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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title>Pangea demos Enigmo, Cro-Mag Rally for iPhone at Apple Keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/pangea-demos-enigmo-cro-mag-rally-for-iphone-at-apple-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/pangea-demos-enigmo-cro-mag-rally-for-iphone-at-apple-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/pangea-demos-enigmo-cro-mag-rally-for-iphone-at-apple-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/mac/" rel="tag">Mac</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/mobile/" rel="tag">Mobile</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/06/iphone-game-dunno-490.jpg"  alt="" /></div>
Following Sega's <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/monkey-ball-for-iphone-shown-at-steve-jobs-keynote/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Super Monkey Ball</span> iPhone demo</a> during <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/steve-jobs-keynote-live-from-wwdc-2008/">today's WWDC Apple keynote</a>, Pangea Software's Brian Greenstone took the stage to show two games they have been working on, <span style="font-style: italic;">Enigmo</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Cro-Mag Rally</span>, both games that date back to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangea_Software#Otto_Matic.2C__Cro-Mag_Rally.2C_and_Others">at least</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigmo">2003</a> for the developer. Said Grenstone, both games took "three days to get each game up and running -- totally playable." <br /><br />No other news is available<span style="font-style: italic;">. Monkey Ball</span> notwithstanding, it's kind of disappointing we haven't seen anything from known iPhone devs <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/05/ubisoft-to-develop-games-for-iphone-ipod-touch/">Ubisoft</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/06/spore-touch-fighter-shown-on-iphone/">Electronic Arts</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/10/gameloft-id-to-develop-for-iphone/">id Software or Gameloft</a>. Pictures of <span style="font-style: italic;">Cro-Mag Rally</span> for iPhone after the break.<div style="text-align: center;"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/06/cro-mag-rally-490.jpg"  alt="" /><br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/06/cro-mag-rally-490.jpg"  alt="" /></div><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/pangea-demos-enigmo-cro-mag-rally-for-iphone-at-apple-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1220114/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/pangea-demos-enigmo-cro-mag-rally-for-iphone-at-apple-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>apple</category><category>cro-mag-rally</category><category>enigmo</category><category>iphone</category><category>keynote</category><category>pangea</category><category>pangea-software</category><category>wwdc</category><dc:creator>Ross Miller</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-06-09T15:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Digital Legends' iPhone action-adventure due in September</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/digital-legends-iphone-action-adventure-due-in-september/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/digital-legends-iphone-action-adventure-due-in-september/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/digital-legends-iphone-action-adventure-due-in-september/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/mac/" rel="tag">Mac</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/action/" rel="tag">Action</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/adventure/" rel="tag">Adventure</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/mobile/" rel="tag">Mobile</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/06/dig-leg-2.jpg" /></div>
Now this is what we're talking about. Digital Legends Entertainment was the last of three game developers presenting at today's <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/steve-jobs-keynote-live-from-wwdc-2008/">Apple keynote</a> (the other two being <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/pangea-demos-enigmo-cro-mag-rally-for-iphone-at-apple-keynote/">Sega</a> and <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/pangea-demos-enigmo-cro-mag-rally-for-iphone-at-apple-keynote/">Pangea</a>), and they showed off an action-adventure title due out for the iPhone in September. <br /><br />Our friends at Engadget had this to say about the game: "Looks a little like God of War, graphics somewhere between DS and PSP. Pretty friggin' impressive. N-GAGE has been after games that look this good for years." We don't know the title, although our best guess is <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightfall Dragons</span> (found on the <a href="http://www.digital-legends.com/web/html/games_eng.htm">developer's website</a>). More pictures after the break.<div style="text-align: center;"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/06/dig-leg-3.jpg" /><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/06/dig-leg-490.jpg" /></div><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/digital-legends-iphone-action-adventure-due-in-september/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1220138/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/09/digital-legends-iphone-action-adventure-due-in-september/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>apple</category><category>digital-legends</category><category>digital-legends-entertainment</category><category>iphone</category><category>keynote</category><category>steve-jobs</category><category>wwdc</category><dc:creator>Ross Miller</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-06-09T14:30:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Joystiq live from the Microsoft GDC keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/joystiq-live-from-the-microsoft-gdc-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/joystiq-live-from-the-microsoft-gdc-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/joystiq-live-from-the-microsoft-gdc-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/msgdc08one.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<span style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 7px;"><script type="text/javascript"> digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/Joystiq_live_from_the_Microsoft_GDC_keynote'; </script> <script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></span> <strong>10:22 am PT </strong>-- We've taken our seats at Microsoft's GDC keynote -- they're very nice, but we're not sure where to take them yet. The pawn shop seems too far, so we guess we'll just push them to the front row.