Video game gatherings come in a few different flavors. GDC, as the name implies, is mostly for game developers and exists most as a professional networking/workshop space. The medium's biggest hype machine is E3, where developers, marketers, press and select fans spread the excitement about upcoming games. But IndieCade—which has happened for the last few years in Culver City, Calif.—is arguably my favorite games-centric gathering. So I'm really glad that there will be an East Coast version from February 15th to 17th of next year.
The thing I love about IndieCade is how the solo and small-team developers take over a whole chunk of a city and transform it into a space completely saturated with cool, weird interactive experiences. Open galleries where anyone can walk up a demo station and start playing a developer's game are a hallmark of the the festival set-up; hopefully, it gets replicated in the Big Apple. Details are forthcoming on where the event will be held below. I really hope that they'll be able to stage a big game of Humans vs. Zombies. From IndieCade:
The first annual IndieCade EAST will occur on Saturday – Sunday, Feb. 16 -17, 2013 in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image. IndieCade EAST will provide attendees the chance to play some of the 2012 IndieCade finalists, award winners and official selections, watch films about game culture, participate in the first ever IndieCade East Coast Game Jam hosted by Playstation Mobile in addition to hear speeches from game designers, journalists as well as game academics.