Dear Friends:
Last week I spent a good deal of time in San Francisco. I was there on business, to attend the 30th Game Developers Conference (GDC). This is the annual gathering of people that are involved in the development and marketing of games.
The conference is made up of many different components. The two largest are the group sessions, where topics are presented and discussed. I spent time in a few of these:
The other major component is an "expo floor" - which is very similar to other conferences. This is crowds of people wander through corporate-sponsored booths, gathering information and watching demos:
Most of the major gaming companies had booths. This included Sony, who is enjoying real success with the PlayStation 4. The announced the launch date/price for their PlayStation VR product:
Many of the other companies were trying to get game developers to work with them, or at least buy their tools/technology. This included Google:
Some companies will use several tactics to attract people to their booth. This will include beautiful displays:
...or interesting lectures/talks in a "theater" style of environment, situated right in the booth:
Virtual Reality (VR) was a very hot topic at the conference this year. It's a hot topic throughout the entire industry. I now believe that it will have a huge impact on entertainment and education from 2017, on. GDC had a "lounge" where people could try several different demo systems:
One company was offering a special contraption that allows you to "run" or "walk" around a virtual environment:
The biggest VR company right now is called Oculus. They were purchased by Facebook for over $1B - and they seem to be very good at spending money. Their booth was this massive two-story structure. They're launching a product in a few weeks, so they really need developers making great content for their VR device - called the "Oculus Rift"
Another company was offering a "simulator" type of machine, that would allow people to experience almost a roller-coaster type of experience in VR:
Throughout GDC, the developer culture was served - lounges and gaming machines were everywhere. If you were exhausted from learning how to make games, you could always play them ; )
More pictures from companies that had interesting-looking booths on the show floor:
One company was selling hardware and software to allow "motion capture" for sports games. This lets you record the movements of athletes, to put into your game:
GDC is actually a global conference - I ran into people from all over the world. In fact, several countries actually sponsor exhibits, to showcase the work that's taking place in their countries. Usually, this gives smaller companies a chance to be at the big show:
My company had a booth, as well. I liked the design, but I've had larger booths in the past. I was happy with the content that we showed, and the positive reaction that we had from visitors:
Away from the show, I found a Walgreen's that sold something unique! I found potato chips that I had only seen in Canada before now...they're called "All Dressed"...and they are delicious!
The high point for the week, away from all of the meetings, parties and conversations...was having a chance to see my daughter, her husband, and my youngest grandson. He has such a delightful personality - I love making him laugh!! As he grows older, he's now playing interactively...and I love watching this little guy run around the park:
That's it for now! Another great GDC has come and gone. I'm already starting to plan next year's event ; )
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