<br /><br /><strong>10:23 am PT </strong>-- A friendly announcer asks us turn off all cellphones and electronic devices. Hmm, yeah, we're not convinced that's something you want to say to an army of laptop-wielding nerds.<br /><br /><strong>10:26 am PT </strong>-- Loud James Bond music blasts us from the stage. Obviously, we now expect John Schappert to descend from the ceiling.<br /><br /><strong>10:27 am PT</strong> -- It will be "greatly appreciated" if we turn off our electronic devices. Somehow, we suspect our readers won't share that sentiment if we comply.<br /><br /><strong>10:29 am PT</strong> -- Jamil Moledina steps onto the stage and welcomes us (he's polite!) "Change is the heart of opportunity in the games industry," he says. "The old boundaries of gamer, developer, technology and social technology are starting to shimmer."<br /><br /><div class="postgallery"><p><strong>Gallery: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/microsoft-gdc08-keynote/">Microsoft GDC08 Keynote</a></strong></p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/microsoft-gdc08-keynote/653526/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-keynote-08-42_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/microsoft-gdc08-keynote/653525/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-keynote-08-07_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/microsoft-gdc08-keynote/653524/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-keynote-08-05_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/microsoft-gdc08-keynote/653523/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-keynote-08-28_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/microsoft-gdc08-keynote/653522/"><img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-keynote-08-18_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-2.jpg" /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:30 am PT </span>-- EA Tiburon is the topic of discussion -- John Schappert's origin. After overseeing all of EA's product development, he transitioned to Microsoft to manage all platform technologies.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:31 am PT </span>-- We fail to applaud during John Schappert's arrival... because we're typing this. He has no TVs to give us, he says. We're leaving right now.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:32 am PT </span>-- "Like many of you, I started as a hobbyist programmer," says Schappert. He's talking about his computer geekdom (we struggle to identify).<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:33 am PT</span> -- Remember Desert Strike on SNES? How about Madden '92? We're looking at them. How were we ever satisfied with those games? John's first game was Madden '94 -- "We shipped MANY versions of Madden," he quips.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:34 am PT</span> -- Production budgets have greatly increased since that time, says Schappert. "Thank you," says the screen behind him. The industry should pay its thanks to game developers, you see. (Note: just saw <a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242138">this press release</a> announcing Gears of War 2 on NeoGAF. Real or fake? Wouldn't be much of a surprise if true.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:36 am PT </span>-- "The developers are the true pioneers of our industry." Schappert says he's admired the Xbox platform for its pioneering -- the first to have a hard drive, Xbox Live, etc. US video game industry revenues are way up, according to the rather large graph appearing on the screen. Movies and music have been beaten.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:37 am PT </span>-- He calls 2007 a "blowout year." More Xbox 360s are on the way, says Schappert, addressing current Xbox 360 shortages.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:38 am PT </span>-- He lists some great games on the 360 -- Bioshock, Halo 3, Madden 08 (from EA Tiburon, *wink*), Guitar Hero III, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4. We haven't heard of ANY of these games, but they seem neat.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:39 am PT</span> -- Each of these seven titles sold over a million units each during the '07 holiday period, says Schappert. "They sell better on Xbox 360, because they play better on Xbox 360."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:40 am PT </span>-- The majority of titles are rated higher by reviews on 360, continues Schappert. Easier development and achievements give it the advantage. "The Xbox 360 community has unlocked over 1 billion achievements," says Schappert. An achievement unlocked sound (bi-donk!) is heard. Over $250 million has been spent online in the Xbox Live Marketplace.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:41 am PT</span> -- How popular is Halo 3's saved films feature? Over 1,000 pieces are uploaded by the Halo 3 community every day -- that's 30% more than Youtube, claims Schappert. "Xbox 360 is the console of choice for the creators in our industry." Some video quotes play.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:42 am PT </span>-- Ken Levine has nice things to say about it, as does a Halo 3 developer (gasp!). BioShock's Ken Levine finds the tools "comfortable," and Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt praises Xbox Live. Infinity Ward's Jason Ward praises optimized thread timings. Those sound... great.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:43 am PT </span>-- Chris Butcher of Bungie thinks the 360 has created a "community fostered around gaming."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:45 am PT </span>-- A Bethesda developer thinks people are really hungry for DLC -- you know, like horse armor. Over 3 million downloaded songs for Rock Band, says Alex Rigopulos.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:46 am PT -- </span>Schappert's back, and "happy to be here today." Oh, us too, John. "All you needed was your father's computer and a good idea," says Schappert about that "back in the day" time period. We would agree, if we actually had dads.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:47 am PT -- </span>Amateur programmers are out there, all with "new ideas"and "new visions." The "democritization" of distribution is needed. A new speaker steps up: Chief XNA architect, Christopher Satchell<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:48 am PT </span>-- He's here to talk about XNA's community aspects. The "unlocking" of the Xbox 360, he says. Over 800,000 downloads of the XNA toolset have occurred. It's been adopted by over 400 universities worldwide. "But it's not enough just to release the software."