ION 2008 is Live

The website for the ION Game Conference (formerly known as OGDC) is now live. The 2nd Annual ION, to be held May 13-15, 2008 at the Seattle Waterfront Marriott Hotel in Seattle, Washington, will bring over 600 online game developers and business leaders together to celebrate and further the online game ecosystem.

Building on the great success of the 2007 conference, ION 2008 will expand the plenary sessions from two to three days, and feature a wide range of keynotes, sessions, and panels, giving attendees new views of the online game universe—everything from an overview of the latest business, product, and legal developments to in-depth looks at scalability, player psychology, and in-game economic systems.

Visit the new site to discover all that ION 2008 has to offer.

Overview

Plug into the most advanced source of technical information for creating the next generation of leading online games. The Online Game Development Conference is the first conference with a razor-sharp focus on the technology, art, design, production, and business of games delivered over the internet. OGDC will be held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle's premier luxury hotel located in the heart of downtown.

OGDC offers over 50 unique sessions during two information-packed days given by some of the most influential speakers in the industry. The conference venue offers incredible opportunities for networking and business development in a comfortable professional setting.

Come see why representatives from nearly two hundred companies are heading to OGDC in May for the best value a game industry event has to offer.

Conference Pricing

Pre-registration is now closed. You can still sign up for onsite registration at the event. Registration is open Wednesday evening from 7-10pm and Thurday - Friday from 8am.

News

2007-05-07: Interview with Exent Technologies' Yoav Tzruya

In this weeks interview, the last before OGDC 2007, we talk with Yoav Tzruya about in-game advertising. As the COO of Exent Technologies, Yoav has more than 15 years of experience in software development, marketing, in-game advertising and digital distribution of entertainment content. He is responsible for evaluating potential markets for Exent, defining product strategy and roadmaps and bringing Exent's messages and products to the market. Yoav will be presenting his session, The Evolution of In-Game Advertising on Friday at 3:00 pm.

Read the full interview here.

2007-05-04: Interview with Fuel Industries' Brian Robbins

Brian Robbins is one of the most influential developers in online gaming today. He is co-founder and chair emeritus of the International Game Developers Association's (IGDA) Casual Games Special Interest Group (SIG), and has also served as Chair for the IGDA's Online Games SIG. An accomplished developer, Brian has been the lead programmer on over 70 published titles, with contributions to more than 100 games.

At OGDC Brian will present his session Appealing to the MMOB, in which he discusses experience building games and large player experiences around branded properties. Brian talks with us today about how branded games are different from and have more potential than mere "advergaming", and why developing advergames don't limit creativity.

Read the full interview for Brian's thoughts on the incredible upside for branded gaming.

2007-05-03: Additional Volunteers Needed

Attend the Online Game Development Conference by becoming a volunteer! Participation in the Student Volunteer Program will give you a backstage look into the inner workings of OGDC while contributing to the success of this event. In your free time, you will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with industry professionals, as well as attend conference sessions and events.

Volunteers get full access to the conference in exchange for part-time volunteer work. We need volunteers to assist with registration, bag-stuffing, and session usher duties. The Student Volunteer Program is a great way to experience OGDC on a budget. It's also the only way to get a cool OGDC Staff shirt!

Find out more about the OGDC Volunteer Program.

2007-04-30: Interview with Sue Bohle

Few people know the art and science of public relations like Sue Bohle. In this week's interview, Sue explains how public relations powerfully shapes the perceptions and ultimately success of game titles. With online games, this process is no longer limited to the period before games hit the shelves, but continues throughout the arc of the product lifecycle.

Read the full interview to find out why Sue thinks Jon Stewart might be able to help your game.

2007-04-23: Interview with K2 Networks' Joshua Hong

This week we are taking a closer look at one of the hottest topics in the world of online gaming: payment models. To offer subscription or microtransactions? Free2Play? Other kinds of premium plans? Joshua Hong, Founder and CEO of K2 Networks, gives us his insight into this critical consideration for persistent online game developers.

Read the full interview for Joshua's thoughts on payment models.

2007-04-20: GoPets' Erik Bethke to Present Friday Keynote

OGDC completes its speaker roster with the addition of Erik Bethke, CEO of GoPets, Ltd., as a keynote speaker on Friday, May 11th. Mr. Bethke has garnered great respect on both sides of the Pacific Ocean for his ability to anticipate trends in the industry, adapt to them and excel in positioning gaming products successfully.

Erik Bethke has been developing games for over 12 years. During this time, he has worked up the ranks from a junior engineering position to the CEO of Taldren, Inc. in California. He is the founder of GoPets and is currently living in Seoul.

"GoPets is in the process of building out our global markets and we look at events to help accelerate our growth by reaching out to key influencers in the industry," said Erik Bethke, CEO of GoPets Inc. "We're proud to be co-sponsoring OGDC and look forward to our participation."

"I'm honored to top off our list of speakers with one of the most respected visionaries in the online game business field," Peter Freese, OGDC director stated. "Beyond any doubt, I know Erik will project his wisdom, experience and foresight exceedingly well to our attendees."

2007-04-18: Interview with Ramon Axelron, CTO of AIseek

This week we continue our series of interviews with the Online Game Development Conference's high-caliber speakers and move into a more technical direction with Ramon Axelrod, CTO of AIseek. Ramon will be giving a great lecture at OGDC, Intelligence for Changing Worlds: Real-time Generation of AI Data in Dynamic MMO Environments. Ramon, who holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics, and has a background in advanced military simulations, discusses why he thinks that AI is holding back game design.

