Once again, the Game Developer's Conference has come and gone and Tom's returns from a frantic crawl of the booths to bring you the latest and greatest news and technology that the conference had to show. At the GDC, a friendlier side of the industry is much more evident than at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where walls of LCDs, blinding lights, deafening music and PR people fight each other for your attention. Yes, there is still some of that, but the bombastic ferocity is certainly toned down by comparison.

The GDC also differs from E3 in that there is a focus on the technology that drives game creation, not simply game promotion. Here is where you will find video card manufacturers giving seminars on how to implement their newest features into games, or keep up with the latest versions and features of software programs for 3D design. At Tom's Hardware, we are of course very excited about new technologies and tools that allow developers to better translate their vision to the digital medium of gaming. We knew that San Jose was where we would be able to catch a glimpse of that technology to come.