Despite the developer-heavy jargon, the passion of the dev and gaming community can always be felt in full force during the Game Developer's Conference.
From seasoned devs answering a barrage of questions to burgeoning devs giving testimonials about dropping out of college to become a one-person indie studio, GDC is a place where there is no shortage of helping hands and determination.
Through all the lines for demos, sessions and panel after panel, we've had a great time at this year's show.
It's no CES, but we've still seen quite a bit of fun, innovative and exciting pieces of tech. Below you'll find a recap video of the show's biggest news, which also happens to be our take on the best five moments from GDC.
1. Virtual reality
We feel virtual reality deserves the number one spot because it was pretty much everywhere. From the ITA's first meeting to VR folks canvassing the press room to hawk their wares, the future is looking positively luminescent for those in the immersive technology realm.
Bigger companies like Sony and Microsoft are expressing interest in the tech - with Sony already in the fray - while more and more smaller companies are receiving more recognition.
The next wave of emerging technology is here folks, and its name is virtual reality.
2. Project Morpheus
Speaking of VR, Sony's Project Morpheus finally reared its head after much speculation, and became the toast of the GDC town.
With Tron-esque lights on the head mounted display and the addition of the PS Move controllers all lit up, it looks like you've stepped out of a sci-fi B-movie.
But during our hands on, we still found the Morpheus to be an impressive piece of future-forward tech despite only being a prototype.
It has a long way to go before we get to snatch it off a shop shelf, but we're excited that Sony has jumped into the VR fray with a more promising device - rather than stick with the expensive and forgettable Sony HMZ-T3W.
3. Oculus Rift
The startup champion is back again with a nearly-there Oculus Rift. Since the higher resolution Crystal Cove set debuted at CES 2014, the company has been hard at work on Developer Kit 2.
We took the VR headset for spin and this latest version isn't perfect, but has definitely improved. It costs a bit more than dev kit 1 because the previous control box is now integrated into the head mounted display and there is only one HDMI/USB fused cable.
The new kit also comes with a motion-tracking camera, which allows for greater movement within the world of the Rift.
A lot of the motion blur is gone and tracking is much better, meaning its safe to say your own personal Oculus is almost here.
4. Valve's Steam Controller
Like the Oculus Rift, Valve has been busy tweaking its Steam Controller too. It wasn't a big reveal since the company had previously showed off comparison photos of the before and after but the changes were enough to pique our curiosity.
The most interesting feature of the controller, the touchscreen, is now gone and replaced with buttons but the dual touchpads are still present. Valve hasn't entirely let go of the touchscreen concept but it won't be part of this package.
Regardless, the controller still probably isn't for every game and a mouse/keyboard combo may still be your go-to but the option to pick up a nice Steam Controller is still appealing and will no doubt still be a hot ticket when it releases later this year with the Steam Machines and Steam OS.
5. Indie games
Indies games are the heart and soul of GDC so always great to see the head honchos of gaming take an interest.
Both Sony and Microsoft are increasing its' efforts to release more indie titles while further fleshing out smoother processes for developers to create for each respective platform. The same can also be said for notoriously secretive Nintendo; in fact, the company has recently taken the steps to make developing Wii U and DS games easier.
To further help smaller studios, new tools have also been released. DirectX 12 and Direct3D 12 from Microsoft, plus Unity 5 were the big three announced at the show. These new dev tools promise to deliver top notch, next-gen graphics.