Read the full interview to find out how to accelerate AI in MMOs.

2007-04-15: OGDC Virtual Job Fair Open

OGDC has partnered with the leading recruitment software solution firm CreativeHeads.net to offer attendees and companies recruiting at this year's conference an online Virtual Job Fair.

The Virtual Job Fair represents a tremendous opportunity for companies to advertise their participation at the conference and jobs across the entire CreativeHeads.net 17-site Job Board Network. This broad network reaches 2,000,000 creative professionals monthly working in the the video game, the animation & VFX / TV & film, software/tools and web/wireless industries. Job seeker can post their profile, search for jobs, and find out which companies will be recruiting at the conference.

Visit the virtual job fair.

2007-04-14: Conference Agenda Is Now Live

The OGDC agenda is now live! The agenda provides an at-a-glance view of the schedules for all the sessions and panels in an organized and easy-to-read format. Room information will be posted shortly.

See the agenda page for the session schedule.
See the sessions page for a complete listing of sessions with descriptions.

2007-04-13: Interview with Joe Ybarra, VP Development at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment

Today we bring you an interview with an incredibly accomplished game developer, Joe Ybarra of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. For the rare reader who does not know all about him, Joe has produced more than 50 computer and video game titles for platforms ranging from early personal computers, consoles to the latest Windows based PCs. Some of his titles, such as Bards Tale, M.U.L.E., Starflight and Wasteland have been voted into Computer Gaming World's Hall of Fame. In his long and varied career, Joe has been one of the founding members of Electronic Arts, and an early pioneer of MMORPG development. In the interview, Joe shares insight with us from his session Building a World Class MMO While Building a Company – Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and Stargate Worlds.

Read the full interview for Joe's insight on how to start a successful game studio.

2007-04-11: OGDC Partners with CreativeHeads.net for Virtual Job Fair

The Online Game Development Conference just added a new dimension to its agenda of speakers and exhibitors, with a powerful tool for both game industry jobseekers and recruiters. OGDC has partnered with the leading recruitment software solution firm CreativeHeads.net to offer companies attending this year's conference an online Virtual Job Fair.

The Virtual Job Fair represents a tremendous opportunity for 2007 OGDC companies to advertise their participation at the conference and jobs across the entire CreativeHeads.net 17-site Job Board Network. This broad network reaches 2,000,000 creative professionals monthly working in the the video game, the animation & VFX / TV & film, software/tools and web/wireless industries.

2007-04-09: Interview with Steve Augustino, Partner at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

This week we're bringing you another piping hot, fresh interview from one of our many accomplished speakers at Online Game Development Conference.

Steve Augustino, Partner at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, offers a fascinating preview of his session at OGDC, Net Neutrality, IPTV, Wireless Broadband and More: A Gamer’s Guide to Broadband Issues, which covers technical, legal and even ethical issues crucial to the online age of entertainment. Definitely worth the read!

Read the full interview for Steve's take on the broadband issues currently before FCC and Congress and how they could affect online game developers.

2007-03-29: Interview with Jess Lebow, Content Director at Flying Lab Software

This week we continue our series of interviews with the Online Game Development Conference's high-caliber speakers. Who better, then, to pick up where we left off than Jess Lebow, Content Director at Flying Lab Software and a successful published novelist? In his session at OGDC, he'll be discussing why he feels writers are the "red-headed step-children" in game development and how to rectify that. »

Read the full interview and find why writers are important for more than just in-game text

2007-03-26: Herb Sutter to present OGDC keynote

The Online Game Development Conference underscores its credentialed support for hardcore game developers with the inclusion of Herb Sutter, software architect for Microsoft Corp. Herb will be keynoting the OGDC conference which is focused on the game development community on the first day, May 10th. Mr. Sutter is one of the most well-respected and knowledgeable C++ language experts, with a unique insight into cutting-edge programming techniques.

Herb Sutter, a software architect at Microsoft, is the lead architect of C++/CLI, chair of the ISO C++ standards committee, and the author of four books and hundreds of technical papers and articles on software development topics, including the widely-referenced article The Free Lunch Is Over which coined the term "concurrency revolution."

“To be involved in a developer-centric event such as OGDC is a pleasure and an honor for me,” said Herb Sutter, software architect, Microsoft Corp. “In my mind, OGDC represents the ideals of what the development community has to offer the game industry.”

“To have Herb Sutter on board as a keynote is incredible, both to me as a programmer and as someone involved in a conference like OGDC,” proclaimed Peter Freese, the conference chair for OGDC. “His past experience and forward-thinking vision is just about unmatched in the programming field.”

2007-03-23: Interview with Conference Director Peter Freese

We've been bringing you a familiar format for the newsletter for a few months now, but this time, we thought we might do something a little different. We've whipped up a few interview-style questions for Peter Freese, our fearless leader for the Online Game Development Conference.

The questions attempt to be as neutral as possible and the answers are unedited and in his own words. These questions are the warm-up for a new series of what we feel are unique interviews, which give you an up-close-and-personal introduction to several of our speakers and the topics important to them, many of which you will hear about at OGDC.

Read the full interview to find out why online game developers deserve their own conference.

2007-02-26: New speakers

We are very pleased to announce many new speakers added to our roster. For the latest complete list of speakers, visit the Speakers page.