SPEAKERS
This year’s Nordic Game conference will focus on bridging the gaps in the new market reality. How do you originate great ideas with so much new territory to occupy? How do you grow from start-up to established game creator, or from local to global entertainment provider? How do you turn a great idea into a solid business and beyond? How do you decide which tools and platforms best suit your company and the games you make best? How do you make a living from your dream?
The Nordic Game 2010 conference program will address these important issues, with a unique mix of keynotes, lectures and in-depth seminars from prominent Nordic and global industry names. The speakers for Nordic Game 2010 include:
Samer Abbas, Senior Research Analyst
Arab Advisors Group
Bio:
As a senior telecom and media market analyst and long-time game enthusiast, Samer is in charge of researching and analyzing the Arab games industry at the Arab Advisors Group.
Magnus Alm, CEO
Muskedunder Interactive
Bio:
Magnus is an entrepreneur at heart. He is co-founder and CEO of Muskedunder Interactive, a flash game developer focusing on social games and contracted work.
Íris Andrésdóttir, Producer
Gogogic
Bio:
Executive producer at Gogogic. Also a board member at one of the sub-committees of the Federation of Icelandic Industries. She holds a BA in education from the University of Iceland.
Jonas Antonsson, CEO
Gogogic
Bio:
An Icelandic entrepreneur and the CEO of Gogogic. He believes that "multiplayer", "social" and "casual" are key words of the game industry today.
Simon Arnold, Account Manager
Dolby Labs, Inc.
Bio:
I'm responsible for Dolby's relationships with the gaming industry in Europe, driving the adoption of our audio technologies to create great gaming experiences.
George Bain, Account Manager
SCEE
Bio:
Since joining Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in 1997, George has held several positions within the R&D Division - where he first served as Engineer working on PS®one and the Net Yaroze™ platform and later Senior Engineer researching advance programming techniques for PlayStation®2.
Ian Baverstock, Director
Kuju Entertainment
Bio:
Ian Baverstock has been CEO of Kuju Entertainment, one of Europe's largest independent game developers, for the last 5 years.
Philip Belhassen, CEO
Stonetrip
Bio:
CEO & co-founder of Stonetrip that was created in 2003, Philip's background is in internet & mobile application.
Jeppe Carlsen, Lead designer
Playdead
Bio:
Lead designer at Playdead and have been working LIMBO for two years. Education: Master in Computer Science.
Adrien Cho, Producer
BioWare
Bio:
Adrien Cho was the Lead Technical Artist on Mass Effect 1 and in the sequel he became a Producer. He has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Design degree in Industrial Design.
Dustin Chodorowicz, Partner
Nordicity Limited
Bio:
Dustin Chodorowicz is a Partner at Nordicity, a boutique consultancy specialising in public policy and business strategy in the creative industries, including the video games sector. Dustin has over ten years of international experience as a financial analyst, economist and management consultant. One of his specialisations is the economic analysis and evaluation of government policy and fiscal support for the screen-based sectors, including the video games, film and television sectors. He has co-authored two editions of The Case for Kids Programming, an economic report on Canada’s children’s television sector, and he recently participated in the Westminster eForum on the UK video games sector. Prior to joining Nordicity, Dustin was a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has also held positions with the Canadian government and central statistical agency, where he supported the development of economic indicators and government policy for the communications sector. Dustin graduated from University of Toronto with a B.Sc. and M.A. in economics and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Lars Christiansen,
Copenhagen Bombay
Bio:
Eggert Claessen, Managing Director
Frumtak GP
Bio:
Dr. Eggert Claessen is the Managing
Director of Frumtak, an Icelandic investment fund focusing on post seed start-ups. He sits on the board of several IT companies. He has extensive experience in founding and running start-ups, especially in the IT sector.
Beni Cohen,
Housemarque
Bio:
Steve Dahlskog,
Malmö Högskola
Bio:
Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Co-CEO
QUANTIC DREAM
Bio:
Guillaume de Fondaumière is Co-CEO and executive producer of Quantic Dream which recently released HEAVY RAIN. He is also the President of the European Games Developer Federation.
Jason Della Rocca, Senior Consultant
Perimeter Partners
Bio:
Jason is the former CEO of the IGDA, and now provides strategic level consulting to companies and organizations on the boundary of the game industry.
