As we all know, events such as the Game Developers Conference are vital to improving the state of the video game in general. With that in mind, you may want to take a peek at the speakers featured by the Parisian GDC organizers. The event is scheduled to take place this June. More details after the jump!

Acclaim Games recently showed their moves on the dance floor, err, MMO block, by launching their latest online game DANCE! Online. Bound to be your little tween sister's new best friend, DANCE! Online is a free-to-play MMO dancing game and it will feature top talent and recordings from the Warner Music Group.

According to Howard Marks, "this is by far the closest collaboration any major music label has ever had with an online game". With artists like Paris Hilton and Ashley Tisdale among many others on the Warner recording stable, we bet a lot of people would have fun with this game.

Anyhow, the U.S. open beta for DANCE! Online will be starting this week. Atlantic Records' recording artist Cupid will make a personal virtual appearance in the game. Other artist-related announcements will follow where they will create their own avatar and play the game live online and chat with fans.

The game will feature the artists' latest music and personalized virtual items including artist-branded clothing and accessories. Players can compete to win autographed merchandise and other artist-branded products. Players could use either their keyboards or PC-compatible dance pads for their character to rule the dance floor.

Top Secret, apt name for something that was heard little of in the Game Developers Conference almost two weeks ago, is Acclaim's recent MMORPG developed by the end-user. Jon Wood of MMORPG.com was able to sit down with Acclaim's CEO Howard Marks and Chief Creative Officer David Perry to talk about Top Secret.

While Top Secret will be backed by 100,000 developers, they would mostly be game development students, avid fans, and amateur game development teams all working to carve out something out of nothing.

And they're not hoping to make just another off-the-wall MMO either. They hope to make something that the game industry has been lacking for quite some time.

Ever since the game industry's blind move into great graphics and mediocre gameplay experiences, the numerous titles available on all game platforms today lack creativity. Everything and anything banks directly from past award-winning franchises and intellectual properties. Perry, who left Shiny Entertainment, decided to hold a contest pitting actual game developers against everyone else.

The idea of competition with cooperation, as he believes, should be able to bring a community closer together. After a similar experience with Acclaim's past MMORPG 2Moons, Perry wanted to tap into that community involvement and twist it into an even broader, more positive direction. Is Acclaim thinking about saving on development costs? That's narrow-minded speculation and the details on the whole mechanics of development is still in the works.

As Perry said, "We're not saving a penny team-wise." Acclaim still needs its own development team to smooth everything out. What the others will be getting from the experience is the know-how, getting spotted by other development companies and by pushing out an eventually free MMORPG loved by an entire community.

Acclaim Games is proud to announce that they've reached a new milestone in their MMO career: they've garnered over one million registered users in just a little over a year after being reborn as a free-to-play publisher!

Acclaim currently has five online games: BOTS!!, 9Dragons, 2Moons, DANCE! Online, and one yet unnamed top secret MMO title that'll reportedly revolutionize the way MMO games are developed. How? By giving players a chance to actively participate in the devving process. The company will then announce one lucky winner who'll get to direct their own game funded by Acclaim. Cool, huh?

Howard Marks, Acclaim Games' CEO, sends his gratis to all the users who have helped them reach this major milestone. Oh, and news also reached our ears that the open beta for DANCE! Online and 2Moons will be announced by the company real soon so make sure you keep an eye (and ear) out for that.

Acclaim Games has earlier announced that it is starting a collaborative effort to build the most original MMO game to date with star director David Perry  codenamed "Top Secret."

The game breaks new ground because behind the development of the new game is a competition in itself. Here's how it works- Acclaim will select a group of applicants from its game community to become part of the new game's development team.

Prior experience doesn't matter as Perry claims that the raw talent and passion in the applicants is their main target. The participant who exhibits the qualities needed to make it big in the industry is selected during the process, is declared the winner and gets a  shot to get his life changed.

"This is the only chance I know of to jumpstart a directorship career in the video game industry," Perry says. He also added “Everyone wins. They get to learn how to make professional games, and if they get anything in, they get a real professional credit on their resume.”

Acclaim CEO Howard Marks likened the project to a reality TV show, saying,

'Top Secret' is like 'The Apprentice' meets 'American Idol' meets 'The Video Game Industry'. We’re giving our players a chance to work on an online game that we will actually develop and publish. Our community really loves these games and knows what it takes to make a hit. And it will be a dream come true for one lucky star that shines the most throughout the project.

If you've had that nagging feeling that Acclaim was going online in a big way, we can't blame you. Not with their new lineup: the martial-arts themed 9Dragons, the robot battles of BOTS, and the newly-announced 2Moons. And it's a deliberate redirection, with CEO Howard Marks at the helm. OGaming sat down with Marks to talk about his vision for Acclaim reborn, his strategies to carve out the company's place in the online market, and the future of the gaming industry.

It was that future of the gaming industry that got Marks back into the game. Old hands in the industry will recognize Marks as the CEO of Activision through much of the 1990's, and who helped turn that brand's fortunes around. He retired in 1998 to pursue other (non-gaming) interests, until he read in a newspaper article that the bankrupt Acclaim was looking for a buyer. After sealing the deal Marks set about to reinvent Acclaim into an online publishing company, and ultimately a development company.

I firmly believe that we are seeing the tip of the iceberg and that online games will rule this industry within 5 years. People want community and they want to play with others. The concept of single player games will be relegated in history as a minor event.

When asked why he didn't start a company of his own instead, Marks had this to say: "I believe that brands are critical to success in the games field. Players remember the games they have enjoyed and associate the brand with that experience." He also said the same thing when he and his partners bought Activision back in 1991, and he thinks the mantra didn't fail him there. He is, however, not going to be resurrecting or spinning off any familiar Acclaim titles. "We have expressively chosen to not be in the sequel business. We think players want creative and original products offered as online games."

One key strategy in Marks' playbook is using advertising to support free play services. The idea is to tie in advertisements appropriate to game environment. This is a strategy slowly being adopted across the industry, not only in gaming, but wherever free services are offered - for example, YouTube or SpiralFrog. Marks also emphasized publishing MMO games that reach out to the casual gamer, the mainstream market (and, by implication, not restricting themselves to a single niche or genre, such as RPGs).

For now, Acclaim is content to publish MMO titles from other developers. Marks has plans to take Acclaim back into the game development business in the future by setting up in-house development MMO studios. "Our games share a common trait: They are built by passionate developers who love playing games. They are committed to quality and to providing the best experience a game player can have online."

Best-selling author and Hollywood screenwriter Steven-Elliot Altman has recently joined Acclaim as the lead writer and loremaster for the English version of the Korean MMORPG, 9 Dragons.

In an interview with Carolyn Koh of MMORPG.com, Altman relates his initial hesitation when first presented with the idea of writing the story for an MMORPG. However, Acclaim CEO Howard Marks convinced Altman to take up the project. Altman was shown the visuals for 9 Dragons, which he found to be "very compelling. I felt like I was being given a chance to live inside the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It was sort of irresistible."

Asked if he thought he was suitable for the job, Altman cites his experiences with living in China and his love for oriental mythology as a factor. He was also quick to point out that he is also a Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft player, thus making him no stranger to the world of role-playing.

To be able to get started with the job that he has signed up for, Altman was allowed to play the game first-hand so as to acquaint himself with the clans. Most importantly though, he was able to closely collaborate with Korean loremaster Jwa Baek, who would explain to him the guiding principles, philosophies, as well as historical references that are associated with each NPC, skill, and quest in the game.

Steven-Elliot Altman is an author who is credited for having penned numerous novels, scripts and comics.

For the complete interview, just click here.