Xbox 360 | GDC 2010 attendance tops 18,250

Showrunners announce record turnout for industry conference last week; next year's show returning to San Francisco from Feb. 28-Mar. 4.

The 2010 Game Developers Conference may not have had as much content as its 2009 counterpart, but that didn't stop industry insiders from turning out in droves. Showrunner UBM TechWeb Game Network said today that a record-setting 18,250 developers, publishers, students, and press descended upon San Francisco's Moscone Center last week to check out games on the show floor and attend the more than 400 lectures, panels, tutorials, and roundtable discussions.

Some 18,250 industry professionals turned out for this year's show.

Headline speakers at this year's event included Bungie creative director Joseph Staten, Naughty Dog lead game designer Richard Lemarchand, Blizzard senior VP of game design Rob Pardo, and Firaxis cofounder Sid Meier, to name but a few. Sony also took full advantage of the developer-centric event, giving the industry its first in-depth look at its motion-sensing controller, the PlayStation Move, which is due this fall.

The event also saw Uncharted 2: Among Thieves walk off with a record-setting five Game Developers Choice Awards, taking home statues for Game of the Year, Best Writing, Best Technology, Best Visual Arts, and Best Audio. On the indie side, Pocketwatch Games' top-down, four-player co-operative heist game Monaco secured the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and its accompanying $20,000 purse.

Looking ahead, UBM TechWeb Game Network also said that GDC will return to the Moscone Center in San Francisco next year, penciling it in slightly earlier for February 28-March 4. The showrunner also noted that presentations and select video rebroadcasts from this year's show will be available on its Web site for free beginning in two weeks.

For more from this year's GDC, check out GameSpot's complete coverage of the event.

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Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6253667.html