GDC Spawns Gaia MMO, Lost Winds & Freaky Creatures

I’ve been covering the Game Developers Convention for nearly 10 years, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that most of the news that emerges from there typically doesn’t pan out. Announced games get delayed, partnerships fizzle. Worse, most coverage inevitably skews to hardcore products that, while sure to overexcite gamer blogs, rarely impact the far larger non-gamer market of a rapidly changing industry. (With few exceptions, anything for the Xbox 360, Sony PS3, or requiring a high-end 3D graphics card falls into this category.) With that in mind, here’s a quick rundown of items that have so far piqued my interest most:

• Gaia Online Creating an MMO. Already an enormously popular “teen hangout” with a light MMO component, CEO Craig Sherman announced that his team is developing a full-fledged virtual world. With some five million active monthly users already, Gaia’s poised to keep growing.

• Downloadable Wii Games soon to go big? MTV’s Stephen Totilo got an advance look at Lost Winds, a beautiful crossover game available for download in mid-May, one of the first new games on Nintendo’s new WiiWare service. If it’s as good as Stephen says, it should send renewed interest (and even more revenue) toward Nintendo’s console. He’s also impressed by the rising quality of games made for the Wii and DS handheld by EU and U.S. developers — up to now another weak point for Nintendo.

• Freaky Creatures: The next Webkinz-level hit? Sold on retail shelves as toys that come with a flash drive-loaded client, this is an MMO that leverages the cute, monsters-doing-battle fun of Pokemon with a Webkinz-ish world. The result? If executed correctly, it will be a huge massive hit. Check the enthusiastic preview on Massively.

With two days to go, those are my top three blogger highlights so far. Hopefully there will be more to come after the smoke clears.