Game Developers Conference

The quiet buzz flying around Moscone Center on the final day of GDC was that Nintendo had an opening for a new speech writer.

To say that Iwata's comments about social and mobile game platforms and the need for developers to focus on real games (our translation, not his) didn't sit well with the production organizations, tool makers, developers who had smartphone games in the market or in development.

The other console folks didn't jump to his defense, they just encouraged the attendees to develop games for their units that would set the world on fire. What they did in their spare time…

The closing day of most conferences is something like everyone running around picking up loose change and shotzkys (the free stuff).

But GDC attendees seem to suck up as much information as possible.Read more

This is a report on GDC so we're going to start with the show's keynote speaker, Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata, then quickly cover the poorly kept secret of the iPad 2 announcement – there was excitement there though – then back to GDC.

GDC Keynote

While we may have been "Mortal Enemies" back when he was a kid in the industry and we were promoting Atari, the years have been kind to him!

Heck he's survived in the game industry for 25 years and that says a lot for anyone!

As the industry changed from game systems to mobile to social media he's learned a lot from the mistakes of others and his own.

Back in the early years it was all about technically superior, adrenaline kicking in and heart throbbing games. Only an idiot would roll out a family friendly set of games like Wii.

What do we know?Read more

The bad thing about events in Northern California is that there are always a number of them going on in the tech industry and usually they have a knack to overlap.

Take today.

Yes GDC is still on but then down in San Jose is a two-day OTTCon (over the top conference) taking place. No biggie you say but these are the guys/gals who are going give us a hint on what we'll be watching, where we'll be watching it, how we'll be watching it.

Affects the way you work with games too!

OTTCon Snapshot

These folks have a huge challenge ahead of them. They're busting each other's chops trying to figure out exactly what tomorrow's TV entertainment is going to be like especially since people seem to want to push it to every screen you have (and even will be thinking about).

That's not so bad but they're really trying to figure out how they're going to get their money out of it! And how does it fit into/compete in the YouTube online spectrum? It does!

They were an energetic crowd but the first thing you realize is that they don't have any better idea where TV is going than you do…but they say it with confidence/conviction so it "feels" so!Read more

There's a lot to see and absorb at GDC (Game Developer's Conference) but we don't get to really "see" the stuff until Wednesday when the exhibit hall is open.

The first two days seem to be packed with news (here and there) but a whale of a lot of opportunities to get inside the heads of today's market leaders and trendsetters.

In addition, hands-on type sessions that the 15,000 +/- seem to really thrive on.

It's a lot different from our Atari years but then the Tramiels' really weren't interested in sharing a whole lot of information. Very unlike the breed of ultra-successful and struggling game developers/producers at San Francisco's Moscone center.

Checking out the program of presentations and classes for this year you see that this generation of game industry folks aren't afraid to give you a look inside their thought processes and the steps it took them to make the grade.Read more