On My Mind: Get off the GDC Hype Train

So, GDC is here once again and sadly I'm not there. However, it's still wonderful to see the tweets and interesting posts from some of the coverage at the show. It pains me to be missing out some of the talks like the one on Deus Ex (http://www.edge-online.com/news/gdc-2012-designer-truly-sorry-deus-ex-bosses - which I'm sure that really wasn't the context), but I'm going to make a bold statement about GDC and how it shouldn't operate:

Stop letting Publishers run it to the ground, and stop "journalist" who's hell bent on stirring the pot in.

It's become more and more clear that major publishers are now seeing GDC as a second E3, a way to make a splash by announcing new games and products. While actual "talks" still happens, it's now this weird place where actual learning and sharing exist, and more of a show and tell of "hey we've got this thing coming", it takes up time and space away from what should actually happen at an event like this. Epic showing off their new engine to potential clients, fine; EA announcing SimCity? WHY!? Why is it relevant, at this event?