2010 Game Developers Conference Brings Together All-Time Record of 18,250 Video Game Industry Professionals

SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM TechWeb Game Network's 2010 Game Developers Conference® (GDC), the world's largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment, has announced an all-time record of 18,250 game industry professionals attending San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center for the March 9th-13th event. Surpassing last year's total of 17,000 attendees, the event brought together experienced game developers, publishers, deal makers, industry aspirants and working press for more than 400 lectures, panels, summits, tutorials and roundtable discussions.  

Offering a full five days of content, the event also hosted a extensive Exposition floor, featuring the biggest firms in the games space alongside the Career Pavilion and associated Game Career Seminar, the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival, the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, Game Connection America, and more opportunities for networking, discussing business, sharing knowledge, and meeting with equally-devoted fellow developers.

Following the success of the show, organizers of the Game Developers Conference have announced that GDC 2011 will return to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from Monday, February 28 to Friday, March 4, 2011, with a call for lecture submissions to open this summer.  More information on that upcoming show and the other GDC events on the calendar - including GDC Canada, GDC Online, GDC Europe and GDC Austin - will be available at the GDC news page - http://www.gdconf.com/news.

Some of the highlights of this year's GDC in San Francisco include a keynote from the renowned creator of the genre-defining Civilization series, Sid Meier, entitled "The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)."  Using examples from his illustrious career, the legendary developer discussed how player motivation is tied to gamer psychology and expectations, and described how developers can strike a delicate balance between fun and difficult gameplay.  

GDC 2010 also played host to the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival and the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.  Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper, Monaco, proved to be the big winner at the 2010 IGF, bringing in the coveted $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence in Design.  At the Game Developers Choice Awards, which immediately followed the IGF, Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2 scored the record for most awards won at the prestigious event, taking home the prizes for Game of the Year, Best Writing, Best Visual Art, Best Technology and Best Audio.  During the awards ceremony, an announcement via video was delivered from White House CTO Aneesh Chopra addressing GDC attendees.  The video message announced the Apps for Healthy Kids contest, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, encouraging developers to create tools and games meant to engender healthier eating and exercise habits among kids, and educate parents on their children's' diets.  The challenge offers $40,000 in cash prizes.

The show also offered intensive tutorials and a full lineup of summits focusing on emerging trends in the game industry.  They included the AI Summit, the GDC Mobile/Handheld Summit, GamesBeat@GDC, the IGDA Education Summit, the Independent Games Summit, the Game Localization Summit, the Serious Games Summit, and a pair of extremely successful inaugural summits, the iPhone Games Summit and the Social & Online Games Summit, all of which took place on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the week, March 9-10.

"Even through hailstorms and turbulent business times, the passion, experience and sheer dedication of the gaming community really showed through this week, to make for an incredible conference," said event director Meggan Scavio. "I'm proud to see the games industry reinvigorated by the new platforms, inspiring ideas and fresh business models showcased at GDC 2010, and I hope attendees take the lessons that they learned from the event to create tomorrow's amazing titles."

For viewing of GDC-related material after the event, the UBM Techweb Game Network's GDC Vault will offer free access to material starting in approximately two weeks time, including speaker slides, as well as synchronized video and presentations for select sponsor lectures. In addition, some of the top lectures from GDC 2010 will be gradually posted online for free, including synchronized video, audio and slides. Finally, All Access Conference pass holders can additionally access hundreds of videos, audio recordings and slides from this GDC and past Game Developer Conferences.  For more information on GDC Vault visit http://gdcvault.com/.

About the UBM TechWeb Game Network 

A core provider of essential information to the professional game industry, the UBM TechWeb Game Network – formerly known as the Think Services Game Group - offers market-defining content, and drives community through its award winning lineup of print, online, event and research products and services. These include the Game Developers Conference®, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com and network of sites, the Game Advertising Online ad network, the Game Developers Conference® Online, the Game Developers Conference™ Europe, the Game Developers Conference™ China, the Game Developers Conference™ Canada, Game Developer Magazine, Game Developer Research, the Game Career Seminars and GameCareerGuide.com, the Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards. 

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