One button to rule them all indeed, although Louis Castle’s GDC 2006 talk on
bringing the RTS genre to the console was at the end of the day on
Friday, the last day of the conference, it was packed.

The
proposition has me very excited. My first exposure to the RTS genre was
a console experience, playing Dune II on the Sega Genesis. Bringing it
back would be very powerful, but as Louis was apt to point out, it has
yet to be done right.

You cannot just port the PC experience
to a console, as Mr. Castle pointed out most simply, a mouse and
keyboard control schema just doesn’t translate to a console controller.
In order to be successful in reviving this genre on the console you
need to rethink the experience.

Having played the Pre-Alpha
build briefly, when Louis was so kind as to share it with our RTS class
@ USC, I have to say the controls work wonderfully, and the world feels
more rich then it ever did on a typical PC.

Although this was
the second time I sat through this presentation, I found it
invigorating, and I believe the rest of the audience did as well.

As simple quote from Tim Langdell “We are at a watershed moment w/ next-gen games.They will need pro-writing. Stories give meaning to game play.”

A very informative presentation by Matthew Bellow and David Collier,
which showcased some of the best things in the global Mobile market. I
had the pleasure of sitting with Scott Fisher, department chair, and witnessing some these fun innovations.

My favorites were:
1) Episodic RPGs
2) Mobile Social Software (MoSoSo)
3) Online communities
4) Casual games
5) Mobile/PC Cross Platform Games

One of the best was a Japanese service that searches the local area
for the most popular music downloads. This could be modified to create
a great tool to find local music scenes, when doing some exploration of
unknown territory!

Mitch Lasky of the former JAMDAT, now “The New” EA mobile, gave a great
talk about where we are and where we might be going. His first
appearance since the EA acquisition of JAMDAT, Mitch gave a vision for
the future of the mobile industry.

He
labeled the IP rush of the last year by mobile firms as leaving
everyone with a “Brand Hangover”. To many people grabbing overvalued
IP, and then struggling to work with it or resell it.

Within 6
years JAMDAT went from 0 to 684,000,000 in value. An amazing feat, but
leaves one asking why? Why did EA purchase JAMDAT for almost 5 times as
much as the Maxis purchase?

• 9 consecutive Quarters of GAPP Profitability
• Experience Mobile Management Team
• Mobile Market Dominance
• 17 more years of the Tetris License
• A portfolio of successful gaming IP

What’s in the works now that the marriage has been consummated?

• Doubling R&D spending for the next year
• Acting as a primary business unit within EA
• 58,000 SKUs in 12 months
• A Mandate to Innovate

He
believes that this new venture is just the thing the industry needs to
really develop the market. What can we look for in the near future for
the industry?

• Stable Business Models
• Friendly easy-to-use e-commerce
• Quality Control