This is my second year writing for Bashers.nl and what a fun time it has been! It put me in touch with a couple of very ambitious young people, inspired me to write some great stuff and always involved some heated game related debates!

So here’s my top 5 retrospective of 2009 (in Dutch), with a surprise on #1, just like last year!

Hope you have a good one!

The HME Multimedia Event has had a big pair of shoes to fill in the holiday season since its inception in 2008. Its second edition seemed smaller, but the event has stated to have successfully attracted more than 54.000 visitors.Quite an accomplishment, since most game publishers were not present. Most of them had shot away their marketing funds in early November. Asking around in the dealer area also lead to some positive responses, with most dealers who attended last years event reporting higher sales. Maybe the smaller scale is actually a good thing, reducing the event to it’s three core strengths: scoring deals on the pc market, checking out hardware and games in the  entertainment area and the social aspects of the HCC community and workshop area.

It appears the HME earned itself  another shot for 2010. They deserved it. You can find our photo report over at the VGV Flickr gallery, right here.

The Dutch Institute of Image and Sound recently hired me to be a part of designing and establishing the content and character of their latest GameXperience event. But what’s so special about that? Well, the fact that this was a unique occasion for 5-12 year old kids and their parents to learn from, talk  with and ask every imaginable question during a collection of workshops by more than twenty Dutch game developers. No marketing buffers or campaign attached.

Check out the extensive photo coverage done by Patrick over on the VGV Flickr gallery, right here.

Especially since a hell of a lot happened in that period of time! This summer was all work and almost no play for little old me, but I came out quite victorious! A couple of new jobs and a trip to GamesCom Cologne filled with assignments kept me busy for quite a while. As for GamesCom, you can check out my pictures on the VGV Flickr gallery, right here.

Haven’t had a chance to write up a lot of stories from GamesCom yet, but be sure to check out Bashers.nl for a couple of them soon! The above comic version of me was drawn by the art director of Fairy Tale fights. One of the best interviews I had at the show.

Words can’t explain the joy of experiencing the new and improved E3. No stress, big delays or messed up appointments could ruin the magic of having the perfect balance between the classic E3 pizazz and the orderly calmness of a well-organized press event. Here’s a quick round-up of our adventures:

Bashers.nl (all in Dutch – Will be translated in English soon!)

Vlads dagboek: E3 2009 deel 3, het laatste bericht

E3 2009: de nieuwe Left 4 Dead speelt zich af in New Orleans

Gaarheid op de E3, deel 2: Ubisoft bedankt!

E3 2009: een introductie in de wondere wereld van Ratchet & Clank

E3 2009: EyePet is lief, dat is alles

E3 2009: de preview van de preview van actie-RPG Warhammer 40K: Space Marine

Beeld: meer ’sociologisch onderzoek’ op de E3

Beeld: booth babes are back

Beeld: een rondleiding bij animatiestudio Titmouse

E3 2009: het grote Bethesda booth tour action game extravaganza

Vlads dagboek: E3 2009 deel 2, party hardy!

Gaarheid op de E3: snacks en fitness

E3 2009: meer onderlinge discussie dan actie in nieuwe Army of Two

E3 2009: Aliens vs. Predator lijkt iets té oldskool

E3 2009: hakken en knallen op de catwalk, de stijl van Platinums Bayonetta

Beeld: vragen aan James Cameron? Dan moet je op het damestoilet zijn

Beeld: de mysterieuze sculptuur voor het LACC

Vlads dagboek: E3 2009 deel 1, blast off!

Be sure to also check out Jonathan’s E3 Photo coverage, right here!

Token celebrities, hot game announcements and hip new trends during today’s first press conferences launched the E3 vibe into everyone there. There clearly is a lot more tension in the air though. It will never be the E3 people used to know and love, but it looks like some parts have come back: high budget shenanigans, pr people stressing out and much more celebrity involvement. You can find all my coverage about the next step in E3’s evolution on Bashers.nl.

One way or another, the next couple of days promise to be a blast! Check out my good buddy Jon’s pictures of today on his Flickr account, right here.

This year’s Game Developer’s Conference was one big rush. Pulse got pitched, I did on-site coverage for Bashers and even got interviewed myself. Here’s a quick round-up of what happened:

Bashers.nl (all in Dutch)
Post-GDC: Gregg Sauter van Nokia over N-Gage
Post-GDC: Matthijs Dierckx Kuijper van Control
Post-GDC: op de koffie bij de Screen Actors Guild
GDC: tweehandig gamen op je mobiel, interview met Glenn J. Kiladis van Zeemote’
GDC: wie wil er werk?
GDC: Media Molecule haalt kwartetje Game Developer Choice Awards binnen
GDC: de VPRO komt ook even filmen
GDC-dagboek: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3

Pulsethegame.com (English)
Pulse demo ships to publishers
BoingBoing.net interviews Vlad on Global Game Jam, Pulse and GDC
Pulse demo playable on the GDC Expo
Pulse on Paper – On the back of Control Magazine! Other flyers too
Pitchin’ Pulse – Hanging with Harmonix
Pulse mentioned multiple times during IGDA Global Game Jam presentation

Pictures of the GDC can be found on the VGV Flickr account, here as usual.

BoingBoing.net invited me over to their studio in San Francisco today. I had a great time meeting their team and discussing the Global Game Jam, Pulse and the Game Developer’s Conference with their host Matt Kirsch.

The clip includes an interviews with me, artist Marque Cornblatt, Phil Fish from Fez and BB Offworld’s Brandon Boyer.

Big thanks to BoingBoing.net for closely supporting initiatives like the Global Game Jam and for having me. Be sure to also check out their coverage of the GDC!

Check out the Pulse DevBlog for the most recent news on how Virtual Fairground is doing on pitching Pulse at the Game Developers Conference.

Be sure to check out my GDC coverage over at Bashers.nl ! I’ll be blogging about my conference adventures starting early next week.

Here’s some gameplay footage of the Global Game Jam prototype, in case you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet.

Our Global Game Jam music game ‘Pulse‘ just got a development deal with Virtual Fairground! We’ll be showcasing a revamped demo during the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco!

Download and share the prototype at PulseTheGame.com

The press release is over here

As much as I love posting stuff in trio’s, here’s the two posts I found about our game:
Control Magazine chose our art was the best for their post

IndependentlySpeaking.com thought we trained their senses

Update: Gamer.nl quotes Pulse as a ‘favorite’

So here’s the game if you want to try it out. Please don’t forget to vote 5 on the Global Gamejam Website ! Thx!

The circle is complete. My dream has come true. After organizing game events, doing research on the game industry and writing for game magazines, I’ve finally got to work on a game! My team was an awesome bunch of creative folk to work with, so I guess that worked out quite well. Ladies and gentlemen, this is ‘Pulse‘:

And guess what, we won! Our rhythmic co-op music game won the popular vote. Stay tuned for a playable version!

Next personal goal: voice-acting!