to hard core gamers and now with women, seniors and teens being drawn further into games, whether through the expansion of PC and broadband, portable players and mobile devices, through interactive TV or simply through the greatness of the new consoles, the casual gaming experience is driving a formidable marketplace. Great news! We are just at the start of a new phenomenon. Matt Story, Director, Play, a division of Denuo Don L. Daglow, President and CEO, Stormfront Studios Inc. Jill Braff, Senior Vice President of Global Publishing, Glu Mobile Sangita Verma, CEO, TAG Networks Dave William, SVP and General Manager of Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games Group James Green, CEO, Giant Realm Perrin Kaplan, Principal, Zebra Partners, former VP Marketing, Nintendo David Getson, co-founder, CEO, and Board Member, g-NET Media, Moderator Perrin Kaplan, Principal, Zebra Partners: As former Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America Inc., Perrin oversaw many aspects of internationally recognized marketing and public relations programs. She oversaw all public relations, public and government affairs, investor relations, internal communications, international communications and community relations for the global company. She is a well-known spokesperson and has brought great personality to many of her interviews. Before joining Nintendo, Kaplan served as Vice President for The Rockey Company, a nationally recognized Seattle-based public relations and public affairs firm. Prior to that, Kaplan was in journalism with KING Broadcasting, Seattle's NBC affiliate, and managed political communications for the state capitol and several White House campaigns. Kaplan craves the constant change of new media and creating 'firsts' on how to meld it with traditional marketing. Kaplan is deeply involved in numerous non-profit and advocacy activities, including animal rescue, and cancer education. She is a jokester, loves to cook and only exercises because she has to. Matt Story, Director, Play, a division of Denuo - With expertise and perspective from both the client and the agency side, Matt Story brings to bear dual strength in the areas of interactive and videogame advertising, as well as how they can transcend and evolve a client brand.As director, Story oversees the West Coast operation of Play, the premiere gaming division of Publicis Groupe’s Denuo, where he maintains key publishing and gaming industry contacts for the agency. He and his dedicated team develop unique gaming integration programs on behalf of General Motors (GM), Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Miller, just to name a few. In March 2007, he played an integral role in the 2007 Pontiac Virtual NCAA® Final 4® tournament, powered by videogame College Hoops 2K7. Play concepted and activated this holistic, cross-platform program to reach college basketball fans and provide them with a realistic look at the excitement of men’s college basketball.Prior to joining Play, Story was Interactive Marketing Manager across the antiperspirants/deodorants category for P&G, where he worked for four years across a variety of disciplines and roles in the same product category. During his tenure, Story managed the creation of the first P&G blog, which supported the launch of Secret Sparkle Body Spray. He also led innovative development with the Old Spice brand’s in-game integrations in multiple key videogame titles. Story graduated from Washington University in 2002, where he received two B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Computer Engineering. Don L. Daglow, President and CEO, Stormfront Studios Inc.: has served as president and CEO of Stormfront Studios since founding the company in 1988. In 2003 he received the CGE Award for “groundbreaking achievements that shaped the Video Game Industry,” and Electronic Games has called him “one of the best-known and respected producers in the history of the field.” Stormfront's major titles include the upcoming action-adventure The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (based on the film by Peter Jackson), EA Sports’ NASCAR Racing and Madden NFL Football, and the original Neverwinter Nights on AOL. Prior to founding Stormfront, Don served as director of Intellivision game development for Mattel, as a producer at Electronic Arts, and as head of the Entertainment and Education division at Broderbund. He designed and programmed the first-ever computer baseball game in 1971 (now recorded in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown), the first mainframe computer role-playing game ("Dungeon" for PDP-10 mainframes, 1975), the first sim game (Intellivision Utopia, 1981) and the first game to use multiple camera angles (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, 1983). Don co-designed Computer Game Hall of Fame title Earl Weaver Baseball (1987) and the first massively multiplayer online graphic adventure, the original Neverwinter Nights for AOL (1991-97). He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences in 2003 and again in 2007. He also is a past winner of the National Endowment for the Humanities New Voices playwriting competition. Don holds a BA in Writing from Pomona College and an Ed.M. from Claremont Graduate University. Jill Braff, Senior Vice President of Global Publishing, Glu Mobile: Game industry veteran Jill Braff leads Glu’s worldwide publishing efforts which include licensing, marketing and sales. Since joining the company in 2003, Braff’s understanding of the mobile marketplace and evolving consumer behavior has helped shape the way mobile games are marketed and launched today. In 2004, with Atari’s DRIV3R, Jill was responsible for leading the first global day-and-date launch of