Video Games Committee

15 October 08

RAY MAGUIRE (Chair)

Senior Vice President/Managing Director, SCE UK

Ray's career in the Games industry started with Virgin Mastertronic in the late 1980’s. When SEGA (UK) was formed he became a Sales Manager and had the pleasure and privilege of introducing the Mega Drive and the world of Sonic the Hedgehog to UK gamers. Ray joined Sony Electronic Publishing Limited in 1993 as Director of Sales for Europe. He was instrumental in setting up the infrastructure of SEPL in Europe prior to the establishment of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE). SCE was then formed in 1994, and in 1995 Ray was promoted to Managing Director of SCE UK to manage the launch of PlayStation 1. In 1997 Ray was again promoted to Vice President/Managing Director and, in August 2002, he was appointed Senior Vice President/Managing Director of SCE UK. In addition to the UK, Ray oversees all the sales and marketing activities for the regions of Ireland, Nordic and Benelux.

IAN LIVINGSTONE OBE (Deputy Chair)

Life President, Eidos

In 1975 Ian founded Games Workshop Ltd with Steve Jackson, and launched Dungeons & Dragons in Europe and the Games Workshop retail chain. In 1977 he launched White Dwarf, the UK's first interactive games magazine, and in 1982, again with Steve Jackson, he devised Fighting Fantasy, the series of interactive gamebooks that sold over 15 million copies in 23 languages. In 1992 Ian became Deputy Chairman of computer games company Domark, and was instrumental in the 1995 merger of Domark with technology company Eidos. Ian served as Executive Chairman of the Board of Eidos plc until 2002, and has helped to secure many of the company's major franchises including Tomb Raider, Championship Manager and Hitman. In 2002 he was awarded the BAFTA Special Award for his outstanding contribution to the interactive entertainment industry. He is also Chair of Skillset’s Computer Games Skills Council and Non-Executive Chairman of Bright Things plc. He was awarded an OBE in the 2006 New Year's Honours List for his contribution to the computer games industry.

DAVID BRABEN

Awaiting biography.

JOHN BROOMHALL

Independent Audio Director & Consultant

John Broomhall has some seventeen years' experience in video games, a number of senior management roles within major video game publishers under his belt and dozens of published titles to his credit. These encompass many worldwide hit games and several massive entertainment franchises. Originally joining the business as a composer and music producer, he subsequently went on to head up soundtrack production, championing the cause of game audio at every opportunity. In 2002 he set up Broomhall Projects Limited (BPL) to provide a full range of audio services covering management, consultancy, content direction and production for a string of A-list clients. Broomhall has chaired many BAFTA Audio Awards and numerous events covering sound, music and dialogue in games including the annual Develop Conference Audio Track which he has taken a leading a role in shaping from its inaugural year onwards. He regularly speaks at seminars and university lectures, and has contributed to the Skillset Games Skills Forum, Edinburgh Interactive Festival steering committee, the IGDA Choice Awards advisory board, and the Develop Conference advisory board. He writes a monthly column for Develop magazine and regular features for Audio Media covering notable audio productions from around the globe. Last year, Broomhall was honoured with a Recognition Award by the Game Audio Network Guild of America for his contributions in the field of music and sound for videogames. www.johnbroomhall.co.uk

CHARLES CECIL

Founder and Managing Director, Revolution Software

Charles Cecil has been a key figure in the Interactive Entertainment industry for over 25 years. Revolution is Europe's leading adventure game developer. Revolution’s Broken Sword series, which sells an average of a million units per iteration, is the most successful adventure franchise to have appeared on any games console. Charles has a particular interest in the narrative and aesthetic aspects of Interactive Entertainment and how this medium will develop with advancing technology. He co-founded and remains a Director of Games Republic, an alliance of game developers; is a Board member of Screen Yorkshire, the regional agency that supports film, television and interactive entertainment in Yorkshire; and is on the BAFTA Video Games Committee. Charles regularly talks at national and international conferences and to mainstream press about creative and commercial aspects of the video games industry. In 2006 Charles was awarded the status of ‘industry legend’ by Develop, Europe’s leading development magazine.

