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 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Track II- GP2 - Game Power Game Power: Entertainment and Branding as Franchise - As Games Integrate into the Movie, Music, TV, Mobile, Advertainment & Custom Branded Experience In today’s global entertainment environment, the successful extension of a franchise is not only part and parcel of the business plan, it is also welcomed and embraced by the consumer. The power, quality and popularity of the various entertainment mediums, make it possible for a game to enable a successful movie franchise, just as a successful ‘70s TV show can be recast as a worldwide movie blockbuster. This of course can start the cycle all over again, generating the next generation of game, DVD, toys, CD, t-shirts, live events and so on. Unique to this phenomenon today however, is the need to protect the brand as it is extended into each category. Competition and consumer sophistication today demand a level of creativity in the games, movies and TV shows produced, something that brand extension itself cannot overcome. Tony Calandra, Vice President, MTV Games Geoff Keighley, Executive of Game Publisher Relations, SpikeTV Mark Kroese, General Manager, Entertainment & Devices Advertising Business Group, Microsoft John O’Connell, Director of Gaming, Davie Brown Entertainment Michael Herst, Director, Entertainment Development and Programming, Electronic Arts Matthew Ringel, SVP, Strategic Alliances, Live Nation, Moderator Tony Calandra, Vice President for MTV Games, is responsible for channel integrations and promotions for console titles published and licensed by MTV Games. An industry veteran for over 15 years, Mr. Calandra helped launch MTV's gaming division in 1994 with the release of the first Beavis and Butt-head video game and since has produced over 40 games. In 2006, Mr. Calandra spearheaded MTV Networks acquisition of renowned music game developer, Harmonix Music Systems. The deal resulted in the best-selling Rock Band franchise that launched in November 2007. Rock Band and Rock Band 2 have garnered more than 50 industry awards, was named as one of Entertainment Weekly’s “Entertainers of the Year 2008,” and has been called “hands down the best party game ever” by Time magazine. Geoff Keighley, Executive of Game Publisher Relations, SpikeTV: Geoff Keighley is perhaps the most respected video game journalist working today. His work spans on-line, print and TV outlets, and he has been writing about games since the year 1992. He is most well known as the host of the Spike TV video game show Game Head, which is consistently the highest rated video games show on television. Keighley is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Business 2.0, Electronic Gaming Monthly and Entertainment Weekly, among others. Currently, besides hosting Game Head, Keighley can still be seen as a correspondent on another G4 show, The Electric Playground, and his work can be read in monthly columns in the Official Xbox Magazine and on the Gamefly website. He is known for not just writing reviews and previews, but going behind the scenes of the game industry for in-depth business profiles and lengthy feature pieces. In 2005 GameDaily named him as the best journalist of the year, and in 2004 NewsBios.com named him one of the best 30 business journalists in the world under 30. He is also only one of two journalists -- the other being 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace -- profiled in the Harvard Business School press book "Geeks and Geezers" by noted leadership expert Warren Bennis. Mark Kroese, General Manager, Entertainment & Devices Division, Microsoft Corporation: Mark and his team are responsible for creating advertising opportunities in a variety of cutting edge consumer environments, including Xbox, Zune, Windows Media Center, Windows Mobile, and Surface. Mark is uniquely qualified for this venture, having spent 25 years, fully immersed in the disciplines of advertising, marketing, and product management. He started his career in account management with Chiat Day advertising, and eventually moved to the client-side, at Microsoft. In 2004, he was named the General Manager of Product Management for Microsoft’s online services division, which includes the MSN Network, Windows Live services, and adCenter - Microsoft’s digital advertising platform. During this time he became fascinated with technology’s potential for connecting advertisers with audiences in the context of digital media. In 2007 Mark founded the Advertising Business Group within Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division. John O’Connell, Director of Gaming, Davie Brown Entertainment: Specialties: entertainment programming and management, in-game integration, product placement, console game development, localization and certification, mobile game development, certification and distrbution, product marketing, brand management, graphic design, programming code and business development