DGD: What's going on at your "RESURRECTION 2000" Game Developer's Conference this year?
LaMothe: All the info is on the xgames main site in the XGDC area, but basically, it's the last place on earth you can go with real people, real game programmer, no hype, and a price that's less than a good dinner and movies for 2!

DGD: What does the XGDC have that other GDC's don't?
LaMothe:It's personal, it's real, and you can actually afford it. As far as the talks go, it's definitely more for beginners and intermediates; it's a more elite crowd though, a lot of up-and-coming game programmers rather than droves of people. There's no marketing people or business people to be found either, so that's nice.

DGD: Why did you start the XGDC?
LaMothe: The XGDC was created to solve a growing problem in the game development community -- commercialization. The original GDC used to be the greatest thing in the world, but now it's too expensive, over-hyped, has become way too commercialized, and no way is it worth $1500+! It's not close and personal anymore. Since there's nothing else, everyone ends up going. At Xtreme Games we want to try and bring back the purity of the original game developers conference, that is, keep it developer-centric while at the same time keeping it simple to keep the cost down. Moreover, Xtreme Games (along with our other sponsors) will be offsetting the true cost of the conference to bring the price down to you, so that it's affordable to as many people as possible. I think that it's unethical for the GDC to make so much money and not profit share with the speakers. My conference is not for profit, but when it does make a profit 10% of the proceeds will go directly to the speakers.

Mr. LaMothe is an international best-selling author with over eight titles to his credit, six of which are on the topic of game programming and 3D graphics.

DGD: In your opinion, what changes need to happen in the game industry to ensure the survival of the entry level developer?
LaMothe: Companies like Hasbro need to be erased, and companies like mine that are not for profit need more help and more support. Without us, the entry level developer will be doomed in 2 years.

DGD: What advice would you give a novice or independent game developer nowadays?
LaMothe:Read all my books! Stay in school! And every moment you have free -- MAKE GAMES!!!

DGD: where do you think computer games will be in five years? Console? PC? Internet?
LaMothe: That's a hard one, but basically, I think there's no difference in technology between consoles and pcs, so let's take that factor out. I think that the Internet will become more of a part of gaming, and the quality of games will reach absolute photorealism. I think that new interfaces will emerge and I think that another re-birth of VR will emerge with new headmounts possible and new input devices to give players more ways to interact with games.

DGD: Where's Xtreme Games going to be in five years?
LaMothe: The #1 indy developer/publisher in the world with the largest segment of our income coming from Palm computing and WAP applications! Retail is corrupt in the USA, so we are now starting to work with Europe and Asia exclusively.

Xtreme Games can be found on the web at http://www.xgames3d.com.

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