IMG_0125I was able to get a day off from my day job, and so I will be attending GenCon this year, August 7th through 10th in Indianapolis, in order to cover e-book-related matters for TeleRead. (If any of our readers or contributors will be in the area and would like to meet up, let me know.)

And there certainly will be some such matters to cover. While GenCon started out as a strictly role-playing game convention, it has expanded to take into account other media, much like ComicCon. There are a number of events relating to non-game-related writing, and quite a few writers in attendance including Greg Stolze (whose Kickstarter-funded short stories I covered here) and self-publishing proponent Michael Stackpole (who has also merited several mentions). I hope to be able to interview them in more detail about their e-book-related projects.

IMG_0126But I can begin the coverage without ever leaving my own apartment. As I was browsing the GenCon website today, I happened to notice that the convention has its own iPhone app, which contains its schedule, maps, and links to mentions of GenCon on social networks. Granted, I’m a little late in learning about this—the app first came out in 2009, which was after my last trip to the convention. But remembering how thick and annoying the convention schedule booklet was to deal with on my last trip, I wholeheartedly approve of an iOS-compatible version.

(My only concern is whether the app relies on Internet access, as it appears it might. Since I only have an iPod Touch, that could render it less useful to me, unless I shell out for convention wifi access. Which I guess I probably will.)

The version I downloaded has not been updated yet for this coming convention—the events it lists are those from the 2010 convention, and there are references to the 2010 convention elsewhere in it as well. However, the GenCon staff Twitter account notes that the updated version has been submitted to Apple and only awaits approval (oddly enough, the version on Apple’s site right now claims to be that version, but I just downloaded this one only a few minutes ago)—and also notes that an unofficial Android app is already out and GenCon is working on an official one themselves.

Replacing bulky paper with pocket-light electrons—isn’t that what e-reading is all about?

1 COMMENT

  1. Hi Chris, I’m Chris Patterson, the author of the IOS Gen Con app for LaViaz Mobile. You should see the updated app for 2011 in the App Store now. The app is definitely designed to NOT require Wi-Fi access. The entire ~10,000 event database is embedded within the app. You only need network access to read news feeds, tweet, get event updates, etc. Also, the app shipped with the 2010 maps, but it has the ability to check the web for updated maps. The maps have now also been updated for 2011, but you may need to kill the app (double-tap the home button, tap-and-hold on the Gen Con icon in the pop-up tray) and restart it to get the updated maps. Finally, we also shipped a version for Android. It is now available in the Android Market. Note that the *official* app is called “Gen Con”, not “Gen Con Mobile” (an unofficial app already had that name).

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