While some 50 studios and publishers will have booths in the conference's career pavilion, most of the big names at the conference have gone through well publicized rounds of layoffs, making this get-together a little more schmooze than fest, especially for the unemployed.

"It's kind of like let's celebrate, but do it quietly," Meggan Scavio, the event director for GDC09, told the AP. She expects attendance to be "slightly down" from the 18,000 last year but even that may be optimistic. Scavio notes that travel, training, and wave-the-flag parties are among the first to be cut when times get tight.

It's also interesting to see the AP working the indie angle. It mentions Flower, a great example of an acclaimed commercial release by an independent studio. The flash game "You Have to Burn the Rope," is also namedropped; I always thought that to be more of a commentary on game design, or a satire, than a full game experience. But it's up for an award at the Independent Games Festival, which runs concurrent with the conference.

Recession Casts Shadow over Video Game Conference [The Associated Press on Google]

Nintendo's WiiWare games are disappointing... None of the six games in the WiiWare launch lineup is as addictive as, say, "Puzzle Quest" or "Geometry Wars," but there are many more offerings on the way.

Definitely, there are more on the way! WiiWare is just finding its feet, so it's a bit premature to nix Nintendo's effort. Want to see how the Associated Press rated the current WiiWare titles? That, after the jump.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
"You can build a respectable town fairly quickly, and if you get hooked, you can buy more content online. But it’s hard to escape the feeling that all the real fun is happening offstage."
Two stars out of four

LostWinds
"The wind controls are innovative but frustratingly imprecise, making it hard to pull off basic moves just because the wind doesn’t act the way you expect. It’s an interesting experiment, probably worth the $10."
Two and a half stars

TV Show King
"Here’s a decent trivia quiz for your next party."
Two and a half stars

Defend Your Castle
"'DYC' builds slowly into complete chaos, and benefits from clever graphics that look like the scrawlings of a bored schoolboy.
Two and a half stars

Pop
"It’s much too simple to hold your attention for very long, and just doesn’t have the addictive quality of the best puzzle games."
One star

VIP Casino: Blackjack
"There’s no tournament play, no online competition and not much in the way of visual distraction. It’s amusing for about 10 minutes."
One star

Fret not! The WiiWare games will get better. It's called progress!

AP Reviews WiiWare Games [The Boston Herald via Gay Gamer]

Despite the fact that the press release I received this morning states that the Wii News channel is debuting tomorrow, it is actually live as of the writing of this article. The launch of the Wii Weather channel had a similar day early release. Maybe Nintendo is setting a new precedent in early launches or perhaps they are trying to offset server overload. Either way, for those in the know, it's a nice early treat. Now you really have no reason to ever leave your house or the comforting blue glow of your shiny white Wii. Flynn De Marco

Don't forget, this Saturday the Wii News Channel launches, pumping Associated Press stories and photos directly to your television.

Hey, I'm on there sometimes, maybe you'll see my stuff. Sa-weet!

AP reports, go figure, that there are no "immediate plans" to sell advertising space on the New Channel and that news will be displayed through an interactive map.

"The beauty of it is it zooms in and out of areas of the world," said Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo's U.S. headquarters in Redmond. "So if you really want to focus on regional news or national news versus international, you just blow up the map of the U.S."

AP has a two-year contract to provide news and photos to Nintendo and might one day also provide multimedia as well. The contract includes the Associated Press providing news for the Wii in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German and Swiss-German. Japanese news will come from Goo... that's right Goo! Brian Crecente

Wii News Channel [AP]

Former North Carolina Senator and potential presidential hopeful John Edwards, a long-time critic of Wal-Mart, acknowledged today that a staffer tried to use Edwards' influence to land the politician's family a Playstation 3 at a local Wal-Mart.

Edwards, who says the staffer approached Wal-Mart without his knowledge, says the person "feels terrible" about trying to weasel a PS3 out of the company he so often attacks.

"My wife, Elizabeth, wanted to get a Playstation3 for my young children. She mentioned it in front of one of my staff people. That staff person mentioned it in front of a volunteer who said he would make an effort to get one. He was making an effort to go get one for himself," Edwards said.

"Elizabeth and I knew nothing about this. He feels terrible about this. He made a mistake and he knows he should not have used my name," Edwards said.