HARVEY ELLIOTT

VP and General Manager, EA Casual, Electronic Arts

Harvey Elliott is the VP and General Manager for EA Casual as part of the EA Play Label, where he is responsible for driving IP targeting family and mainstream audiences, including the Harry Potter videogame franchise. Developed at EA Bright Light in Guildford, Harry Potter is Electronic Arts’ most successful videogames series covering seven games to date, across ten platforms, with global sales topping 40 million units. Harvey has been in the games industry some 16 years across a wide range of development roles, with a title roster which has included several Harry Potter titles, Crazy Taxi, Alias, Dakar Rally 2 and Burnout 3: Takedown. Prior to joining EA in 2003, he was Studio General Manager of the Cheltenham Studio for Acclaim Entertainment, with supervisory responsibility for Acclaim’s Teesside and London studios. This year has seen Harvey expand his role to include responsibility for EA’s casual studio in Los Angeles - where they make the popular Boom Blox games - as well as now being instrumental in the drive towards creating new, innovative games aimed at family audiences.

MILES JACOBSON

Awaiting biography.

MARK MASLOWICZ

Director, Xbox and Games for Windows 3rd Party Publishing, Microsoft

Mark joined the video games industry in 1992 and spent 9 years in various roles at Sega Europe including Business Analyst, Product Manager, Public Relations and eventually 3rd Party Publisher Relations. He undertook multiple publisher and developer tours across Europe prior to the launch of the Dreamcast console and then managed the team responsible for all dealings with European game publishers during the Dreamcast era. In March 2001 Mark joined Microsoft, a year ahead of the European launch of the original Xbox console. At Microsoft, Mark heads up the 3rd Party Account Management Team which is responsible for the relationships with the publisher community in Europe, and which is tasked with bringing the most best possible content to Xbox 360 and the Games for Windows platforms.

SANJAY MISTRY

Awaiting biography.

ANDY NUTTALL

Executive Producer, Zoe Mode Guildford

Andy's games career spans almost 20 years, starting when he helped a friend write a book about computer games. He joined Future Publishing, writing for several high profile magazines including Amiga Format, before moving to Emap Publishing where he edited The One magazine. In 1995, Andy moved into games development, working for Bullfrog Productions/Electronic Arts. In the positions of Associate Producer and Producer he was involved with most of the games that came out of the company for the following six years. His roles included design, production management, programming, scriptwriting, localisation management and music production across a number of major consoles and PC. In 2000 he became Channel 4's Games Editor across interactive services - a role that included advising the Channel on video games programming. A move to BSkyB in 2003 saw Andy become Games Development Manager for the Sky Gamestar channel, where he commissioned, designed and produced more than 70 games for interactive TV, mobile and web, together with launching the Sky Games portal websites. Andy is now Executive Producer at Zoë Mode's Guildford studio, working on a Wii kids' game for a top 3 publisher.

ANDY PAYNE

Chairman, ELSPA

Andy started in the games industry in 1985 working on the production of 8 bit home computer games classics for Domark (later to become Eidos), Mastertronic, Melbourne House (later to be part of Sega) and Ariolasoft amongst others. He worked on The Way of the Exploding Fist, Fairlight, The Pawn, Trivial Pursuit and Marble Madness and set up production specialist The Producers in 1988 where he helped introduce key US publishers into Europe, amongst them Maxis, Novalogic, Red Storm and Interplay. In 1997 he started PC simulation specialist Just Flight and in 2004 merged both companies with Sold Out to form The Mastertronic Group of which he is now the managing director. He has been the Chairman of ELSPA since 2005 and is currently Chairman of industry charity, GamesAid. He recently founded digital distribution specialist Get Games with Eurogamer.

ROB SAUNDERS

Senior PR Manager, Nintendo.

Robert Saunders joined Nintendo UK in 2004 and is responsible for the creation, management and execution of Nintendo's PR strategy in the UK. In his time at Nintendo he has overseen the launches of both Nintendo DS and Wii consoles as well as award winning software campaigns for titles including Nintendogs, the Brain Training series, Pokémon and Super Mario Galaxy. Born in Dublin, Ireland, Saunders moved to the UK as a teenager and has worked across a varied range of PR disciplines throughout his career including music, celebrity and brand PR. Saunders has a keen interest in music and body boarding, regularly visiting Devon and Cornwall in search of waves. A keen gamer, his favourite game of all time is GoldenEye and he cites Super Mario Bros 3 as the title that made him want to work in the games industry.

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