ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW

i'll begin with a brief warning; i feel like a lot has happened in the past two days, and i appreciate that i have the tendency to ramble. if you fear towers of text then you'd best shy away from what will likely be a gargantuan post. and i have no pictures unfortunately... for some reason pulling out my camera hasn't occured to me.

i'm nearing the end of my third day here in san jose, where i've been attending the many events that form to combine voltr.... err, the game developers conference. and now, the stories shall unfold.

BEFORE ICO

four years before the release of my... yes, my favorite game of all time, (i really do hate to single out one title, but...) fumito ueda had an idea. a concept. he saw ICO.... it was in his mind. then he made it, and i was happy.

when i was asked what i'd be covering at the show this week, i went back to check out a gdc schedule packet that i had received last month. i had then marked off a few events i wanted to attend. unfortunately, the old packet didn't have times listed for any of the events which led to my having to scour the website. it was then that i saw it: game design methods of ico. you know i had to be there. and thus, it was so.

it was amazing to finally lay eyes on the man who had shown me such beauty... such grace... such uncomprosiming vision. he had shown me something i never thought i'd ever see in a video game. and there he sat, ready to speak a bit about how he made my favorite game of all time... and i was there. bliss.

most excitingly, ueda-san showed a number of videos showing off ico in different states of completion: the original, pre-rendered lightwave pilot video, (crafted by ueda, himself) two showing the game running on ps1, and three showing early ps2 builds of the game. we weren't allowed to record any video or audio, unfortunately. it was amazing to see that in some ways, the final product has come a long way from what it began as... but yet, even the original pilot -- which had humanoid enemies, town environments outside the castle, and rather ugly character design -- still felt like ico. the man even claimed that properly animating fingertips was one of the most important aspects of creating the emotional realism that is so core to the game. seriously, isn't it? the man is a genius... someone knew to let him work for four years on ico... as far as i'm concerned, he can have as long as he wants for the next project.

if you'd like to read a slightly more coherent telling of what went down at the event, read this. oh and if you haven't played ico, just go do it. if you're not a gamer, go buy a used playstation 2 and a copy of the game... seriously. it's art.

GAME DEVELOPER'S CHOICE AWARDS

earlier this month, we hit the dice summit and the aias interactive achievement awards. dice rocked. the awards were laughable and unorganized. prince of persia won everything, (except game of the year, which was awarded to call of duty, to everybody's surprise.) even in categories where it clearly shouldn't have.

so my expectations for the game developer's choice awards were grim, to say the least. but i have to admit, the show was fantastic. jennie -- who i've spent much of my time with here at gdc... thanks for keeping me company kid... so, jennie decided that we should sneak right up to the front to take photos of the presenters and winners. as such, we had an excellent view. what set these awards apart? well, the production was actually good. everything was organized, there was only one audio foul-up... will wright's mic was turned off while he spoke for about five seconds. there was no pointless filler. the awards were the spotlight, and that alone was enjoyable. the only distraction -- and it was positive as the audience dug it -- was a showing of the sb email entitled video games. even though i'd seen it several times already, it was much more hilarious on a big screen with a crowd of people responding to it. that "your head a splode" gag is pretty priceless.

also, the awards, nominees, and winners were all quite suitable. i never really felt offended by any of the choices. and they gave great achievement awards to great people and products. the innovation awards, given out first, went to eyetoy: play, viewtiful joe, and warioware. that is so excellent. best new character to hk-47. game of the year to kotor. excellence in visuals to wind waker. sure, beyond good and evil got snubbed, but at least it was nominated in the appropriate categories. so kudos to those that make this event happen. it's the best awards show i've ever witnessed.

