Video games often bring to mind images of pimply-faced teenage boys in dark basements. For many years video games have been seen strictly boy’s exclusive domain. Times are changing, and now the core gamer demographic is 18 to 35, with one third of game players being women. Some of the best-selling games such as The Sims have appealed to both genders.

As the role of technology is changing among women, the videogame landscape is also shifting. Although on the rise, women are still underrepresented in the games industry, both on the development side and on the consumer level. Many reasons contributing to that are perceptions that video games are only about violence and scantily-clad women, or the notion that games can’t be a business to be taken seriously. (Did you know that the Department of Defense is one of the biggest users of videogame technology?)

Come learn about the videogame industry, the types of skills needed to develop games, and why women will play an important role as the industry is coming of age.

About Our Speaker(s)

MODERATOR:
Peter Blacklow
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Peter oversees WorldWinner’s marketing communications, direct marketing, product management and business development efforts. Peter is responsible for forging WorldWinner’s marketing partnership with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and creating the Compete for Pink program, which guarantees a minimum annual donation of $100,000 to the Komen Foundation. He also manages WorldWinner’s business relationships with Yahoo!, Electronic Arts, Sony Pictures Digital, NetZero and Lycos. Under Peter’s guidance, WorldWinner grew revenues by 34 percent in 2004.

Prior to joining WorldWinner, Peter served as senior vice president of marketing at Monster, the largest global careers website, where he was responsible for managing a $100+ million budget, including all advertising, promotions, public relations and business-to-business direct marketing. Among Peter's many successes at Monster, he negotiated and activated the company's U.S. Olympics sponsorship and helped Monster become a top 20 most visited web destination. Before his time at Monster, Peter spent five years at Converse, Inc., where he became the director of marketing for five performance business units, including its flagship basketball line, developing its worldwide business plans and overseeing the negotiations of NBA endorsements. Peter has also spent several years at advertising and promotional agencies working on various consumer products.

Peter is a graduate of Harvard University and has received numerous awards and distinctions, including being named one of the top "Marketers of the Year" by Promo magazine. In addition, Peter serves as a board member of the Ad Club of Boston, New England Citybridge and Concord Academy, and serves as an advisor to ComfortShoeShop.com and SimplyHired.com.

SPEAKER:
Judith Hoffman, Executive Producer,
Turbine, Inc.
Judith oversees development for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, recently voted “most-anticipated massively multiplayer online game” in a player survey by IGN Entertainment, a leading industry authority on video gaming. Judith supervises all aspects of game development, including original game design, art and engineering. In 2004, she received Turbine’s “MVP of the year” award for management of the Dungeons & Dragons Online production team. Prior to her work on D&D Online, Judith served as executive director on Asheron’s Call 2: Fallen Kings, the next-generation sequel to Turbine’s highly popular massively multiplayer game Asheron’s Call.

From 1996 to 2001, Judith played a pivotal role in the international success of the Web portal Excite, managing product development teams for markets on two continents, launching Excite services on three continents, and establishing strategic business partners throughout the UK and Europe. She also managed the development of “Excite Mobile,” winner of New Media Age’s “Best Use of Wireless” award in May 2000.

Judith began her career at The Chicago Tribune in 1978, where she worked for nearly two decades. There, she was a key player in the Tribune Company’s entry into electronic publishing, project managing The Chicago Tribune’s first Web publication, in addition to winning the Tribune Company's Board of Directors 1995 Best Values Award for innovation and teamwork.

Judith has a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Sciences from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

SPEAKER:
Laura Tomasetti, Managing Partner
360 Public Relations LLC
Laura is managing partner of 360 Public Relations in Boston. She is a 20-year PR veteran, and has spent much of the past decade in the gaming industry. She launched Hasbro’s video game division in 1995 and, as vice president of public relations, was directly involved in the marketing of more than 100 game titles for a range of platforms. She also oversaw communications for acquisitions (including Hasbro’s purchase of Atari), licensing deals and strategic partners, from LucasArts to Microsoft, and served on the PR committee for the Entertainment Software Association during the high-profile Columbine case.

More recently, Laura helped to launch the first electronic trading card game, Magic: The Gathering Online, working with Seattle-based Wizards of the Coast to introduce a new business model online – asking players to pay for game equipment (the cards) instead of a monthly subscription fee. Currently, her agency represents Turbine, Inc., and is helping Turbine prepare for the launch of two hotly anticipated massively multiplayer online games based on the Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons properties.

SPEAKER:
Tara Teich
Lead Programmer,Mad Doc
From a young age, Tara has been interested in video games. Her lifelong ambition to enter the game industry was realized when she began working as a programmer at Mad Doc Software in 2000, after graduating from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Computer Science. During her tenure in the games industry, Tara has had the opportunity to be a part of building an independent game studio from the ground up. Mad Doc Software has grown from less than 10 employees when she started there to over 80 today.

In her five years at Mad Doc, she has developed a focus on Artificial Intelligence. Most recently, she crafted the A.I. on Empire Earth II - a PC Gamer Editor's Choice award winner - and is currently the Lead Programmer on Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy. Other game credits include Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest, Jane's Attack Squadron, and Star Trek: Armada II.

First and foremost, Tara remains a gamer at heart.

Event Date and Venue

This event will be held from 6:00 p.m - 8:30 p.m. on Monday, February 6, 2006 at:

Doubletree Guest Suites/Waltham
550 Winter Street
Waltham, Massachusetts 02451
Map

6:00 PM - Registration, Networking, Appetizers & Beverages
7:00 PM - Announcements & Introductions
7:15 PM - Program
8:00 PM - Q & A
8:30 PM - Adjournment

Pre-registration for this event is closed and on-site registrations will not be accepted.

About Our Sponsor(s)

About WorldWinner
Based in Newton, Mass., WorldWinner (www.worldwinner.com) is the leading global provider of online games for cash and prizes, where the outcome of each competition is determined by the player’s skill. With 14 million registered players internationally, WorldWinner hosts more than four million tournaments and awards millions of dollars in prizes every month. WorldWinner brings together people who love to play games and thrive on the thrill of competing, allowing them to demonstrate their ability in tournaments for free, or match wits against opponents for cash and prizes. Players can choose from more than two dozen games, including word games like Word Mojo and Wheel of Fortune ®; card games, such as solitaire, hearts and bridge; strategy games, including backgammon and chess; arcade games, like SwapIt! and Blockwerx; and sports games, such as 8-and 9-ball pool and bowling. Many of the popular games played on WorldWinner and its partner sites have attracted a timeless following in the offline community, such as chess, bridge, solitaire and nine-ball pool. Now they can be enjoyed online by millions whenever the need for friendly competition strikes.

WorldWinner has been a partner of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation since May 2004. Through its Compete for Pink program, WorldWinner donates ten percent of entry fees collected from select online game competitions to the Komen Foundation to support breast cancer research and outreach programs. To date, WorldWinner’s players have come together in a remarkable show of support, raising more than $100,000 in the process.

Contact Us

For more info regarding registration or event details, please contact Jo-An Thomas, New England Regional Vice President ([email protected]).

For more details about pre-registration, contact Tech Support.