据谷歌新闻报道，一年一度的游戏开发者大会（Game Developers Conference）将于2月28日美国当地时间在旧金山召开，来自世界各地的电子游戏开发商齐聚一堂，探讨社交网站、智能手机、平板电脑和互联网“云技术”所带来的新型发展模式。

游戏邦获悉，届时将有1.8万行业观察者出席这场为期一周的盛会。GDC自1988年首次开幕以来，已发展成为世界最大的电子游戏行业会议。本届大会的主题将包括，传统电子游戏开发商如何适应Facebook等在线社区的“社交游戏”，以及智能手机及平板电脑休闲游戏的崛起。

Game Developers Conference 2011

TechSawy Global的主流电子游戏分析师斯科特·史坦伯格（Scott Steinberg）表示，“在过去几年中，开发商一般把社交游戏视为地位低于掌机游戏的二等公民。但现在他们得面对社交游戏是未来发展趋势这个事实了。”

据行业调查机构eMarket的数据显示，社交游戏今年的总营收将超过10亿美元。Facebook将从这种发展趋势中获得巨大利润，因为超过5亿的Facebook用户都在玩社交游戏，而Facebook又通过这些游戏中的虚拟商品交易抽成30%，所以该社交网站是这一轮经济大潮的最大赢家之一。

据游戏邦了解，另一家社交游戏网站Hi5将在本届GDC上展示SocioPay这个社交游戏创收平台，与此同时亮相的还有采用了SocioPay服务的SocioPath这个门户网站，后者的宗旨是让社交游戏摆脱对Facebook的依赖，通过用户好友间的社交机制进行传播。

Hi5总裁亚历克斯·圣约翰（Alex St. John）表示，“这些服务可以为社交游戏提供创收渠道和类似于Facebook的社交网站功能，但它们不一定需要Facebook，社交游戏还会持续快速发展，其中的途径之一就是摆脱Facebook的局限性。”SocioPay会向不舍得付费玩游戏的用户展示相关赞助广告，从而让用户获得一些加速游戏进程所需的虚拟商品。

据最新资料显示，社交游戏的付费用户比例还不足2%。圣约翰表示，SocioPay这个系统巧妙地将付费玩家与非付费玩家分离出来，通过向非付费玩家展示广告实现营收。据游戏邦了解，圣约翰之前还曾创办了游戏网站Wild Tangent，开发过微软的Xbox掌机电子游戏项目。

他表示，这项服务不但将让开发商获得双倍收益，而且还会受到用户的欢迎。Hi5将对该平台游戏抽取一定比例的营收作为服务费用。

新兴公司Blue Noodle将在GDC现场展示Clickstrip技术，如果用户点击游戏屏幕条幅广告，观看30秒的广告视频，就可以获得游戏虚拟货币作为奖励。该公司董事长Lesley Mansford表示，“不少品牌公司开始对社交领域产生兴趣，社交游戏拥有巨大的广告市场。”

芬兰公司Sulake Corp旗下的Habbo Hotel，是全球最大的青少年社交游戏社区，每月拥有1600万的访问用户。Habbo主要通过销售虚拟道具，支持用户创建在线游戏，让用户好友免费体验这些游戏。

例如，某个用户购买了一个虚拟足球场、球门和足球，就可以邀请好友免费参与足球比赛。据Habbo执行副总裁Teemu Huuhtanen表示，该平台上有一款创建虚拟医院的游戏非常受欢迎，支持用户好友的卡通形象在其中扮演医生、护士和病人等角色。

游戏邦获悉，Habbo将在今年底第二代iPad和其他运行谷歌“Honeycomb”操作系统的平板电脑问世时，发布一个平板电脑版本。

本届GDC讨论话题还将包括游戏移植到手机平台、网页浏览器窗口平台等问题，此外将游戏当成在线服务产品来运营也是业内关注重点之一。

开发商还将通过本会探索3D游戏、微软Xbox 360体感控制游戏、索尼PS3掌机电子游戏的发展前景。Xbox 360的Kinect，以及PS3推出的Move自去年底问世以来大受好评，这证明出色的掌机游戏仍然会很有市场。

斯坦伯格表示，“游戏行业仍然充满动荡，因为大家都在猜测这一行的未来将走向何方，这个领域还会出现不少工作室倒闭，大型发行巨头进行业务重组的现象，开发商群体将认识到向用户直接销售产品这种渠道的力量。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Videogame makers seek footing on shifting landscape

SAN FRANCISCO — Videogame makers from around the globe are gathering to seek paths to fortune and glory on a landscape upset by social networks, smartphones, tablet computers, and the Internet “cloud.”

