The 25th edition of Game Developers Conference was held at Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, California, between February 28 and March 4, 2011. Organizers reported a brand new attendance record with over 19,000 industry professionals attending the event. GDC offered this year over 450 lectures, panels, summits, tutorials and roundtable discussions. The effort and its results didn’t slip past the media: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and many other outlets took notice of the event while Gamasutra, GDC’s sister site, covered it fully.

Lecture highlights included Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka discussing the Angry Birds phenomenon (GDC Smartphone Summit), Zynga’s Mark Skaggs on going from FarmVille to CityVille (Social & Online Games Summit) game designer and author Jane McGonigal on ‘gamefulness’ (Serious Games Summit), and Super Meat Boy’s creators on their rough route to success (Independent Games Summit).

GDC 2011 also hosted the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival and the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Minecraft, the 3D world-building sandbox phenomenon developed by the Sweden based independent developer Mojang,  set a new record by being the first ever game to win awards in both ceremonies in the same year. It took home the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the Audience Award from IGF and three other awards from GDCA. Red Dead Redemption, the critically acclaimed Wild West adventure title  developed by Rockstar, took Game Of The Year award as well as four other awards including Best Technology and Best Game Design.

“The past week of GDC truly embodied the passion and spirit of the video game community,” said event director Meggan Scavio. “From seasoned game veterans to aspiring game professionals in areas spanning social and online games through major console titles and beyond, we are honored to continue to serve the industry – and hope to see you all next year.”

Game Developers Conference organizers announced that GDC 2012 will take place again at Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, between March 5 and March 9, 2012. More information on Game Developers Conference 2012, as well as other 2011 shows including GDC Online, GDC Europe and GDC China, will be available at the official GDC website.