80 of gaming’s brightest minds share their secrets next week

We have 80 (updated) of the gaming industry’s best and brightest lined up for our third annual GamesBeat 2011 conference. We’re grateful that so many leaders of the game industry have stepped forward to talk at our event  on July 12-13 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Each year, GamesBeat follows a big trend. In 2009, we focused on how All The World’s a Game, with the explosion of games onto a global stage. Last year, GamesBeat@GDC focused on Disruption 2.0. This year, our theme is Mobile Games Level Up, and it focuses on the busy intersection of games and mobile technology. We’ll focus on everything from smartphone games to tablets and handhelds.

Console games dominated the news in the past, but the center of attention is rapidly shifting toward mobile as more and more users play games on the run. While there are hundreds of millions of gamers on Facebook, analysts believe the number could be much higher for mobile games. Our speakers are right at this intersection of gaming and mobility. GamesBeat 2011 targets an audience of CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, investors, marketers and other key figures in the game business. Stay tuned for real news at the event.

Here’s our lineup:

GamesBeat 2011
Mobile Games Level Up

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

8:00am-9:15 am
Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:15 am to 9:20 am
General Opening Remarks
Matt Marshall, CEO and Editor in Chief, VentureBeat
Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat

9:20am-9:30am
Mobile Summit Manifesto – Joint Session

9:30am-9:55am10 am
Joint MobileBeat & GamesBeat Opening Keynote
Keith Rabois, chief operating officer, Square

10:00am-10:10am
Break

10:10am-10:35 am
Fireside Chat
Brian Farrell, CEO of THQ
Moderator: Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat
Gamification Goes Mobile
Farrell will discuss the view of mobile and social gaming from the traditional industry view.

10:35am-11:00 am
Fireside Chat
Trip Hawkins, CEO, Digital Chocolate
Moderator: Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat
Digital Disruption: Insights about how and why it’s happening
Hawkins will discuss the coming revolution in which discovery technologies will triumph over distribution business models and how the browser will beat the app stores and set content free, transforming games into a $100 billion market.

11:00 am – 11:15 am
Morning Coffee Break

11:15am-12:00pm
3 Breakout Sessions

#1 Panel Breakout
Mobile Platform Migration: How do you do it? David Marcus, founder and CEO of Zong; Teemu Huuhtanen, executive vice president of Sulake/Habbo Hotel; Kevin Henshaw, vice president of business development, IMVU; and Chris Bergstresser, executive vice president and commercial director at Miniclip.

#2 Panel Breakout
Mobile Analytics: In this session, you will learn how to leverage analytics to implement best practices to improve app design, accelerate acquisition, enhance engagement and increase revenue; the keys to effectively marketing your app and successfully monetize your users. Josh Williams, head of special projects, Kontagent; Frederic Thuard, executive vice president of App Annie; Michael Oiknine, CEO of Apsalar. Moderator: Charles Hudson, co-founder of Bionic Panda Games.

#3 Panel Breakout: Raising a Big Pile of Money. Games companies are raising lots of money these days. What is driving this and how can it happen for your startup? Moderator: Mark Friedler; Joe Kraus of Google Ventures; Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam; Shervin Pishevar, managing director at Menlo Ventures and founder of SGN; Lars Buttler, CEO of Trion Worlds.

12:00pm -1:30 pm
Lunch

1:30pm-2:00pm
GamesBeat Keynote
Nolan Bushnell, Father of Video Games and Board Member at Atari
Bushnell will give a talk about the continuum of games through history and where they are headed next as we transition into a world of many new platforms such as tablets and smartphones.

2:00pm to 2:30pm
Fireside Chat
Jordan Weisman, founder of Harebrained Schemes
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
Jordan Weisman has run toy and game companies for decades. But he recently founded Harebrained Schemes to focus on social and mobile games. We talk to a veteran about adapting to what’s hot and the whole talent migration happening now.

2:30pm – 2:40pm
Break

2:40pm-3:40pm
3 Breakout Sessions

#1 Panel Breakout
Mobile social networks: What is the future of social on mobile? These companies have learned how to make games more discoverable and viral. What’s next on their roadmaps as they try to become the next big mobile companies? Moderator: Anand Iyer, IGN Si Shen of PapayaMobile, and Jason Citron of OpenFeint. Jude Gomila of Heyzap.

