(SINGAPORE) — The Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit is legendary for drawing the top creative and business minds from the game industry for an intimate gathering just outside Las Vegas, Nevada.
Three days of exchanging information and insights proves inspiration for another year of great game making.
So it caused a stir when the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced they were taking their show on the road, and programming a full day of content half a world away at the Games Convention Asia. 
Developers and executives from across Asia got an opportunity to taste the D.I.C.E. Summit ® for themselves, conveniently hosted in Singapore, which serves as a hub for Asian business and travel. 
Nor was the audience disappointed. D.I.C.E. Summit ® Asia began with a talk from Masaya Matsuura, venerated pioneer of music games at Japanese developer NanaOn-Sha. He outlined how video-games were as important to this generation, as rock-and-roll music had been to the last.
Not only are games the new cultural currency, but Matsuura-san said that rhythm games were just the beginning of what is possible for his genre of choice. He firmly believes that innovation in music games will never end
“It’s my life’s mission….to nurture these music games,” Matsuura-san told the audience. He concluded his presentation with some speculation that the next great trend will be the rise of ethnic music. 
The successive talk was from Eundo Chae, in charge of producing MapleStory for Korean publisher Nexon. He methodically walked the audience through the creation of a title successful across all cultures – some sixty countries and eighty-seven million users to date.
Chae says it was always integrating new ideas instead of trying to take an existing game and make it better that gave MapleStory its long life. “Constant updates after the game launch is extremely important for online games,” he finds.
The final piece of the puzzle was empowering local teams to not just localize, but culturalize – sage advice for developers and publishers in the complex Asian market. 
Yasuhide Kobayashi, from Sony JAPAN Studio, also spoke about the importance of globalization He says the Japanese market in shrinking, and that games have to be made for more than just one market or region.
“Unless we gain success in the overseas market, our studio will go bankrupt,” says Kobayashi-san. He fears too many Japanese publishers rely on domestic sales, when they should be turning their attention towards titles that touch the world at large. “Selling overseas is vital.” 
Two leaders from the Japanese branch of Electronic Arts offered their insights about turning Asian interactive content into global franchises, followed by American designer Chris Taylor giving a funny, inspirational talk about the challenges of creating new intellectual property. 
D.I.C.E. Summit ® Asia closed with a roundtable discussion from the day’s speakers, deftly moderated by Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president Joseph Olin. Afterwards, speakers and audience gathered for a poolside reception, proving the day a success.
For more information on D.I.C.E. ® Summit Asia, please visit : http://www.gc-asia.sg | 
