Meet our all-star GamesBeat 2012 moderators

We’re pleased to announce the all-star moderators for our annual GamesBeat 2012 conference next week, July 10-11 in San Francisco.

Here’s the list in order of appearance and the session they’re moderating.

Day one

Dean Takahashi, the lead writer for GamesBeat: a conversation with Mark Pincus on the industry opportunity for play

Martin Rae (pictured right), the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences: Disruption + Adaptation (game investments)

Dean Takahashi: A conversation with Bing Gordon

Chris Kohler (pictured left), Game Life Editor at Wired: Game Rewards: Should You Be Paid to Play Games?

Brock Pierce (pictured right), the managing director of Clearstone Global Gaming Fund: The Hottest Game in Town (social casino games).

Matthäus Krzykowski (pictured left), a cofounder, Xyologic: Ask the Analysts Roundtable.

Sebastian Haley, GamesBeat culture editor: Making Indie Games.

Chris Baker, senior editor, Wired magazine: The Asian Games Roundtable.

A.J. Glasser (pictured right), editor of Inside Social Games: King.com’s Crossover Saga

Dean Takahashi: fireside chat with Seamus Blackley, a cocreator of the Xbox and head of Innovative Leisure.

Steve Fowler (pictured left), the general manager of the Ayzenberg Group: Conversation with the Mighty Eagle (Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka).

Eric Eldon, coeditor of TechCrunch: Fireside Chat with Disney’s Bart Decrem.

Day two

Sebastian Haley: Crowd-funding Your Games: What Could Go Wrong?

Dan “Shoe” Hsu, editor-in-chief of GamesBeat: Retail & Digital Convergence: How Retail Can Meet the Evolving Needs of the Gamer.

Justin Davis, IGN mobile editor: Jumping into Mobile (conversation with Activision’s Greg Canessa).

Dean Takahashi: The Changing Nature of Publishing (conversation with Benchmark Capital’s Mitch Lasky).

Dean Takahashi: The Real Platform Wars: Consoles vs. Browsers (conversation with Kixeye’s Will Harbin).

Jane Pinckard, the associate director of the Center for Games & Playable Media at UC Santa Cruz: Case Studies in Crossover Strategies.

Mark Friedler (pictured right): game executive, Worlds and Games; Overcoming Hurdles in Monetization, Distribution, and Discovery.

Steve Peterson, a writer for GamesIndustry International: App User Acquisition Today & Tomorrow — Where Is It All Headed?

Anthony Ha (pictured right), writer at TechCrunch: Platform Owners Panel.

Gus Tai, the general partner for Trinity Ventures: Who’s Got Game Startup Contest.

Dan “Shoe” Hsu: Crossing Over From Japan to the U.S., from U.S. to Japan (fireside with Ngmoco’s Neil Young)

Dean Takahashi: The Past, Present, and Future of Tencent’s Gaming Services.

Hal Halpin (pictured right), the president and founder of the Entertainment Consumers Association: Fireside Chat with Disney-Playdom’s John Spinale.

Dean Takahashi: Fireside Chat with Flurry’s Simon Khalef.

GamesBeat 2011’s theme is “The Crossover Era.” The game industry as we know it is changing. We’re seeing established companies cross over from one market to another, where once they faced barriers. As companies adapt to change, we are witnessing disruption, change, consolidation, innovation, and the arrival of big money. We’re talking billions of dollars that are at stake.

Our previously announced speakers are Mark Pincus of Zynga, Will Wright of Stupid Fun Club, Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins, Atul Bagga of Lazard Capital, Mitch Lasky of Benchmark Capital, Chris Petrovic of GameStop Digital Ventures, Riccardo Zacconi of King.com, Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio, Seamus Blackley of Innovative Leisure, Will Harbin of Kixeye, Brock Pierce of Clearstone Global Gaming Fund, David Bezahler of Blitzoo, Nicholas Talarico of 12 Gigs, Jesse Jasonov of Zynga, Christopher Griffin of Betable, Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions, Cindy Au of Kickstarter, Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nabeel Hyatt of Spark Capital, Brian Fargo of InXile Entertainment, Jesse Divnich of EEDAR, Phil Eisler of Nvidia, Greg Canessa of Activision Blizzard, and Tim Merel of Digi-Capital.

We’re expecting 500 movers and shakers from throughout the game industry — social, mobile, online, and console. Please join us.

We want to thank the industry leaders that are supporting GamesBeat 2012: W3i as Platinum Sponsor; King.com as Corporate Sponsor; Flurry & Tapjoy as Gold Sponsors; Greystripe, LifeStreet Media, Ludei & Nokia Developer as Silver Sponsors; and Game Insight, Gree, Kontagent, Nexage, Paypal, Pontiflex, Swrve & XYOlogic as Event Sponsors.

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500-plus execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your tickets here.