GDC 2010
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EVE Online spymaster The Mittani to present at GDC 2010
EVE Online developer CCP Games typically has a presence at major industry events like the upcoming Game Developers Conference, but the session that's caught our attention so far isn't a presentation from the devs -- it's actually from a member of the EVE community. That GDC 2010 speaker is Alexander Gianturco -- better known to most EVE Online players as Goonswarm's spymaster, The Mittani. Others may know the infamous player as the "Sins of the Solar Spymaster" EVE columnist at Ten Ton Hammer. Gianturco will give a lecture at GDC 2010 titled "Uniquely Ruthless: The Espionage Metagame of EVE Online" that will give an insider's perspective on the political machinations possible in the game's sandbox of New Eden. His talk will hit on topics like the disbanding of the Band of Brothers alliance, how the espionage metagame has changed over time, and of course the myriad aspects of EVE's sandbox that allow players to even engage in such pursuits. The session description for Uniquely Ruthless: The Espionage Metagame of EVE Online states that Gianturco's presentation should be of general interest to anyone with a love of spies and their stories.
Attend GDC, get a free Android phone; attend as press, get bent
Apart from some fine print, the headline pretty much says it all. Attendees at this year's Game Developers Conference are eligible to receive a free Android phone. And not just any Android phone either. No, attendees will be able to choose between a super trendy Droid or an even trendier Nexus One. Needless to say, it's a pretty sweet deal. Now, about that fine print. First of all, the offer is available only for All Access or Summits and Tutorials pass holders. Speakers, conference associates, comped attendees and, ahem, press are not eligible. Those lucky enough to be eligible must register for GDC before February 4 and must register to attend the GDC Mobile/Handheld Summit, the iPhone Summit or the Independent Games Summit. Oh, you also have to select the "opt-in" option when registering for a summit (don't forget!) In other news, expect to see Joystiq staffers feverishly, desperately searching under the seats after every summit.
GDC Awards nominees announced, Drake leads the pack
We've just received a press release revealing which titles will be vying for top honors at the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, held in conjunction with GDC 2010 on March 11. If you're not familiar with the show, picture the Kids Choice Awards, only ... with video game developers choosing the winners instead of teenagers. Or, alternatively, imagine the VGAs, only without all the half-naked women, pot references and awards named after highly caffeinated soft drinks. You'll see some familiar names on the full list of nominees posted after the jump. Uncharted 2 netted seven nominations, Flower managed to grab five, and Assassin's Creed II ended up with four. Will Ezio be snubbed by Nathan once more in the Game of the Year runnings? We'll find out at GDC!
Sony's PS3 motion controller might be called Arc, or something far less bodacious
Remember that retooled controller that Sony seemed darn well inclined to bring to the masses with its PlayStation 3? Some might say that was the original Arc, but given that just about everyone laughed the design off and forced the company's hand with the conventional SIXAXIS, there seems to be a distinct possibility that the suits are about to get their revenge. According to "a concrete source speaking under conditions of strict anonymity," VG247 has it that Sony's forthcoming PS3 motion controller will be labeled Arc when it hits retail shelves sometime "this year." If you'll recall, we knew that the device was called Gem (or was it Sphere?) during its internal production, but this is first time we've been notified of a proper name for those "on the outside." 'Course, only time (and high-ranking marketers) will tell whether the moniker will stick, but we find ourselves strangely attracted -- who knows, maybe we're just sympathetic.
Mega64 makes GDC sound much, much cooler than it is
Once again, Mega64 has allowed us to look through a window into an alternate universe, where the Game Developer's Conference isn't just a series of panels, roundtables and presentations about recent trends in video game development. Rather, in their world, it's a series of panels, roundtables and presentations about recent trends in video game development, held in the middle of a non-stop all-night Jersey Shore-esque club party. Check out the video after the jump to see the beautiful vision we'll longingly hearken back to after sitting through three hours of "Death and the Duality of Man: How Games Make Us Rethink the Concept of Morality and Mortality." Eeeauugh.
