IGN - GDC 2005: The Future of Content March 11, 2005 - "Will Wright discusses the future of content in the games industry. What more do you need to know?" What more indeed. That's a cute official description, you intentionally vague Game Developers Conference *******s! It provides me with a topic and a speaker, sure, but I could have been told a bit more about Friday morning's session with acclaimed Sims designer Will Wright. Some kind of warning would have helped. If something like this happens again, please make it a point to write a little blurb about how, 1) Will Wright will talk about stuff. You should come an hour early so that you can sit because the room will fill up with incomprehensibly unhygienic programmers lickety-split. 2) Will Wright isn't going to waste any time with a lot of pointless conjecture and speculation. He's just going to show some crazy game that simulates the evolution of a species on a galactic scale. That will cause the cloud of digital gamer stink that's spiraling up toward the ceiling to thicken and drop back down on your face. I would have liked to have known that, GDC. But thanks a bunch, anyway! Meh... I suppose there is something to be said about being caught totally unaware. It did make the surprise announcement of Spore that much more amazing, after all. I came in expecting to be enticed by a future of videogames dictated by an excess of ridiculously simple expansion packs. I then figured the discussion would lead into how developers could get away with not working by letting the users and their undying need to expand every experience creatively do the legwork themselves. Instead, I got Spore. And let me tell you... LOOK THE F*** OUT! Not ironically, Spore has the potential to epitomize both design philosophies I expected the session to focus on. In a nutshell: Control the life of a species from a wad of cells to a galactic empire. Full article at: http://pc.ign.com/articles/595/595530p1.html
