Ray Kurzweil to deliver GDC keynote: 'The Next 20 Years of Gaming'

by Christopher Grant { Jan 3rd 2008 at 5:10PM }

For those of us attending the Game Developer's Conference this February, we've got something new and juicy to look forward to. Ray Kurzweil – author, entrepreneur, and the Sultan of Singularity himself – will be delivering the keynote, entitled "The Next 20 Years of Gaming." If you're not familiar with Kurzweil, we recommend you set aside an afternoon and read his lengthy Wikipedia entry. In short, he practically invented the flatbed scanner, he believes that nanomachinery can help humans achieve immortality, he's written a ton of best-selling books predicting all sorts of things like some modern-day Nostradamus, and he's apparently a great speaker.

... yeah, we're really looking forward to that keynote all of a sudden, too.

Tags: BreakingNews, Ray-Kurzweil

Related From Joystiq

EA concerned by casual game price wars, but doesn't think it will undermine industry
13 days ago
Satoru Iwata to deliver GDC 2009 keynote
289 days ago
Sci-fi author Bruce Sterling to keynote, predict future at Austin GDC
477 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

NATO_Duke @ Jan 3rd 2008 5:15PM

Well thank god its going to be the renowned visionary and inventor giving this speech rather than all those other people in the industry who just think they are renowned visionaries and inventors.

wickedpheonix @ Jan 3rd 2008 5:39PM

I know! They could actually have someone give the speech who, you know, actually knows a thing or two about gaming (and not just powerful computing)!

LaughingTarget @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:05PM

Reggie: Nintendo is the future for the next 20 years.

Kaz: Sony is the future for the next 20 years.

Kim: Microsoft is the future for the next 20 years.

Obie @ Jan 3rd 2008 5:44PM

Who the **** is this guy?

Azerael @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:08PM

Someone an order of magnitude more intelligent than most people on this planet.

arleigh.sandoc @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:03PM

Wow, it didn't take long for the negative Nellies to come calling.

NATO_Duke @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:07PM

Did you just slam us by calling us Nellies? Damn - that's harsh.

I'm gonna leave the internet for the night now.

LaughingTarget @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:13PM

Going to Canadinternet are you?

AdamC @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:15PM

I heart Ray Kurzweil. I wish I could go see this. I love his books, particularly "The Age of Spiritual Machines."

AudioHawk @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:26PM

man some of those predictions are straight up creepy. Theres something inherently wrong with the thought of "Singularity".

The creepiest part though is that these predictions do seem quite logical.

I'm definitely curious as to what his thoughts are on the future of gaming. I'm guessing though it'll be the same "Virtual reality" predictions we've been hearing for years. He'll no doubt laud the mainstram acceptance of the new gaming input the Wii offers, and continue to say how the attributes of each of the 3 current systems will be common place in all future gaming systems.

It'll be thought provoking, and possibly controversial to say the least.