Since the modern era of MMOs hit the U.S. market a decade ago, the standard business model has been retail package with a monthly subscription. But in the last year a rise in free-to-play (F2P)/micro-transaction games have hit the market – many coming from Asia. Will the model take off in the U.S.? Will domestic gamers embrace microtransactions? At what stage of development should a game’s business model be locked down? How can companies make revenue projections with such an unpredictable model? Whether a developer is self-publishing or partnering with an established service provider, this panel will offer insight, hindsight and foresight to F2P/microtransaction models – their risks and potential rewards.

Online games have created new social spaces, new frameworks for content creation, and emergent community dynamics. One of the challenges presented by persistent games and virtual worlds is the need to foster long-term relationships with player communities. Online games may be "stickier" when users feel direct personal commitment to and involvement with the game's content, with business implications for game creators and their marketing partners. This session will focus on design innovations that creatively engage players and keep them invested in the game.

Learn more about what it means to bring your Games for Windows title to the Microsoft LIVE Gaming and Entertainment Network. This talk covers the features available on Games for Windows – LIVE, including support for both Windows XP and Windows Vista, integrated voice, cross-platform play, achievements, List Play, dedicated servers, and what it takes to get approved to be a LIVE title. This talk is for developers, producers and business development team members interested in cutting through the confusion and getting to the heart of what it takes to make a Games for Windows – LIVE title.

Abstract: Xbox LIVE Arcade continues to be the premiere platform for distributing and playing high quality, easy-to-pick-up-and-play games. This session covers what’s new in creating and deploying on Xbox LIVE Arcade and developments heading into 2008. Get insight into changes in requirements, the process by which concept submissions are reviewed and titles selected, and what to expect out of the production process.

Learn how a collaborative development platform is critical in today’s game development environment. Hear how Subversion for version control, project tracking, communication, and collaboration tools can benefit you.

Hiromichi Tanaka addresses the challenges of cross-platform design to entertain and engage the different styles of both PC and console MMO players by offering a design post-mortem on the ambitious and successful title, FINAL FANTASY XI. He details the problems encountered and offers solutions implemented by the team, going into both the initial approach to design as well as the adjustments made along the way, and finally into what the team learned in testing and Beta.

"Sound designers and composers get no respect. There are no good tools. I’m a musician, not an engineer." We’ve all heard these in the talks, roundtables, and likely the bars at GDC and elsewhere. Or we’ve found ourselves saying these things ourselves. This talk focuses on how designers can create great audio audio despite, and perhaps even because of those limitations.

The magic of words. The madness of production. The care and stroking of she who would bestow inspiration. Once ordered to rewrite a script thirteen times because he resembled the tennis court contractor who had moved into his boss' dream house with his boss' wife, Lee will present an interactive survival guide for videogame writers and those who hire them. Refreshments and justice will be served.

With 9 million subscribers worldwide, the world's most popular massively multiplayer online game has more “citizens” than Switzerland, and is potentially as complex to administrate. In this business-focused keynote, Morhaime shares ten lessons learned from the challenges of globalizing a single IP.

Discover why some of the largest, most popular applications on the Internet make their home at Terremark’s NAP of the Americas datacenter in Miami, with massive connectivity from more than 180 network carriers and a complete suite of utility-enabled managed services.

Storytelling is where games are going and the WRITER is key to storytelling. Since 1933 the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been a source of professional writing talent for feature films, television, animation, and now…videogames. Because professional writing talent can improve the quality of the final product, producers are invited to meet WGA representatives to discuss ways in which the union can work with producers to extend coverage to writers working in videogames so they may receive basic benefits such as pension and health. Writers are invited to discuss the benefits and advantages of WGA membership via the WGA’s New Media Caucus.

Hear how EA uses technology to enhance the gamers experience by providing support how, when and where gamers want it.

This sponsored session features a dynamic overview of the essentials of game localization, with a focus on those key best practices which can significantly improve the localization process from end-to-end within development lifecycles. This will ultimately help game companies to maximize the global distribution - and therefore the global revenue - of their titles.

The very definition of an “MMO” implies two things: you have an online presence, and you have (hopefully) a massive number of people showing up to play your online game. These two requirements create a variety of challenges for anyone responsible for delivering the technology and services needed to run the ‘back-end’ operations of an Online game. In this session, we will cover the basics involved in creating such an online environment, running it over time, and hopefully growing it as it becomes successful. We will also touch on some advanced methodologies for dealing with the special challenges unique to MMO’s.

