Nordic Game 2010: A Summary

Going to conferences like Nordic Game as a journalist is kinda weird. While it's always nice and fun, we're not really a part of the reality of these conferences - people go to network, to take part in panels, to learn stuff, to have business meetings and meet new partners and future customers. We journos, we usually go to grab people for interviews while at the same time trying to take in the atmosphere and meet people we know. We're not there for the actual business-side of things, at least not normally.

So talking about Nordic Game as an actual conference is pretty tricky. Sure, I met old friends and talked to old acquaintances. I also met new people, swapped business cards, and had a lot of really interesting discussions. This year a lot of focus was put on the indie scene, which meant a lot of fascinating discussions about that part of the industry. A lot of interviews, which will all be published here in the near future, were filmed. But a conference? Nope, not for me and my trusty camera man.

Nordic Game has been around for quite a while now, and I've been to all of them (except the very first one). We've seen the conference grow, and while it's hardly a GDC I'd say it's been important for the Nordic games industry. The conference has seen a lot of great speakers, from the unknown to the famous. And every year the Nordic Games Award show gives out prices to the best Nordic games, which highlights just how much talent can be found in the region. From DICE, Massive and Avalanche to CCP and Southend Interactive. From smaller XBLA developers to the geniuses at Red Lynx that gave us Trials HD. And, of course, Remedy who will be releasing Alan Wake in a few weeks time.

But while famous names like Mark Rein, of Epic Games, showed up it was the indie games that took the spotlight this year. My most memorable gaming moments from this year's conference (I actually think it was the first time I actually played a game at Nordic Game) was not seeing Rein showcase the Unreal 3 engine on his iPad (which looked great, by the way). No, it was seeing the small boy in Limbo getting his head chopped off by a hidden bear trap. Or seeing The Dream Machine, an upcoming point-and-click adventure game made completely out of clay. Or Youropa, which during the two years since I saw it last has seen a lot of cool improvements.

I like the change. Last year, the conference seemed a bit schizophrenic. The career expo, which saw companies like Crytek and Real Time Worlds (to only name two) stand around in often empty booths, was more or less empty and the developers I talked to seemed pretty let down by the fact that they hadn't met a single person they were interested in. By taking that out, and giving the small actors a voice while still keeping focus on the larger industry, felt like a good choice to me personally. Just walking through the main hall, which me and my camera guy did a lot, felt more homely and friendlier than before. Finding a new venue for the event was also a good thing, and most of the people I talked to seemed to agree with me.

What it says about Nordic Game in general, I don't know. Perhaps the move towards the indie scene was more of a forced thing, since last year seemed to let some people down. I don't know. The whole conference did feel smaller in scope, and it was hard to shake a certain feeling that it is struggling. Hopefully the people that were there will go home happier this time around though. Because the Nordic region has some amazing game talent, and having a meeting place every year that is not in San Fransisco is important.

But do yourselves a favour - keep your eyes open for the smaller titles that will be released this year. There are some amazing games coming out, that will have no real PR or marketing budget to speak of. Kudos to Nordic Game for giving them a platform this year. And hopefully, around this time next year, we will be attending Nordic Game Conference 2011. I'll be there, probably dragging a camera man back and forth through the main hall. After all, that's what we game journalists usually do. And we're good at it.