Latest News

GDC 2016 is nearly upon us, and today we'd like to quickly highlight a great talk at the March conference from game designer and educator Colleen Macklin about the new "third wave" of the games for change movement. 

Macklin's Advocacy track talk "Games for Change: Turn to Face the Strange," is exciting because it's designed to offer game makers from across the industry an insightful look at the history of the games for change movement and community of those dedicated to driving social change through digital games.

She'll also illuminate important, even surprising connections between games like FoldIt and The Witness (pictured), and speak to how it's more important than ever for designers to be aware of how games can influence society and affect social change -- even if they aren't explicitly designed to do so.

As the game industry prepares for GDC 2016 next month, organizers want to remind all attendees that the popular Game Design Challenge returns this year for a special session to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Game Developers Conference.

This year, a panel terrifyingly talented game designers will be challenged to to design a game that is meant to be played across 30 years - that's 11,000 days, or 250,000 hours, or 15 million minutes... A full human generation.

Why 30 years? Game designers too often think about only the next technology cycle. Designers in other fields - from architects to typeface designers - think of their audiences in terms of decades or even centuries. So what happens when designers take the long view?

Find out at GDC 2016, where on Wednesday, March 16th game designer, NYU professor and GameLab co-founder Eric ZImmerman will once again serve as MC for the hour-long Game Design Challenge on the Design track of GDC talks.

As the game industry prepares to gather in San Francisco next month for the Game Developers Conference, organizers would like to encourage all attendees to make time in their schedules for the smorgasbord of events happening at and around the March conference.

Among them is the annual fundraising gala, Nite to Unite, which is being held the evening of Tuesday, March 15th alongside GDC in San Francisco by the Entertainment Software Assocation Foundation. Given its charitable nature, GDC organizers wanted to take a moment to ensure its on the radar of all conference attendees.

The event which is supported and attended by members of the association and the entertainment software industry, raises funds for the ESA Foundation's two key programs - providing scholarships to college students interested in video game technology and related coursework, and supporting non-profit organizations that utilize video game technology in the furtherance of their mission.

The Game Developers Conference is weeks away, and today organizers are happy to reveal more details about the games that will be playable at the show as part of the inaugural Day of the Devs interactive space at GDC 2016.

More than a dozen games from an assortment of the industry's most intriguing minds will be taking up residence inside San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center in the Day of the Devs area, which is conveniently located near the iam8bit interactive space. 

GDC attendees are encouraged to swing by between talks and appointments to play the games and chat with their creators, which include folks who have worked on everything from Papers, Please and LittleBigPlanet to Guacamelee! and Super Time Force.

VR creators, take note: GDC 2016 organizers are excited to welcome VR experts and experimenters from Lucasfilm's cutting-edge ILMxLAB to speak at the Virtual Reality Developers Conference in March.

VRDC is a bit like a sister conference to GDC proper, one divided into Game VR/AR and Entertainment VR/AR tracks to help attendees find the talks most interesting to them.

As part of the latter track, ILMxLAB head Rob Bredow, principal engineer Lutz Latta and Skywalker Sound audio engineer Kevin Bolen will be delivering a great talk about "Immersive Cinema: Stories from the experiments underway at Lucasfilm's ILMxLAB."

Game Developers Conference organizers are excited to highlight some promising day-long sponsored developer days for GDC 2016 next month that offer cutting-edge insights into the art and business of game development from Amazon, Imagination Technologies and Google.

These developer day sessions take place during the first two days of GDC: Monday and Tuesday, March 14th and 15th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Google is back this year to host a full day of fresh insight, announcements and discussion. In the morning, you'll hear about how to develop great games, grow your user base and earn more money. Then download a ton of tips from Google's Lightning Talks.

Game Developers Conference officials are excited to announce that voting for both the Game Developers Choice Audience Award and the Independent Games Festival Audience Award is open now, and will remain open through next Friday, February 19th at 11:59 PM PT.

These Audience Awards offer the public an opportunity to weigh in and cast a vote for their favorite nominees. Anyone who would like to do so can visit the links below, select the name of the game they'd like to vote for from a list of nominees, and enter a valid email address. Voters will then confirm their vote via email, and have their opinions heard in these prestigious award shows.

Anyone who would like to vote for the GDCA and IGF Audience Awards can cast their votes using the links below. Voters simply need to select the game they are voting for, and enter a valid email address. Email addresses will not be distributed, and organizers will delete your information after the poll has closed.