Between MSN Games, Windows Live Messenger, and Xbox LIVE Arcade, Microsoft Casual Games offers a wide variety of game services to a audiences of all types, around the world. As such, the opportunity for developers and publishers is outstanding, and yet it can be difficult to know which of these services is a good fit for your game title, and to know where to start when engaging with Microsoft. This talk covers all of Microsoft’s Casual Games services, business models, technical requirements, and acceptance criteria for games submitted to these services. The talk also covers the “how” of getting deployed on each of service along with the correct engagement points.

Video games have hit the big time, and so have the political issues that they face. The game industry is increasingly finding itself in the middle of Washington debates. This session will explore these issues and the relationship between the video gaming industry and Washington, and what future effects can be predicted. Topics of discussion will be drawn from hot topics of today, including proposed restrictions to combat online predators, regulation of in-game advertising, policies to increase broadband deployment, and examinations into mobile wireless carrier practices.

Discover the secrets to in game advertising and examine the business model to identify the best way to distribute and monetize your casual downloadable games.

This lecture will seek to answer the question ‘How do you save game object state to a database?’ Mapping game object state systems to a database has historically been problematic as games have more dynamic object models and transactional requirements than typical business applications. Learn how the next generation games are addressing object to database design, maintenance, and scaling issues from a group of industry experts.

Online plays a crucial role in today’s game experiences and marketing strategies. Developers must provide ways to connect communities to their games - even when not actively playing. Find out how buddy lists, instant-messaging, competition and statistics can tie together to create thriving, persistent communities that engage gamers in-game and out.

This talk examines the influence of Alexander the Great's historical legacy upon modern video games. The lack of primary sources regarding Alexander's actual campaigns and life has provided game developers fertile ground for exploitation in the past, but raises intriguing questions regarding the role of historiography in researching and writing for games. Alexander's role as both a fictional and historical character has had a profound impact on the representation of protagonists within games, while simultaneously, the open-ended nature of interactive media offers players a chance to explore and define their own history of a heroic life unlike any other medium.

Many developers and designers are unaware how many of their games are being played by gamers with visual impairments. Even less are aware of the recently emerged field of audio games – games consisting only of sound. This session discusses gaming for the visually impaired and the relevance of this field for mainstream games. The session will include examples of games played by visually impaired gamers as well as design tips for game audio designers and game designers from the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG.

With the vast pool of highly skilled low-cost English speaking manpower in India, the revenue enhancement in MMOG is a definite goal to be achieved. After the phenomenal growth in the mobile industry (6.5 million subscribers every month) which has fueled tremendous potential in Mobile gaming in India, MMOG and online gaming seems to be the next booming sectors. With the population base of more than a billion people, high quality customer support services, in-game support combined with beta game testing, India is rightly poised to provide a cost effective services to Gaming companies.

This session is meant to allow the audio leads, designers and programmers to sit down together and put some form into the much-discussed, but frustratingly nebulous term, "next-gen audio…" The goal is to discuss where the infamous "bar" is now and where it's likely to be going over the next couple years--in other words, a working man's version of where game audio is headed. By focusing on tangible elements of dialog, effects, music and mixing, we hope to emphasize the practical, and hopefully avoid getting lost in theory.

At each stage of an online game’s development, designers have asked themselves the age-old question: “Is it fun yet?” Feedback on this question comes from many different sources: from the development team, QA, focus groups, and online beta testers. All of these are important sources of feedback, but the one that is the least understood and utilized involves player metrics from online beta testers. This session focuses on using player metrics to analyze the “fun factor” in a game, and provides concrete examples of how metrics can be useful in identifying key areas in which the game can be improved.

Supported by data collected from hundreds of MMO players worldwide, this session will present three specific motivational needs that when satisfied in the player are proven predictors of enjoyment, enthusiasm, value, and sustained subscriptions. Going deeper, the presentation will then discuss how a game’s satisfaction of these needs can be objectively measured. Specific examples of features and gameplay will be reviewed (including aspects of solo play, cooperative play, and in-game narrative) that are significantly related to satisfying these motivational needs and hence increasing the likelihood of sustained subscriptions, word of mouth marketing, customer value, as well as fun, enjoyment, and enthusiasm for the game.