The Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA) today announced that Nolan Bushnell, founder of the video game industry, will deliver the keynote address at the fourth annual Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo (SIEGE). Scheduled for Oct. 1 – 3, 2010, at the Crowne Plaza NW Atlanta hotel, SIEGE focuses on the fast-growing game design industry in the South.

“Nolan Bushnell was instrumental in creating an industry that now has sales in the tens of billions of dollars,” said Andrew Greenberg, SIEGE director and a partner at Holistic Design, Inc., an Atlanta-based computer game company. “Always an innovator, he has continued to stay involved with games while taking them in unexpected directions.”

Best known as the founder of Atari Corporation and Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater, Bushnell now devotes his talents to Tapcode, a company that develops digital media entertainment and hospitality software showcased in the restaurant uWink, an interactive restaurant that allows customers to order food, drinks, games and other media at their table through touch screen terminals. He serves on several Boards of Directors, and was recently appointed to the Atari Board.

Inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame, Bushnell was named one of Newsweek’s “50 Men That Changed America.” In March 2009, Bushnell was honored with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Fellowship Award, the highest accolade the Academy bestows, for his outstanding creative contribution to the Video Games Industry. Currently a biopic about Bushnell, tentatively titled Atari, is in pre-production. The story was acquired by Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company and is set to star Leonardo DiCaprio as Mr. Bushnell.

Now in its fourth year, SIEGE features leading figures from a wide spectrum of the industry, including artists, programmers, designers, writers, teachers and business executives. Other speakers include government figures, experts on computer game violence, social issues, serious games and more.

The event has attracted a variety of sponsors, including Georgia’s Department of Economic Development. Conference sessions include classes on the latest software, game design techniques, business issues, starting a new company, and more. More information can be found at www.siegecon.net