Deadlines
For most U.S. citizens, Tax Day has been a touchstone of middle-class existence, either as a dreaded deadline or a reminder of a windfall. It wasn't always this way.
On February 3, 1913, the United States Congress passed the 16th Amendment to the Consitution, which allows for the implementation of personal income tax. The Consitutional Amendment was made necessary by a Supreme Court decision in 1895 that had declared that certain direct taxes on income to be unconstitutional.
Congress chose March 1 of the following year as the filing deadline, where it remained on the calendar for five years. Then, in 1918, for reasons lost in time, the date was changed to March 15. Julius Caesar wasn't the only one warned about the Ides of March. For 37 years, the Treasury Department reminded Americans of their obligations to meet the March 15 deadline.
The original form 1040 wasn't terribly different than our modern EZ form, although it was dramatically simpler than the complex reams of documents many must complete now with modern software applications and Web services.
In 1954, Congress changed the filing deading again to its modern date of April 15. The ostensible reason was to ease the workload on the IRS. Most returns were filed near the deadline, swamping agency employees. Lawmakers hoped a later deadline would encourage taxpayers to file earlier. Ha! In recent years, about 20 percent of returns have been filed in the last week of the filing season.
Tax Day isn't the only deadline you should concern youself with today. There are just two weeks to take advantage of discounted online registration for LOGIN 2011. By registering online, you'll guarantee your place at the conference, as well as avoid paying late registration fees.
Of life's certainties, there's only one for which you can get an automatic extension. Don't miss the online registration deadline, and join us in May at one of the best game industry conferences in 2011.
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Peter Freese Conference Director LOGIN Conference |
LOGIN 2011 Reveals Its Hidden Agenda
We're done keeping one of the best kept secrets about the 2011 LOGIN Conference. We're now in the open with our complete conference schedule. Almost every speaker, lecture, panel, reception, and more is now posted on the 2011 LOGIN Conference website. After taking a look, we hope you take away the impression that the schedule represents viewpoints from a wide range of companies, regions, and disciplines within the online game industry. You name the important online game industry topics of 2011 and beyond; LOGIN speakers will be talking about it: social networking, online mobile gaming, MMOs, international markets, user-generated content, security, the future of online gaming, and much more.
Not only that, you can see the conference offers a wealth of high-powered networking opportunities throughout the day, from the first cup of coffee to the last sip of wine at night.
The agenda embodies almost 70 sessions and speakers and reflects a snapshot of what the LOGIN Conference is all about — diverse companies and attendees from all over the world showing up in Bellevue to network, share information, and do business in a professional but intimate setting.
Remember that time is running out to register online. Regular registration prices end in just two weeks on May 2.
We hope you'll join us at one of the best game industry conferences in 2011. Now you don't have to just take our word for it, because the agenda shows what LOGIN has planned all along.
New Speakers Announced
The LOGIN team has been busy reviewing speaker submissions. We are extremely pleased to announce more speakers. We will be announcing more speakers and sessions over the coming months, so stay tuned for the complete list.
See the complete list of speakers  |
Alex St. John
Alex leads all product strategy, design, development, and operations at hi5. Previously, he was CEO and co-founder of WildTangent Inc., the world's largest online game network with more than 35 million monthly unique visitors. During his tenure, WildTangent developed a unique and highly successful microcurrency-based economy that blended ecommerce and advertiser sponsored play of premium content. Alex also pioneered technology for online game publishing, resulting in an extensive portfolio of rich media delivery and microcurrency-based monetization patents. Prior to founding WildTangent, Alex was responsible for Microsoft's multimedia strategy. Alex was awarded an honorary degree in real-tme interactive simulation from the DigiPen Institute of Technology. |
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Toby Ragaini
Toby Ragaini is one of the industry's most experienced massively multiplayer online game designers. He has been working exclusively on MMO games for more than 15 years, having led the design efforts on Asheron's Call, The Matrix Online, and Faunasphere.
