This week in San Francisco, big thinkers in gaming are convening to share ideas of craft and coding.
A comprehensive hub of the game developers industry, this week is a time for artists and producers to share their ideas, show off their talents, and make the connections and collaborations that will lead to the next big thing in video games.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, during his keynote Wednesday, "Video Games Turn 25: A Historical Perspective and Vision for the Future," looked back to the start of what he called the "modern" era of gaming, and the advancement Nintendo has made and what's to come.
Octodad, the lanky octopus character created by students from Chicago at the University of DePaul, wanders the expo floor at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week.
The motion-controlled Octodad games, which requires players to use their arced arm to mimic waddling flipper movements, was a finalist in the Student Showcase at GDC's Independent Games Festival.
Inside the Career Pavillion, artists, illustrators, coders, and game designers lined up Thursday afternoon for a portfolio review from Activision employees, who critiqued the work, giving advice while searching out new talent at GDC.
Lists of open positions at gaming companies were posted around the floor in the Career Pavilion, and everyone seems to be hiring for just about every position, from level artists designer to project managers and sales.
What started as a personal hacking project has developed into a forward-thinking application for development of robotics beyond gaming, Move.me, just announced this week at GDC 2011.
This new software application is designed for "academics, researchers, students, and hobbyists" and will allow developers to use their PlayStation 3 consoles to create PC applications that use the PlayStation Move controller as an input device.
Using the Move's motion-tracking PlayStationEye camera and motion sensor controllers, Sony envisions potential applications such as integration with medical applications and research on human-computer interaction.
The Insight VCS is a steadycam-like virtual camera system that gives game developers the ability to shoot cut scenes and demos from within game worlds with unprecedented creativity.
Shot from within the game, Insight VCS integrates real-world cinematography into the virtual environment.
Games on Smart TVs: Lessons Learned from the Development of GoogleTV
Andres Ferrate, left, software engineer at Google, and Ian Ni-Lewis, game developer Advocate at Google, speak at the 'Games on Smart TVs: Lessons Learned from the Development of GoogleTV' panel Monday at GDC 2011 outlining their experiences with gaming on Google, and best practices for developing web apps on Google TV.
Doom creators John Romero and Tom Hall shared their experiences in the early days of developing what would come to be one of the classic video games which influenced many to come after it for years.
Hundreds came out to the Thursday afternoon session "Classic Game Postmortem--DOOM" at Moscone West, where along with anecdotes on concept and coding, attendees were able to see early versions of Doom, including this Pre-Alpha dated February 4, 1993.
Everyone is looking for the next big thing in gaming, and from fortune telling to fortune making, the Game Developers Conference, you have a good chance and finding what your looking for amongst these designers and developers from around the world.
From midgets with funny heads to cute girls with fake mohawks, the floor at GDC has something for everyone, and they want you to buy it all with Zeevex virtual currency.
Using just the power of thought to move an air-levitated ball around an obstacle course, NeuroSky is leading commercial gaming applications of simple mind control devices.
NeuroSky's brain controller devices adapted to movie making give the audience the chance to control the direction of a film with this concept that asks viewers to think certain thoughts at certain points throughout the game to determine the next scene.
With around 20,000 attendees expected from around the world
With around 20,000 attendees expected from around the world, the Game Developers Conference has become known as the hub for gaming industry professional to meet and exchange ideas.
This market-defining conference has more than 400 lectures, panels, tutorials, and round-table discussions on a every facet of game development topics taught by leading industry experts.
The Nintendo booth at GDC. Nintendo announced a new 3D Super Mario game is in the works. In addition to announcing the May launch of a video service offering movies in 3D, the 3DS will also get access to Netlifx movies.
Partnering with AT&T, any Nintendo 3DS owner will also automatically get free Internet access at more than 10,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots beginning in late May.
Developers check out some 3D modeling software from Unity, a development platform for creating games and interactive 3D training simulations and medical, architectural, and modeling visualizations, on the Web, iOS, Android, and consoles.
With all the development resources coming together at GDC, and with major industry players convening on San Francisco, it's a very exciting time for developers, and the Independent Games Festival, seen here, is a great place to find out who's doing what and get a peek at what coders are coming up with in their dorm rooms and basements.
Like Nintendo's Satoru Iwata said during his keynote this week, it's all about innovation and finding the next big thing, and wandering the floor, I'm sure that it's here somewhere.
