The Austin Game Initiative has announced details regarding this year's edition of Austin Game Conference, which will be held on September 9th and 10th at the convention center in Austin, Texas. The conference, which was attended by more than 850 people last year, will feature a special keynote speech this year: Sony Computer Entertainment's director of online technolgy, Glen Van Datta and Microsoft's Xbox platform strategy director Glen Hanson will hold a shared speech, highlighting the different approaches of bringing MMOGs to PlayStation 2 and Xbox as well as the future of console-based online gaming. Furthermore, the conference will feature 48 sessions, attended by representatives from Sony Online Entertainment, Microsoft, NCSoft, Ubi Soft, Electronic Arts, Redstorm, Disney, Monolith Productions, Turbine Entertainment, Taldren and Mythic Entertainment. The focus of these sessions will be MMOGs, ways to streamline the game development process in the future as well as opportunities offered by the mobile contents market.

Additionally, the Austin Game Initiative and Criterion Software will present LivePitch GameON, an initiative allowing developers to show off demos of their newest console and PC titles to the attending publishers.

Those interested in attending the Austin Game Conference can register via the official website, by following the link provided below. Until August 15th, professionals pay a registration fee of $125 US, afterwards this fee rises to $145 US. Students will have to pay $85 US prior to August 15th and $110 US when they choose to register later. Onsite registration costs $175 US for professionals and $135 US for students.

• Official Austin Game Conference Website