#2 Panel Breakout
Monetizing Mobile: How do you make money on the iOS and Android platforms? ; Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry; Matt Shea, executive vice president of product development at Wild Tangent; Brian Wong, founder of Kiip; Joshua Hernandez, CEO of Tap.memoderator Anthony Ha, Adweek

#3 Panel Breakout
Augmented Reality Games: Will they take off?
What does Augmented Reality add to gaming and how does it evolve the consumer experience? Can Augmented Reality gaming become a mass market consumer phenomenon or is it limited to high-end consumers on high-end handsets? What are the incremental revenue opportunities that Augmented Reality holds? This panel of early market entrants will look at the realities – both technical and commercial – of the AR market and share their vision for where the potential lies. Moderator: Matthew Lynley, VentureBeat writer; Brian Selzer, president of Ogmento; Laurent Gil, CEO of Viewdle; Gene Becker, AR strategist at Layar; Evan Kirchhoff, co-founder and chief technology officer at Qubop

3:40pm-3:55pm
Afternoon Coffee Break

3:55pm-4:25pm
Fireside Chat
Steve Perlman, CEO, OnLive
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
How to Bring Cloud Gaming to Mobile
Cloud gaming has come to the PC and the big-screen TV, but it also has a future in mobile. That may be why HTC invested $40 million in OnLive. We’ll talk to one of visionaries of games on demand and find out just how the technology that started on the desktop can move to mobile platforms as well.

4:25pm-4:55pm
Main Stage Panel
Tim Chang, Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
Tim Merel, Managing Director, Digi-Capital
Suli Ali, CEO of TinyCo
Moderator: Sana Choudary, CEO, YetiZen
Investing in Mobile/Social Games: Where will the smart money go? Will the bubble burst? There’s no disputing the fact that mobile games are hot. Is it justified? What kind of value creation can happen as mobile games become social or tablet gaming takes off? We’ll ask some of the smartest investors and observers in the business.

4:55 pm to 5:15 pm Fireside chat: Angry Birds: Fireside chat:
Angry Birds: how to build a mobile hit into a big entertainment franchise in movies, flagship stores, and attract a billion fans. Rich Wong of Accel Partners interviews Wibe Wagemans, the Hummingbird and head of global brand advertising and analytics at Rovio.

5:15 pm to 5:20 pm Closing remarks
Dean Takahashi

5:20 pm to 630 pm Closing reception

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

8:00am-9:15am
Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:15am- 9:30am
Opening Remarks by Dean Takahashi
Discovery 3.0

9:30am-9:55am
Main Stage Panel
Mobile Game Discovery How will mobile become more viral? Some companies are taking the lessons of Facebook game discovery and are extending them to mobile. While SRI envisions artificial intelligence playing a role in mobile discovery. What’s the roadmap for getting games noticed when there are millions of apps in the app stores?
Moderator: Eric Goldberg, founder of Crossover Technologies
Jussi Laakkonen ceo of Applifier
Immad Akhund, co-founder Heyzap
Colin Digiaro, COO of MindJolt
Dror Oren, executive director of Ventures, Licensing, & Strategic programs at SRI International

9:55am-10:05am
Break

10:05am-10:55 am
3 Breakout sessions

#1 Panel Breakout
Making successful free-to-play and in-app purchase driven mobile games: Free-to-play and in-app purchase business models on mobile have changed the gaming landscape – thanks to a new segment of mass market casual gamers, proliferation of connected devices and revolution in digital distribution.  In this new world, monetization now depends on engagement, retention and driving micro-transaction purchases. This panel addresses the challenges and opportunities head on from the point of view of the studio, and is made up of successful free-to-play and in-app purchase mobile game studio leaders, who have learned from trial-and-error, constant measurement and relentless iteration.  The panel discussion is led by Jeferson Valadares, a veteran studio exec who has held various senior production roles at Playfish, EA Mobile and Digital Chocolate.Dave Castelnuovo, founder of Bolt Creative and creator of Pocket God. Gabe Leydon, CEO of Addmired; Lou Fasulo, chief operating officer at Z2Live; Charles Hudson, CEO of Bionic Panda Games

#2 Panel Breakout
Gamifying mobile apps Gamification, or adding game-like features to non-game apps, has come on strong in the past couple of years as web sites embrace tools for more engagement. How will this translate into mobile apps? Adam Lavine, CEO of FunMobility, Kris Duggan, CEO of Badgeville; Nicole Lazzaro, founder of XEO Design; Mark Baxter, co-founder and vice president of product at Vivity. moderator: Margaret Wallace of Playmatics

#3 Panel Breakout
Game Engines: Evolving Beyond Consoles and PCs
As the computing universe moves beyond the device-centric to cloud and web-based technologies, game engines need to evolve as well. Mobile and web games are becoming a stronger part of the game development mix, with social media games redefining how users interact with games and each other. Game engines need to account for new technologies, like HTML5, WebGL and Flash. Toss in competing browsers, each of which behaves differently. Even AAA console and PC games now incorporate new technologies, such as Youtube integration and social media dabbling. Game engines need to give developers the tools to take advantage of the vast array of target platforms, including Androis, iOS and the web.
Brett Seyler, vice president of strategy for Unity Technologies; Michael Agustin, founder, GameSalad; Walter Luh, CEO of Ansca Mobile; moderator: Loyd Case, freelance writer

10:55am-11:10am
Morning Coffee Break

11:10am-11:35am
Lars Buttler, chief executive of Trion Worlds
Daniel Terry, CEO of Pocket Gems
Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities (moderator)
The shallow or the deep end of gaming?
Which kind of game is going to hold our attention in the future? Will it be deep games that take years to make and huge teams to build? Or will it be small teams making quick-turnaround casual games that grab our attention for a short time? We’ll see how our panelists define a great game and we’ll see how they answer this: why does it make more sense to invest a lot of money in your sector of gaming than other sectors?

