gdc-austin-2010
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Free for All: How will F2P fare at GDC?
GDC Online is one awesome event. Although I attended the event in the name of a different site last year, I remember it well. It was a mass of my favorite developers and inside-thinkers, clumping together to discuss customers, design and community. Of course, there were some panels and talks that, frankly, bored me to tears. Then there were many that were so exciting that they strengthened my resolve to be a games writer. In fact, it was around this time that dreams of design began to take a back seat to visions of writing. That's the power of attending such events. On the other hand, these events have the ability to convince writers of almost anything. When attending, we must promise to always stay skeptical -- no matter what anyone says to us. Let the information sink in for a while before we take it as gospel. Let the varying ideas of the various speakers blend together a bit -- then let's form our opinions. I am most excited to see how the last year's wave of free-to-play games and switch-overs will affect the chats. In '09, social gaming was the whipping boy (everyone said he/she hated it, yet everyone seemed to be planning some sort of social game), so will free-to-play receive the same treatment?
E3, GDC Austin to have mobile game tracks
The Electronics Entertainment Expo, known as E3, has joined the list of game conferences to set up tracks and areas specifically for mobile gaming, a market currently driven by Apple's mobile devices. The high profile June conference, in which gaming companies and developers all show off what they're releasing for the rest of the year, will have a special area set up specifically for mobile games. The Mobile Games Pavilion will give mobile developers (even relatively small developers -- the entry fee is only around $3000) a chance to flaunt their wares in a place specifically for them. In the past, E3 has played host to a few iPhone games, but this will be the first time that they'll have an area set off from the rest of the usually busy show. E3 isn't the only place, either. Earlier this year, GDC in San Francisco had an iPhone gaming track, and this fall's Game Developers Conference in Austin actually has two different tracks set up for Apple devices: an iPhone and an iPad lineup of panels and discussion topics. Apple has moved into the gaming market in a big way with its App Store and its mobile devices, and the gaming industry's biggest conferences are making room for the developers that are working on them. It'll be very interesting to see what news comes out of these events, and what kind of course these tracks take in the future.
