In the world of video games and technology, two major conferences are within close proximity of one another.

DICE was two weeks ago on February 6th, 7th, and 8th. DICE, which stands for Design, Innovate, Communicate, and Entertain took place in Las Vegas with various game industry leaders and companies in attendance. The DICE summit featured top video game designers, developers and business leaders where they came together to discuss the state of the video game industry.

Some notable topics that dealt with technology and business discussed included Designing for Money, Making Great Games that Sell, and The New Gamer. In the Designing for Money discussion, Roger Snow discussed how the table game (online card game) specialty games for casinos were very profitable but took a lot of effort to protect the IP (intellectual property). This is rather significant as online casino games are relatively new to the industry, yet has already made a significant social impact as more traditional card games are already being digitalized (Texas Hold’em, Poker, Blackjack). In the Making Great Games that Sell discussion, Robin Kaminsky discussed the relationship between quality games vs. games that sell. The topic is rather distressing as the conclusion became not whether quality games would sell, but rather the amount of marketing and publicity a game has. While hardcore gamers will still find the few treasure gems such as Katamari Damacy, the formula for actually making the hit game will depend quite often on the current trend or public perception rather then all the game mechanics or innovative features that a game may include. In The New Gamer, Michael Gallagher talks about the new definition of a gamer. This drastically changes the traditional view of the gamer as someone who is the teenage to young adult hardcore gamer who may be inclined to play until they die into the general casual gamer. The shift has caused questions as whether the impending recession will hurt the game industry as people hold onto their wealth and spend less on entertainment. However, Gallagher believes that due to the replay value of video games, the industry should be able to do well and even continue its growth.

On another note, the GDC (Game Developers Conference) will be going on this week going from February 18th to 22nd. A similar conference to what E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) was except more exciting as the developers talk about some of the games that coming and some of the technology that will be emerging in the years to come. With the next generation consoles, the developers are finally starting to catch up to the technology and it will be exciting to see what is to come.