PSP IN-GAME FOOTAGE

at the sony keynote held earlier today, showgoers were shown the first in-game psp footage created to run on the emulators developers are currently using to make games for the future handheld. death jr., the game in question, is a little platformer of some kind, though it was hard to tell much about the game from the video. really, what's important though, we're the graphics. chris charla, one of the developers working on death jr., sucked off the psp for about five minutes before showing the footage. "polygon per polygon more powerful than the ps2," he claimed. i can't speak to the full power of the machine, but i can say that death jr. looked exactly as i imagined psp titles would look: better than ps1, not as good as ps2. the level architecture seemed very low-poly and the textures were smoother than what you'd see in a ps1 game, but still not as detailed as anything on current generation consoles. the particle effects, however, were quite impressive... they basically looked as if they were ps2 quality. the framerate was also smooth... like, umm... polished marble? a wet bar of soap, maybe? i'm tired of butter, what can i say...

what does this mean? i think future psp games are going to look fantastic. even though what we saw today wasn't ps2 quality, it was much closer to current generation graphics than ever before seen on a handheld. that's another thing... we saw the game on a giant projection screen. it will no doubt look much better when displayed in the proper size on the psp itself. so, yeah...the psp is still the next big thing in gaming, says i. i can't wait for my wireless, multiplayer soul calibur.. i mean, really... can you?

I SAW FABLE AND JADE EMPIRE...

...and both games are looking very, very, very, very sweet. goty contenders, for sure.

JANE

yesterday, when i was walking into the awards show, i happened to notice jane standing in the lobby. i quickly retreated into the actual convention hall with jennie, and mentioned to her that i was a fan. she told me to go talk to her, to which i first refused. i then changed my mind... but when i returned to the place where she had been, she was gone. a sign, i presumed. and it was better that way... i feared my tendency to turn all fanboy would be rather embarrassing... that combined with my general nervousness around woman would likely have been a devastating combo attack of sheer nerdiness and dorkosity.

then, at the sony keynote earlier today, jennie, ben, and i opted to sit on the balcony in order to give ourselves a good view of the show. it also gave me, unexpectedly, a good view of the crowd. out of the corner of my eye -- i promise i wasn't scanning -- i happened to notice jane sitting down directly below us. i again, for whatever reason, mentioned this to jennie, who noticed that, yes, jane is asian. this fact, combined with that fact that she runs a slick gaming site, plays in a tremendously wicked band, and lives in the bay area made her fair game for an interview in jennie's publication, asian week. she decided to make a move, and wanted to take my business card, as well. i can't be sure whether she was more motivated to get the interview or help a boy meet someone who he otherwise would not have... but regardless, she approached jane...

yes jane, who was in no time standing right in front of me. after an introduction and a few short words, i had to run off to an event, but jennie informed me later that i should meet the two of them, when the interview would take place.

we found a nice little spot on the floor to sit and we just started talking... sure, the interview kind of framed the conversation, but really we just chatted for a bit about games, journalism, her experiences as a female working in our industry, music, movies, fashion, and her plans for the future. i was very interested to hear that many of the things she's planning, are things that i think are missing right now from gaming journalism... things i will actively try to help create. in fact, many of her ideas mimick my own, although she's quite intelligent and would clearly be able to craft -- well, her text is superior, at least -- a much more eloquent product than i. i always hoped that someday i'd have a project far enough along to ask her for a bit of assistance and collaboration... but jane has quite a few things of her own planned... magazines, item crafting, and more of that lovely text that made me recognize her in the first place.

i have to confess, i was a bit embarrassed at first... physically, i'm not very happy with my appearance. my hair is currently rather atrocious and something possessed me to shave, making look very young. i was also forced to wear a disgusting gamespy polo shirt... alone it's really not very hip-looking by any means... but the way the shirt bunches up when i have three bags strapped to my back makes it even more unsavory. "whatever," i thought.. "nothing can be done..." and i just decided to have a good time. i had made it a point to properly introduce myself to jane at some point in the future... now that's out of the way. and with any luck, we'll be seeing more of her around. thanks jennie, it really meant a lot. and jane, if you somehow find this little site, know that it was quite nice to meet you finally.

whew... i think that's all i've got for now. i'm tired, it's very late, and i have to wake up early to write a few more stories before hitting the show again. i fly back tomorrow evening... then the packing begins again. we're moving to san francisco this weekend. it's all starting. and i'm ready for it.

and i know i've done so already, but i'm gonna thank jennie one more time for making this trip pleasant so far... it would have otherwise been rather sucky... except for ico, jade, fable, the awards, and the whole jane thing... i'm conflicted, i know. Posted by ryan at March 25, 2004 11:59 PM