Organisers behind 2012's GDC Europe have unveiled the first wave of talks taking place at this year's conference, set to take place in Cologne this August.

Six speakers have been confirmed off the bat, including ngmoco Sweden's Ben Cousins – set to discuss the death of consoles - and thechineseroom's Dan Pinchbeck, who will deliver lessons in abstract game narrative.

Look who's talking

Also on board are Christopher Schmit and Benedikt Grindel from Ubisoft Blue Byte, both of who will outline the 'seven silver bullets of developing and maintaining F2P browser games' as learned from working on Silent Hunter Online and The Settlers Online.

A full list of announced sessions can be found on GDC's website, with talks available to those with VIP, All Access and main conference passes.

The unveiling of speakers follows news of summits set to run alongside GDC Europe 2012, including the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit as well as Independent Games Summit and the Social & Online Summit.

More information on this year's event, which will kick off on 13 August, can be found on the GDC Europe 2012 website.