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!

I’ll be teaming up with the fresh folk from Monobanda this weekend to take the gold at Dutch edition of the IGDA’s Global Game Jam. Sure to be some fun times!

Even though I just started contributing to Bashers.nl, I was also invited to offer my Top 5 gaming experiences of 2008. Having had an adventurous year, I decided to look back on my various first time visits to some legendary and super fun game (related) events. Good times.

Its written in Dutch, but that won’t stop you from figuring out the surprising #1!

I’m late with this, but it’s the thought that counts. Imagine looking back at this website in the near future when we’re all rich and famous. These holiday wishes shouldn’t be missing from the 2008 archive.

Thank you for still passing by VGV.  2009 should fill up with fun stuff fast. Either that, or I do end up chasing a career in acting. Who knows?

Have a prosperous 2009!

Ps. Found the Saturn in Tokyo for 1900 yen (12 euro’s). It arrived by boat 2 weeks before Christmas. Reference.

In case you were wondering what the NPOX event from back in November was all about, they just released this nifty event report.

Ironic isn’t it? If you consider the newspost I made below this one…

My mailbox is currently the scene of a moarning gathering of freelance writers and full time staff members who have all had the pleasure to contribute to one of the most intelligent and thought through game magazines in Holland: GMR. I am honored to have had the opportunity to see the 2nd and 3rd magazine article that I have ever published end up in GMR Magazine.

This is not a fun way to reach the end of 2008. [Picture]