Hey guys,

The GDC is starting soon and I want to hear what you think about it? What do you expect? There are a lot of rumors going on, but we do not know anything for sure.

According to a survey from gamesindustry.biz the GDC is the most important industry event in 2009, ahead of the E3.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/gdc-2009-most-important-industry-event-this-year

Which event do you consider the most important this year?

• Game Developers Conference: 40.6%
• E3: 34%
• GamesCom: 5.7%
• Develop in Brighton: 3.8%
• Nordic Game: 2.8%
• DICE Summit: 2.8%
• Games Convention Asia: 1.9%
• Game Connection: 1.9%
• GameHorizon: 0.9%
• Other: 5.7%

So, this might be, because the GDC is not as far away as the E3, but taht is interesting news anyway. And this could be a good sign for some megatons. :D

So but back to the 'What do you expect' question. Here are the guys speaking at the GDC:

Mark Cerny / Cerny Games

a very talented game developer. He worked on titles like "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" (nuff said :D) "Crash Bandicoot 2", "Resistance", "Motorstorm", "Warhawk", "Uncharted", "Heavenly Sword". He is THE man behind the current PS3 Line-Up. I expect some news about "Uncharted 2", maybe a release-date.

Peter Molyneux / Lionhead Studios

I don't have to say much about Peter Molyneux, he is one of the best game developers on this planet for years. His latest release "Fable II" was a great success for him and Microsoft, the owner of the Lionhead Studios. Peter already stated that there are 2 different games he wants to show us. There are rumors that one of the games actually is a title for 2009, while the other one is just an example of a game that was cancelled. So this is definately one speech we should look forward to.

Gordon Walton / Bioware

Gordon Walton worked on several great and successful titles like "The Sims", "Star Wars Galaxies" and "Ultima Online". Right now, he is working on the MMOG "Star Wars: The old Republic". So we can expect to hear something about that. Since he works at Bioware, "Mass Effect 2" could be another game he talks about.

David Wu / Microsoft Game Studios

David Wu is not a game developer that everybody knows. He has been working on the physics of certain games. He is one of the developers Microsoft hired to expand their first party effort. There are rumors that the Microsoft Game Studios will announce some games this year. This might be the perfect event to give us a preview of what we can expect in 2009.

Fumito Ueda / Sony

The creator of "God of War" will be in San Francisco to talk about his current projects. The 4 years he usually takes to develop are almost up. The new Team ICO project might be revealed at the GDC. It is about time.

That was just a very quick introduction of what to expect. Game Developers from all over the world are attending at the GDC to create a global network of game developers... and maybe to announce some games for us.

There are 3 keynotes. One for Mobile gaming on cell phones (not that interesting to me), one is presented by Satoru Iwata / President of Nintendo. His speech will take about 60 minutes. Enough time to say something about the future Line-up of Big N. A new Zelda or F-Zero would be big news to the community. Let's see what he has to say. The last keynote is presented by Hideo Kojima / Kojima Productions. The creator of the "Metal Gear Solid" franchise will speak for 90 minutes about his view on the industry. We all know what this means, Metal Gear Solid 4 for Xbox360 confirmed. Just kidding.

Here is a short list of the companies Exhibitors attending:

• Crytek
• Eidos (Square Enix)
• Epic Games
• Insomniac Games
• Konami
• Lucas Arts
• Microsoft
• Midway
• Nintendo of America
• SCEA
• Sega
• Southpeak
• THQ
• UbiSoft

So, now it is your turn, what do you think about this event? Let's hear some predictions. To me, it looks very promising. A lot of great developers, a great event with (hopefully) great games to be announced.