Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood, Santa Monica Tuesday, June 12th 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM Track III: The Virtual Worlds and Massively Multiplayer Gaming Explosion - PC, Console and Mobile Mike Goslin, Vice President, Virtual Reality Studio, Walt Disney Internet Group Matt Bostwick, SVP of Franchise Development, MTV Networks Music/Logo Group, David Haddad, SVP of Marketing, Sierra Online Brad Singer, Executive Vice President of Products and Markets, PaymentOne Starr Long, Game Director, NC Soft David Christensen, Vice President of Business Development & International Operations, Sony Online Entertainment Joseph Olin, President, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Moderator Mike Goslin, Vice President, Virtual Reality Studio, Walt Disney Internet Group: Mike Goslin is vice president of the Virtual Reality (VR) studio at the Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG). He is primarily focused on the development of Disney's Toontown Online, a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) for kids and families and Pirates of the Caribbean Online, a MMO created for fans of the popular film franchise. Goslin joined the VR Studio in 1996, when it was part of Walt Disney Imagineering, to work on virtual reality attractions for theme parks. Over the next several years, he was technical lead on a series of projects that were developed for DisneyQuest; a chain of "super arcades" featuring Virtual Reality rides and games such as "Alladin's Magic Carpet VR Adventure" and "Hercules in the Underworld" which opened in 1998, and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold" which won the award for Outstanding Attraction from the Themed Entertainment Association in 2001. Before joining Disney, Goslin was a researcher for The Institute for Simulation and Training in Orlando, Florida where he worked with psychologists from the U.S. Army to evaluate Virtual Reality as a means for training soldiers to perform dangerous tasks. During that time, he collaborated with Jacki Morie on "Virtopia", one of the first examples of Virtual Reality as artwork, which premiered at the Florida Film Festival in 1993. Goslin holds a bachelor of science degree from Duke University and a master of science degree in computer science from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where under the guidance of the legendary Dr. Fred Brooks, he led a research team whose goal was to push the limits of what was possible in creating immersive virtual worlds. Matt Bostwick, SVP, Franchise Development, MTV Music Group: If you’ve ever met "Beach Demon" in Virtual Laguna Beach or Virtual Hills, you might be surprised to learn that the person behind the avatar is Matt Bostwick, the senior vice president of franchise development for MTV Networks’ Music Group. Bostwick’s team is responsible for Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hills, which have earned acclaim in the media/entertainment industry for creating environments where viewers can live out the story arcs and programming they see on-air. An expert in media/entertainment and technology convergence, Bostwick leads the team that is charged with creating platforms like Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hills. The platforms combine television, 2D web and 3D virtual communities in one integrated system and are also helping define next-generation media and advertising models. Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hills are just two of several next-generation platforms that Bostwick’s team is developing at MTV Networks. Other virtual worlds under development include: a global music-based experience that will unite music lovers worldwide; and LogoWorld, the ultimate exercise in user-generated content because it will be conceived from the ground up by members of the LGBT community. Prior to MTV Networks, Bostwick served as President of the Sweet Spot consulting group specializing in the convergence of media, consumer marketing and technology. As President of Sweet Spot, Bostwick counted among his clients MTV Networks’ Music Group, for which he developed and tested a multi-platform networked audience strategy for the launch of Season 2 of MTV’s "Laguna Beach: The Real OC." The program resulted in an unprecedented multi-platform success with record ratings, web traffic and broadband streams, DVD sales, mobile phone downloads, and formation of a 650,000-strong member online fan community. Bostwick has worked in entertainment, consumer marketing, media technology development and start up ventures with Disney (Kingdom Hearts I and Tron 2.0); Coca-Cola Japan (C-Mode interactive vending program with Ntt DoCoMo); Nabisco and Kraft Foods, where he started a beverage venture now worth more than $1 billion in annual sales. Bostwick lives in Wilton, CT with his wife Amy and his daughter EJ. He earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s of science from Ohio State. Brad Singer is Executive Vice President of Products and Markets for PaymentOne, a leading online payment solutions provider. Brad leads the company’s overall market strategy, new product initiatives, and partnership activities. Brad has over 18 years of business and general management experience in the media, payment and technology markets. Previously, Brad served as Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Content Licensing at NewsEdge, an early pioneer in content syndication, which achieved annual growth rates of over 40%, consistent profitability, and a successful IPO during his 8-year tenure (later acquired by Thomson Corporation). Brad also served as General Manager of the NewsPage.com business, an early innovator in on-line fee-based services. Most recently, Brad served as Vice President Marketing and Business Development at TeleKnowledge, a billing and e-commerce infrastructure company. Brad has also held management positions at Citibank and General Electric and served on the Dun and Bradstreet executive Advisory Board. He earned a BS in Computer Science and Economics from Tufts University, and holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton Business School. Brad has been featured in the technology and business press, and has been a frequent speaker at industry events. Starr Long – Producer, Ncsoft: Starr Long has been in the business of making PC games for more than a dozen years. Alongside Richard Garriott, he was the original Project Director for the commercially successful Ultima Online. Starr worked his way up through the ranks of Origin Systems, Inc. starting in Quality Assurance working on Wing Commander, Ultima, and many other titles for Origin. In 2001 Starr teamed with Garriott to start the Destination Games studio in Austin, which was later acquired by Korean gaming giant, NCsoft. Currently Starr is