At Novel, Toby is leading the entertainment division in the launch of the company's first MMO, Empire & State, as well as contributing to Novel's pioneering efforts in the enterprise simulations space. Prior to his entry into the computer game industry, Toby was a member of a NIMH research team searching for genes that conferred a predisposition to a mental illness called bipolar disorder. Toby graduated from WPI with distinction in 1995, earning a Bachelor of Science in biotechnology. |
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Yuanzhe Cai
Michael Cai serves as vice president of Video Games for Interpret LLC, a leading media and technology research firm. He leads the company’s gaming vertical, providing a wide variety of market research and analysis products to help clients gain a comprehensive understanding of consumer gaming habits and interest and make strategic decisions. Prior to joining Interpret, Cai served as director of Digital Media and Gaming for Parks Associates. During his tenure with Parks Associates, Cai established and grew its gaming coverage practice and led a research team to provide syndicated and custom research for digital media, gaming, and service provider industries. |
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Kavin Stewart
Kavin oversees the development and management of Lolapps games and properties. Kavin co-founded Lolapps in January 2008 and has helped to lead the company from zero to 40 million monthly unique visitors across various social networks. Prior to founding Lolapps, Kavin held product manager roles with Offermatica and SquareTrade.com. Kavin also worked as a software engineer at FactSet and ZeroG Software (acquired by MacroVision). Additionally, Kavin was one of three developers who built the backend and frontend of Skobee.com using Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, and AJAX. Kavin holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and computer science from University of California, Berkeley.
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Hubert Thieblot
As the former guild master of one of the largest gaming clans in Europe, Hubert is highly respected in the massively multiplayer online gaming community. He brings both a real vision and a strong expertise to Curse. In two rounds of financing, Hubert raised $11 million in funding to found the company. |
Interview With Keith Fuller
When Is It OK to Make a $50MM Game for $100MM?
The budgets and timetables for some games from game development companies are notoriously off the mark, but there are some professionals in the business who believe it doesn't have to be that way. Keith Fuller is a veteran at guiding companies to the point they can ship a title and how to accomplish that within budget and on time. Keith elaborates on the thought processes behind production efficiency, which will be featured in his session, When Is It OK To Make A $50MM Game For $100MM?, at LOGIN 2011.
PAUL PHILLEO: Keith, please tell the LOGIN News readers a little bit about your background experience in the game industry before you created your own practice dedicated to project management.
KEITH FULLER: Making video games was the only career I ever seriously entertained. I wrote my first "game" on an Atari 800XL when I was 12, and the eventual completion of a programming degree got me in the door at a small game company in 1997. I subsequently moved to Raven Software as a junior programmer working on the first Soldier of Fortune. Over the course of 12 years at that studio, I contributed to a dozen titles as a programmer, manager of level designers, project lead, and producer. In each of those roles I sought to understand the challenges of every discipline and resolve conflicts in ways that not only addressed the needs of the project, but also respected the developers. That respect for the people making the games is what eventually drove me to address problem-solving on a broader scale as a production consultant.
Read more and post your comments at LOGIN News
LOGIN 2011 Wants You!
Attend the LOGIN Conference by becoming a volunteer! Participation in the Volunteer Program will give you a backstage look into the inner workings of LOGIN while contributing to the success of this event. In your free time, you will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with industry professionals, as well as attend conference sessions and events.
Volunteers get full access to the conference in exchange for part-time volunteer work. We need volunteers to assist with registration, bag-stuffing, room usher, and runner duties. The Volunteer Program is a great way to experience LOGIN on a budget. It's also the only way to get a cool LOGIN staff shirt!
Volunteers are expected to be available for a total of eight hours of work over the course of the conference. All volunteers, regardless of discipline or area of interest, are encouraged to apply. No prior experience with the game industry is required. We are looking for reliable, hard-working, self-starting, independent, enthusiastic volunteers who are excited about the conference and who want to be among the next generation of industry leaders and professionals.
Take the first step to becoming part of the team that makes the LOGIN Conference run. Learn more about the Volunteer Program, and fill out the online application by May 1, 2011.
