SAN FRANCISCO – August 23, 2007 – The Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC), the premier industry event geared towards online game development as well as writing and audio design for games has finalized its feature lineup to include Dave Perry, Minho Kim from Nexon, Brian Schmidt from Xbox and Indiana University Professor Lee Sheldon, who has produced and written for television shows like Cagney and Lacey, Charlie’s Angels, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Headlining this year’s event are Mike Morhaime, President and Co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, developer of the worldwide smash hit online game, World of Warcraft, Sulka Haro, Lead Designer at Sulake Corporation, the mastermind behind online destination, Habbo Hotel, and Hiromichi Tanaka, Executive Officer with Square Enix, creators of the ambitious and successful Final Fantasy game franchise. Taking place September 5-7, 2007 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, the Austin GDC provides an intimate, community-focused forum for game developers and industry professionals to exchange ideas.

“We are very proud of the feature speaker lineup,” Jane Pinckard, Content Manager for Austin GDC, said. “Our esteemed speakers will contribute their experience and ideas to attendees in an intimate and open setting, in a way that promotes discussion. Austin GDC is a focal point for examination of online games, for writing in games, and game audio production and our conference content reflects our core values with a robust program of over ninety hand-picked classes.”

The newly added session by Dave Perry, former President and Founder of Shiny Entertainment, will be a Q&A presented by Jamil Moledina, Executive Director, Game Developers Conference. In an intimate, informative and entertaining setting Perry will share his insight into how successful developers can find ways to keep a career growing in the fast paced and highly-competitive business of interactive entertainment.

Minho Kim, Director of Game Operations at Nexon America will present a session titled “Coming to America: Nexon’s Micro-transaction Revolution.” Nexon pioneered the item-selling model for online games in the 90’s, and developed it to great success in games like MapleStory and Kart Rider. Kim will share with the audience the key to making the model work for the Western markets.

“No More Excuses: Time for Great Game Audio!" is the keynote address being delivered by Brian Schmidt, Program Manager, Xbox Audio and Media. His talk focuses on how designers can create great audio despite, and perhaps even because of, the limitations currently experienced by game audio professionals.

Lee Sheldon, Assistant Professor, Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University will be presenting a keynote titled “Magic, Madness and the Muse,” where Lee will outline an interactive survival guide for videogame writers and those who hire them.

Presented by the CMP Game Group, host of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the Austin GDC will feature more than 90 lectures, panels and round-table discussions on game development across three tracks: online games, audio for games, and writing for games. The conference is also introducing a fourth track, the People’s Choice track, where community members have directly impacted the selection of topics, sessions and speakers by voting for the content they most want to learn about. This year’s show will also feature a Game Career Seminar for students interested in careers in the game industry.

For more information about the event, please visit www.austingdc.net.