Bill Roper--the Blizzard executive who abruptly departed from the acclaimed developer in 2003 to found his own studio, Flagship Studios--will attend this month's 2006 GC Developer Conference with a keynote speech. The conference--taking place in Leipzig, Germany, on August 21 to 23 this month--is a key European meeting place for the game industry. Roper's keynote will discuss "new technologies in the development process," conference organizers said in a statement. The recent downsizing of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in the US has spurred speculation that Germany's game conference could rise in prominence this year. Last year, the GC Developer Conference pulled in a record 28,000 attendees its first day. For more on the conference, visit its Web site.