The Game Dame™

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ — Hailed as “Woodstock for geeks” by the San Francisco Chronicle, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival has emerged as one of the world’s most important gatherings for digital creatives and new media entrepreneurs. As an extension to its core focus on emerging technologies and business models, the 2007 SXSW Interactive Festival will explore the burgeoning video game industry with ScreenBurn, consisting of gaming-related programming and the all-new ScreenBurn Arcade.

Programming highlights of the ScreenBurn track include a keynote speech by Will Wright of Maxis, the man whose creativity launched the Sims, the gaming industry’s all-time best selling title. Recently featured in “The New Yorker,” Wright is also creator of the highly-anticipated life-building game SPORE. Meanwhile, the ScreenBurn track will also feature 20 gaming-related panels throughout the SXSW Interactive schedule, including, “Austin, Massively Multiplayer Game Development Capital of the West?” “Getting Girls Into The Game: Designing and Marketing Games for Female Players,” and “Serious Games: Can Learning Be Hard Fun?”

Outside of the panel discussions, attendees can visit the all-new ScreenBurn Arcade to experience first-hand the latest gaming platforms, hardware, software and gadgets, as well as participate in gaming tournaments. The ScreenBurn Arcade is open Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11, on the first floor of the Austin Convention Center.

“We introduced ScreenBurn to the SXSW Interactive lineup in 2006, and received an overwhelmingly positive response,” said SXSW Interactive Festival Event Director Hugh Forrest. “Building on that success, we added more gaming- related programming in 2007, plus will launch the two-day ScreenBurn Arcade. Between the expertise of the high level speakers and the all-out energy of the Arcade, I think ScreenBurn will help take SXSW Interactive to the next level in 2007.”

Find out more about SXSW Interactive here.