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Prince of Persia creator to keynote GDC China (likely in English)
by Ben Gilbert 
{ Sep 12th 2009 at 3:00AM }
Unfortunately, those attending GDC China won't be getting the traditional, mandatory shock treatment at the show, as that has been recently banned. For shame, China! Hopefully Mechner will be enough.
Video Games Live heading to GDC China
by Ben Gilbert { Aug 19th 2009 at 4:01AM }
Better yet, those of you holding a VIP pass to the show (and those of you who buy one before September 19), will receive complimentary tickets to the Video Games Live! performance that wraps up China's GDC. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the orchestra's name has an exclamation point in it. Also, we like to shout.
Sony's earliest Motion Controller plans included Teletubbies, X-Men
by Andrew Yoon { Aug 3rd 2009 at 12:00PM }
Some of the prototypes developed by the EyeToy team include "Misho the Witch" (pictured above), a virtual pet simulation that has players using a ball-and-stick controller to play with the on-screen witch. Ideas from this demo have ended up in both EyePet and the upcoming Motion Controller itself. Other ideas thrown around included a magic duel, where players could write spells using gestures, and games inspired by Casper the Friendly Ghost and the Teletubbies.
While gamers have been spared from a motion-sensing game based on the Teletubbies, another idea seems to have been left on the wayside: games based on various superhero properties. Marks' presentation revealed plans to recreate the powers of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men through the PlayStation camera. We're not sure how far those ideas went, but a superhero game that takes advantage of the Motion Controller would make perfect sense as a launch game for when the controller (finally) debuts next year.
[Thanks, Bradley M.!]
2010 Independent Games Festival accepting submissions
by Griffin McElroy { Jul 9th 2009 at 12:00AM }
If you're looking for reasons to enter your humble project, the festival's organizers have about 20,000 good ones, and by "ones" we mean dollars, by which we mean $20,000 is the grand prize for the competition. In addition, finalists will have their games exhibited on the GDC show floor, where they can be played, admired and possibly exalted by the gaming press -- a treatment received by titles such as World of Goo and Castle Crashers in the past. If your game is of that caliber, we highly suggest throwing your hat into the ring.
Crytek exec Avni Yerli joins GDC Europe advisory board
by Jason Dobson { May 22nd 2009 at 8:15PM }
GDC Europe's Frank Sliwka put it another way, offering hope that Yerli's membership will "elevate the conference to a whole new level." Let's just hope the board's processors can handle the stress without -- dare we say it -- crying.
IGDA breaks ties with China GDC amid trademark flap
by Randy Nelson { Apr 16th 2009 at 2:00AM }
There's new corporate-level drama in the ongoing tale of the two upcoming Chinese Game Developers Conferences. The International Game Developers Association has removed any mention of China GDC from its website and canceled plans for members to receive a ten percent discount on admission to the event, reports GI.biz. The trouble stems from the continuing row between Think Services, owner of the "GDC" trademark and organizer of Game Developers Conference, and Howell Expo, which is allegedly using the GDC trademark illegally for its China GDC event. You see, Think Services is also planning an "official" Game Developers Conference for China to take place in October. Howell's China GDC event is scheduled for July.
Think Services has been placing legal pressure on its GDC partner companies, discouraging them from attending or otherwise promoting what it sees as a fraudulent and competing China GDC. We'd suggest that our readers, at least for the time being, refrain from organizing any sort of summit, conference or gathering that could be shortened to "GDC," such as the "Gnome Dating Conference," "Gnu Dance Competition" or "Greatest Dumpling Challenge." Trust us, it's for your own good.
Mega64 punches people, makes out at IGF Awards
by Griffin McElroy { Apr 3rd 2009 at 8:05PM }
The first video is aptly titled IF YOU'RE NOT INDIE, F**K YOU, and features a bunch of people getting punched in the face, except The Behemoth co-founder Dan Paladin, who is, as legend tells us, unpunchable. The second video, Topher Great Payens: "The GDC" (an homage to the equally unsettling Shine on Me by renowned musician Chris Dane Owens) is, well, extremely bizarre. Or extremely arousing. We haven't decided yet.
GDC09: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 impressions
by Kevin Kelly { Apr 3rd 2009 at 1:27PM } 
You can check out the new images from the game below, and a new Iron Fist video and highlights after the break.
Gallery: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (4/2/09)
GDC09 interview: OnLive founder Steve Perlman, continued
by Christopher Grant { Apr 2nd 2009 at 7:50PM }
Joystiq: So you're working with developers. Say you're working with Ubisoft on Prince of Persia, is that Prince of Persia the same exact Prince of Persia that would be on the PC? Are they changing parts of the game and if so what are they changing? What are the differences?
