Mobile games are tipped to be massive in 2003. Add the tentative arrival of 3G to the recent proliferation of Java-enabled handsets and colour screens and we could see gaming on mobile devices taking off in a big way. The gaming industry is bracing itself for massive expansion, and analysts are predicting that the global market for these services could reach $17.5bn by 2006, with 850 million customers worldwide by 2003.

This evening seminar examines the market for games delivered to phones, PDAs and other devices, and considers the impact of Java phones and 3G on the next generation of mobile games.

The event will include detailed case studies in which games producers explore the creative, technical and commercial challenges of developing successful products.

These presentations will be followed by a panel debate where commissioners, publishers, platform owners and independent developers debate the key opportunities and challenges for UK games developers in an expanding world marketplace.

The event will be followed by drinks and networking.

Speakers

Paul Maglione, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Digital Bridges
Paul Maglione, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Digital Bridges, is in charge of accelerating the company’s penetration into the global market. An international media executive with over 20 years experience, Paul previously held positions with CNN Interactive Europe, NBC Europe and Turner Broadcasting, and has a BA from Brown University and a Sloan MBA from London Business School. Digital Bridges is a world leader in mobile entertainment providing the distribution channels, content, brands and technology to bring mobile entertainment to a global mass-market audience. The company’s proprietary interactive content server platform (UNITY) generates, delivers and monitors usage of multi-device, multi-user and multi-language interactive entertainment content and community services. Digital Bridges' publishing (dbi) arm works with the industry’s most innovative game developers to create exceptional mobile entertainment solutions, and also publishes mobile entertainment applications based on globally recognised licenses from many of the major media and entertainment brands including Star Trek, Thunderbirds, Cartoon Network, The Weakest Link, Space Invaders and EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf.

Tim Harrison, Head of Mobile Games, Vodafone Global Content Services
Tim Harrison is Head of Mobile Games at Vodafone Global Content Services and leads the development of the group’s mobile gaming strategy and commercial operations. Tim devised and developed the games offering for Vodafone’s groundbreaking Live! service launched last autumn and continues to oversee all areas of the proposition. The Vodafone Live! Games Arcade is now active in more than ten countries, and has been acclaimed for its ease of use and unparalleled depth and quality of content, with over 50 colour titles. Before joining Vodafone, Tim worked as a musician, a journalist for titles including Esquire and The Express and a consultant to a number of dot.com start-ups. His enthusiasm for the games industry was sparked at the age of 11, when he won £10 for writing a competition-winning BASIC game in Spectrum User magazine.

John Abbott, MD, Hailstorm
John Abbott will present a case study of Hailstorm's successful game Trapped!, which evolved from a WAP product into a full arcade game. Hailstorm is an independent mobile games studio, based in Banbury, which has developed games for platforms including J2ME, WAP, HDML, SMS and European iMode. The company has achieved commercial success, most notably in North America, and works with Mobile Scope AG, Cash-U and TTPcom in Europe. Co-founder John Abbott has over six years experience developing video games, from large console projects to small java games. John has a BSc Hons in Creative and Scientific Visualisation from the University of Teesside.

Balbir Blugan, Head of Business Development, Kuju
As Business Development Manager at Kuju Entertainment, Balbir Blugan's role has been to establish relationships with the key players in the mobile games industry and position Kuju Entertainment as a major operator in the sector. Before joining Kuju Entertainment, Balbir was International Marketing Manager at NxN Software - a games middleware developer. Balbir holds a BA Hons in Theology from St.Annes College, University of Oxford. Balbir will be discussing Kuju's conversion of TV's The Weakest Link to mobile platforms, and looking at the issues that arise when the worlds of games, telecoms and TV collide: IP/brand concerns, revenue models, production processes and formats.

John Chasey, Managing Director, iomo Ltd (seminar chair)
John Chasey is a founding Director of TIGA (www.tiga.org.uk), the Independent Game Developers' Association, and is the board representative on its Mobile SIG, TIGA mobile. iomo ltd are award winning UK developers of entertainment content for mobile devices. Recent titles include BAFTA-nominated Scooby Doo, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Stuntman, Monopoly, Thief: Constantine's Sword, Wentworth Golf and Thunderbirds, for customers including Nokia, Eidos, iFone, Vodafone, Aspiro, Digital Bridges, In-fusio and Empire. Technologies covered include SMS, MMS, WAP, J2ME and Symbian. John has a BSc Hons Computer Science from the University of Kent at Canterbury and recently completed the first year of a MBA with the Open University.

Produced by Stephen Jeffery-Poulter, and presented in association with:

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This event is supported by Business Link for London (www.bl4london.com )