Gamers rejoice!  The Game Developer Conference kicked off yesterday and it will push on until March 9th, Friday, at the Moscone Center in San Franisco, California.  The expo runs from March 7 through March 9.

The GDC  is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking. The event comprises of an expo, networking events, awards shows such as the Independent Games Festival and the Game Developers Choice Awards, and a variety of tutorials, lectures, and roundtables by industry professionals on game-related topics covering programming, design, audio, production, business and management, and visual arts.

So what are developers offering gamers this year?

Google

Google knows that online games drive technology that’s why this year, they will be focusing on their Native Client (NaCl) and Pepper technology for Chrome.

“We saw with Zynga that there was this gaming boom, but it competed with the mobile bubble. We want to see a modern gaming gold rush in the browser,” Colt McAnlis, Developer Advocate for Native Client at Google said in an interview.

Last December, Google unveiled a handful of NaCl-powered games such as Mini Ninja by Square Enix, Wolf Toss built with Moai, Supergiant Games’ Bastion (Chrome browser only), which has won a few industry awards, and the Unity 3D game-building engine.

According to a report from CNET, “starting around Chrome 19, currently on the developer’s channel, or Chrome 20, on the Canary channel, users will be able to play games with full NaCl support and Google+ integration. Some of this groundwork has been laid in Chrome 18 beta’s support for WebSockets.”

Google will be unveiling six new games on Wednesday:  Zombie Track Meet from FuzzyCube, AirMech, Eats to Munchies, Dark Legends, Ubisoft’s From Dust, and Firehose Games’ Go Home Dinosaurs.

Facebook

Facebook is serious about social gaming, and the developers behind it.  And to prove that, over the last six months Facebook has been improving distribution so gamers can easily find the games in their platform.

The Facebook Platform team informed conference attendees and developers about “the best practices and pro-tips for building social games” as well as “the fundamentals of building successful social games across platforms, including mobile and console, and how to deeply integrate apps with Timeline through Open Graph.

“As early as 2010, we didn’t have a dedicated game team. Now we have 40 full-time people on games,” Matt Wyndowe, games product manager at Facebook, said. We meet weekly with Zuck (Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg) and Bret Taylor (Facebook chief technology officer).”

Games Galore

Aside from gaming platforms and developers, of course the focus of the event is about games.  Here are some games on display at the GDC that leave many gamers hungry for more.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Lollipop Chainsaw from Grasshopper Manufacturer sets you on a mission to annihilate the zombie race. Square Enix’s Sleeping Dogs from United Front Games. Activision’s The Amazing Spider-Man.  Counter–Strike creator  Valve Corporation offers Tactical Intervention. Sony Online Entertainment offers PlanetSide 2.

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