More than 18,000 industry insiders are expected to attend the weeklong Game Developers Conference that kicks off Monday in downtown San Francisco.

The event has grown into the world’s largest confab of videogame professionals since it started in 1988 with about two dozen computer game loving software developers meeting in a living room.

Major themes at GDC will include adapting to the booming popularity of “social games” at online communities such as Facebook and casual play on smartphones or tablet computers.

“In past years developers treated social games like second-class citizens to consoles,” said Scott Steinberg, lead videogame analyst at TechSavvy Global.

“Now, they are facing the reality that this is where the future might lie.”

Revenue from social games is likely to exceed a billion dollars this year, according to industry tracker eMarketer.

Facebook stands to benefit nicely from the trend, since about half of its more than 500 million members play games and the social network takes a 30 percent cut of revenue from game transactions.

Internet game playground Hi5 will introduce at GDC a SocioPay platform designed to ramp-up the amount of money developers pump from their creations.

SocioPay will complement a recently-launched Hi5 SocioPath portal that enables game applications to break free of Facebook while letting players stay connected to friends at the social network.

“Think of these as services that give social games the monetization platform and social network features they get from Facebook, but they don’t need Facebook to do it,” Hi5 president Alex St. John told AFP.

“Social gaming is going to continue to grow dramatically, and one of the ways is it is going to escape from the confines of Facebook,” he added.

SocioPay times offers of virtual goods to when people are likely to accept and shows video ads to penurious players.

Fewer than two percent of social game players pay anything, according to industry statistics.

“The system intelligently separates people who will pay and who won’t, then monetizes non-payers with ads,” said St. John, whose background includes founding game website Wild Tangent and working on Microsoft’s Xbox videogame console.

“Not only does it double your money, players like it better.”

Hi5 shares in revenues from games it publishes.

Startup Blue Noodle at GDC will unveil Clickstrip technology that pays players in-game currency for clicking on-screen bars to watch 30-second video ads.

“Brands are really interested right now in the social space,” said Blue Noodle chief executive Lesley Mansford. “Social networking social gaming is huge.”

Habbo Hotel owned by Finland-based Sulake Corp. boasts being the biggest social game community for teenagers, with 16 million young people using the website monthly.

Habbo sells virtual components for people to create online games. It is free to join and play.

For example, someone will buy a virtual soccer field, goals, and ball, then invite friends to take part in matches for free.

A hot game involves creating faux hospitals where friends represented by animated characters play at being doctors, nurses or patients, according to Habbo executive vice president Teemu Huuhtanen.

A version of Habbo tailored for tablet computers is poised for release later this year when a second-generation iPad and devices running on Google’s “Honeycomb” software take hold in the market.

“Social games are going to go to tablets,” Huuhtanen said. “I don’t think a lot of people understand how fast the world is going toward tablets and mobile.”

Topics at GDC will include crafting games to be played on mobile gadgets and in Internet browser windows, as well as titles hosted as services online.

Developers will also explore the promise of 3D games and titles for play using motion-sensing controls for Microsoft Xbox 360 or Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) videogame consoles.

Kinect for Xbox 360 and Move for PS3 have been hits since their releases late last year in a sign there is still money to be made with blockbuster console titles.

“The game industry continues to be an area of turbulence because everyone is trying to figure out where the future lies,” Steinberg said.

“You continue to see studios close, publishing giants re-invent themselves, and the developer community realize the power it has to sell directly to shoppers.”（source:google.com）