HOME | CASUAL CONNECT SEATTLE | ADVISORS

General Manager - GameHouse

Garrett Link is General Manager of GameHouse Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of Real Networks since 2003. Under his leadership, the GameHouse Studios team of designers, artists and engineers publish 8-12 titles per year. GameHouse has over 50 original titles to its credit including hits such as Text Twist, Little Shop of Treasures and the Zeeby Award winner Super Collapse III.

Garrett’s whole process expertise in casual gaming began well before games were designated as casual. Prior to joining Real Networks, he designed games for Sony Online Entertainment and produced, designed and managed QA for Humungus Entertainment. Garrett’s successes include building the GameHouse subscription service and receiving the 2007 Innovation Award for his achievements in In-Game Streaming Advertising.


VP Business Development - J2Play

Jouni Salonen has been working with mobile entertainment and games for the past ten years with both start-up companies and corporations. Previously, Jouni worked as account manager at Digital Chocolate, dealing with operator accounts and direct-to-consumer distribution; established U.S. distribution and brand licensing partnerships at Sumea, a premium European mobile games publisher, also taking an active role in product portfolio development; and was a consultant at Silicon Valley Finland Trade Center, advising Finnish mobile and software companies on partnerships and U.S. market entry. Jouni started his career at Fujitsu working on eBusiness solutions.

Jake Simpson has been making games a long time. Not as long as he’ll tell you – he had nothing to do with Eliza no matter what he says – but a long time none the less, some twenty plus years or something. He’s made console games, PC games, Arcade Machines and is now busy making a safe haven for 3D avatars in Second Life.

Jake likes beer, and the best way to survive a Jake Encounter in the wild is to buy him a beer and back away slowly nodding the whole time, or he’ll talk you to death. Chances are he won’t even notice you are gone. Especially do not mention Doctor Who or he’ll just sad you to death.

CEO - Mochi Media

Jameson Hsu is CEO and co-founder of Mochi Media where they are building a platform that provides monetization via ads, analytics and distribution tools to the Flash games community.  MochiAds, a casual games ad network, and MochiBot, a Flash analytics tool for game developers, have become key products in the advancement of casual online games. 

Prior to founding Mochi Media, Jameson co-founded the award winning interactive design firm WDDG where he led partnerships with major brands such as Kraft, HP, Burger King and many more.  Jameson has been focused on gaming and interactive advertising for over 10 years, working closely with Flash developers, industry leading artists, advertising agencies, and Fortune 500 clients to develop innovative marketing and communication solutions.

Studio Director & Founder JoJu Games
California

Juan has been involved in the casual games industry even before the casual games term was coined. He is currently focusing on the production of innovative casual games for PC, Mobile and consoles.

Previously, and as one of the first members of the Yahoo! Games team, Juan was the lead producer for the downloadable games area and community manager of multi player games. In the last year of his tenure at Yahoo!, Juan was the head of Yahoo! Games Studios, producing the first 8 mobile titles the company has released. Juan holds a BFA in Electronic Media from the University of Illinois.



Managing Director Crossover Technologies


Eric is a 30-year veteran of the game, consumer online, and wireless data industries, serving in capacities ranging from game designer to executive.

Since 2002, Eric is or has been a board member of, advisor or consultant to AOL, AT&T Wireless, Centerscore, Digital Chocolate, Electronic Arts, GoCrossCampus, In-Fusio, Gaia Online, Juice Wireless, Kayak (dba Blaze), LimeLife, Meredith, Mforma (dba Hands-On Mobile), Moloon, Openwave, PaymentOne, Reaxion, Thumbplay, Unplugged, Vindigo, Warner Music, and two US venture capital firms.

Eric was most recently the President and Co-Founder of Unplugged, for which he secured distribution with four of the five largest North American carriers. Previously, he served as President and Founder of Crossover Technologies, one of the first consumer online companies, for which he secured AOL, BMG, Discovery Channel, Intel, Microsoft, Prodigy (IBM/Sears/CBS joint venture), Random House, Sony, Time Warner, and Viacom as clients and distribution partners; and, prior to that, as President of West End Games, the adventure game company for which he published, among 40+ titles, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Star Trek, and Junta. His award-winning games include Paranoia, Tales of the Arabian Nights, The Tom Peters Business School in a Box, and MadMaze, the first online game to draw one million players. He is a three-time winner of the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game and a two-time winner of the Game Designers Guild Select Award.

