Mom's Minute

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Game Developers Conference (GDC), San Francisco, CA

Looks like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) accomplished its mission at the GDC to have its voice heard, even if it was during the closing hours of the GDC.  Yes... NASA "crashed" the GDC conference party -- but in a nice way.   A talk was scheduled at the last minute for NASA manager, Jeff Norris to speak about NASA's stance in the video game industry.  It may have been a surprise to many of the attendees to hear about real world space explorations and other NASA goals after having been previously involved in all things video games from virtual vice real-life viewpoints.

Classic Space Invaders Video Game

Norris opened his talk by stating, " You are all the space invaders," referring to the classic video game. 

In addition to discussing how NASA already has a place in the video game world by way of its Mars Rover Landing game and other interactive video game initiatives, Norris also spoke of how the agency is working to have an even greater presence.  In addition to the virtual world, Norris and his colleague, Victor Luo, a NASA interface human  engineer, stated that NASA is collaborating with Microsoft and others to  come up with new ways to control robots.

NASA at GDC in San Francisco, CA

During the surprise talk, Norris and Luo laid out ambitious plans for a bold and science-fiction drenched future for NASA.  

Star Trek Enterprise

Of course, NASA  could not leave the conference without alluding to going where no man  has gone before.

In Norris' words: "We all desperately want ‘Star Trek. I do believe that humanity's destiny is to climb aboard starships and explore the universe. I think at last we finally have in our grasp the technology necessary to build a very important room on this vessel."

The Game Developers Conference was held March 25 - 29, 2013 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA.