Session

Speakers

Description

Taking Xbox LIVE Arcade Games to the Next Level

Scott Austin

LIVE and Arcade offer many tools and services that developers can use to make their games even more appealing. This session gives examples of some of the many innovations in Arcade games. Also, considering that the most important tool in selling a game on Arcade is the trial, this session presents best practices for how to design a trial experience that optimizes conversion.

Building Games with Silverlight

Bill Reiss (Blue Rose Systems),

Joel Neubeck (Terralever),

Tim Heuer

Come learn how two developers used Microsoft Silverlight to create popular casual games. Each developer will dive into their experience and discuss key takeaways that will help you in developing games with Silverlight.

Game Programming with Silverlight 2

Mike Snow,

Tim Heuer

This session will include a complete walkthrough on how to build a game with Silverlight 2 using Visual Studio 2008. Topics include creating your game UI, integrating media, setting up your game loop logic, animation,  web services and multiplayer networking.

Life Cycle of Casual Games

Nick Berry

Have you ever wondered what happens to the popularity of a casual web game over its life? How quickly does its population rise?  How long and bright does it shine? At what rate does it fade?  What is the effect of badges, or promotions or the release of deluxe download versions?  How does the Super Bowl™, Fourth of July, or Christmas affect the number of people playing your game? Do more people play your game on weekdays or weekends?  Do they play at lunchtime or latenight?  How has the industry changed in the last ten years?  Come learn more about the life cycle of casual games and how it impacts you as a developer.

Integration APIs for MSN Site and Messenger Games

Rocco Crea

Two of Microsoft’s most widely deployed gaming platforms, MSN Games and Windows LIVE Messenger, both offer APIs for deploying Flash-based or custom ActiveX control–based game titles. This session gives an overview of both APIs as well as the development environment and tools for each.

The Top Ten Things You Need to Know About Privacy

Nick Berry

Privacy is of concern for everyone. We’re all paranoid about identity theft or some dubious application that might track what we do online.  Are customers concerned about your applications?  Come and learn about the vocabulary of the privacy profession:  Just what is Personally Identifiable information; should this be default opt-in or out?  What are the laws concerning privacy?  The talk includes a  presentation about the principles of Fair Information Privacy Practice.  Are you confident that your applications are correctly balancing the need for privacy, whilst allowing you to target users appropriately?