I’m skipping the Game Developer’s Conference this year, even though more people I know will be there and there are lots of parties. After a lean 2007, I simply couldn’t justify the hotel cost (even as a business expense) so I didn’t bother trying to angle press credentials.

I love the conference myself, even in spite of last year’s shocking conclusion. I’ve heard some people refer to GDC as taking the place of E3 in some people’s minds, which I think would be a huge mistake. Last year I saw some of the bloat, with dozens of solicitations for me to come by booths and take a look at new gee-whiz hardware, where the con has traditionally been about designers and developers sharing best practices and theories about how to reach gamers. As a veteran of academia, I liked the nerdiness of the whole thing and I sincerely hope that CMP can resist the urge to make the conference one centered on big news announcements.

Ironically, the fact I am not attending will probably mean I can blog more heavily about it since I won’t have to carry around my monster laptop and find a way to comment about stuff as it happens while rushing to make the next panel on AI or diversity or journalism. Since this has never been a blog focused on news or press releases, I’ll have some time to digest stuff and write about the goings on with some thoroughness.

In other news, I was surprised to read on Scott Krol’s blog that GenCon LLC, the company behind one of the big nerd events of the year, has declared bankruptcy following a lawsuit over failure to forward proceeds of a Star Wars charity auction. Not cool, dudes. The 2008 convention in Indianapolis will go ahead.