working alongside Garriott on the soon to be released, Tabula Rasa, an epic sci-fi role-playing online game being developed at NCsoft’s Austin, Texas studio. DAVID D CHRISTENSEN, VP Business Development and International Operations, Sony Online Entertainment: Trivia: David's all-time favorite video game: Kaboom (Atari 2600). Quotable Quote: "At my mom's house in the midwest," he says, "I still have several hundred Hulk comics wrapped in plastic." His story: Huge gamers as a kid. Had the biggest collection of Atari 2600 cartridges on his block (total: 56). Has extremely fond memories of playing games with his dad and sister. All-time favorite game: Kaboom. Grew up just outside of Chicago. Attended Univeristy of Illinois. Then went to law school at John Marshall. Also studied Taxation at the Georgetown University Law Center. Began his career as a tax consultant for Deloitte & Touche LLP which David describes as "super, super boring work." "I'd meet someone who would say that they were a teacher," David says. "And I'd say, 'Oh, I see, you nurture and teach the future generations of America. Neat . . . I save big companies money on their taxes.' Very noble." David wanted something a bit more rewarding, so he quit the firm and became a founding member of the talent agency, R.E.D. His focus: repping game developers. This was his first step into the video game world. From there, David wanted to get more involved on the publishing side of the business. He worked on a deal with Universal Interactive (who owned The Incredible Hulk IP). David represented the development house Radical who was chosen to make The Hulk game that would be a tie-in with the release of the 2003 movie. For David, being part of The Hulk video game was a dream come true. "At my mom's house in the midwest," he says, "I still have several hundred Hulk comics wrapped in plastic." David told Universal Interactive's president that since they were becoming a true publisher, they needed a biz-dev person internally. So they hired him. "That's how I made the transition from agent to starting my publishing career," he says. From there, Universal was acquired by Vivendi which later published a second Hulk game; the well received The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction ("It's what they wanted the first game to be," he says). Then he left Vivendi. Worked in the cellphone game market for a while, finding some success there. After that, he wound up working with IGE, which David describes as "probably the most hated company in the MMO game space." IGE, for those not in the know, is a hundred million dollar company that basically buys and sells virtual items inside MMO games. Summer of '06, S.O.E. had lost its VP of International Business Development. They reached out to David. But because of David's work with IGE, S.O.E. was leery of bringing him on. They agreed to do a no-strings six month consulting agreement. "We did a couple of good deals during the six months," David says. In January of '07, S.O.E. not only brought David on board, they also expanded his role to include domestic business development and International Operations as well. As for David's downtime away from the office, the only gaming he's been doing lately is poker. "I've been going to casinos and doing a lot of reading on poker," he says. David says that there are a fair number of S.O.E. employees who play poker. In fact, he plays live games with some of his coworkers. "Andy Zaffron plays," David says laughing, "but all I hear about are his ‘bad beat’ stories." Sam Landman is the Director of Business Development for The Electric Sheep Company (ESC). ESC is the largest company in the world dedicated to designing experiences and delivering add-on software for 3D virtual worlds. ESC is pioneering search, virtual world shopping and metrics initiatives in addition to delivering strategic, creative and technical services to global organizations. The company works with multiple virtual world platforms such as Second Life and There.com. Having been involved with ESC and virtual worlds for several years, first as an investor and later as a member of ESC’s management team, Sam has been on the forefront of the virtual worlds industry. As the Director of Business Development at ESC, Sam has been responsible for leading major media corporations, including NBC, Warner Bros., Major League Baseball and The National Basketball Association into the virtual world. Prior to joining The Electric Sheep Company, Sam worked as a Senior Associate for Gladwyne Partners, manager of a $515 million Private Equity / Venture Capital fund. There he helped Gladwyne originate investment opportunities, analyze investment prospects and advise portfolio companies. Sam's investment experience includes seed stage venture investing, traditional private equity investing and public equity investing. While at Gladwyne, Sam invested across a range of sectors with a particular focus on digital media. Sam received a BA in Economics and Political Science from Bucknell University. Joseph Olin, President, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences: Joseph Olin brings more than 25 years of experience in video games and consumer products to his position as President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Since taking the helm of the non-profit organization in July 2004, Olin has championed the $25 billion video game industry by raising awareness of individuals, games, companies, organizations/associations and changing issues by promoting innovation and commitment. As President of AIAS, he is the voice of the Academy and oversees the annual DICE Conference and Interactive Achievement Awards. Prior to his presidency with the AIAS, Olin spearheaded the introduction of gaming’s most famous heroine, Lara Croft, with the launch of the blockbuster Tomb Raider franchise as vice president of marketing and business development for U.S. GOLD, INC. / EIDOS Interactive. Olin also served as senior partner and group account director at Ogilvy & Mather where he launched Mattel’s Generation Girl Teen Dolls product and the first Barbie brand advertising campaign. Earlier in his career, Olin held senior level positions in game publishing, advertising, sales, and marketing. At Elliot Portwood Studios, Olin co-created Leonardo’s Multimedia Toolbox, an educational product, developed with Gene Portwood and Lauren Elliott (creators of Carmen Sandiego). His impressive background also includes tenure with NEC’s System Laboratory Group of Japan, Voiceweb Corporation, Kovel/Fuller, Inc., Della Femina McNamee, Panda Management Company and Microprose/Hasbro Interactive. Olin is active in the Agoura Hills community, a board member with Agoura Pony Baseball League and a number of local school support groups. Olin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.