The Fantabulous Contraptions of GDC

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Sometimes all it takes is a soldering iron and a dream

Middlewhere?

+7 Systems
The Pitch: "The +7 Balance Engine (TM), which has been quietly building anticipation in the gaming industry, has been chosen by Mr. Joy, Inc. for their new tower defense game Hordes of Orcs. Using the only automated approach to game balance in the industry, Hordes of Orcs will finally provide the proof-of-concept that many in the industry have been waiting for."

You get a two for one in this press release: not only is Mr. Joy, Inc. releasing a new tower defense game, Hordes of Orcs, but they’re automating play-balancing with a new balancing engine. A little digging reveals that Hordes of Orcs is only available for the Mac, so 97% of you will not be able to get your Balance Engine on. Don’t worry, a PC port has been promised.

Elastic Server On-Demand
The Pitch: "Cohesive Flexible Technologies (CohesiveFT) today announced open registration for its Elastic Server (TM) On-Demand (ESOD) Community Edition which has been in private beta since July ’07. The free Community Edition has key new capabilities including the ability for users to upload their own software packages and applications for use in assembling, deploying and managing virtual application stacks."

Don’t know about you, but we’ve been looking for a place to assemble, deploy and manage our virtual application stacks. Forget Cliffy B and Peter Molyneux, this technobabble represents thetrue nature of GDC.