a blockbuster mobile game, an achievement that created an industry template for global game launches, and highlighted Glu’s deployment expertise. In 2007, Braff was honored as one of the 40 most influential people under 40 in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and in 2006 she was named one of the game industry's 100 most influential women by Next Generation. Prior to joining Glu, Braff served as interim vice president of marketing at Sega of America, as a creative director at Konami of America, as a consultant for Sprint on its entry into wireless gaming and held senior marketing positions at Photopoint Corporation and MyFamily.com. She also held positions at The Learning Company, Sega of America, Griffin Bacal and Nintendo of America. Braff has a B.A. from Colgate University. Sangita Verma, CEO, TAG Networks: As Chief Executive Officer of TVHead, Sangita Verma leveraged 16 years of executive experience in the videogame industry to found the world’s preeminent interactive games-on-demand network in May 2003. A comprehensive turn-key content offering, TVHead delivers important new revenue streams, as well as builds customer loyalty for its network operator customers. In her role as CEO, Verma has secured Series A and B rounds of funding from private equity investors, established exclusive content agreements with leading game suppliers and global brands, and has filed seven patents covering key proprietary technologies for delivering interactive content under the TVHead brand. A strategic planner, veteran marketer and business visionary, she taps skills gleaned from a varied yet focused career to lead TVHead’s management team of seasoned game, licensing, video-on-demand, interactive television, technology and consumer entertainment product specialists. Prior to founding TVHead, Verma worked with Midway Games, starting with the company in 2000 as director of worldwide syndication. In this post, she developed her strategic vision for emerging businesses as a result of being charged with the financial analysis and due diligence reviews of new business opportunities. Structuring, negotiating and securing distribution agreements for Midway Games on wireless, iTV, handheld and Internet platforms, including with such providers as Sprint, Verizon, Qualcomm, AT&T, and Motorola, she was promoted to general manager of Midway Games' handheld business unit in 2002. This promotion added the responsibility of managing the GameBoy division for the company, while continuing to grow its businesses on the Internet, wireless, iTV and handheld platforms. Just prior to leaving Midway Games, Verma negotiated a million dollar OEM deal with Motorola to supply two games for Motorola wireless handsets. Verma came to Midway Games from Craig New Media, her own online marketing company, where, for two years, she developed online marketing, promotion and merchandising campaigns, as well as provide web statistics and trend analysis to such game industry clients as Psygnosis and Panasonic Interactive Media. In fact, Verma first began working with Panasonic in 1996 as a consultant, handling marketing for its PC games and children’s educational titles software. Charged with organizing the online infrastructure, Verma is credited with creating the first online store for Matsushita Electric Corp. (Panasonic). She also developed a public relations campaign for the Baldies PC game, securing millions of dollars worth of television time through media coverage that included over 50 local stations' news programs as well as national broadcast coverage on NBC’s Today morning news program and a six-minute segment on CNN. In recognition of her accomplishments, Verma was named group marketing director for Panasonic Interactive Media Co. in 1997, with responsibility for all entertainment marketing activities. She helped established the Ripcord Games brand for the company, and launched its flagship product – Postal, a highly controversial game which won the 1998 SPA Award in Excellence for Software Packaging. She also devised Postal Online Beta Test Contest, the first contest of its kind, which yielded over half a million downloads, forty thousand registered participants within the first four weeks and tremendous media coverage - including CNN. Before working with Panasonic, Verma provided marketing support to I-Motion Inc (now Atari Corp.)., creating and managing an online contest for the Knight's Chase PC game that increased its website traffic by 1600%, overseeing two product launches and providing management stability during the company's merger with Ocean of America; and the creative execution of various marketing challenges for Velocity Inc. From 1992 through 1994, Verma lived and worked in London as general manager for Data East Europe Ltd., responsible for establishing the company's European office, as well as all of the marketing, media relations, sales and licensing of Data East's Nintendo and Sega product lines in Europe. She joined Data East USA in 1990 as a marketing manager, launching over 15 Nintendo and Sega titles, as well as five PC titles over a two year period. A graduate of UC Davis with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communications and Economics, Verma began her career in investor relations with Stoorza, Ziegus & Metzger before making her move into the game industry. James Green, CEO, Giant Realm: James Green is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Giant Realm. Mr. Green began his career in the entertainment industry and spent eight years with The Walt Disney Company (Buena Vista International) culminating in his appointment as the General Manager of the Japanese market. From Disney, Mr. Green moved to Pixar Animation Studios where he worked for Steve