Games, not consoles, took center stage at this year's Game Developers Conference. Unless noted, all images courtesy of GDC. 

This year’s Game Developers Conference, once again held in San Francisco at the Moscone Center, provided another glimpse last month into the future. Last year’s GDC saw many big, new ideas, so this year may have seemed like a down year to some. However, despite the lack of new consoles and innovative tools, there was much to look forward to, for both game developers and artists. This year saw games take center stage, getting the bulk of the attention, although there were many tool announcements too.

Starting off with the tools, Havok Cloth and Destruction were announced and look very solid, expanding the already impressive Havok line. Cloth will let developers create realistic clothing for characters, as well make the creation and implementation of game objects, such as wind blown flags, much easier for developers to implement, while making them function more like their real world counterparts. Destruction is Havok’s answer to every first person shooter that requires objects that go boom. Developers use the tool to specify real world and not-so-real world materials for objects. Once set up, these objects can be destroyed in game in much more dynamic fashion. One of the demonstrations showed a wooden door breaking apart in a variety of ways, all of which were light years ahead of the old methods where artists would pre-break objects.

The biggest news for game fans and game developers, meanwhile, was announced at the Microsoft keynote, headlined by John Schappert. Much was unveiled in the hour, with the most significant news being that community created content would be made available on Xbox Live as well as the revelation of Zune community games. This nicely follows the previous announcement of the XNA toolkit and creators club. Credit goes to Microsoft for making this moment special by not only highlighting a handful of user created games in the keynote, but also making them available to all Xbox Live account holders following the show. The topping on the cake was when Schappert brought James Silva, lone creator of the super-fun Dishwasher game, out on stage. Silva was surprisingly humble for a guy who single handedly represented a significant slice of the future of Xbox Live. He seemed more interested in getting back to finishing his game than standing on stage in front of the game development legions. This great indie moment was downplayed for some when at the end of the keynote Epic wunderkind Cliff Bleszinski chainsawed his way from backstage, through a paper curtain, and announced the November 2008 release date for the very poorly kept secret -- Gears of War 2. As evidenced by the teaser trailer that Bleszinski introduced, the game is sure to be another leap forward in both gameplay and game graphics. For some, indie games hold more promise than the giant blockbusters, but, in the end, gamers will likely be the winners with much more to choose from.

LucasArts’ presentation of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a highlight of the conference. The audience was noticeably eager to see more of the game, which prior to the conference had only been teased online with some short videos. The presentation ranged from the glittery, crowd pleasing display to the more technical nuts and bolts “here’s how we’re building this thing” conversation. The big idea is more than just a game. LucasArts is using this title to test out a whole new production paradigm, one that includes establishing a new office, a mostly new team and finally solid connections to the rest of the Lucasfilm corporation, encouraging more sharing of technology and assets than ever before.

The discussion started by taking the audience through the development of The Force Unleashed from the early days when the team were trying to define just what the game should be -- ideas included Han Solo-esque smuggling-based gameplay, dipping back into the hugely popular Knights of the Old Republic portion of the Star Wars universe and even some talk of resurrecting the infamous Darth Maul character from the first of the prequel films. The decision was made to focus on a game that gave players what they have always wanted from Star Wars: the ability to use the force to do just about whatever their Jedi dreaming imagination came up with. Flinging enemy soldiers around like toy puppets? Yup, it’s in there. Chaining those same enemies together and watching them shiver with fear while still trying to hold onto one another? Yup, once again, it’s in there. The great thing about all of this force powered gameplay is that the character performances are crafted so that players are more likely to be amused by them without feeling like they are tipping over into sadism.