GDC 2005 was a blast. I think. Did anyone see a chunky, Scottish Jew wandering around 3rd St. on Wednesday night? I would have been wearing a blue shirt, with chili sauce on the collar, calling out Peter Molyneux. I can't remember much else. Anyhow, the San Francisco setting, beautiful weather, thousands of brothers and sisters dishing out the love to our pasttime; it all came together nicely in the city by the bay.
Of course, with every idyllic setting there's a dark underside. For one, the weather was beautiful but freaky. Chilly in the morning, forcing you to wear a jacket, then boiling by noon, forcing you to lug your jacket around all day. Since I was carrying 3 cameras and a laptop, that was no small task. If you saw a guy with a rorschach pattern on his back, looking desperate and smacking his lips, that was me.
Daisy-chaining silver laptops is a mating call at GDC.
I saw Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler in the press room on day two. It's hard to avoid pessimism these days when it comes to all things G4. I figured they'd talk about their hair, or something. To my surprise, they lamented the lack of Pac-Man at the Walk of Game ceremony. They seemed genuinely pissed about it. It was a refreshing shot in the arm that briefly distracted me from my wet back and no wireless.
That's right, no connection. Blogging from GDC was an absolute nightmare. The wireless connection was rarely working, making the press room more like a boiler room. No online action meant we had to run back to our hotel rooms to get any work done - which meant missing sessions we wanted to go to. It was enough to make you yearn for San Jose, where the hotels are a lot closer together.
Will Wright, right, hid behind massive columns for precious moments of
peace.
The GDC Insiders, the folks who have been there since the start, seemed to think (for the most part) that this year?s event was impersonal. Too many ?classy? hotels, with not enough space on the floor to lay out a Settlers of Katan board. Personally, I think that feeling is just a natural part of having the conference in a new place. Given a couple of years, GDC would be great in SF. But we?re back to San Jose next year, for good or ill.
The super-duper purple-blue Sony party, filled with developers talking to people who
haven?t played a game since early childhood.
The nights were filled with parties. The parties were filled with familiar faces. The familiar faces were filled with Stoli and Jack Daniels. If there was anything to overhear, it couldn?t be heard. All of this meant the mornings were filled with developers cracking jokes about how hung over they were. Funny stuff. For two minutes, or so?
The infamous Forza race. 1000 people won an HDTV. 2000 didn?t. I didn?t. Now, that?s a memory.
The highlight of the show, for me, was the Iwata keynote.
Of course, I missed the Wright presentation. I
thought, as keynotes go, Iwata did everything he needed to. Sure, it was a motivational speech, but it was heartfelt.
All you have to do is watch the
video
and you?ll see what I mean. If you don?t, well, then you?re even more jaded than I am. Congrats!
The biggest wild card at any GDC is the roommate. You never know who you?ll end up with. Luckily, this year I bedded it up with good people. Three guys in one small room can trip off most carbon monoxide alarms. But we were barely there, so it was half pleasant. Except the whole underwear by the toothbrush incident. Brrrrrrr. Yes, that?s my toothbrush. No, that?s not my underwear.
GDC may be over, but still more to come ? Sony?s booth, Nintendo?s booth, and a contest!
