GDC Losing Focus In E3's Wake? 42
In the wake of E3's breakup, developers and attendees going to the annual Game Developer's Conference this week are wondering out loud: is the event losing its focus? As GDC expands, what was once (even just a few years ago) a somewhat quiet and intimate affair is taking on the airs of the now-deceased videogame extravaganza. The key for the Conference this year, the first post-E3, is going to be to make sure that the community aspect of the event remains intact in the face of over 12,000 attendees. As conference director Jamil Moledina points out, "The main lesson from (the transition of E3) is that we have to stick to what we do best: providing learning and inspiration to independent developers." Here's hoping the coming week bears that out.
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Insightful)
Pointless article (Score:5, Insightful)
E3 was a tradeshow for the publishers to interact with the distributors and the media. The problem was that because that was where all the new product is unveiled, it was overrun with people who must have that sneak peak, yet are inconsequential to any potential business opportunites that are to be had. Distributors like Wal-Mart and Best Buy were complaining that they couldn't get business done because the place is just so damned packed with college students, bloggers, and low level game industry employees who weren't there on business.
Big publishers, mostly Sony and EA, looked at the millions they spend preparing for the show, the amount of manhours involved, and compared it to how little was actually accomplished and they said 'screw it'. They realized they could fly all the journalists, executives, and sales people first class to their own offices, wine and dine them, developing a one on one personal relationship rather than being in a flimsy cubicle at E3, yelling at one another because DDR is blasting full volume behind you and Paris Hilton is throwing t-shirts for a game she's endorsing, but can't remember the name.
dinosaur (Score:4, Insightful)
Is Nintendo Talking About Anything? (Score:2, Insightful)
The online stuff appears to be in shambles.
The Wii games so far have been underwelming. Zelda was good, and stuff like Wii Sport only last so long.
The 2007 release list for the Wii is about half to third the size of the 360 and PS3 lists.
Outside of two or three first party Nintendo games I can't think of anything due out for the Wii that isn't crappy PS2 ports or mediocre minigame stuff we already have enough of. We really need to hear from Nintendo about when exactly online games will be out and some news about non-Nintendo game support.
Re:Interesting (Score:4, Insightful)
It's pretty much the same for about any kind of conference I know, that's not limited to game development. You have the same in hardware, databases,
Re:Is Nintendo Talking About Anything? (Score:3, Insightful)
Nintendo needs to support their developers more, these rumours of no third party Mii support and no online till 2008 don't make me happy =/