原创 AMERICAN-STATESMAN

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 STAFF Monday, September 14, 2009 The program offerings at this year's Game Developers Conference Austin reflect the new norm in gaming: that people are playing games on a wider variety of devices than ever before. wow gold The iPhone, for one, has become a gold mine for some lucky developers, but another gaming platform is even more widespread — the Web browser. Developers are creating ever-more advanced games that can be played through your Web browser and an offshoot genre of games that are played on social networks, like Facebook. Such games have become a force in the industry and will be the topic of much discussion at the Game Developers Conference, which will run Tuesday through Friday at the Austin Convention Center. wow gold Although the Game Developers Conference has historically been focused on massively multiplayer online games, the conference program has now widened to include a variety of games for platforms such as the iPhone and the Web. At least a dozen of the sessions this week will cover topics such as developing games for those platforms. Developers are seeing more users play so-called casual games — such as iPhone games that can be played in a few minutes — and a lot of games are now more easily accessible, said Izora De Lillard, the conference's event director. One of the leaders in the social networking genre is "FarmVille," the game launched for the Facebook social network in June that made headlines after hitting 11 million daily users and has been a hit for developer Zynga. wow gold Part of the reason for such games' success is accessibility, said Simon Carless, chairman of the Independent Games Festival and editorial director of Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra.com. Carless helped arrange the programs for two summits, on independent games and iPhone games, for the Austin conference. A Web browser "just moves into people's daily flow easier," he said. There also has been growth in the free-to-play model of games, which consumers play for free but pay for in-game goods. By contrast, multiplayer online games such as "World of Warcraft" charge players a monthly subscription fee. wow gold One such free-to-play offering is Sony's "Free Realms," a multiplayer game that launched in April and now has more than 4 million registered players. Developers have been very aggressive at trying to get it working on as many computers as possible, said John Blakely, vice president for development at Sony Online Entertainment. "I think it really depends on the audience — what people are paying for versus what they are enjoying for free," Blakely said. And with the economic downturn bringing layoffs, a lot of developers are striking out on their own and making their own games, he said. Although the iPhone game craze has leveled off somewhat, the relatively inexpensive developer's kit makes it extremely attractive for some, Carless said. It's also turned developers into not just game designers, but marketers and publishers as well, he said. "You need to understand how to get people interested in your game," he said. But don't expect the big console or PC-based blockbusters to go away anytime soon. Games like "Farmville" might attract millions of players, but those users are temporary, and the income from Facebook games is "not even close to a console game," said Michael Pachter, a research analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities. wow gold However much money "Farmville" has made, the newest "Call of Duty" game will make that "in an hour," Pachter said. For an idea of what a blockbuster video game can do, "Halo 3" for the Xbox 360 made $170 million on its opening day in 2007. Pachter warned that there's a potential drawback to developing less-expensive games for platforms like the iPhone. The iPhone isn't drawing eyeballs away from traditional consoles, Pachter said, but that could change if Apple migrates its library of game applications onto Apple TV. And because iPhone games cost so much less than the $50 to $60 that consumers pay for a new PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 game, there's a risk of altering how much people expect to pay for a game, he said. "You don't want to train people that a good game is worth $2.99 or $6.99, because you're going to screw up the industry," Pachter said. Game Developers Conference Austin organizers say there's room for everything. What's great about the conference, Blakely said, is that it will cover a broad spectrum of games. And traditional PC-based multiplayer games like "World of Warcraft" aren't going anywhere, organizers say. Blizzard Entertainment's huge hit had 11.5 million subscribers at the end of 2008. Developers from the company will be giving the keynote address at the game conference. "Lots of people would love to have (Blizzard's) problems," Blakely said. This post was written by szmcs090925

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