Kotaku: gdc 08

Itagaki Will Like GDC Better When He "Matures"

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:00:58 MST

Sure GDC might be a professional workshop for game developers, but not for Tecmo's Tomonobu Itagaki. He's at GDC for one reason: Promote Ninja Gaiden II. What does he think about Itagaki?

I don't make games for other game developers nor am I trying to transmit any sort of information or philosophy to other game developers. I mean, I do this for the fans and the people out there who want to play my games. So, when you're talking about an event like GDC, which is really an event by game developers for game developers, then I don't really have a whole lotta interest in that event in and of itself... I won't say there's no point to it. GDC is a very important event, and I certainly respect and realize what they're trying to do here. It's just a personal choice... Some day maybe when I've matured maybe, and when I become a little more well-rounded like Peter Molyneux, I may decide to come and give advice and give lectures on how to make games. But right now, I'm more focused on my own endeavors.

Besides, Itagaki's advice would be just how-tos on wearing leather jackets, picking up chicks and drinking bottles of Jack. Not nearly as useful as anything Peter Molyneux has to say!
Video Interview [Game|Life] [Pic]

Microsoft Lights Up GDC With Red Ring of Death

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:00:10 MST

Microsoft kicked off GDC with red! Here, the BBC spotted this Xbox 360 demo kiosk that has been RRoD'd. No way to know if this console was made before things were "bad" or after things got "good." But think about it this way: All those other GDC Xbox 360s are working fine! So now all that there's left for you to do is go check your Xbox 360, make sure it still works and pray.

Red ring of death returns [BBC via N4G.com Thanks, Michael!]

Call For Experimental Games For GDC '08

Maggie Greene — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 12:00:30 MST

Have an experimental game in some stage of development? Heading to 2008's GDC? The Experimental Gameplay people are having another workshop this year, just like in years past, and have put out a call for experimental games. There's no requirement that games have to be 'fun' or any restrictions on development specs, though they do have some requirements for what a game needs to qualify as 'experimental' in their eyes - and what won't pass muster:

The workshop does not deal with:
New, strange, or "edgy" background stories, settings, character designs, artwork, audio, or plots that do not affect the core gameplay in a major way.
New hybrids of already-existing genres, unless the resulting gameplay is unexpectedly more than the sum of the parts.
Games targeted for under-served audiences, like games for girls, seniors, or 37-year old Antarcticans, but where the gameplay itself is not experimental.
Purely technical innovation, experimental business models or distribution mechanisms that do not affect gameplay.

There's more info at the Experimental Gameplay website, including a submission sheet, a full list of what they're looking for in an 'experimental game,' and details on how things will work at their workshop at GDC. [via ]

2008 GDC Summit Speaker Details

Maggie Greene — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:00:08 MST

In case you're interested in the goings-on of the Game Developers Conference '08 (being held in San Francisco from 22-28 February), details about the speakers for each of the six summits have been announced. I have this horrible feeling I'm actually going to be in the general vicinity of San Francisco during the conference, but am going to be locked in the libraries of Stanford & Berkeley, which is a shame because some of these summits sound supremely interesting. The summits will be happening over the first two days of the conference, and you can find all sorts of information at the GDF website. There are full details after the jump, via Worlds In Motion.

The Casual Games Summit aims to present a global vision of the key forces driving the sector's growth, with sessions including a discussion with Rebel Monkey's Nick Fortugno and Joju Games' Juan Gril about the key innovations of 2007, "The Year in Casual Game Design," and a talk about the rising variety of markets for casual games with rmbr.com's Gabe Zichermann entitled "The New Demographics of Casual Games."

The IGDA's Education Summit is the only two-track summit, with one track aimed at novice educators just entering the game education genre, the second for more experienced educators looking for additional teaching tools. The summit features keynotes by the International Hobo Design Group's Ernest Adams and by Persuasive Games' Ian Bogost.

The Independent Games Summit aims to help all independent developers think about the critical needs for launching and marketing a game from game design to distribution methods to guerilla marketing concepts. Sessions include a sit-down with 2007 IGF Grand Prize winners Bit Blot (Alec Holowka and Derek Yu) discussing the development of their award-winning Aquaria, and a postmortem with Q Games' Dylan Cuthbert on the PixelJunk series for the PlayStation 3.

The returning Serious Games Summit continues to lead the dialogue for the rapidly-growing sector that features use of interactive games technology for non-entertainment purposes. One highlight of this year's summit finds Ben Sawyer of DigitalMill and Peter Smith of the University of Florida presenting "Serious Games Taxonomy," aiming to develop a stronger definition of the entire field of serious games, including categorization and specific labeling within the large gamut of activity. Another session highlight spotlights Robert J. Stone of Human Factors Integration Defense Technology Center, Stephane de Buttet of Agence Rhône-Alpes Numérique - Lyon Game, and Jim Parker from University of Calgary/CPSC presenting their "Serious Game World Report".

The Worlds in Motion Summit, launching at GDC08, will explore the cross section between gaming and interactive networking tools like online worlds, player-generated content, social networking and general personalization. Highlights include SOE veteran, Areae co-founder and noted industry figure Raph Koster discussing the ways virtual worlds are increasingly relevant to the ways we play, and a discussion with Relic Labs' Adrian Crook on the free-to-play business model and how it is evolving the face of online play.

The new-to-2008 Game Outsourcing Summit, incubated with GDC's successful standalone summit in Los Angeles in 2006, was created for those industry professionals looking to increase development resource awareness, expand their knowledge of the outsourcing sector, hone existing relationships and establish new partnerships. The content for this summit, to be available at gdconf.com soon, will offer in-depth business-oriented seminars supported by research and market analysis from every region in the world. Speaker highlights include Xin Chung, founder, and Steve Gray, CTO and executive producer, of Shanghai-based Vykarian, as well a talk from Aaron Pulkka, senior director of outsourcing at Vivendi Games.