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Thoughts from the Game Developers Conference (GDC, San Francisco)

Filed at 11:11 pm on March 19, 2007 in Games • 2 comments

Every year in early March, more than 12,000 attendees pack the game industry’s largest conference aimed at developers.  Under that umbrella, over the last four years, the Serious Games Summit adjunct has grown in profile, focusing on “the use of interactive games technology within non-entertainment sectors.”  What was different this year?  Two themes emerged that may deserve special attention.  I have framed them as questions for exploration:

(1) Is a platform shift at hand, and important?  For years the Serious Games movement has cited statistics of console games (think Nintendo or XBox), even though most serious games are online games or PC-based.  This year felt different, beginning with the keynote by S.J. Klein on the One-Laptop-per-Child platform aimed at poor nations (see Aaron Ruby’s coverage).  There was also much talk of Microsoft’s XNA platform for Xbox Live to allow for console development by “average users.”  Are we reaching a turning point?

(2) Is an international shift underway?  For the first time, a major Japanese console company is starting a Serious Games division.  The focus of One-Laptop-per-Child is entirely international.  Is a more genuine exchange beginning between the U.S. Serious Games supporters and others around the world?  Are we likely to see more real international collaborations, beyond cross-marketing?

Of course, there were a huge number of amazing sessions beyond the Serious Games Summit.  Check out additional coverage, like that of Eitan Glinert on Henry Jenkins’ blog (in parts one, two, three, and four), or that of Andrew Stern.  If you’ve seen other good coverage, leave a comment link below…

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