11:35am-12:00pm
Fireside Chat
Peter Relan, chairman of Youweb and CrowdStar
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
Under the leadership of Relan, Youweb has spawned mobile and social gaming startups such as OpenFeint, CrowdStar, iSwifter and Sibblingz. With a strong foothold in the first stage of the social gaming revolution, Relan is now looking for another set of hits in mobile.

12:00pm-1:30pm
Lunch

1:30pm-1:55pm
Fireside Chat
Neil Young, CEO, Ngmoco
Moderator: Yukari Iwatani Kane, staff writer for the Wall Street Journal
Building a Mobile Social Platform
Under the ownership of Japan’s DeNA, Ngmoco is building a global mobile social network called Mobage. Young believes that such social networks will create a dynamic ecosystem for commerce, discovery, and community on mobile devices. The result will be billion-dollar companies in the not-so-distant future.

1:55pm-2:40pm
Who’s Got Game Start-up Contest
Eight companies present will present on stage in four-minute sessions. Our three judges and moderator will listen and decide who has the best pitch. Our all-star panel will ask questions and offer comments. Sana Choudary of Yetizen will moderate. Judges include Michael Chang of Electronic Arts; Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners; Terence Fung of Zynga.

2:40pm-3:05pm
Fireside Chat
Andrej Nabergoj, CEO, Outfit7
Moderator: Cliff Edwards, Business Week –
Entertainment Companies Born Through Mobile
Once upon a time, entertainment companies were spawned by great movies, books, music or video games. But Outfit7’s Andrej Nabergoj, creator of the Talking Friends series which has been downloaded onto mobile devices more than 130 million times, believes that the next set of blockbuster entertainment franchises will be born on mobile platforms. Audacious, yes. But crazy? Not anymore. Moderator: Cliff Edwards of Business Week

3:05pm-3:20pm
Afternoon Coffee Break

3:20pm-3:45pm
Fireside Chat –
Keith Lee, CEO of Booyah
Moderator: Eric Eldon, editor of Inside Network
Lessons of Mobile Gaming
Booyah was an early pioneer in mobile gaming on the iPhone. It created and launched a gamification app, only to see it founder once released in the App Store. Then it regrouped and launched the hit MyTown game, which was like a version of Monopoly with real locations. Now the company is figuring out the future again. We’ll hear the story of continuous evolution from one of the veterans.

3:45pm-4:15pm
Moderator: George Jones, Invention Media
Julian Farrior, CEO of Backflip Studios
Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing in the Americas at Gameloft
Giancarlo Mori, chief creative officer at Glu Mobile
Rise of Tablet Gaming
Smartphone games aren’t the most thrilling when it comes to graphics. But tablet games are going to be able to exploit extremely powerful, console-like hardware in the not so distant future. How do game companies plan for this future?

4:15pm-4:35pm
The Rise of Cross-Platform Games
Moderator: Japheth Dillman, co-founder of YetiZen
Dennis Ryan, head of publishing, PopCap Games
Peter Driesssen, CEO of Spil Games
HTML5 is coming on strong. Will it enable game companies to create a game just once and then publish it across all mobile platforms? Will other technologies take over?

4:35pm-5:05pm
Fireside Chat
Rob Wyatt, Chief Scientist, Otoy
Moderator: Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat
Mobile Games of the Future
Streaming technology has disrupted the DVD business. Now it’s coming to games. What are the implications of this technology for the next game consoles? And how will it impact the future of mobile? Rob Wyatt of Otoy is betting that game streaming will change everything.

5:05pm-5:15pm
Break

5:15pm-5:30pm
Joint Closing Remarks & Startup Competition Winners Announced
Matt Marshall, CEO and Editor in Chief, VentureBeat
Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat
Nate Werlin, VentureBeat
Sana Choudary, CEO of YetiZen

5:30pm-6:30pm
Closing Reception in Garden Court

We’ll be exploring the most disruptive game technologies and business models at our third annual GamesBeat 2011conference, on July 12-13 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. It will focus on the disruptive trends in the mobile games market. GamesBeat is co-located with our MobileBeat 2011 conference this year. To register, click on this link. Sponsors can message us at sponsors@venturebeat.com. Our sponsors include Qualcomm, Flurry, Greystripe, Nexage, OpenFeint, Sibblingz, Tapjoy, Fun Mobility, TriNet, Zong, Spil Games and WildTangent.