(3 April 2010 2:30 pm)

MUMBAI: The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention which takes place later this month in Las Vegas will have several sessions that take a look at the gaming industry.

A sesion on 14 April will look at 'Global Games: How international markets are playing a leading role'. From the massive popularity of casual games in Asia, to leading innovations in development from the U.K. and India, and financing partnerships across Europe, global players are having a tremendous impact on the games industry.

From the development and creative side to the growing opportunities in new markets across the world, leading players from international markets come together to share ideas on growing opportunities in global games.

The panellists are Nexon Games CEO Daniel Kim, Igfun CEO Sean Malatesta and M2 Research founder and senior analyst Wanda Meloni.

On that same day another session will look at convergence taking place in entertainment and games. Experts from across the games, film and mobile industry will look into the future of collaboration in entertainment. As video games, feature films, mobile applications and social networking continue to integrate, more opportunities exist to generate new revenue, share content and leverage new technologies.

Social gaming is exploding through mobile platforms and social networks; console games are breaking thrilling new ground in emerging technologies; feature film creators and game developers are collaborating to bring dynamic creative to audience content across multiple platforms.

The panellists are Viximo CEO Dale Strang, Evolved Games COO Reto Bodmer and EA Interactive VP business development and strategic partnerships Sebastien Halleux.

Another sesssion looks at the women consumers in gaming, 'She's Got Game: Exploring the Rising Importance and Influence of Women in Interactive Entertainment'. Although women and girls represent 51 per cent of the global population and are the fastest growing segment of the video game market, they have been largely ignored as a primary audience to date.

Women now represent more than 45 per cent of the video game marketplace, and their influence is rapidly growing across all genres of games: console, casual and application-based. A very significant opportunity exists to drive revenue and build franchise brand loyalty by developing and marketing video game content that focuses on interests of women / girls, and by reflecting them as the primary content characters.

A panel of developers, publishers and marketing experts will explore the growing influence and importance of women in video games. The speakers are GameDocs president, CEO Belinda Van Sickle, 38 Studios CEO Jennifer MacLean, That Game Company co-founder and president Kellee Santiago and Her Interactive CEO and president Megan Gaiser.