Dajana Dimovska, Cofounder & Producer
Copenhagen Game Productions
Bio:
Cofounder and producer of Copenhagen Game Productions, developing physical spell-dueling game that aims for players to look at each other, rather than at the screen. Cofounder of Copenhagen Game Collective, game design collective that promotes indie game developers in the Nordic region.
Rune Dittmer, CEO
Press Play
Bio:
Co-founder and CEO of the Danish developer Press Play.
Nevin Eronde, Audio Designer
Nevin Sound
Bio:
Audio Designer
Nevin Sound
Tom Felices, Exec Dir, Glob. Rel.
Nordic Game Program
Bio:
Representative in Asia (Tokyo) for the Nordic Game Program.
David Gardner, General Partner
London Venture Partners
Bio:
An early starter in business at 14 years old as a computer 'Whiz Kid,' involved in creating the world's largest interactive entertainment company (EA). I have learned what fun it is to be an entrepreneur and the importance of creating the right company culture to create success for all involved.
Mikael Gummerus, CEO
Frosmo
Bio:
CEO and founder of Frosmo, a social gaming framework. Board member and founder of Dodreams, MMO game publishing company.
Klaus Hansen,
Danish Producers Association
Bio:
Niklas Harrysson, Mathias Wahlin
Illuminate labs
Bio:
Niklas Harrysson and Mathias Wahlin are both senior software engineers with an extensive experience in the games industry. Niklas has been with Illuminate Labs since the start in 2002 and Mathias has previously worked as a programmer at Grin and SimBin in Göteborg.
Fred Hasson, Director
Games Capital
Bio:
Former CEO of Tiga and Chair of EGDF, now setting up a pan European entrepreneurs and financing organisation - Games Capital
Mikael Hed, CEO
Rovio Mobile Ltd.
Bio:
CEO of Rovio Mobile Ltd. Mikael joined Rovio Mobile in 2009 to lead the company to develop and publish strong original cross-platform titles.
Per-Olof Hedvall, Dr.
Furuboda Association
Bio:
Dr. Per-Olof Hedvall is a researcher in Rehabilitation Engineering and Design.
Nils Holger Henning, CCO
Bigpoint GmbH
Bio:
Nils-Holger Henning joined Bigpoint in 2005. Since then Bigpoint became the leading developer and publisher of browser-based multiplayer games, and grew from 20 to more than 300 employees in 2009.
Kish Hirani, Head of Dev Services
SCEE
Bio:
Kish Hirani has been in the games industry for over 14 years ago and has progressed through various developer/publisher technical director positions and was contracting with Microsoft as a technical consultant before joining Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in 2007.
Martin Hultberg, User Research Manage
Ubisoft Massive
Bio:
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Charles Hunter, Director
Mudlark
Bio:
co-founder of Birmingham-based Mudlark - which was formed by bringing together his experience as a television producer with Mudlark's experts in games, the web and digital arts. Working across platforms, Mudlark's projects range from pervasive/locative games, Alternative Reality Games, virtual world experiences and social media narratives to television programmes.
Anders Højsted, Founder/CEO
Great Dane Games
Bio:
Founder, Creative Director, Business Developer, CEO and everything else...
BA.Phil/M.Sc.IT
Mikael Jakobsson, Dr.
Malmö University
Bio:
Mikael Jakobsson is an Associate Professor at Malmö University. His research interests are located on the border between video game design and gaming peripheries.
Mats Johansson, partner
Spintop Private Partners
Bio:
Investor and supporter of new European tech ventures. Co-founder & partner at Spintop Private Parners AB, TeknoSeed Portfolio Management and GP Bullhound Sidecar Fund. Ex entrepreneur, CEO Nasdaq Tech Co. MBA Harvard Business School.
Jesper Juul, Researcher
NYU Game Center
Bio:
Researcher at the New York University Game Center. Books on video games "Half-Real" and "A Casual Revolution" published by MIT Press. Blog: The Ludologist.
Tom Kazan,
Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman
Bio:

Siggi Koegl, CEO/Founder
Attaction Group
Bio:
Siggi is the founder and CEO of Attaction.
