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Innovation in Video Games:
A French-American Dialogue
Friday,
November 4
Free
and open to the public.
Part 1: New Game Concepts from
France (2-4pm)
Part 2: Dialogue: Economic, Technical and Artistic
Perspectives (4-6pm)
Part 3: Open Gaming Demos (6-7pm)
Bartos
Theater
MIT Media Lab
20 Ames St.
Speakers:
David Cage, founder and president of the
board of directors, Quantic Dream - As a professional musician,
David created Totem Interactive in 1993, a company specialized
in sound and music productions. He has also done freelance
work on original soundtracks for several video games for
publishers such as Sony, Psygnosis, Virgin, Cryo or Sega.
David founded Quantic Dream in 1997. He was the game designer
and writer of Omikron - The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit.
Dr. Ian Lane Davis, CEO and founder of
Mad Doc Software - David is widely acknowledged as one of
the top Artificial Intelligence experts in the video game
industry. His direct credits include Empire Earth
II (a PC Gamer Editor's Choice Award winner), Dungeon Siege:
Legends of Aranna; and Star Trek: Armada II, among others.
Currently co-authoring the definitive AI and games textbook
for academic and industry training, Dr. Davis is a trusted
advisor to key industry publishers, serves as a Peer Panel
Leader for the AIAS Peer Panel for Gameplay Engineering,
and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Game Development.
A highly sought speaker who presents in academic and game-focused
venues, Davis earned his doctorate in AI and Robotics from
Carnegie Mellon
University.
Robert Ferrari, executive director of business
development, Turbine Entertainment Software - Robert manages
strategic marketing, business development, digital distribution,
and channel sales for Turbine's products and service. He
is a seasoned executive with more than 15 years of sales
and marketing experience in the convergence industry, driving
the growth and profitability of global corporations and
start-ups. He has experience in a broad range of industries
related to software development, content creation and delivery,
and digital device platforms in the PC, Gaming, CE, and
Mobile industries.
Alexandre Houdent, general manager and
producer, GlobZ - Alex graduated from the Audencia French
Business School in 1994 and the next year he
graduated from Paris University DESS in the field of Cultural
Management in Europe. From 1996 to 1999 he worked as a freelance
consultant for many IT projects. In 1999 he was the author
of 3 out of a collection of 6 PC cd-roms published by Wanadoo
Interactive (France Telecom group). The collection was about
having fun discovering the Internet.
Greg LoPiccolo, vice president of product
development, Harmonix Music Systems - After a decade-long
stint as bassist/songwriter with Boston alternative rock
pioneers Tribe, Greg signed on as audio/video director for
PC game developer Looking Glass Studios, and he spent the
next five years doing interactive scoring and game audio
for such groundbreaking titles as System Shock, Flight Unlimited,
and Terra Nova. He served as project director for Thief:
The Dark Project (published by Eidos) before coming to Harmonix
in 1998 to manage product development.
Eric Viennot, founder and CEO, Lexis Numrique
- Trained as a visual artist, Eric designed several exhibitions
in the 1980's before creating Lexis Numrique, a multimedia
production studio. Eric Viennot made a name for himself
in the field of interactive games by creating the adventures
of Uncle Albert (one of the best-selling children's games,
translated into more than 10 languages and winner of more
than 15 awards from around the world). He acts as the scriptwriter,
artistic director, producer and director all at the same
time. His last game, "Missing: Since January"
has been acclaimed as one of the most innovating adventure
game since years and has won many prestigious awards, including
Computer Gaming World's "best adventure game of the
year 2004".
Vicky Wu, founder and CEO, Froghop - Having
spent nearly a decade in the telecommunications industry,
Vicky is the founder and CEO of Froghop, a pioneer in transmedial
technology for video games. Under Vicky's direction, the
company has grown from a technology-enabler to being the
only full-service solutions provider for transmedial access.
Vicky entered into the working world at age 16 as a Graphics
Illustrator at Lockheed. Her subsequent experiences at Fortune
500 companies and startups helped her hone a cross-functional
discipline in finance, operations, sales, and strategy.
She serves on a number of Boards and is a founding member
of the TMA Consortium, which is dedicated to the advancement
of cross-platform experiences through collaborative research
in the areas of design and technology in videogames. |