Keynote Speakers Announced for the 2012 East Coast Game Conference

BioWare and Zynga Creative Leaders to Share Insights on How Gaming Will Continue to Change the World

RALEIGH, N.C. – March 27, 2012 – The Triangle Gaming Initiative (TGI) today announced keynote speakers for the 2012 East Coast Game Conference (ECGC), taking place April 25–26 in Raleigh, NC. BioWare Senior Creative Director Paul Barnett and Zynga East Coast Executive Producer Paul Stephanouk will each share their insights on the state of the industry, the impact of new platforms on the growth of gaming, and how games have and will continue to impact the world we live in.

“We’re pleased to have two of the industry’s best and brightest join us at this year’s conference,” said John Austin, Co-Founder of the East Coast Game Conference. “This region has a long history of quality game creation, and we’re looking forward to having these two leaders provide their perspective on where we’ve been, and more importantly, where we’re headed.”

About the Speakers:
Paul Barnett has over twenty years experience in the games industry, and in that time he’s worked on a range of online games from old-school multi-user text adventures to MMOs like Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. He has contributed creatively to a host of EA games, and is currently tasked with putting BioWare in a browser. He’ll be sharing his views on where he thinks games are, where they might go, and their impact on the world, and this will probably involve wearing white sunglasses at some point.

Paul Stephanouk is the Executive Producer at Zynga’s East Coast studio in Baltimore, which he helped establish. Paul led the production of online hit FrontierVille and is currently working on an unannounced project. Before building social games, Paul produced and designed video games for consoles, PC, and web including the award-winning titles Rise of Nations and Catan.

ECGC is the leading forum for game industry professionals on the East Coast to share expertise, network, and build careers. Along with exploring the core theme of content > platforms, professionals from around the nation will also be leading panels, lectures, and discussions on everything from programming to social and mobile games. For details about these panels and other news about this year’s conference, follow ECGC on Twitter at @ECGameCon and on Facebook.

For information on how to register for ECGC 2012, visit www.ecgconf.com/registration

Journalists interested in press registration should register here or contact ecgc@triplepointpr.com.

About ECGC 2012
Held annually in Raleigh, North Carolina, the East Coast Game Conference is the leading forum for game industry professionals on the East Coast to share expertise, network, and build careers. Companies both big and small with ties to interactive entertainment continue to gather in the Triangle, a gaming hub both for North Carolina and the East Coast overall. ECGC’s goal is to provide a yearly opportunity for market leaders, starting developers, and everyone in-between to engage, connect, and look to the future of the industry.

The program features panels and lectures by game industry experts covering a wide variety of topics, as well as an Expo and Career Lounge and the extremely popular return of Unreal University. For more information, visit www.ecgconf.com.

Media Contacts
Wendy Beasley & Ryan Morgan, TriplePoint for ECGC
ecgc@triplepointpr.com