New GDC Taipei Summit to cover key trends in Asian, Western development

For the first time ever, the organizers of the Game Developers Conference have partnered with the Taipei World Trade Center and the Taiwan Industry Promotion Alliance to host the GDC Taipei Summit, a brand new Summit event covering the biggest trends in Asian and Western game development. This two-day Summit will take place Tuesday, June 26 and Wednesday, June 27 at the Taipei International Convention Center, and will follow in the tradition of other GDC events by bringing together key regional and international developers to discuss important issues that affect the entire games business. The Summit covers everything from console titles, social games, mobile games, online services, and more, and includes speakers from throughout Asia as well as the Western world. Here are some of the notable speakers for the GDC Taipei Summit: - Hosting the Summit's keynote is Ngmoco Sweden's Ben Cousins (pictured), who will provide an in-depth industry overview in, "The Five Big Trends in the Global Games Industry." During this presentation, Cousins will point to the sweeping changes affecting modern game development, examining everything from new platforms, new business models, to new game genres. With all the chaotic changes affecting today's game industry, it can be hard to keep track of what really matters, and Cousins' talk promises to "[cut] through the noise to give you the five most important trends that he believes will define the global games industry in the next 5-10 years." - Elsewhere, Media Molecule community manager James Spafford will address the essential elements of design in today's connected online landscape. His talk, "Designing With Community In Mind: How Media Molecule Put 'Share' into 'Play, Create, Share,'" will examine how the studio's LittleBigPlanet games were influenced by the studio's need to design for an always-connected online community. - Haining Wang, CEO of the social games company Happy Elements, will examine the lifecycles of social games in "How to Keep Social Games Fresh on Facebook?" Using examples from Happy Elements games like My Kingdom and My Fishbowl, Wang will explain how to maintain long-term success and operate a social game on a worldwide scale. - In a talk focusing on the mobile realm, Gree directors Yuji Okada and Yosuke Tomita will host "Case Study: Sengoku Kingdom: A Successful Mobile Social Game on the Gree Platform." During this session, the pair will pick apart this popular card battle game, and outline Gree's strategy for making a hit mobile title. - The final highlighted talk features Eric Chang, the CTO and co-founder of XPEC Entertainment, who pick apart the latest 3D web technologies in "How to Choose the Right Development Technology in the Coming Era of 3D Web Games." Chang will examine a number of popular or emerging options for online game developers, and will break down the pros and cons of each to explain how they help (or hinder) game developers when making 3D games for the web. These talks are just a few of the in-depth lectures at the GDC Taipei Summit. The event also features talks with developers from Sega, Facebook, Activision, and much more. To check out the full list of presentations, visit the event's official sessions page. Those interested in attending the event can secure their pass now, as online registration is open until June 20. For further information on the GDC Taipei Summit, visit the event's official website. For all the latest updates on this or any other GDC event, please check out the GDC news blog, or subscribe to updates via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.