Game Developers' Conference to include iPhone Games Summit track
Macworld reports that the 2010 Game Developers' Conference will include an 8-class track on iPhone games. The iPhone Games Summit, which takes place over two days, replaces an older format where panels on the iPhone were mixed in with those on gaming for other mobile platforms or independent development. Classes appear to be aimed toward niche development ("A Big Dash of Success: How to Capture the Female iPhone Gamer") and utilizing social networking and multiplayer capabilities for iPhone games. The two most interesting classes to me is a case study of one company's year in the App Store and a class aimed at covering the finer points of the iPhone contract. Given that this is their first year, it'll be interesting to see how these are attended and what changes they make next time around as well. The Game Developers' Conference will be held March 9-13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
Blizzard developers to speak at GDC 2010
Following the pattern held in previous years, Blizzard will again be loaning out some of their top developers for panels at this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, CA. WoW's former Lead Producer Jeff Kaplan, a.k.a. Tigole, presented the keynote speech at last year's GDC, and this year two top developers will be on tap to give horribly esoteric panels. Brian Schwab, Blizzard's Senior AI/Gameplay Engineer, will be presenting a lecture on AI architecture ... "AI programmers rarely use a pure architecture such as a State Machine, Planner, or Behavior Tree in isolation. Rather, several symbiotic architectures are mashed together, resulting in an overall architecture that is unique and powerful in its own way. This lecture is designed as a series of three mini-lectures where you will hear about several mashed up AI architectures along with intriguing lessons and insights." ... and Erin Catto, Blizzard's Principle Software Engineer, will be presenting a workshop on physics engines. "This one-day tutorial continues the 10-year tradition of the Math for Programmers and Physics for Programmers tutorials by bringing together some of the best presenters in gaming physics. Over the course of a day they will get programmers up to speed in the latest techniques and deepen their knowledge in the topic of physical simulation." More information, including panel times and availability, can be seen on BlizzPlanet's writeup of the announcement. This is basically total nerd talk -- it's very unlikely that we'll have any new WoW-related info from these panels, unlike Kaplan's keynote, but anything is possible. We'll keep you posted.
GDC 2010 schedule and speakers partially revealed
Though it lacks the glitz, glamor and booth babes of consumer-based expos, the Game Developer's Conference has plenty to capture the attention of the cerebral game enthusiast. The event's official site recently posted a smattering of the lectures, roundtables, and panels which will take place from March 9 - 13, showcasing the efforts of the creators of Brütal Legend, Uncharted 2 and Braid, to name a few. These events are broken into tracks representing the various types of work that go into making a game. For instance, Naughty Dog's Richard Lemarchand will be leading a post-mortem of Uncharted 2 as part of the Production Track. Double Fine's Peter Demoreuille and Drew Skillman will be talking about crafting the visuals of Brutal Legend for the Art Track. And Jonathan Blow is leading a discussion on implementing time travel in games as part of the sparsely populated Quantum Physics Phenomena Track. [Via Gamasutra]
Kill Screen gaming mag aiming for highbrow readers
Between John Davison recently promising a revitalization of GamePro, Steve Harris' purchase and subsequent relaunch of EGM (as EGM Now), and now the announcement of "Kill Screen" from Jamin Brophy-Warren and Chris Dahlen, it's been quite the year for gaming magazines. But Kill Screen seems to be taking a decidedly different approach to publishing, aiming its first print run at "2 or 3,000 copies," Brophy-Warren told us this afternoon. With an editorial directive to thematically tackle game writing -- and no obligation to the traditional reviews/previews/news format due to a donation/subscriber-funded, non-profit approach -- Kill Screen intends to avoid the mechanical nitty gritty that plagues game writing. "A great example of that is with Brütal Legend," Brophy-Warren said. "Tim Schafer had to come out and defend the RTS elements ... When we talk about games critically, it's not going to be in that sense." The first issue, the "test run" or "zero issue" as it's being called, will be finished in "the next week or two" and shipping by January. Brophy-Warren added that he's hoping the second issue will be ready for GDC, but he's not so certain. And as for the short initial print run, he says "Everyone's gotta start somewhere, right?" and encourages people to subscribe to insure they'll get a copy. We wish them the best of luck!
Warmachine game attacking PC, consoles
According to a statement made to BigDownload, the video game adaptation of Privateer Press' tabletop fantasy war game Warmachine is currently in development for the PC and (unspecified) consoles. Quietly announced in August, the Warmachine video game is being developed by the indie team at WhiteMoon Dreams and will feature player control of "various warcasters and their warjack battle groups" across interactive battlefields in both single and multiplayer modes.WhiteMoon Dreams' Norvell Thomas promises we'll get a chance to see whatever that last sentence even means in a "gorgeous" demo by GDC 2010. Thomas adds that the indie dev's goal is to "wow" publishers at the conference in order to fund full development of the table-top adaptation.
