World's Largest Professionals-Only Game Industry Event Brings Back GDC Play, the Classic Game Postmortem Series and Marks an End to the Game Design Challenge

SAN FRANCISCO, March 25, 2013 — (PRNewswire) — The 2013 Game Developers Conference® (GDC 2013), the world's largest and longest running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, is officially underway today at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.

GDC 2013, which runs through Friday, March 29, provides a wealth of knowledge, networking and inspiration for game development professionals worldwide, and is centered around more than 500 lectures, panels, tutorials, and roundtable discussions from more than 900 speakers.

Also key to the event are the Independent Games Festival (IGF) and Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs) ceremonies and the most comprehensive Expo floor of its kind, open from Wednesday to Friday and featuring a Career Pavilion, Business Center, and more than 350 exhibitors in total.

The conference begins with a full lineup of summits on Monday, March 25 and Tuesday, March 26, focusing on the emerging trends in a constantly evolving games industry. These include the Independent Games Summit, Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, Localization Summit, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit, GDC Education Summit, and two summits debuting at San Francisco's GDC for the first time, the Free-to-Play Design and Business Summit and the Game Narrative Summit.

The GDC Flash Forward event returns for a second year to kick off the Main Conference on Wednesday, March 27. Over 75 Main Conference speakers will take the stage and have a mere 30 seconds to capture attendees' attention with a brief overview of their session and offer a first-look at the range of sessions taking place Wednesday through Friday. Also on Wednesday, the Classic Game Postmortem series returns with the original creators taking a close look at the making of groundbreaking titles, including Crystal Castles, Myst, Pinball Construction Set and X-COM: UFO Defense.

The IGF and Game Developers Choice Awards will honor the year's best in gaming at the award ceremony taking place on Wednesday, March 27 at 6:30pm on-site at Moscone West. The GDCAs will recognize 2012's leading video games across key categories, from Narrative through Innovation and beyond, and over 30 finalists are nominated for the IGF awards, the most prestigious independent video game awards.

Celebrating its 10^th anniversary and final year at the GDC is the Game Design Challenge.  This year's edition, "Humanity's Last Game – The Game Design Challenge Final Championship," brings together past winners on Thursday, March 28 at 11:30am to design the last game humanity ever plays. As is tradition at the Game Design Challenge, the audience will be polled to decide which developer's concept is the winner.

A host of other on-site happenings will fill the common areas of the Moscone Center from Monday to Friday, including game history exhibits, a 'board games from video game designers' playable area, a special retro photo booth for attendees, and an indie game 'world championships.'

Finally, GDC Play returns after a successful debut last year with an open exhibition space in Moscone South from Tuesday to Thursday featuring more than 85 emerging game developers. GDC Play provides an opportunity for creators to spotlight their games and connect with leading distributors, publishers, press and investors attending the conference.

"As we approach GDC 2013, we're thrilled the conference continues to provide the backdrop for developers to share ideas and perfect their craft." says Meggan Scavio, general manager of the Game Developers Conference. "The return of popular content and the ending of an era for the Game Design Challenge is a reflection of our efforts to adapt to an evolving industry and make room for fresh ideas. It's important for this event to progress with emerging trends; the expanding involvement of attendees and industry professionals speak volumes to the impact and influence this conference has on the digital entertainment industry."

For more information about the 2013 Game Developers Conference or to register online, visit www.gdconf.com.

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