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Rumor: Kojima-related announcement 'closer to GDC'
In case you haven't heard, Hideo Kojima (the mind behind the Metal Gear Solid saga) will be breaking the habit of a lifetime and giving a keynote speech at GDC next month. There may be a little more to it than just talking about his latest blockbuster, Metal Gear Solid 4. VG247 is reporting that Konami says it will be "making some announcements closer to GDC," but that it has to "keep things tight-lipped for now."Any Kojima-related announcements are obviously big news and we know that he's currently working on two projects. The fact that he is keynoting bodes well and, with GDC less than two months away, we're bound to hear something soon.
Kojima to speak at GDC for first time
Hideo Kojima will sneak into the 2009 Game Developers Conference this year and get his keynote on, according to Gamasutra. It'll be the designer's first presentation at the event, with his debut titled "Solid Game Design: Making the 'Impossible' Possible." GDC Event Director Meggan Scavio notes that the group has asked Kojima to keynote almost every year "for as long as [she] can remember." She's curious to see how the "revered and elusive" creator will inspire attendees. The presentation is scheduled for an hour, but given the designer's inability to edit, don't be surprised if it lasts 8 hours, with two 90-minute cutscenes and a couple of codec conversations included.
Game Developers Choice Awards finalists announced
The finalists for this year's Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced, with Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet adoring judges with nine nominations, including one for Game of the Year. Other titles up for the prestigious award include Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Grand Theft Auto IV and, of course, Fable 2. The Joystiq darling is also a shoe-in for snub of the year with Lionhead's opus going overlooked entirely in the Best Writing category. Seriously, what's the deal?Braid, Far Cry 2, Spore, World of Goo, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Gears of War 2 are all up for multiple awards, with winners set to take the stage during next month's gala event as part of the 2009 Game Developers Conference. The show will be hosted by Grim Fandango and Brütal Legend's Tim Schafer, promising a tongue-in-cheek good time even if our personal faves leave empty handed.
Tim Schafer to honor Tommy Tallarico, Harmonix at GDCAs
Add this to the list of must-sees at this year's Game Developers Conference: The Game Developers Choice Awards (held during the conference) will be honoring Harmonix co-founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy with the Pioneer Award, and handing the Ambassador Award to The Pied Piper of Points, Tommy Tallarico. Oh, and the whole thing is presided over by Timothy F.* Schafer. Right, so, just to recap: Tim Schafer sharing a stage with the guys who made up the most rock 'n' roll game of all time and Steven Tyler's cousin? Note to everyone in attendance: Bring a backup, non-melted face.*That's "Freaking".
Satoru Iwata to deliver GDC 2009 keynote
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata will be putting his oratorical skills to the test, delivering a keynote entitled "Discovering New Development Opportunities" at this year's Game Developers Conference. There are no other details provided, and trying to discern any surprise announcements based on that speech title is pretty much a fruitless endeavor.Iwata last gave a GDC keynote in 2006, when he showed Brain Age and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Company man Miyamoto gave the 2007 speech and revealed ... the Everybody Votes Channel. As for last year, the House of Mario's presence was limited to a handful of sessions. Get your bingo cards ready, Iwata's keynote is set for Monday, March 25 at 9 a.m. PST (that's noon, Joystiq Standard Time).
Brutal Legend began with multiplayer (don't you remember?)
It's true that here at Joystiq, we know everything there is to know about the French joystick industry (c'est magnifique!); however, MTV Multiplayer does not, despite its namesake, know everything there is to know about multiplayer gaming. So, you can imagine their surprise upon learning that Brütal Legend – newly partnered with EA ... Partners – does in fact have a multiplayer component. Well, if you want details, the Game Developers Conference panel description they pulled this factoid from specified it would be "multiplayer" of the "rich" variety but that's all its got. Of course, being video game experts, we vividly remember every detail of that November 2007 IGN Australia interview with Tim Schafer, wherein he revealed that Double Fine actually "tackled [multiplayer] first and that's how [it] came up with the core gameplay mechanic that [it's] now using in the single player game." Want more details on the multiplayer mechanic? According to Tim "Freaking" Schafer, "It's more focused on ... large battles" – what IGN calls, and Tim confirms, is real "army versus army" stuff.Wow, we can't believe MTV Multiplayer didn't remember that interview. A classic!%Gallery-41208%[Via MTV Multiplayer]Source – The Brutal Art of Brütal Legend GDC listingSource – Brutal Legend - Tim Schafer AU Interview
Bioware to chat about Mass Effect 2 at GDC '09
Ninja-spotted over on the official Game Developers Conference (GDC) website is a listing for one of the production track session that sorta spills the beans on what Bioware has up their sleeves for GDC.Hosted by Biowares's own Dusty Everman and Project Manager Corey Andruko will be the session "The Iterative Level Design Process of Bioware's MASS EFFECT 2." We don't believe that to be a typo, we think they really mean Mass Effect 2. According to the description, the session will focus on the "Mass Effect team's new level-creation process" where attendees will "gain insight into some of the major issues the development team encountered while building Mass Effect at BioWare." Sounds pretty legit. You can bet Mass Effect 2 will be talked about, shown or completely revealed at this year's GDC.[Via Shacknews, Thanks Mads K.]
BioWare to discuss Mass Effect 2 level design at GDC '09
Though the game has yet to be formally announced (much less as part of a trilogy), BioWare's Mass Effect 2 is set to feature in a 60-minute lecture at 2009's Game Developers Conference, due to be held at the end of March in San Francisco. BioWare project manager, Corey Andruko, and lead technical designer Dusty Everman will treat attendees to a discussion of the EA-owned developer's "new level-creation process, which is focused on maximizing iteration for quality while minimizing rework and cost."The duo will also discuss the level design lessons learned from the planet-hopping RPG's development -- and how those have led to improvements in the sequel. We imagine at least some of the talk will be focused on the benefits of disabling the "copy" and "paste" functions on office workstations.[Via Gamezine]
Peter Molyneux to reveal Lionhead 'experiments' at GDC '09
At least, that's what we imagine the Fable II designer will be doing in a talk entitled, "Lionhead Experiments Revealed." As part of the game design track at 2009's Game Developers Conference, which will run from March 23rd to March 27th in San Francisco, Peter Molyneux's lecture promises to be a candid look behind the scenes, complete with "visual and playable examples" of several concepts currently being toyed with at Lionhead Studios. Though none of them are guaranteed to show up in forthcoming projects, it should provide a tantalizing glimpse up Molyneux's sleeve. Which is not only the greatest sleeve ever, but can fit any person at any time and will force you to reconsider the role sleeves play in our modern society. Probably.Also slated to dispense wisdom on GDC's game design track are Dan Teasdale of Harmonix, who will recount design lessons learned from making Rock Band, and Jonathon Morin from Ubisoft, who will explain the level design structure in Far Cry 2. As always, Joystiq will be at the event, nodding politely and nodding off during all the boring parts.
