Keynote Speakers

Lane Merrifield

Bruce Sterling

Jason Page

Learn more about all Austin GDC Featured Speakers here.

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Lane Merrifield
Executive Vice President, Walt Disney Internet Group, Co-Founder and General Manager, Club Penguin

Keynote:At Their Service: Making a Difference by Putting Players First

Service with a smile. Service above self. At your service. Have phrases like these lost all meaning in this age of making a quick return and rising to the top as quickly as possible?  Lane Merrifield, co-founder of Club Penguin (www.clubpenguin.com), one of the largest and fastest-growing virtual worlds for children, and newly named head of development for all the Walt Disney Company’s kids and family-targeted virtual worlds, thinks they have. Lane says it’s time our industry shifted its focus back to what matters most: serving customers. In this keynote address, Lane will explore the idea that success is derived from a mindset of focusing on the creation of a culture of excellent customer service.  He argues that if you do that correctly, monetization will take care of itself.

Learn more about Lane Merrifield and the Austin GDC Online Track

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Bruce Sterling
American Science Fiction Author & Futurist


Keynote:Computer Entertainment 35 Years from Today
Pong is 36 years old, and Pong marked the birth of popular computer entertainment.

Imagine if someone from 2008 walked into the office of Nolan Bushnell in 1973 as he prepared to launch Pong, to explain today's "computer entertainment" to the great pioneer. For instance: hundreds of thousands of networked people evolving their own Sim space aliens. Or: an artist in residence in New York City fabricating an eighteen foot tall digital statue of Gandhi, as, using a treadmill and Second Life, he mimics Gandhi's epic march to the sea. How could you explain that insanely great stuff to Nolan Bushnell in 1973 -- even though it's all perfectly true? It's par for the course for us -- but for him, could you even find the words -- the most basic concepts?

Now imagine the kind of "computer entertainment" our grandchildren will be tackling in 35 years. What if some visitor from the future frankly told you what was going on -- your industry, in his own language, from the year 2043?

Nobody can do that -- but Bruce Sterling certainly knows how to fake it. And he will!

Learn more about Bruce Sterling and the Austin GDC Writing Track

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Jason Page
Audio Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe R&D

Keynote: That It? Next Gen Audio
Now that Next Gen is Current Gen, Jason discusses what it has given both us and the end user. He looks at how much potential is still left untapped and how - or if - it is possible to truely push the boundaries of audio with the current methods of game development.

- What is it that developers expected from next gen audio capabilities, has it been delivered and if so, where do we go next?
- How do the tools and methods used within the games industry compare to the pro audio market, and what could we learn from each other?

Coming from a unique perspective of having helped many developers integrate audio into games, Jason knows how many of the titles use audio to enhance the gaming experience and discusses the differences between developers attitudes towards the importance of audio.

Learn more about Jason Page and the Austin GDC Audio Track