Koji Kondo joins guest speaker list at GO3 Expo
The GO3 committee has sent word that that internationally-renowned composer Koji Kondo has been confirmed as a quest speaker for the GO3 International Conference being held in Western Australia later this month. Koji Kondo is best known for his great work at Nintendo, including the themes and soundtracks for games series such as Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda and more. Kondo joins other industry greats such as Hideo Kojima and Tetsuya Mizuguchi at the GO3 expo. Vooks will be at the expo, look for our coverage as the event kicks off at the end of the month.
Press Release inside
GO3 organisers are delighted to announce that internationally-renowned composer Koji Kondo has been confirmed as a guest speaker for the inaugural GO3 International Conference being held in Western Australia later this month. According to GO3 creator David Kazim, the late addition of the famous Japanese composer, who can count Paul McCartney among is fanatics, is a huge coup. We have secured an amazing list of international speakers for the conference, and Im confident our delegates will be blown away by the calibre, said Mr Kazim.
Koji joins an impressive list of speakers including:
Hideo Kojima – Director of Kojima Productions and creator of the Metal Gear Solid seriesn
Tetsuya Mizuguchi – Creator of Sega Rally Championship and recently named as one of the “”Digital 50″” by the Producers Guild of American
Masaya Matsuura – President of NanaOn-sha and creator of Parappa the Rappern
Goichi Suda – President of Grasshopper Manufacture and creator of the Killer 7n
Nicklas “”Cece”” Cederstrm – Lead game designer for Massive Entertainment, Sweden, including the highly-anticipated World in Conflictn
Feargus Carroll – Project Lead for the Handheld Division of Lucasfilm Animation Company Singapore n
Yoo Hee-Dong – head of game development for NHN Japann
Rod Fergusson – Producer of Epic Games including the upcoming Gears of Warn
Harvey Smith – Studio Creative Director of Midway Studios Austin, Texas n
Keita Iida – Director of Content Management for NVIDIA Corporation, video game historian and authorn
John De Margheriti – CEO of BigWorld and founder of the Australian Game Developers Conference and the Game Developers Association of Australia n
John Passfield – Creative Director of Pandemic Studios and co-creator of Krome Studios TY the Tasmanian Tiger seriesn
Lee Sandberg – Technical Art Director, AB Colorod Media Swedenn
Nic Fillingham – Technology Evangelist for Microsoft Asia Pacific involved in the launch of Xbox and Xbox 360Koji Kondo is best known for composing the most recognisable themes and soundtracks of industry giant, Nintendo. Fans and critics alike cite his greatest talent being the ability to craft melodies that, while catchy and pleasant upon first listen, remain enjoyable even when looped over long periods of time. The title theme song to Super Mario Bros. written by Koji retains its iconic status two decades after its initial release and has featured on Billboard Magazine’s Hot Ringtones chart for more than two years.
A classically trained musician, Koji began working for Nintendo in the 1983 and has since composed music for Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS and most recently the Wii. Koji is in Australia to promote PLAY! A Video Game Symphony being performed at the Sydney Opera House in June. PLAY! features award-winning music from over 20 blockbuster video games including that composed by Koji for the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series. PLAY!s exclusive Australian season follows sold out tours across North America and Europe.
The GO3 International Conference is only one aspect of GO3 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Over three days and 60 exhibitors, the expo will showcase the latest in gaming, hobbies, communication and technology as well as numerous competitions and attractions. For full details, visit www.go3.com.au.
