GDC Preview

Ah, the Game Developers Conference. This conference marks the beginning of a crapload of announcements to come. It also marks the beginning of the guesses and the speculation. Who is going to announce a new game? What will that new game be? Most importantly, who is going to start the year off strong? GDC more than any other conference is a great measurement of each company's strategy for the year. Some will want to be strong in from the get go, while others might spread their announcements throughout the year. What do I think? Here is some of my best predictions for GDC this year.

Valve: It is no coincidence that Valve started teasing the sequel to Portal a week before GDC. By gaining a lot of hype and announcing the actual game in the most read gaming magazine in America (Game Informer), Valve has already garnered a lot of eyes towards what they are up to. Portal 2 is going to surprise and stun everyone, and Valve knows the shock-and-awe factor they have with this game. I would not be surprised one bit if Valve shows off Portal 2 a bit or even just shows a trailer or something along those lines. Gabe Newell (head of Valve) will also be receiving an award at GDC, and he has been known to give details at events like these. I also wouldn't be surprised if we heard something else about what Valve is working on. Although this prediction is stretching it, there might me some word of Half-Life 2: Episode 3. It is about time they unveiled something about it, and if there isn't work on it at GDC, there is almost certainly going to be some at E3.

Activision: Activision is in trouble going into 2010. They have failed to make an extremely successful new IP, and Bobby Kottick has decided that all Activision needs in Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and World of Warcraft to succeed. Looks like they are already having problems with this strategy. The Infinity Ward scandal of this past week is not a good sign for the Call of Duty franchise. Activision seems to be undermining their developers (no surprise there. They do it all the time.), refusing to compensate them justly and actually treating them as valued individuals. Kottick's warped vision of money over creativity is kicking him in the ass, and the Infinity Ward issue isn't going to go away. This is also an "off-year" for the franchise, as it is Treyarch's turn to make a game. It is known that Infinity Ward does not like Treyarch making CoD games, so this could be a problem too. I expect Activision to downplay all of this at GDC, but as far as announcements go, I don't see anything relevent until E3. Treyarch may tease some of their new game, but CoD game reveals are almost always exclusive to the E3 Microsoft Conference.

EA: Polarly opposite, EA has had a great past year, and actually goes into 2010 very strong. EA is pointing directly at taking down Activision, and this was blatant since last year. Many of the games they have published have directly competed with Activision games, and have either weakened the Activision game or beat it all together. Skate killed Tony Hawk. Rock Band is killing Guitar Hero slowly. EA's new IP's have made much more money than Activision's. And for 2010, we already have Battlefield: Bad Company 2 most certainly weakening Modern Warfare 2. Oh, and let's not forget that EA is publishing the most successful RPG's on the market right now, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, both of which seem to have beaten FFXIII for RPG supremacy so far. Both these games will be getting announcements, and a lot of them. EA should grapple on to their new Medal of Honor, and I expect some announcements from the MoH team. They will also talk some strong other games, such as Dead Space 2, Crysis 2, Command and Conquer 4, and Skate 3. I wouldn't be surprised either if we saw some moderately successful IP's getting sequels. Mirror's Edge 2, anyone?

Microsoft: Oh boy. This year is make or break for MS. They are in a risky position right now, mostly thanks to Sony. They could lose their console supremacy with the hardcore if they are not careful this year. This means lots of announcements, powerful announcements, and meaningful announcements. Natal will definitely be at GDC in some way. MS will want to start the year strong by showing their new tech, and definitely showing off some of it's hardware. Although most of this will be done at E3, GDC should serve as a jumping platform for a crap-ton of announcements. MS will be showing off Halo: Reach at GDC, maybe with a new VidDoc. GDC will be a time for teasing for Microsoft. They want to go in the strongest possible to E3, and GDC will be their time to show that they are ready for a good year.

Sony: Oh boy. This year is make or break for Sony. Sony came back into prominence last year, and this year could be the springboard they need to show they are supreme once again. Sony may have fixed their hardware and software need last year, but 2010 needs to be the year they show gamers they can continue to deliver with software. Starting off strong with God of War III unfortunately means that Sony probably won't do much in terms of earth-shaking announcements. The major thing they should be showing off will be SOCOM 4. This highly anticipated sequel is making people foam at the mouth. Like MS, Sony will use GDC to tease gamers. And also just like MS, expect Sony to shake the world at E3.

Nintendo: GDC might actually not suck for the guys at Nintendo. The recently announced release dates of Metroid: Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2 have people wondering why these games are coming out so early. Given Nintendo's track record, you would think that they would try to spread what is most likely to be their most successful titles across the year. This could mean one of two things. Nintendo has no idea what they are doing and just want money immediately, or they are planning to make some announcements this year. GDC might serve them well if the second option is true. GDC will focus on Red Steel 2 and the two previously mentioned games. The DSi will also be shown, and will most definitely focus on abilities like hi-res photo storage, video, and e-reading. All things that the iPad will have to. It's no coincidence that the DSi comes out a week before the iPad, folks.

See you next week as the GDC starts off. be sure to check every evening of the event for my daily response blog, as well as a couple other surprises in the week. Comment and enjoy!