You should see the amount of PR spam from game companies I'm getting after receiving a press pass. I actually got invited to a party by Zynga, the makers of Mafia Wars and Farmville. "Open bar" doesn't excite me since I don't drink. But Dj D:fuse on the other hand seems pretty nice!
I have a skeleton of what I want to do over there, but hopefully a few cool people are going to be dragging me around . . . or I could just go back to the hotel and use the network to play some 101 with the family. Take it low key. /shrug
Most of the PR Spam I'm getting is from companies with booths asking me to drop by and maybe schedule a time to interview a key person from their company.
Possibly the most interesting I've gotten so far is this note from ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers):
"With all of the popular online, multi-player games, it’s easy to see how important the Internet is to the gaming industry. However, there is a problem facing the Internet today: we are almost out of IPv4 addresses (the address protocol widely used today). Once those IPv4 addresses are gone, some gamers may not have a direct connection with their online games, causing anything from a slight delay to a character’s sudden demise.
Luckily there is a solution: IPv6 – the next generation of Internet Protocol. IPv6 adoption should be a key aspect in all gaming companies’ management plans. By adopting IPv6, they can ensure that all gamers will have a direct connection and the best gaming experience possible."
Um, not that I would ever champion a cause for IPv6, but as a gamer I would hope online game companies would step it up if their players were losing connection because of this issue? (There, ARIN, consider your cause championed!)
This is the kind of stuff GDCO seems all about. Things that gaming companies are incredibly interested in. Like, monetization. You know those game cards you can buy everywhere. There's a few companies who are producing those game cards for video game companies, and they will be there at GDCO. Companies that are interested in hosting video games. Companies that provide Cloud computing. Companies that provide "tools and resources to make innovative and successful games" for independent game developers. *light bulb* Hmmmm, must be why they call it a "Game Developers Conference." *light bulb*
I am moderately interested in all that stuff, but I'm most interested in getting some Swag on the floor of the expo at GDCO and hitting a few key lectures. The Production track seems to be the most interesting to me at this point, which just happens to coincide with the Session that J. Todd Coleman and Josef Hall are giving, "From SHADOWBANE to WIZARD101: A Tale of Two Cities". I'm also incredibly interested in listening to a session about "Battle.net:a postmortem" from a couple of Blizzard Technical Gurus.
There's a few others that look hot as well. I'll keep you guys informed. Thanks for reading!
Happy Dueling!
Ice wizards don't look so good in green, y'know. *jealous*
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I hope they videotape the Coleman/Hall session and put it up online somewhere after the event. Wish I could go. *still jealous* Hope you have a blast!
If you’re looking for something interesting to do in Austin, the Austin Convention Center is less than a mile away from the largest urban bat colony in North America. Each evening at sunset a crowd gathers to watch the bats emerge.
ReplyDeleteThe Zynga party, is that the one in Vegas? I got an invite too, but as a player i have to cough up a bit of cash... $269 for a regular ticket or $469 for a vip mogul ticket. Maybe if it was DJ Friendly, but D:fuse?
ReplyDeleteAnyway what i wanted to ask, can you ask some codes from whatever company that sends you invites? Beg, nag, threat if you have to. It would make a great contest :)