Videogame makers seek footing on shifting landscape
Videogame makers from around the globe are gathering here to seek paths to fortune and glory on a landscape upset by social networks, smartphones, tablet computers, and the Internet “cloud.” More than 18,000 industry insiders are expected to attend the weeklong Game Developers Conference that kicks off Monday in downtown San Francisco.
The event has grown into the world’s largest confab of videogame professionals since it started in 1988 with about two dozen computer game loving software developers meeting in a living room. Major themes at GDC will include adapting to the booming popularity of “social games” at online communities such as Facebook and casual play on smartphones or tablet computers.
“In past years developers treated social games like second-class citizens to consoles,” said Scott Steinberg, lead videogame analyst at TechSavvy Global. Now, they are facing the reality that this is where the future might lie.” Revenue from social games is likely to exceed a billion dollars this year, according to industry tracker eMarketer.
These video games are getting a little sick for my taste. North Korea invading the United States? Check out my posting on that one!
Also, I do recall a movie starring Arnold Schwarznegger called “The Running Man”. The Running Man is a 1987 American action film of Stephen King’s 1982 novel of the same name. The film, set in a dystopian year 2017, is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal “runners” must escape death at the hands of professional killers.
I remember being so intrigued by the film that I actually went to see it twice. It is obvious to me that we have arrived at that point.
Was it my imagination or did Kirk Douglas cop a long feel for the Award Winner’s boob last night?