Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda to Keynote MI6 2011

LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MI6, the association dedicated to the success of marketing, promotion and advertising professionals in the interactive entertainment community, will host Kudo Tsunoda, creative director of Kinect for Xbox 360 and general manager of Microsoft Game Studios, to present the keynote address for the sixth annual 2011 MI6 Game Marketing Conference.  The conference will take place on April 7, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco.

In his keynote address, "Working Together: Marketing's Critical Role in the Development of Kinect," Tsunoda will discuss how Microsoft reinvented its development process for Kinect for Xbox 360 and the key role marketing played in its launch.  In his presentation, Tsunoda will outline the synergy between engineering and marketing and the direct impact that marketing intelligence had on Kinect.

"Marketers and developers may seem to be on opposite sides of the coin, but in reality the very best outcomes with top consumer products are a by-product of these two teams working closely together," said Jonathan Block-Verk, president and CEO of MI6.  "Kinect is the successful, direct result of such a unified vision.  Kudo is a true visionary whose influence and expertise have resulted in one of the most groundbreaking programs in the gaming industry today.  His keynote will provoke the industry to further understand the disruptive value of convergent marketing and development visions."

Tsunoda has spent more than 13 years in interactive entertainment, designing games, setting creative tones for campaigns and establishing production methodologies for video game companies, including EA.  His games have grossed more than $1B dollars worldwide and won 14 game-of-the-year awards. At Microsoft, Kudo holds two critical roles.  As Creative Director on Kinect he is responsible for the creative direction and cohesion of all elements of the Kinect program. As General Manager, he is working on nine different AAA titles developed both internally and externally.

Tsunoda joins a host of other notable speakers for the 2011 MI6 Game Marketing Conference with business and marketing talks from the likes of Peter Moore, EA Sports, Dave Knox, CMO of Rockfish Interactive and Cindy Gallop, founder and CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld, Carolyn Mehran, CEO and founder of Alliance Leadership, and many more.  

The full-day conference on April 7 includes over 10 sessions within three tracks of presentations and discussions from leading brand and marketing executives.  The theme of this years' conference is "It Starts Here" focusing on the insights, ideas and solutions needed for success in the game marketing industry.  For more information on the 2011 MI6 Game Marketing Conference, visit mi6conference.com and follow @mi6gaming on Twitter or "like" MI6 Game Marketing on Facebook.

About MI6

MI6 is a non-profit association dedicated to maximizing the effectiveness and supporting the success of marketing, promotion and advertising professionals involved in the interactive entertainment community. The MI6 Game Marketing Conference and Awards celebrate marketing excellence overall, while providing an all-inclusive forum for common thought, bond and community. For further information, please visit mi6conference.com.

SOURCE MI6