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Game Developers Conference 2015 has opened a call for submissions to ALT.CTRL.GDC -- an on-site special exhibit focusing on unique control methods for playing games.
The much-lauded ALT.CTRL.GDC returns to GDC from March 4-6. The exhibit is open for submissions until December 23rd for indie-centric one-of-a-kind game peripherals, contraptions, and novelties which enhance game experiences and challenge traditional forms of input.

[Simon Carless serves as EVP of the GDC shows, and in advance of next week's GDC Next event he's taken the time to share a list issued to press attendees that highlights some of the show's notable talks.]
Ahead of our GDC Next show in Los Angeles next week, our press liaison firm FortySeven Communications has again worked with us to put together a list of some of the most interesting lectures - especially those that could work well when written up for a larger audience.
We don't always publish these to the public. But both for the benefit of press that might not have spotted them yet, and for those people who want to see some of the 'newsier' (and some of the worthwhile and less news-y) talks at the show this week, here it is.

Registration for GDC 2015 just opened earlier this month, and already we've got a handful of great sessions lined up for the show that developers won't want to miss.
If you have even a passing interest in the PC game market you may recall that Ars Technica senior gaming editor Kyle Orland published an interesting report about the most popular games on Steam earlier this year. He wrote it using reams of data culled from Ars' "Steam Gauge" project, which used PHP/MySQL code to trawl through thousands of public Steam Community profiles and sample data.
It's one of the most ambitious independent Steam data-mining projects ever attempted. Now, Orland is coming to GDC 2015 in March to share what he's learned and run down what it tells us about the state of today's PC games market.

This week sees the release of Sunset Overdrive, an ambitious open-world game from Insomniac Games. The independent studio has spent two decades working on well-regarded linear games in PlayStation franchises like Spyro, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance.
But Sunset Overdrive is different -- it's a non-linear Xbox One game set in a colorful post-apocalyptic sprawl, and Insomniac faced some significant challenges during its development.
GDC 2015 attendees have the opportunity to learn about those experiences from Insomniac game designer Liz England, who will speak at length about the game's development in a session titled "Transitioning from Linear to Open World Design with Sunset Overdrive" at next year's March conference.

GDC Next 2014 featuring ADC is almost upon us, and conference organizers are happy to confirm that the November conference will host a pair of insightful talks addressing contemporary challenges facing game developers.
Specifically, video game industry attorney Mona Ibrahim will be leading a session on how game developers can guard themselves against intellectual property lawsuits, while Owlchemy Labs (Snuggle Truck) CEO Alex Schwartz will run down the realities of multiplatform development.

Developers, don't forget: The Main Competition submission deadline for the 2015 Independent Games Festival ends tomorrow, Wednesday (10/22) at 11:59PM PDT.
The Independent Games Festival is the signature competition for indie games, to be held for a 17th year during GDC 2015 in San Francisco next March. This directly follows a record-breaking year which saw nearly 900 entries for the 2014 event, including top prizewinners like Device 6, The Stanley Parable, Gorogoa and Papers, Please.

Hey Game Developers Conference 2015 attendees, have you recently been promoted to your first lead technical position in game development? Congratulations!
Now what?
Insomniac Games engine director Mike Acton is an expert on the subject, and in his "Great Management of Technical Leads" talk at GDC 2015 he'll lay out the entry-level expectations you need to know about.