Attaction is one of the leading Executive Producers for 3rd Party project financing of AAA games through public funds, banks etc.
Siggi is also a seed-investor for startups companies.
Johanna Koljonen,
Bio:
Gorm Lai, Director
Kotori Studios / IGDA
Bio:
Gorm is a serial entrepreneur with a strong and varied background in the games industry, where he has worked on casual games, AAA console games, as well as indie titles. He is a co-founder of the Nordic and Global Game Jams and is a well-known proponent of experimental game -play and -development.
Stefan Lampinen, Founder
Speltjanst
Bio:
Stefan Lampinen has over 20 years experience working for three of the biggest name in Games Entertainment, Mobile and Consumer Electronics, across all parts of the value chain.
At Electronic Arts Stefan was a pioneer in the Nordic Games Industry.
Håkan Larsson, Speech therapist
Furuboda Competence Centre
Bio:
In several project used ordinary computer games for rehabilitation. The target group: People with brain injuries, stroke and learning disabilities.
Saku Lehtinen, Art Director
Remedy
Bio:
Saku Lehtinen (b.1973) directs the audiovisual experience of Alan Wake. He has also directed art and cinematics of Max Payne and made games since 1989.
David MacQueen, Director
Strategy Analytics
Bio:
David MacQueen is Director for Strategy Analytics' Wireless Media Strategies service, providing strategic advice on consumer mobile data services including games and apps.
Mr. MacQueen has a decade of experience at a senior level in the mobile media sector. Prior to joining Strategy Analytics, David spent 3 years at Screen Digest. Before that, David started up The Games Kitchen, a wireless games development company, which in its 5 year lifespan attracted clients including Disney, Panasonic and Sega.
Alexandra Mariner, Designer/Coordinator
Apex Grafix / Nordic Game Jam
Bio:
Graphic designer, events-coordinator, problem-solver extraordinaire – Alex is an independent force who has her sights set on innovation within the games industry. Always seeking creative challenges, she joined the NGJ-2010 Organizing Committee in orchestrating the hereto most successful jam in event’s 5-year history.
David Mariner, Games Group Manager
NDS Interactive
Bio:
A 20+ year veteran of the games industry, David currently heads up games development on iTV for NDS, the IGDA.DK Business SIG, and a multitude of ad-hoc bar meetings all around the world.
Simon Niedenthal, Associate Professor
Malmö University
Bio:
Simon Niedenthal is an Associate Professor of Interaction Design at the School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University. He holds a PhD. in Interaction Design from Blekinge Institute of Technology (2008), and his areas of research include digital game aesthetics, simulated illumination, and design process for games and interaction.
David Nisshagen, Game Director
Stardoll
Bio:
David is Game Director at Stardoll. He has moved from designing massive AAA titles at Funcom and DICE, to working with highly accessible social games.
Maarten Noyons, CEO
NCC
Bio:
Maarten Noyons founded NCC in 1997 in Amsterdam. NCC has been involved in launching media projects and businesses since then. Today NCC is running the International Mobile Gaming Awards and has recently announced Playground..a geo-gaming festival.
Joel Nyström,
Ludosity
Bio:
Fredrik Olsson,
Communisport AB
Bio:
Johan Peitz, Director of Social Gaming
Muskedunder Interactive
Bio:
A former one-man-army in the indie games scene, Johan now acts as Director of Social Games at Muskedunder Interactive, producing online games for social networks.
Richard Phillips,
Games Capital Ldt.
Bio:
David Polfeldt, Managing Director
Ubisoft Massive
Bio:
David Polfeldt is the Managing Director for Ubisoft Massive, the studio behind critically acclaimed titles like Ground Control and World in Conflict.
Thomas Puha, Creative Director
Pelaaja/H-Town
Bio:
Thomas Puha is a veteran games industry renaissance man, who has hosted videogames tv-show's and written for all major gaming publications.
He is the the founder of Finland's leading videogames magazine Pelaaja and it's creative director.
He loves games and the people who make them.
Tom Putzki, Founder & Owner
Tom Putzki Consulting
Bio:
More than 15 years in the industry.
More than 50 games released.
Consulting for international clients.
Inside the Games Industry.