Wal-Mart had noted in a news release Thursday that on the same day Edwards was criticizing the company in a conference call with union-backed activists, the volunteer staff member had asked a Raleigh, N.C., electronics department manager to obtain a PS3 for the ex-senator's family.

The staffer called a Wal-Mart in Raleigh, N.C., leaving a message with the store that he is with Edwards' office and that he wanted to obtain a console for the man's family. When the store manager called back to break the news to the staffer, the staffer again said he worked for Edwards.

Wal-Mart was quick to make some political hay, issuing this statement:

"While the rest of America's working families are waiting patiently in line, Sen. Edwards wants to cut to the front."

Edwards dumped the whole problem in the staffer's lap and said the "young kid" was unaware of "flawed Wal-Mart policies." They must not be too flawed, Edwards still didn't get his PS3. Maybe he should have sent some strong-headed runners to the local Wal-Mart to compete in combat footraces. Brian Crecente

Edwards acknowledges staff asked Wal-Mart for Playstation 3 [AP]

Seen under the letter G:

Game Boy: The video game system from Nintendo. Also, Game Boy Advance.

Seen under the letter V:

video game: Two words in all uses.

It's official, people know video games exist, now big things are going to start happening to us.

For those of you who aren't big newspaper geeks, the style book is like the bible of newspapering. Just about every newspaper in the country uses it to figure out how to spell and use odd words, phrases and ideas. This is the first game-related word to make the book.

To bad they didn't define video games, because it looks like people still don't know whether to include computer games under that title. I've seen it used both ways. Brian Crecente

Here are the links and ledes:

Rocky Mountain News
PlayStation 3's followers tire of the waiting game: Sony's announcement of a delayed street date for its PlayStation 3 may be too little, too late.

Mercury News
Sony's PS 3 delay likely means tumultuous year for video game industry: Sony's decision to delay the PlayStation 3 video game console — although not unexpected — will likely make 2006 a rocky year for the video game industry.

Wall Street Journal
Sony Delays PlayStation 3 to Fall: TOKYO — Sony Corp. said it will delay the launch of its next-generation video game console until November from the spring, even as competition is intensifying with advanced devices from rivals.

New York Times
Gamers Voice Some Annoyance With Sony: Those who invest or work in the video game industry expressed little surprise yesterday at Sony's announcement that it would delay its next PlayStation console until November. The shock appeared limited to the industry's customers: everyday gamers. And the beneficiary seemed to be Microsoft.

Associated Press
Sony does the expected and delays PlayStation 3 release: SAN JOSE, Calif. - When Sony Corp. hiccups, everyone else in the video game industry feels it.

It looks like Nintendo isn t the only Japanese company looking to use the remote control to bend the collective wills of mankind to their bidding. NTT, Japan s main telephone company, has created a remote prototype that can control people. I shit you not.

To work the intended victim, I mean volunteer has to slip a headset over their skull. The remote than tells the headset when and how to tramsit low voltage electic current from the back of a person s ears through their head. Although in its very early stages, the device seems to work. Just ask the AP writer who had it tested out on him.

I found the experience unnerving and exhausting: I sought to step straight ahead but kept careening from side to side. Those alternating currents literally threw me off. The technology is called galvanic vestibular stimulation essentially, electricity messes with the delicate nerves inside the ear that help maintain balance. I felt a mysterious, irresistible urge to start walking to the right whenever the researcher turned the switch to the right. I was convinced mistakenly that this was the only way to maintain my balance. The phenomenon is painless but dramatic. Your feet start to move before you know it. I could even remote-control myself by taking the switch into my own hands. There s no proven-beyond-a-doubt explanation yet as to why people start veering when electricity hits their ear. But NTT researchers say they were able to make a person walk along a route in the shape of a giant pretzel using this technique. It s a mesmerizing sensation similar to being drunk or melting into sleep under the influence of anesthesia. But it s more definitive, as though an invisible hand were reaching inside your brain.

You know what s coming next. That s right, NTT says they think that their brain-tampering, body-controlling device could be used in video games.

The AP test dummy strapped on the headset and watched a racing car game while it sent pulses through his brain. She said it accentuated the turns the car was making and pumped up the realism.

I think Nintendo needs to look up NTT and start talking about turning their remote controller into a truly revolutionary experience.

A Remote Control for Humans [AP]