PREVIEW: Edinburgh Interactive

NEED TO KNOW

Edinburgh Interactive
Wednesday, August 25th to Thursday, August 26th
www.edinburghinteractivefestival.co.uk
Venue: Edinburgh Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ
175 + VAT for a ticket, discounts for ELSPA and Tiga members
Registration Hotline: +44 (0)1462 490609

FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES

Screenings
While the conference proper takes place across two days at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, the venue is also holding a number of evening screenings. The slots are:

Wednesday
18.00 – 18.30: Train2Game
18.45 – 19.15: MuseMantik
19.30 – 20.30: Microsoft: Kinect Sports
20.30 – 20.40: Codemasters Showreel

Thursday
19.00 – 19.30: Doctor Who Special Preview
19.45 – 20.30: Total War
20.45 – 21.30: TBC

Screenings take place in Cinema 1; the screenings are free and open to everyone; tickets are not required to gain admission and it is on a first come first serve basis; arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Networking Drinks in Festival Square
Wednesday, August 25th, 6pm – 9pm
As well as catching up over a drink after the first day of the conference, delegates have the opportunity to preview the consumer games area in Festival Square, a two–minute walk from Edinburgh Filmhouse, and experience what Nintendo and Sony have in the pipeline for the near future.

Festival Square
Thursday, August 26th to Sunday, August 29th
Located at Festival Square, Lothian Road, this is the consumer games area. Nintendo is bringing an inflatable marquee to house their stand and Sony will be demoing its latest games and hardware.

Games & TV Networking Evening
Thursday, August 26th, 7pm – 9pm
Edinburgh Interactive takes place in the same week as the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. The two have joined forces to provide an invite–only networking and cross–industry mixer.

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SCHEDULE
Wednesday, August 25th 2010

12:00 – 13:45
Registration & Lunch
Filmhouse Foyer & Cafe

13:30 – 13:45
Introduction
* Chris Deering (Chairman – Edinburgh Interactive)

13:45 – 14:30
From Lens to Living Room
* Ray Maguire (CEO – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
* Why Sony is committed to 3D in games, where 3D technology is going and a look at some of Sony’s new 3D games.

14:30 – 15:15
From Product to Service – It’s Not That Simple
* Sean Dromgoole, CEO (Some Research & Game Vision)
* An analysis of the games in people’s lives, taking into account how there is greater and greater free and micro–monetised activity, and for the first time in decades a drop in income from direct purchasing

15:15 – 15:30
Comfort Break
Filmhouse Cafe

15:30 – 16:15
Disruption = Value Creation in Games
* Paul Heydon, Managing Director – Avista Partners
* How disruptive, fast growing companies are creating the most value faster than ever before. A detailed look at the sector and where the value was, is and going by sub–sector, where investors are placing their bets and which companies are getting the best exits.

16:15 – 17:00
Creating a Successful Mobile Game
* Igor Pušenjak, President & Founder – Lima Sky
* Doodle Jump’s co–creator will talk about what it takes to make and market a successful mobile game. Covering Lima Sky’s humble beginnings on the App Store, lessons we’ve learned, and what Lima Sky is doing today to keep Doodle Jump on top of the charts.

17:00 – 17:45
The Great Debate
* Four industry heavyweights lock horns using the most adversarial discussion format developed since the invention of speech – the debate. Two teams, each team has two speakers and then it’s for the conference to decide.
Chaired by the tough but fair, Ian Livingstone, life president, Square Enix Europe

18:00 – 21:00
Networking drinks reception
Festival Square

SCHEDULE
Thursday, August 26th 2010

10:00 – 10:15
Welcome Back
* Chris Deering, Chairman – Edinburgh Interactive

10:15 – 11:00
Lessons Learned Building Moshi Monsters to 25m+ Registered Users
* Michael Acton Smith, CEO, Mind Candy
* Moshi Monsters one of the fastest growing and profitable children’s sites in the world. The session will go into detail about what the team learned during the intense period of growth – which features worked and which didn’t.

11:00 – 11:45
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Digital Distribution
* Chris Anderson, VP of Product – Gamestreamer
* Digital distribution of games is reaching the proverbial tipping point – this talk will discuss the current state of digital distribution and the trends that will shape the retail landscape in coming years.

11:45 – 12:30
Whales, Power–Laws, and the Future of the Media Industry
* Nicholas Lovell, Adviser/Author – Gamesbrief
* Drawing on examples from the music and games industries, this talk charts the end of the ‘one price fits all’ business model, the emergence of high–rollers as the primary driver of revenue and the dire consequences for games and media companies that fail to adapt.

12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
Filmhouse Cafe

13:30 – 14:15
Making Games Good
* Margaret Robertson, Development Director – Hide&Seek
* A talk looking about the kinds of impacts games have on their players, the steps game makers can take to ensure that those impacts are positive, and shows some projects that manage to be ‘good’ games as well as good games.

14:15 – 15:00
Xbox Live – Transforming Entertainment
* Jerry Johnson, General Manager – Xbox Live Studios

15:00 – 15:45
Second Screen Social TV
* Tom McDonnell, Creative Director – Monterosa

15:45 – 16:15
Comfort Break
Filmhouse Cafe

16:15 – 16:45
Videogaming and TV, now is the time
* Michiel Bakker, CEO – Ginx TV
* One of the founders of MTV Europe will outline his vision for the first major worldwide TV channel dedicated to video gaming including exclusive research on the demographics of games consumers and how this can translate into compelling new TV shows and interactive content.

16:45 – 17:45
Interactive Music – A new frontier for User Enhanced Entertainment
* David Ratcliff, Founder – Music Myne
* How allowing users to make their own content and share multiplies the revenue streams for everyone, via community interaction.

17:45 – 18:30
It’s About Time
* Simon Nelson, Controller of Portfolio & Media – BBC Vision
* Why the BBC thinks the Corporation needs to learn from and experiment in the games world following on from the recent release of Doctor Who interactive episodes. The talk will also offer exclusive details on the next episode.