Like to know more?
Ene Katrine Rasmussen, Head of
MEDIA Desk Denmark
Bio:
MEDIA is a programme of the European Union supporting the audiovisual industry. The MEDIA Desk consult the industry on applications, finansing, strategies, contacts etc.
Fabian Roeken, Co-Founder
Trinigy
Bio:
Fabian is the former CTO of Vulpine GmbH and is now responsible for Trinigy’s tools development and support department.
Karin Ryding, Creative Director
Ozma Speldesign
Bio:
Karin Ryding is Creative Director and founder of Ozma Speldesign. She started her career as a web programmer in Malmö 1999, experiencing those crazy years of the rise and fall of the so-called “IT-bubble”, before going on to study Game Development at Gotland University. Still a student, she co-initiated SuperMarit, an EU funded project about women and games and held workshops in Digital Storytelling on Gotland and Zanzibar. In 2006 she started Ozma, a game design company, together with her friend Bobbi A. Sand, working on a wide variety of projects ranging from board games, social media games, games for change, to location-based games.
Kristian Segerstrale, VP & GM
Playfish
Bio:
As a successful games entrepreneur, Kristian Segerstrale brings strategic vision and leadership to his role as vice president and general manager of Playfish. He was chief executive officer of Playfish leading up to the company’s acquisition by Electronic Arts in November 2009.
Antti Seppänen,
Intervisio
Bio:
Brett Seyler, VP Strategy
Unity Technologies
Bio:
Brett Seyler is VP Strategy at Unity Technologies. Brett works to define the company's target markets, platforms, business models, technology and outreach.
Tobias Sjögren, Lead Agent
DDM Agents
Bio:
As Lead Agent Tobias find and close deals for his game developer clients. He has 14 years experience from business and games development and studio management.
Jarle Snertingdalen, Producer
Funcom
Bio:
Education: Master of Technology: Computer Science. 5 years on Age of Conan in various roles. Currently Producer on Social Games.

Andreas Stecher, EVP Sales
FISHLABS Entertainment
Bio:
Andreas is a seasoned professional with more than eight years of experience in the mobile industry. Before FISHLABS, he was sales director at EA Mobile.
Nils Stokke, Head of NRK Children
NRK
Bio:
Nils Stokke is in charge of all productions at NRK Super. He also has commissioning responsibility for NRK Super.
Stokke holds an MBA from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and an MA in Media Ecology from New York University.
Stefan Strandberg, Audio Director
DICE EA
Bio:
Stefan is the Audio Director for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and carries the vision aswell as designing the sounds for the game together the with the dice audio team.
Jason Tartaglia, Technical Director
Zipper Interactive
Bio:
Jason Tartaglia began creating Macintosh shareware over 14 years ago before working with Apple and Adobe, and finally landing at Zipper Interactive as Technical Director.
Jesper Taxbøl, Game Developer
Nordic Game Jam
Bio:
Jesper has been working as a professional game developer for the past 5 years. He started out at NDS Denmark developing set-top box games and has since moved into the FPS genre working with Unreal and Unity3d technologies.
Jesper has participated in the Nordic Game Jam since 2006.
Tero Virtala, CEO
RedLynx
Bio:
Tero Virtala has been the CEO of RedLynx since 2002. Before that, he was a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers for 5 years, developing and implementing strategies for Media-, Entertainment and IT-companies.
Martin Walfisz, Founder
Planeto
Bio:
Martin Walfisz is an accomplished entrepreneur, game development executive and creative director. He’s currently the head of social-games startup Planeto.
Alyssa Padia Walles, President
Amplitude Consulting
Bio:
Alyssa has launched many consumer products – from the Disney catalog to PlayStation internationally. Her company, Amplitude Consulting, focuses on business strategy, development, and marketing projects for high-profile brands.
Teut Weidemann, Consultant
Online Entertainment
Bio:
Teut entered the gaming industry in 1985 and his career took him through various roles in companies like Softgold, Rainbow Arts, Apple, Wings Simulations, Jowood and CDV. He shipped over 75 titles from C64, Amiga, PC and consoles.
The speakers’ list willl will be updated on a regular basis.
Note: The above list is preliminary and can be subject to change
