Game Developers Conference 2009

So the last full week of March ran the Game Developers Conference at the Moscone Center here in San Francisco. I love this event as it offers a glimpse at the innovation coming from the Game Industry, and brings in so many colleagues and friends from around the globe to a spot less than a block away from my office. A jam packed week of meetings where many conversations happened and good alliances were formed.

The GDC this year was very reflective of the economic crunch taking place. The career expo was just as busy as the exhibit hall with a steady stream of students and professionals passing out resumes and looking for jobs. More than less of the associates I chatted with from the virtual worlds industry were no longer with the companies they once were. Even the exhibit hall had a smaller presence than in the past.

Regardless of size, there still was an impressive group of exhibitors. For game editors, Hero Engine had a nice setup where the rep walked me thru some of the features of the game editor, Unity, the game development tool, had a packed booth throughout the show, and Crytek's CryEngine had an impressive display of game editing real-time across multiple consoles. Some of the highlights I found were Metaio (supporters of the web3D open standard) showing off markerless augmented reality applications, Zeemote the bluetooth game controller for mobile devices, and NeuroSky, the game controller that uses only brainwaves. Of course it wouldn't be me if I didn't stop and talk to all the school and university exhibitors. Interesting conversations from those visits to say the least.

Enjoy this video a couple of us put together of the GDC.


I look forward to next year's conference on game development, sharing tools, tips and technologies for unbridled professional learning, networking and fun.