Europe’s leading event for the game development community, the Develop Conference & Expo launched last summer to wide acclaim, attracting around 1,100 attendees from 22 territories. It returns this year with a line up of world-class speakers, new conference tracks, themes, sessions, workshops and master classes, giving delegates the chance to be at the very forefront of the industry as it evolves.

More than 70 inspirational speakers will take part in the two-day Develop Conference discussing the hottest and most relevant issues facing today's developers. Already confirmed are the likes of Media Molecule, Peter Chaing (Vfx), Peter Molyneux (Lionhead), Rare, Mike Gamble (Instinct Technology), Katie Ellwood (SCEE) and Steve Williams (Blitz Studios).

The conference content has been honed for 2007 by the advisory board chaired by Owain Bennallack, resulting in around 45 sessions split across seven tracks: design, production, coding, business, art, audio and world vision. Brand new for this year, the World Vision track will offer vital insight into games development around the world and look at what can be learnt from other countries.

Underpinning the seven tracks are four key themes:

• Community - can games follow the Internet and be reinvigorated by user-created content, communities and sharing?
• Connectivity - how can developers best exploit the ubiquitous networking features of todays handhelds and consoles?
• Creativity - when it comes to original content, gamers are voting with their hearts and wallets. Make something amazing.
• Control - how can developers take advantage of the new wave of innovation in control devices?

Delegates can apply for Super, Standard, Mobile, Audio and Expo passes for Develop Conference & Expo online at www.developconference.com. An early bird discount of approx. 20 per cent applies to all passes purchased before July 1 2007. The expo pass is free of charge.