I'm not like most game enthusiasts out there. When I attend a conference, I don't race to be first online with information or exclusive interviews. Why? Because I don't care to read them, so why would I write them? Instead, I like to get home, cool down and reflect back on the event with a level head.

Boy am I glad I did this same thing with GDC 2009. Read on for some good and bad impressions.

CRYTEK THINKS YOU'RE STUPID
It's true. While Crytek stood and demoed the "new" CryEngine 3, I couldn't help but look at the people around me. They all had this look of glee on their faces...like they were witnessing something really awesome... The way they looked reminded me of the way I felt in Junior High, when I saw two girls kiss for the first time in real life. But CryEngine 3 didn't have the same effect. Let me sum this up for you: It's not CryEngine 2. I don't care what they say. The textures aren't as crisp, the lighting not as realistic, and the shadows were almost laughable. The only thing remotely the same is the crumby frame rate. Why would Crytek even show this to us? Why would they say, "Hey, it's just like CryEngine 2 but better!"? Why would they make me so dah-gone mad? Well, it's the Game Developers' Conference. They put CryEngine on consoles to make money...period. But mark my words: CE3 will not make games better on consoles. Sorry...it's true. The fact that Crytek would even suggest such a thing means that they think we're all stupid.

PROTOTYPE WILL BOMB...BIG TIME
Remember when we all got to see some really cool features of Assassin's Creed prior to its release? We saw the amazing technology of the open world, the top notch graphics, the incredible acrobatics... But Ubisoft failed to show us the intriguing gameplay. Remember? They may say they didn't want to hand out spoilers, but the truth is that the gameplay for Assassin's Creed was monotonous, tiresome and [insert custom synonym for "crap" here]. Well, meet Assassin's Creed's ugly step child. Mark my words: You'll get one or two good hours out of Prototype before growing sick of it. You may finish it, just to say you finished it, but you'll be trading this piece of hose in for something else real quick. If you were worried about Prototype competing with InFamous, don't. InFamous will do a little better, but not much. Pretend that these two titles are passengers on the Titanic. Prototype would be third class, and InFamous would be second class. They'll both die, but InFamous will hold out just long enough to watch Prototype sink into the icy abyss.

ONLIVE IS THE REAL DEAL
Now, here's something I like. OnLive may not last, but the concept will. Why? What if your Microsoft Live subscription came with OnLive's capabilities? What if you never had to buy a game disk again? What if all of your game purchases were stored on Microsoft's servers and on your own memory card, allowing you to trade the games in at places like Game Stop? Would you buy a $200 console, pay a $50/year subscription and still pay $60 for your game of choice if it meant that the graphics and game play had almost no limit to their potential? Of course you would. Why? Because you pay for it already (except for the crazy graphics part). The only thing holding back this type of service is broadband connectivity. The folks at OnLive didn't just demo a new idea. They demoed the type of service that both Sony and Microsoft are envisioning for the console generation two spaces beyond this one. Mark my words: Remote gaming will be in full effect by 2020.

STEALTH ACTION NEEDS MORE CAPES
I've watched Batman: Arkham Asylum out of the corner of my eye for some time now. I think we all have been wary of expecting anything spectacular from a superhero game...you know...since they all suck. But when I got to see the Silent Assassin video at GDC, my eyebrows perked up. Why? Because stealth action games can be good. Make a stealth action game with the greatest stealth superhero of all time, and you're a winner. It's been a long time since we've seen a superhero game that looked like it might satisfy. Mark my words: Batman will make Wolverine cry this year.

And that about sums up GDC. I'm sure you've heard about all of these things by now, but that's really all that caught my attention. I got to talk to a guy from Naughty Dog about Uncharted 2, but I'm sworn to secrecy on that stuff until after E3--and since this is my first contact at Naughty Dog, I have to oblige. Otherwise, GDC was full of a bunch of technical junk I didn't really have the interest to follow.

Were you at GDC? Leave a comment!