DICE kicks off in Vegas

By Patrick Garratt

DICE opens today at the Red Rock resort in Las Vegas, for three days of seminars and hobnobbing with some of the biggest names in games. The show is host to the eleventh Annual Interactive Achievement Awards this year, to be announced tomorrow.

Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard, is to be named as the eleventh inductee into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. Ken Kutaragi gets the Lifetime Achievement Award.

In attendance are some pretty serious cheeses. The following are wagging chins at the Red Rock until Friday:

• John Riccitiello – Electronic Arts, CEO
• Shane Kim – Microsoft Game Studios, Corporate Vice President
• Gore Verbinski – Pirates of the Caribbean, Director
• Russ Crupnick – The NPD Research Group
• Robin Kaminsky – Activision, Executive Vice President
• Mike Morhaime – Blizzard Entertainment, President
• Masaya Matsuura – NanaOn-Sha, President
• Michael D. Gallagher – ESA, President
• Dr. Mark Ollila – Nokia, Director of Technology & Strategy for Games
• Yannis Mallat – Ubisoft Montreal , CEO
• Dr. Mike Capps – Epic Games, President
• Andy Burke & Mike Acton – Insomniac Games

Watch for the Achievement Awards tomorrow.