Bridging the gap between the cinematic screen and the game platform, UBM TechWeb Game Network, organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference(R) (GDC), have announced the Games & Movies/TV Track taking place at the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe. The one-day track with high level international speakers, taking place the first day of GDC Europe (Monday, August 16), will aim to provide attendees with a roadmap for adapting the amazing spectacles of the silver screen into successful games and help to guide attendees through the risky path of working games into film or TV and film or TV into games. This new offering to GDC Europe is in partnership with IHK Koln, the City of Cologne and Mediencluster NRW.

The worldwide success of the film Avatar's use of animation, visual technology, and storytelling for both the big screen and videogames illustrates the increasing opportunities and convergence of the two entertainment mediums in pop culture today. In 2009, the domestic gross for the entertainment sectors in Germany alone amounted to 2.5 billion Euros (approximately $3.1 billion US Dollars), which mirrors the same amount of revenue for the country's videogame industry. GDC Europe will spearhead these new opportunities by hosting talks, workshops and roundtables from renowned representatives from both sectors to lend their expertise in each area as well as their insight into the challenges and trends that come from working together. The first announced speaker for this workshop includes Jorg Tittel, producer, director and writer at BreakThru Films Ltd. Tittel has written for game publications such as Next Gen, the Official Dreamcast Magazine (USA), MANIAC (Germany) and Famitsu DC (Japan) and is credited for working on the Minority Report Xbox/PS2 videogame. He also made Testudo, a short film featuring photorealistic bonking CG tortoises, which got the attention of Oscar winning producer Hugh Welchman (Peter & the Wolf). Tittel is currently working on a science fiction TV and game series to be produced by Welchman in partnership with ITV.

"The industry has seen much success in the cross-over between games and film. With the addition of the Games & Movies/TV Track at GDC Europe, we expect our conference to continue to offer ground breaking topics and business opportunities for game developing professionals," says Frank Sliwka, VP European Business Development of the UBM TechWeb Game Network and Event Director of GDC Europe. "Anyone looking to fully understand the future of game development, from online and social games to the challenges of uniting the worlds of games and movies, will be in Cologne this summer."

In addition, the first set of sessions has been announced for GDC Europe, focusing on the dynamic and evolving social and online game space. These sessions will include talks by Playdom, offering an in-depth recap on the world of social gaming, Crytek's session on how gaming can permeate borders from pop to high culture, and a talk by leading social game developer Playfish, among many others.