JOHN SMEDLEY, DR. RICHARD BARTLE TO KEYNOTE AUSTIN GAME CONFERENCE ON OCTOBER 27-28, 2005

Online Game Conference to Host 130 Speakers from Around the World; 70+ sessions in 8 conference tracks.

Austin, Texas - September 16, 2005 - The Game Initiative, a leading producer of conferences and events for professionals in the computer and video game industry, today announced the conference keynotes for the Austin Game Conference taking place October 27-28, 2005, in Austin, Texas. Keynotes will be presented by John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment and Dr. Richard Bartle, Visiting Professor in Computer Game Design, University of Essex and a leader in the online game industry for over 25 years. Mr. Smedley and Dr. Bartle will be joined by more than 130 speakers from around the world participating in 70 sessions in 8 conference tracks.

The Austin Game Conference is the only conference dedicated to online game development. Conference tracks include: Multiplayer Business/Production; Multiplayer Design; Multiplayer Tech/Art; Multiplayer Service & Support; Mobile and Wireless Design and Profits Track; Future of the Development Pipeline, Next Generation Game Development, Khronos Developer University.

Austin Game Conference earlybird registration of $145 ends September 30th. Attendees who register by Sept. 30th save $50 off the price of the full conference price. Registration can accessed by logging on to http://www.GameConference.com.

\"Austin Game Conference has established itself as the must-attend event for professionals focused on online games, massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) and mobile game development,\" said Christopher V. Sherman, executive director of the The Game Initiative. \"We are extremely proud to have Mr. Smedley and Dr. Bartle, two well respected industry leaders, share their experience and insight at this year\'s conference. 1,400 individuals around the world participated in AGC 2004.\"

John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment and co-founder of Verant Interactive, Inc., will deliver the AGC opening keynote address. He has over 12 years of experience in the gaming industry. Mr. Smedley\'s start in the gaming industry began in 1989 when he worked as a programmer for ATG. Shortly after developing his first game (QIX) for the Apple IIe, Mr. Smedley founded and his own company called Knight Technologies. At Knight Technologies, he developed various contract games like Double Dragon (Atari Lynx), Dirty Larry Renegade Cop (Atari Lynx) , Qix (Atari Lynx) , Keys to Maramon (Amiga) and Kawasaki Carribean Challenge (SNES). Mr. Smedley also served as Director of Development for five years at 989 Studios and began a PC Group that evolved into Verant Interactive, now Sony Online Entertainment.

Dr. Richard Bartle, will deliver the AGC day two keynote address entitled \"Why Are We Here?\". Dr. Bartle co-wrote the first virtual world, MUD (\"Multi-User Dungeon\") in 1978, and has thus been at the forefront of the online games industry from its very inception. A former lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and current Visiting Professor in Computer Game Design (both at the University of Essex, U.K.), he is an influential writer on all aspects of virtual world design, development, and management. As an independent consultant, he has worked with most of the major online game companies in the U.K. and the U.S. over the past 20 years. His 2003 book, Designing Virtual Worlds, has already established itself as a foundation text for researchers and developers of virtual worlds alike.