Round Up: Outsourcing Summit , Moore's Ex-Garage, Big Fish Games

Today's Gamasutra round-up includes news of early registration ending for the Game Outsourcing Summit, Jay Moore leaving GarageGames, and Activision Value Publishing agreeing to distribute titles from Big Fish Games, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, Serious Games Source news, and Gamasutra job postings. - The CMP Game Group, producers of the Game Developers Conference, as well as Gamasutra.com, have announced that the deadline for early registration for GDC Focus On: Game Outsourcing Summit, slated for August 14, 2006 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott, will end on August 2, 2006. The event, which will feature a keynote address by Shiraz Akmal, corporate vice president of Operations-Product Development for THQ, will focus on the topic of outsourcing and off-shoring, and is the only summit in the gaming space entirely dedicated to outsourcing games-related work. For more information on the event, registration and sponsorship opportunities, visit the official website. - Independent/casual game publisher, developer, and technology company GarageGames has confirmed that its Director of Business Development Jay Moore has left the company in order to pursue other opportunities. "It has been an honor and a pleasure working with Jay here in the Garage. We couldn't have asked for a better, more talented, more knowledgeable or connected businessman and friend to help guide us through the start-up days of the company,” commented Josh Williams, GarageGames Chief Technology Officer. Moore himself added: “Building GarageGames from its early startup to a leader in the Independent Game Industry has been an incredible journey. As GarageGames has grown to a place of stability, new opportunities have captured my imagination, I look forward to revealing my next venture to the planet.” - Activision Value Publishing announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Big Fish Games under which the publisher will be the exclusive distributor of three PC titles from the casual game developer, including Fish Tycoon, Mystery Case Files: Huntsville, and Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects. "We were very careful in moving into retail, and wanted the perfect partner who could take our hit casual games forward on CD ROM with the greatest reach and focus," said Paul Thelen, CEO of Big Fish Games. "Activision understands the market for our games and is allowing us to cooperatively educate the key retailers about the rapidly growing opportunity that exists with the casual 'games for the rest of us' category." - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a profile of Namco's shooter Galaga '88, QT3's Tom Chick sticking up for game journalism, and the latest Our Blazing Destiny webcomic (this week featuring Pokemon). - Also updated today: Serious Games Source news, including an exclusive report from the recent 2006 Games For Change Annual Conference, plus the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Amaze Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, Buzz Monkey Software, Gas Powered Games, and Pandemic Studios.