I’m a late blogger on Playful. I was there on Friday, and enjoyed the event tremendously. Thanks to Toby Barnes and all the guys at Pixel-Lab for setting it up for us.

Others have already written copious notes, so I will cheekily link to theirs instead of writing my own. Here’s a few things that really stood out for me:

• James Wallis told us how all of modern gaming owes its existence to a handful of experimental French writers. Very very cool and recommended.
• Roo Reynolds showed us his very cool hardware/software hack making a real guitar out of a Rock Band guitar controller. His notes on the whole conference are way more complete than mine.
• Matt Brown of last.fm told us all about his experiments with game controllers, including a singing sock puppet and . . . Tuba Hero. This is quite possibly the funkiest thing I have ever seen.
• Adrian Hon, of Six to Start, illustrated the power of gaming by telling us how playing Team Fortress nearly drove him to drink. Heartfelt and powerful.
• Chris Delay of Introversion Software showed us how to make a whole city at the push of a button, if you don’t have an art team. Very, very cool. Ties for coolness with Sousaphone Hero.
• Next up was Eric Clough, who designed this. The fact that he and the guys at 212 Box did that makes the universe a better place. I got to shake his hand. Sorry, Tuba Hero – this is a magnificent work.
• Joylon Webb of Blitz Games, showed us how important teeth are in designing realistic human models. Very impressive. Their Dynamic Physiology System for modelling the progression of injuries is a very very powerful thing. The video always makes me quiet.

Finally, here’s some acapella Star Wars. Nothing to do with the conference, but it is Playful.