The theme of GDC 2006 is "Whats Next," and this panel kicks off the conference to define what the people behind GDC have in mind when they consider whats next. They are each leaders in their field and specialists selecting submitted sessions for the GDC.

The panelists include Masaya Matsuura, Dave Perry, Louis Castle, Mark Cerny, and Cyrus Lum who share their insights on the disciplines of Audio, Game Design, Production, Programming, and Visual Arts, respectively. They each have a global perspective on the industry beyond their tracks, with Matsuura-san, for example, doing double duty sharing trends that are emerging from Japan. Moderated by GDC director Jamil Moledina, they engage in a detailed discussion on the key issues affecting the industry, including: the technical and artistic hurdles of next-generation game creation, the convergence of film and game, the system-wide changes in the efficient production of bigger games, the broadening of the game-playing market, and more.