Go Go PC Gaming!

Alex St. John, CEO and co-founder of WildTangent, will be the closing keynote speaker for the ION 2008 conference next month in Seattle.

SEATTLE, Washington, April 30, 2008 - It's only logical to conclude one of the world's best conferences for online game developers with a closing keynote address from the chief executive of one of the world's leading developers of online, downloadable game content. Alex St. John, CEO and co-founder of WildTangent, the largest privately held game property in the U.S., will deliver the closing keynote at the end of the final day of the 2008 ION Game Conference. The 2008 ION Game Conference, a high-level game industry event focused on the business and development of online games, will take place in Seattle, May 13-15 at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

St. John's keynote address, "The PC Gaming Comeback," will focus on opportunities provided by the PC/online gaming model, and highlight the challenges the console market will face moving forward. The discussion will closely examine key differentiators between the two platforms, and the role that community and social gaming play in the equation. He will also demonstrate the economics for making premium games free online, supported by advertising, and how this model can generate more revenue than retail models.

WildTangent is the leading online game publisher with the most ubiquitous gaming platform on the Internet today. Prior to founding WildTangent in 1998, St. John was one of the principal creators of Microsoft's DirectX technology, which became the foundation for all Windows multimedia applications, 3D graphics, media players, as well as thousands of PC and Xbox games. Alex is widely considered to have his finger on the pulse of the gaming industry and is a frequent speaker at industry events.

For more information about this year's ION conference, check out the ION 2008 main site.