Additional 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit Speakers Join The Lineup To Address The New Golden Age Of Gaming

Steve Gaynor, Austin Wintory and Andrew Sheppard Discuss the Changing Indie Landscape, Music, and Free-to-Play

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is pleased to announce three additional speakers for the 2014 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit taking place Feb. 4-6, 2014, at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas.  The latest speakers to join the roster include Steve Gaynor, the creative director for the indie smash hit Gone Home; Austin Wintory, composer extraordinaire best known his haunting Journey score; and Andrew Sheppard, president of Kabam Studios and a leader in the free-to-play space. Expanding on this year's D.I.C.E. theme, The New Golden Age, the speakers will focus on how their respective experiences have helped shape the independent game movement, the perception of arts in the games industry, and the changing face of free-to-play games.

"This latest round of speakers adds emerging and established thought leaders to the already diverse line-up for the 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit," said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. "With speakers from the console games space, professional gaming and key middleware industries already represented, next year's Summit promises a 360-degree view for where The New Golden Age is headed."

More information on the confirmed speakers:

• Steve Gaynor wrote and designed Gone Home and is a co-founder of The Fullbright Company. Before going indie, he spent a number of years working on multiple titles in the BioShock franchise. For his upcoming discussion he will speak on "Strangers in a Strange Time: Gone Home's Place in the Changing Indie Landscape" and discuss the challenges facing the next generation of indie game development.
• Austin Wintory, Grammy-nominated and two-time BAFTA-winning composer whose video game music compositions includes Journey and flOw, will tackle "Music's Rising Tides." He'll address his belief that music's best days lay ahead, and that whipping up a half-decent tune in about 5 minutes is not a hindrance to progress ... which he'll demonstrate on the D.I.C.E. Summit stage.
• Andrew Sheppard, president of Kabam Studios, the western world's leader in free-to-play core games.  He will present on "Unlearning History: Avoiding the Cultural Pitfalls of Traditional Entertainment" to discuss the industry's need to embrace and celebrate the ever-evolving nature of video games in order to achieve creativity, success and prosperity.

These industry experts will join the line-up of confirmed speakers: John Hanke of Niantic Labs at Google; Robin Hunicke of Funomena; Trip Hawkins of If You Can; David Helgason of Unity; Ed Fries; and Sundance DiGiovanni of MLG.

Registration for the 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit and 17^th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards is currently open (the D.I.C.E. Awards ticket is included in the full conference pass or it can be purchased separately as a stand-alone event). Register until Dec. 20 for regular registration pricing at www.dicesummit.org.

This past September marked the Academy's inaugural D.I.C.E. event in Europe.  To watch the stellar line-up of speakers discussing the future of interactive entertainment, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=SPLx_Nt-I7Viqp_BIKm8gyyOHVrLi8HrEI

SOURCE Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences