Round-Up: I-play VP, L.A. POV, Dreamcast Anniversary

Today's round-up includes information on an important new hire for mobile firm I-play, a video game-related lecture as part of a Los Angeles arts exhibition, and a very important Sega-related anniversary, as well as the latest product news and today's Gamasutra job postings. - I-play, a mobile phone games publisher, has announced that Krishna Gidwani is the company's new Vice President of Corporate Development for I-play's global business. Gidwani's responsibilities will be to raise capital for the company's operations and direct its mergers and acquisitions. Prior to his position at I-play, Gidwani served as Principal at Celebrity Partners, a private equity firm where he specialized in media and technology investments. "The mobile sector is one of the most exciting high growth industries to be in right now," said Gidwani, "and I-play not only has a strong pedigree background, it also has outstanding potential to become the world's leading mobile gaming player." - As part of its symposium covering several media and disciplines in the arts, the L.A. POV: State of the Arts Exposition will feature a talk about "Innovation in Video Games" on Sunday, September 25th in Los Angeles. The talk will cover the hazards and challenges in creating innovative games in today's marketplace. The panel, hosted by Convergent Entertainment CEO Todd M. Fay, will include several well-known game directors and creators: Chris Cross from EA's Medal of Honor series; David Jaffe, director of God of War; Ted Price, director of Ratchet & Clank; and Tommy Tallarico, composer and producer of the Video Games Live events. - Today is the sixth anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast's launch on 9/9/99, a date whose numerological significance failed to help the system against the next-generation consoles launched by Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. Two years after the system's launch, Sega announced that it would permanently discontinue hardware development in favor of a platform-agnostic software strategy, a policy which it continues to this day. Nevertheless, the system cannot be called a failure, as it was host to many games both domestic (Soul Calibur, Phantasy Star Online, Skies of Arcadia) and imported (Shenmue II, Sakura Taisen 3) that are still fan-favorites. - Also updated today: product news including SpeedTree's announcement of new Xbox 360 licensees, the availability of ionForge's Evolution 2.6, and today's Gamasutra job postings, including positions from Electronic Arts Tiburon, Firaxis Games, Gameloft, Idol Minds, Infospace, NCsoft, Pandemic Studios, and The Collective.