Steve Perlman: It's the exact same Prince of Persia and the only things that are being changed are really externalities like, you know, if you pick up a controller we've got to recognize the buttons the right away. For example, you can't change the resolution to anything other than HD, but even if OnLive figures out that your speed or your connection is too low and they've got to make it small screen, it still runs in HD and anybody who's spectated you sees you in HD; or if you do a Brag clip it saves in HD. So, we don't want you to changing the resolution. So, there's a couple of switches to turn off. We don't want you to bring up the Windows dialogue box for saving games. I don't know about that particular game, but some games, it actually shows the Windows so that you can navigate through the hierarchy for saving games. You know, we've to disable those kinds of things. The actual gameplay is the same.
Then you were talking about something like FIOS for example, that really improves the experience?
It doesn't improve the experience; it just lets you go further away from the service center.
GDC09 interview: OnLive founder Steve Perlman wants you to be skeptical
by Christopher Grant { Apr 1st 2009 at 7:00AM }
Joystiq: So OnLive ...
Steve Perlman: Yeah!
First, congrats on the launch ...
Thank you.
Everybody's asking, "What's going on at GDC? What's the thing this year?" You know, it's not LittleBigPlanet this year and it's not Gears of War 2. I think the biggest thing at the show, in terms of buzz, in terms of coverage, has to be OnLive. So, congratulations on that.
Thanks.
But there's a second side to that buzz story. Everyone's talking about it, but they're all saying the same thing: "Yeah, it sounds really good, but ... it also sounds like magic."
Uh-huh.
Gallery: GDC 09: OnLive debut
GDC09: Punch-Out!! Wii hands-on
by Kevin Kelly { Mar 29th 2009 at 8:30PM } 
click to enlarge
It did show off four of the thirteen total fighters, including Glass Joe, Von Kaiser, King Hippo, and the newcomer, Disco Kid. He looks like what you'd get if you crossed Mike Tyson with Ric Flair, and pulled him through a Disney movie animation wringer. He likes to primp, check himself out in a mirror, and pose for the crowd. Little Mac learned the lesson about the dangers of vanity long ago, so there's no such worry. Head after the break and start training, Punch-Out!! comes out on the Wii this May.
Gallery: Punch-Out!! (Wii)
GDC09: Paper prototype of Aperture Science + Left 4 Dead
by Kevin Kelly { Mar 28th 2009 at 3:15PM }
He said they might not always turn out to be fun, but they do aid as a tool in the development process, especially since it's hard to get everyone to gather around a computer screen to check a problem out... but they'll actually come out of hiding to check out paper gaming pieces. We want to design a board game to fix issues at Joystiq, and then fight over who controls the pewter Justin McElroy gamepiece. Check out his "Aperture Science meets Left 4 Dead" board game above, and a gallery of more of his creations below. Just imagine what his board game collection must look like.
Gallery: EA/Maxis Paper Games
GDC09: Disneyland's 'The Haunted Mansion' is a first-person shooter
by Kevin Kelly { Mar 28th 2009 at 2:15PM }
Scott Rogers is a creative manager at THQ, and a former game designer who worked on titled ranging from God of War to Maximo, and he held a panel at GDC called Everything I Learned About Level Design I Learned From Disneyland, and one of our favorite quotes was "Well, the Haunted Mansion is basically a first-person shooter if you think about it. You're directing what the guest sees and has access to, and that's what we're doing with level design."
If Walt only knew! Although not apparent at first glance, once you look at amusement park design and game level design, there are a ton of similarities. We have a lot of goodies coming to you from Rogers' talk which we'll be bringing to you next week. In the meantime, you can reimagine your favorite rides turned into FPS titles. Or you could take the obvious route and just combine a ride and shooter, like Disney already did with Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.
If Walt only knew! Although not apparent at first glance, once you look at amusement park design and game level design, there are a ton of similarities. We have a lot of goodies coming to you from Rogers' talk which we'll be bringing to you next week. In the meantime, you can reimagine your favorite rides turned into FPS titles. Or you could take the obvious route and just combine a ride and shooter, like Disney already did with Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.
GDC09: The lone booth of booth babes
by Kevin Kelly { Mar 26th 2009 at 9:49PM }
There's definitely been a steep drop in the amount of booth babes over the past few years at GDC, and the lone holdout seems to be N-Gage. They have a lot of silver jumpsuit-clad babes, complete with space-age utility belts around their waists, urging people to come into their mobile space. One girl was actually clapping loudly to try and lure in the shuffling hordes of developers, not to much avail.
We still salute you, oh valiant babes of the booth. In a very non-sexist manner.
GDC09: Now's your chance! Pitch Jarvis & Seropian today, win a PS3
by Christopher Grant { Mar 26th 2009 at 4:45PM }
... but don't tell us, tell game designers Eugene Jarvis and Alex Seropian at the DePaul GDC Design Challenge booth. If you're the big winner, you'll net a PS3 and, of course, the admiration of your peers. We'll stop by the booth to find out the winning pitch, today at 4:30pm PT.
