Shame you can’t say the same for Leipzig though... I feel strangely privileged to have gone to what turned out to be the last Leipzig Convention last year. The Messe was an incredible venue, even if it was set in the wilderness that is still Eastern Germany. I suppose technically speaking there will be the Games Convention Online, but that doesn’t really count now does it?

The San Francisco Games Developers Conference however doesn’t sound like it’s going anywhere, and it seems a general ‘theme’ this is year is to do with digital distribution. The blog post I made the other day concerning OnLive came out of the GDC, and industry veteran Peter Molyneux has already given his thoughts on the matter. Along a similar line, Gaikai is another service that wants to offer streamed gameplay via the internet. These guys seemed to have associated themselves to the world of MMO games, although there’s no reason to believe they will focus on that genre.

I still have cold feet about the whole concept myself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant idea, as ideas go, but I’m not sure if it’s a direction I want gaming to go, you know what I mean? Should this take off, then you could kiss goodbye any sense of ownership you have over your own games and the potential fallout in terms of modding, computer hardware market etc, is just a little bit scary. Not to mention the fact that they have to really work with the Broadband providers, not just in the US or the UK, but all over the world.

Apart from those two gems though, the GDC has been peppered with more run-of-the-mill announcements, although getting a date for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was certainly nice (November 10^th by the way, according to the trailer). Molyneux hinted as some more Fable II DLC, as well as teasing us about another sequel. Apparently Bungie and 2K Boston are also hiring, if anyone’s interested.

One session that was reported on did catch my eye though – ‘Meet the Gaming Press’. In a special panel on videogames journalism, Sam Kennedy of 1up, Brian Crescente of Kotaku, and Brandon Sheffield from Game Developer Magazine/Gamasutra talked to the audience about the state of the industry today. As an aspiring games journalist myself, I find this topic very interesting, and I take it very seriously.

From my personal point of view, I think there is too much power in the hands of the Publishers. Even standard journalists un-covering a huge government conspiracy have an easier time of getting information then we do, and it is reflected in the content we produce and in the feedback we get from readers. As an example, no one would dare accuse ITV of being in the pocket of say the Conservative party, yet it’s supposed to be common knowledge that certain publications/outlets are in the pay of this publisher or that publisher. On top of that, nobody outside of the games industry takes us seriously either. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true. But that’s where I come in of course, save the day and all that. Go me.

On a more cheery note, this Free Speech lawyer has warned us that videogames are doomed to die a politically correct death if we don’t deal with the radicals.