Jobs as the Vice President of Marketing and New Business Development. In 1998, Mr. Green became a founding partner and CEO of Sabela Media, an Internet ad serving company. After an explosive 18 months of revenue growth, during which time offices were opened on four continents, Sabela Media became the subject of a bidding war and was ultimately sold in January 2000 for $70 million to 24/7 Real Media. Mr. Green remained with 24/7 Real media for nine months as President of Technology Solutions. In Oct 2000 Mr. Green was recruited by LiveWire (an investor in Sabela) to become CEO of GiantBear. He successfully launched new products with major carriers (Cingular, Rogers AT&T, and others.), and then sold the business to InfoSpace in March 2002. After GiantBear, Mr. Green became CEO of PVI (www.pvi.tv), a virtual advertising company most famous for the virtual first down line in football and the ad behind the batter in baseball. He took the company private in 2003 and then sold it to Cablevison in May of 2005. Mr. Green joined Giant Realm as CEO in January 2007. David Williams is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games Group. In this role, Williams manages the company’s dedicated games sites, subscription game services, game licensing and self-publishing businesses. Online services in his group include: AddictingGames.com; Shockwave; NickArcade; educational game site MyNoggin; and related premium services. He also works in partnership with Nickelodeon’s Consumer Products division to increase the company’s retail games business around hit franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants, iCarly and newer, original properties like Shockwave’s Carrie the Caregiver. Previously as Senior Vice President of Shockwave and AddictingGames, Williams led AddictingGames to become the number-one independent gaming site for teens since February 2007, grew its library to more than 3,000 games and oversaw annual revenue growth rates on the combined sites of more than 40% in three years. AddictingGames and Shockwave are both top 10 game sites in the U.S,. and host hundreds of the web's most popular online and downloadable games and creativity applications. Williams joined Atom Entertainment in 2005 as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager before he assumed the Senior Vice President and General Manager role following Atom Entertainment's 2006 acquisition by MTV Networks. Prior to Atom Entertainment and MTV Networks, Williams led the design and development of the Rhapsody music service as Vice President of product management at Listen.com and then served as General Manager of music products at Real Networks, following Real’s acquisition of Listen.com. Rhapsody broke ground in digital music as the first fully licensed music subscription service on the web and went on to become the largest service of its kind with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Williams also held senior product and marketing roles at online pioneers, CitySearch and DoubleClick in the mid to late 90's. Williams began his career at ad agency DDB Needham following graduation from Colgate University, and also spent several years in product management at beverage company Cadbury Schweppes before jumping into the web business in 1996. David Getson, co-Founder, CEO, and Board Member of g-NET Media, Inc.: America’s leading video game entertainment and marketing company. Getson focuses on the direction and growth of the company, which specializes in the creation and distribution of video game related marketing, programming, and content across all platforms, including TV, VOD, Web, and DVD. With partners that include all leading video game companies such as Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, Activision, & Ubisoft, as well as the largest entertainment companies such as Viacom, AOL/Time Warner, NBCU, and Rainbow Media, Getson & g-NET have helped pioneer the way video games can extend their IP and expand their audience through branded content, entertainment marketing, and strategic cross-platform partnerships. Prior to g-NET, Getson was the Founder, CEO, Publisher, and Editorial Director of ICON Magazine. Getson graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1994 with a BA as an Academic All-American. James Green, CEO, Giant Realm: James Green is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Giant Realm. Mr. Green began his career in the entertainment industry and spent eight years with The Walt Disney Company (Buena Vista International) culminating in his appointment as the General Manager of the Japanese market. From Disney, Mr. Green moved to Pixar Animation Studios where he worked for Steve Jobs as the Vice President of Marketing and New Business Development. In 1998, Mr. Green became a founding partner and CEO of Sabela Media, an Internet ad serving company. After an explosive 18 months of revenue growth, during which time offices were opened on four continents, Sabela Media became the subject of a bidding war and was ultimately sold in January 2000 for $70 million to 24/7 Real Media. Mr. Green remained with 24/7 Real media for nine months as President of Technology Solutions. In Oct 2000 Mr. Green was recruited by LiveWire (an investor in Sabela) to become CEO of GiantBear. He successfully launched new products with major carriers (Cingular, Rogers AT&T, and others.), and then sold the business to InfoSpace in March 2002. After GiantBear, Mr. Green became CEO of PVI (www.pvi.tv), a virtual advertising company most famous for the virtual first down line in football and the ad behind the batter in baseball. He took the company private in 2003 and then sold it to Cablevison in May of 2005. Mr. Green joined Giant Realm as CEO in January 2007.