Game-Attorney - T. H. Buscaglia and Associates

As Chair of the IGDA Foundation, Tom moderated a luncheon panel at the IGDA Leadership Forum occuring in San Francisco. The luncheon panel discussion on the 15th addressed giving back something to our industry through charitable works and was entitled,

"Charitable Efforts: Giving Back is Good."

The Game Attorney spoke at the Montreal International Game Sunnit, November 18 & 19. Tom participated in a panel discussion on "How to Date a Publisher" on the 18th and then conducted a roundtable discussion entitled, "Law and Contract" on the 19th.

The Game Attorney will be speaking at PAX 08, the Penny Arcade Expo, on Sunday, August 31st, 2008, 4 - 5 PM. It will be a panel discussion on "Legal Issues in Contemporary Gaming." It will be comprised of lawyers and moderated by Jason Della Rocca, IGDA Executive Director. I'll do what I can to keep things entertaining!

I would like to thank everyone who supported my bid for reelection to the IGDA Board of Directors. I am pleased to report that I was elected for another term on the Board. And, as promised, I will continue to help assure that the IGDA is a valuable asset to all of its members.

So, thanks for voting early and often...for me!

Tom, "The Game Attorney," Busgaglia was eatured in an article on game lawyers in the

Tom attended and spoke again at this year's GDC in San Jose California. He was part of the panel discussion concerning accessibility in games. Making games accessible to all is one of the many important issues that the Game Indsutry is addressing as it becomes more aware of its role and a main stream entertainment for everyone!

Tom Buscaglia will be heading out to Liverpoool, England on November 8 and 9th
to speak at the Third Annual International Conference in Computer
Game Design and Technology. He will be giving a keynote speach titled:
"Ins & Outs of the Developer Publisher Relationship" This will be the first time
Tom will be speaking in the EU and looks forward to seeing everyone on
the other side of the pond.

Tom Buscaglia will be speaking again at one of his favorite venues,
the Garage Games Indie Games Con in Eugene Oregon October 7-9, 2005.
Sure it's a little hard to get to for many, but it is well worth the trip.
These guys are the real deal and the Business and Legal Tom does at IGC
is a little different that what you get at the other more formal venues
since it is specially targeted to Independent Studios and their unique
problems and opportunities. Hope to see you there!

Tom Buscaglia will be speaking at two conferences this Summer.
So, if you have any legal or business questions for the Game Attorney,
these are both good opportunities to get some quality legal advice
for the cost of a cocktail or two!

July 27&28 Seattle Washington will be the time and place to hook up with Tom
at the Microsoft Meltdown. Tom will be on a panel of game industry leaders including
Mark Rein of Epic, John Grande from Sigil Games and Lee Jacobson of Midway,
discussing game deals from all angles.

The Digital Expo in Raleigh NC will be from June 24 -25th.
Tom will be speaking on the legal ins and outs of starting your own game development
studio.This conference is billed as the largest game developer gathering in the southeastern
US and I don't doubt it since, as far as I know, it is the only game developer gathering in
the southeast! The Digital Expo has the potential to become a great tribal gathering for east
coast developers due to its location and should be well worth the trip.

Tom Buscaglia was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Game Developers
Association. The IGDA is the leading game industry organization representing the people who
make the games we love to play. Tom's three year term commenced June 1, 2005. This is part of
his ongoing commitment to the game industry and the betterment of games and their development.

T. H. Buscaglia and Associates is lead counsel in the law suit recently filed on behalf of Handheld Games
of Mill Creek, Washington, against Gizmondo and its parent company Tiger Telematics. The suit,
filed in Federal Court in Seattle, alleges that Gizmondo and Tiger Telematics breached their
contract with Handheld for the development of a game for the new Gizmondo game system and seeks
economic damages for the breach and also for delay damages called for in the development contract.

The Game Attorney is pleased to announce that Tripwire Interactive, LLC, the new company formed
by the team members who created the Mod of the Year, 2004, and the winner of the $1,000,000.00 Make
Something Unreal contest, Red Orchestra, has retained T. H. Buscaglia and Associates to provide
legal and business consulting services to their new studio.

I have played this Mod and let me tell you...Red Orchestra rocks! I am pleased and honored
to be selected as the attorney to help this great team make the transition from a passionate
mod team into a successful and financially sound game developer.

Tom Buscaglia, the Game Attorney, has released the Game Dev Kit through Dev-Biz, Inc.
The Kit contains information and forms that anyone wanting to start their own game studio
should know. It includes forms of the essential contacts those starting out in the Game
Industry will need to get a solid start. You can obtain more information about the
what, who and why of the Kit at www.GameDevKit.Com.

Tom Buscaglia, the Game Attorney, spoke at this year's Game Developers Conference
in San Francisco, March 7-11, 2005. First was a panel discussion on the Overtime issue
so prominent in our industry for the IGDA Quality of Life committee. Tom's almost 20 years
of employment and labor law experience, combined with his deep involvement in the game
development industry, make him uniquely qualified to address these Quality of Life issues.
Tom's PowerPoint presentation from the QoL presentation is available for download here.

Tom, along with industry veterans Barry Friedman, CEO of Fog Studios, and Lee Jacobson,
VP of Biz-dev and acquisition for Midway Games, again conduced their hit presentation,
"The Negotiation." This year the deal revolved around a next gen console deal with a
development budget of $10M US. Lee even brought in a risk analysis spreadsheet from Midway
to show the entire costing out of a publishers total expenditures on games of this magnitude.

Tom also conducted roundtable discussions entitled "Game Development Contracts: The Devil in
the Details." These roundtable discussions created a forum for developers to exchange
information on problematic publisher contract provisions that they have experienced in their
careers. The groups then discussed ways to create contract provision to avoid these and
other problems in future contracts with publishers.

All in all the week in San Francisco was a great time for learning, making new friends
and celebrating with old ones. GDC just keeps getting better and better every year!
A big thanks to everyone who participated in and attended these presentations.

G.A.M.E.S. Synergy Summit Brings Game Developers
to Florida for Business and Some Fun too!

The G.A.M.E.S. Synergy Summit in Orlando Florida on January 26-28, 2005,
was a tremendous success. An acronym for Government, Academic, Military, Entertainment and
Simulation, the G.A.M.E.S. Synergy Summit™ is founded on the premise that interactive multimedia
games, and the manner in which they engage and interact with those who play them, form the most
profoundly important learning medium since the advent of the written word. This event addressed the
convergence of interactive games, immersive entertainment techniques and technologies
as applied to beneficial applications.

Game developers and entertainment companies learned about potential new revenue sources for
their organizations through government and military contracts, emerging business and financing
models, and educational applications for their games and technology. Academics explored industries’
needs for capable students, expanded curricula and targeted games research; they can market their
schools’ game programs, and offer themselves as research resources; all while learning more about
the most valuable new teaching tool since the invention of the printing press – games! Game technology
companies demonstrated their wares to new lucrative and highly motivated markets – military, government
and commercial simulation, education and training. And the government, military and simulation communities
came and learned more about the techniques and technologies that make games so immersive and compelling.

The G.A.M.E.S. Synergy Summit is well on its way to becoming a "must attend"
addition to everyone's annual schedue!www.SynergySummit.com.

T. H. Buscaglia and Associates
80 Southwest 8th Street
Suite 2100 - Brickell Bayview Center
Miami, Florida 33130
305.324.6000
888.848.GLAW