Our 4th Annual LOGIN Conference is a Recipe For Success!

As summer winds down, the LOGIN 2010 advisory board is getting ready to stir up some tasty treats. We are creating some new recipes this year and we can't wait to let you have a taste! Yes, we have something cooking on every burner and over the next 9 months, we will be taking turns to share samples with you!

Our LOGIN Master Recipe
For 600-700 servings over three and a half days

• 1 intimate setting
• 12 awesome advisers
• 600 to 700 developers and C-level attendees
• 1/2 dozen unique networking opportunities
• 4 tracks
• over 100 speakers
• liberal sprinkling of great food
• 1 Internet lounge
• large pinch of sponsors and partners

Simmer on medium heat and carefully fold in ingredients over the next nine months to give you the combination of flavors that makes LOGIN the event that you look forward to all year!

Preliminaries: You may add seasonings of your own, but be sure to leave openings in your schedule for those spontaneous meet-ups. You will also want to reserve your spot at LOGIN by registering for your Developer or Executive Pass in advance and booking your stay at the conference hotel.

Optional: We have a variety of ways to share information and help you connect prior to the conference. Besides our LOGIN BEAT newsletter, I would like to invite you to join one of our networking groups. We have LOGIN groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and our very own LOGIN Lobby.

The LOGIN special ingredient for this edition is our advisory board. We are very lucky to have such great advisers. They add the spice and the flavors to the event! This year's members are: Brandon Reinhart, Darius Kazemi, Erik Bethke, Geoffrey Zatkin, James Hursthouse, Jason Wonacott, Joe Ludwig, Mathew Anderson, Robert Ferrari, Scott Warner, Steve Klebe, and Paul Philleo. You can learn more about all our wonderful advisers by visiting them at the official conference website.

We will have food for all your senses at LOGIN 2010, so prepare yourselves for a feast!

Cynthia Freese Executive Director LOGIN Conference

"Great conference! Great speakers! Great fun! One of the best conferences I've attended in years."

David Lakritz  
President & CEO  
Language Automation, Inc.  

3rd Annual Interactive Media Economic Update Lunch

enterpriseSeattle’s Washington Interactive Network will convene its 3rd annual Power of Play Economic Update Lunch. A panel of industry executives will explore the state of our region’s $4.2 billion Interactive Media Industry. LOGIN is a proud sponsor of the lunch.

As a dominate player in this arena, how is our region surviving this economy? What does it mean to the independent developer whose creativity and entrepreneurship feed this economic engine? What trends and innovations are coming our way despite the recession?

Our executive panel will address these questions and more. At this year’s event, we will also release the results of the interactive media cluster study which looks at our region’s competitiveness compared with other areas in the US and Canada. How do we compare to states and countries who are aggressively pursuing this industry? What do we need to do to keep up?

Over 200 attendees are expected to participate in the third annual Power of Play including: executives from the game industry, legislators, government officials, researchers, media, service providers, and community leaders.

Confirmed Speakers: Pete Parsons, Bungie Chris Taylor, CEO & Founder, Gas Powered Games David Bluhm, CEO, Zero260 Jeremiah Slaczka, Founder & Creative Director, 5th Cell Competitiveness Study: Chris Mefford, Founder, Community Attributes Kristina Hudson, Director, Washington Interactive Network

Register now – Use discount code LOGIN to receive $10 off registration. The event is scheduled for September 3, 2009 at the Bellevue, WA Hyatt.

Are Games Worse Than TV and Fast Food?

Over the years gaming has graduated from being a diversion from watching Dukes of Hazzard on TV and coding in BASIC on a TRS-80, to a mainstream and cutting edge part of modern life offered through a wealth of platforms and devices. As games have grown as part of our culture, they've also gained a larger bullseye for critics to take aim at. After years of being called out as violent, sexist and homophobic inspiration for the next generation, games are now apparently mainstream enough to have a new and older audience to warp.

Freshly released research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University and Andrews University has concluded that the average gamer is about 35, overweight, sedentary, socially underdeveloped, and depressed. The baton has been passed; the mental decay that used to be the domain of television, comic books before that, and further before that books that inevitably got thrown into a bonfire now belongs to interactive gaming. If there's any good news to be had from this unpleasant report, it's that researchers admit this research isn't conclusive.

In fact the lack of conclusiveness is the only news that matters from this study. The data sample is tiny – just 552 adults from the Internet-savvy but rainy Seattle area. The survey data was gathered from an Internet panel of study participants who were self-reporting unqualified information. The data is also from an older sample -- from 2006 -- and apparently predating the era of the Wii, which introduced a physically engaging user interface. There's a lot of holes that can be punched into that study's hypothesis, which made for such titillating headlines.

To be fair, the report does indirectly stir up social and ethical questions that deserve to be considered. Are games, especially online games, designed in such a way to encourage obsessive or addictive play? Is high-value player retention more important than encouraging a person to lead a balanced life? Just what are the social responsibilities of a game designer versus that of a consumer?

Yet there is no proof that pressing "Enter" or "Start" will pull you into a mind-numbing, body-ballooning virtual world there's no escape from. But luckily, even if that is a fear worth giving a second thought to, there is common sense on our side. Video games are bits and pieces of technological fantasy, just as a bottle of beer is a glass container filled with a grain-based liquid intoxicant. These things are harmless on their own, and are generally safe when used wisely. When it comes down to it, games, along with TV, books, playing basketball and biking, can fit into a well-balanced lifestyle without causing harm to anyone.

What is also lost in the shuffle of wild-eyed headline is the good news about video gaming. For example, new research (funded by PopCap Games) seems to point to benefits that games may positively affect mood and heart rhythms. That certainly contradicts the idea that games create conditions for depression. What about the study from University of Rochester that demonstrates that video games helped improve visual processing? Or the study from Cornell University that details how students suffering from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) respond well to gaming as a form of concentration therapy? There is at least as much good news supporting the benefits of video games as there is bad news, but good news isn't as sexy a headline.

So while Seattle area residents may have cause to be offended at some of the conclusions of this most recent study, it appears the research community has a long way to go to prove games are playing a major role in making the United States a sadder, fatter place to be.

What do you think of these studies and their conclusions?

Post your comments

Paul Philleo Contributing Editor LOGIN Beat

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