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Countdown to CGE 2010 ~ July 31st & August 1st, 2010 ~ 31 JUL 2010 |
Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest:
GARRY KITCHEN
In 1986, Kitchen founded Absolute Entertainment, Inc., building it into
one of the leading video game developers in North America. Under his
leadership, Absolute created over 120 software titles while working with
such leading entertainment companies as Nintendo, Sega, Sony, 3DO,
Paramount Pictures, MCA, 20th Century Fox, Acclaim, and Electronic Arts.
Kitchen's 1991 release, The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants,
published by Acclaim Entertainment, was praised by Variety Magazine as a
breakthrough in the video game licensing of television properties. The
"Bart vs...." line of Simpsons games went on to sell over 2
million units, establishing Bart and family as a mainstay property in
entertainment software. Kitchen's 1992 release, Super Battletank,
was named Best Simulation Game by Game Informer Magazine.
Kitchen has received numerous awards for his work, including a Lifetime
Achievement Award in Video Games. His knowledge and experience in
interactive entertainment is well respected, with numerous television
appearances including CNBC, ABC Eyewitness News and CNN as well as
interviews in various consumer and trade publications.
By treating the Internet as the latest in a series of video game
platforms, Kitchen brings this unique blend of talents to the Internet. He
is co-founder and President/Chief Executive of Skyworks Technologies,
Inc., a privately held multimedia developer specializing in interactive
marketing and high-end game development. In addition, Skyworks is an
authorized developer for the Sony Playstation video game platform.
Skyworks' clients include the LifeSavers Company, the Nabisco Biscuit
Company, the Sega Channel, Micronet Co. Ltd., Scientific American and
others.
With
over 18 years of experience in interactive electronics, Garry Kitchen has
been in multimedia entertainment since the beginning. His innovative
hand-held electronic game Bank Shot, marketed by Parker Brothers in
1980, was named one of the 10 best toys of the year by Omni Magazine. In
1982, Kitchen designed and programmed Coleco's smash hit Atari version of
the Donkey Kong arcade game, a video game cartridge whose sales
eclipsed $100 million dollars. Moving onto Activision, Kitchen's 1982
release Keystone Kapers received critical acclaim and achieved
worldwide sales of over 750,000 units. Space Jockey and Pressure
Cooker, also for the Atari VCS, were highly regarded as well. Garry
Kitchen's Gamemaker, a top-selling Activision title for the Commodore
64, earned Kitchen the title of Video Game Designer of the Year in 1985.