California dreaming

Mar 18 2010 by Carri Cunliffe, The Journal

THERE is a school of thought that advocates we learn through play. Ask any games developer and they will shout amen to that belief. In fact, the global games industry recently embraced this view under the searing California heat.

I refer of course to the annual Games Developers Conference or GDC. Whilst at the week-long conference, I ran into scores of people representing the games development community from the North East of England. Companies such as Iguana Studios, Eutechnyx, Mere-Mortals and many others, spent the week between meeting rooms, where they discussed innovative game ideas with buyers, and the bars and restaurants of San Francisco.

The headlines of the conference were grabbed by two of the game console heavyweights, Sony and Microsoft, as they each revealed their motion-based controllers. Keeping in line with Nintendo's motion controller for the Wii, the two new boast some incredible advancements. Sony's 'Move' system is like a hyper-sensitive version of the Wii mote/nunchuk combo and from the early demonstrations, looks far more precise than the Wii Motion Plus add-on. Microsoft's Natal is a spectacle that made many jaws drop. It is a departure from what is being offered from its competitors, in that Natal doesn't involve, a physical controller. For the first time since their announcement at E3 2009, Natal has been whipping the salivating media into a frenzy with its player-as-the-controller approach. Natal empowers the player by responding to gestures and voice commands. Pretty cool stuff indeed.

The conference programme reflected the sea-change in how games development companies reach their audience. New digital distribution channels such as XBOX Live Arcade on the XBOX 360 games console, Steam on the PC, even the social network Facebook, are empowering independent games developments companies to sell direct to the customer.

This new approach to digital distribution was encapsulated in the, 'Social and Online Games Summit' where behemoth companies like Zynga and Playfish – think, Cafe World and Pet Society respectively – offered a glimpse into what it takes to create sticky games for social networking platforms like Facebook.

Energised by what we learnt at GDC, our annual Game Horizon Conference will drill-down into pertinent subjects like digital distribution, and feature invaluable talks from games industry pioneers. Registration is very much open: www.gamehorizonconference.com

We welcome you all to The Sage Gateshead over June 29-30. Consider it as your excuse to learn through play.

Carri Cunliffe is head of sector development, Codeworks GameHorizon