Eric is a regular speaker at the major North American games, wireless and online conferences, including CTIA, MECCA, Internet World, The Conference Board, DMW, GDC, GDC Mobile, MES, AGC, MGC, LA Games Conference, and E3, and has served as a programs advisor or advisory board member for the latter six conferences. He was previously a board member for the New York New Media Association and New York Universitys Center for Advanced Digital Applications.


Producer & Sound Designer PopCap Games
Washington

Matthew Lee Johnston is a fourteen-year veteran of the video game industry. As Audio Director for Microsoft Game Studios, he worked on some of the best selling game products of all time including the award winning Flight and Train Simulator series, Fable, Counter Strike, and Forza. While working on the Xbox mega-hit ŒFable¹, Matthew landed a deal with Danny Elfman, signifying the first time in history that a composer of that caliber has composed the theme to a video game. While working in the Microsoft Games Division, Matthew¹s expertise was tapped by the other groups within the company, most notably the Windows group. As a result, MLJ assisted in creating some of the most pervasive sound design in computing history by designing sounds heard around the world in Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows CE. In January 2004, Matthew broke out on his own to form a new company: Soni-Fi LLC. This new venture took high-end audio design into new realms while exploring the endless possibilities for sonifying the world in which we live. Soni-Fi designed civic audio installations, commercial audio environments, hardware device interfaces, and specialized consumer products. The cross pollination of ideas from the virtual world to the real world - and back - is what made Soni-Fi a truly unique force in the world of design. In November of 2006, MLJ could not resist a position as Senior Producer in the Expansions and Platforms group at the world-renowned casual game juggernaut, PopCap Games. He now works tirelessly to bring the highly addictive and entertaining PopCap titles to new platforms, such as home gaming consoles and other devices. His most recent coup-de-tat was achieved when he brought the critically lauded PC masterpiece "Peggle" to the much beloved iPod.




Executive Producer I-play
Washington

Since 1999 David Nixon (davidn@Oberon-Media.com) has dedicated himself to pioneering new ways for our "casual" games to reach new audiences. In 1999, with RealArcade, he was one of the first to see the potential of "try before you buy". In 2000 he was one of the first to attempt "2nd Party" publishing. In 2001 he was looking to Eastern Europe as a source of commercially viable PC games, inspiring game developers around the world to participate in the amazing opportunities this category offered. In 2004 he helped catapult Oberon Media onto the casual games world stage. 2005 found David evangelizing "console casual" games with his central role in the launch of Xbox Live Arcade. Now, in 2008 he works to revitalize the role of “web games” in the casual games sector, expanding the role of online communities in the future of our industry. He currently works as Executive Producer at Oberon Media


V.P. Business Development Arkadium
NYC

Neal Sinno has been in the casual game industry since 2005 when he joined Game Trust.

Neal Sinno has over 10+ years experience in Business Development, Product Development, and Sales. He has extensive knowledge in web-based applications, platforms and technology services. A seasoned sales and e-business product specialist, Neal has also held key leadership roles at LivePerson, Mellon Financial, The New York Times and Lucent Technologies. Neal graduated from Castleton College and is pursuing his MBA at Fordham University.




CEO FreezeTag
California

With co-founder Mick Donahoo, Craig created Freeze Tag as a casual games publisher that encourages and nurtures developers. Craig provides strategic and creative direction for Freeze Tag’s game development, marketing and distribution services. Freeze Tag casual game brands include Xango Tango, Nertz Solitaire, Classic Concentration and Etch A Sketch.







PR Manager Alawar Entertainment, Inc.


Before coming to Alawar, Tatiana Chernova worked as a TV journalist and the host of a program featuring notable stories about city life in Russia. After taking an interest in computer games, Tatiana joined Alawar in 2004 as a game description writer and translator. Today, she holds the position of public relations manager.  Alawar is a leading publisher specializing in the development, publication and distribution of casual games. During seven years of work in the market, Alawar published more than 100 casual games and won fans all over the world.  Tatiana holds her master’s degree in linguistics and is completing a second term to earn a degree in Economics and Management.