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:50 am PT</span> -- DreamBuildPlay hoped to spur on creativity, and the results were "incredible." Over 200 games were submitted to the competition (we don't know how many were based on Doritos". Who would make the jump from "community" to "professional"?<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:52 am PT</span> -- We see a comedic video documenting James Silva -- the man behind Dishwaser Samurai, an XNA game MS has decided to highlight at this year's GDC (is that what's behind the shroud?) "It's an inspiring story," says Major Nelson hamming it up for the camera. James Silva steps onto stage.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:54 am PT</span> -- James starts playing Dishwasher Samurai, "It's sort of a personal story," he says. He used to wash dishes at a restaurant, you see. "The great thing is I can wake up at noon now, " says James of his dramatic transformation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:55 am PT</span> -- "Start small, don't try to make an MMO or FPS or something," advises James. He marches off, and Satchell has the stage again. "isn't it a shame that the other games might not get a chance at the spotlight?"<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-69.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:56 am PT</span> -- It's changing today. For the first time, <span style="font-weight: bold;">community games will be distributed through Xbox Live. <br /><br />10:57 am PT</span> -- "'Xbox Live Community Games' will give creators a huge audience to share their creativity with. Game distribution will be democritized, allowing the community to control the content. Create, Submit, Peer Review, Play are the four key steps." "We want creativity to flow through this pipeline," says Satchell. Oh, we get it.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:58 am PT --</span> </span>Your creator identity is not too different from a gamertag -- it has a history of your developed games. You'll inform users what's in your game, using descriptive sliders. On a scale, how violent is it? What sort of game is it? There's prohibited content, of course, but it's up to peer reviewers to evaluate the game. "Now, 10 million people on Xbox Live get to play your game."<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-73.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:59 am PT</span> -- We're shown a few games on an Xbox 360. "JellyCar" A bouncy, 2D car drives along on a sketchpad, bouncing up and down on a cartoon road. It looks adorable!<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-68.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:00 am PT </span>-- "Little Gamers" is next. A familiar little kid walks on a 2D plane chainsawing and shotgunning zombies. And yes, we can turn weapons into verbs if we want to. A compiation video runs.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:01 am PT </span>-- "Proximity HD" looks like Hexic. "Trilinea" appears to be a board-based game.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:02 am PT </span>-- "Culture" features a lush 3D sphere world explored by a seed of some sorts. Free trials of these games are available on Xbox Live Marketplace "now," announces Satchell.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-63.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:04 am PT</span> -- "Democritizing" game development... there's that word again. We should ask our slave to tell us what it means. What if some of these games could be taken mobile? What if you had a Zune (what if indeed...)? XNA Game Studios titles on your Zune. Aha.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-112.jpg" alt="" /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-113.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:05 am PT</span> -- Satchell whips out a Zune (he actually has one) and selects "Zauri", a topdown shooter. It supports custom soundtracks too (what with it being an MP3 player and all). You can take a game from Windows, to Xbox, to Zune, explains Satchell. "We've more than delivered," says Satchell of Microsoft's original XNA vision.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-127.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:06 am PT - </span>What about professionals? Satchell calls for another guest -- Dr. Michael Capps, President of Epic Games. He's here to show off the next version of Unreal Engine running on Xbox 360.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:08 am PT</span> -- It's been a year and a half since Gears of War 1, says Capps.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-132.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:09 am PT </span>-- Tim Sweeney's here to demonstrate the new features of the engine.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Ambient occlusion dramatically improves shadow highlights, says Sweeney.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-131.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:10 am PT</span> -- We see Marcus Fenix being rendered with better specular lighting. High density crowds are new -- we see a massive crowd of Locusts flocking through a Gears of War environment.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-130.jpg" alt="" /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-133.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:11 am PT</span> -- Dynamic Fluid effects look... liquidy. Marcus Fenix splashes through a pool to demonstrate.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-138.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:12 am PT</span> -- Matinee improvements -- it's what power the cutscene in Gears of War.<br /><br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-137.jpg" alt="" /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-136.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:13 am PT</span> -- Better structural degradation allows concrete to break apart in an explosion. Marcus kills an innocent concrete pillar with a Torque bow.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:14 am PT</span> -- John Schappert's back. Um, excuse us, but weren't you guys supposed to announce Gears of War 2? Over 1,000 games on Xbox 360 by the end of 2008, promises Schappert. And that excludes Xbox Live Community Games.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:15 am PT</span> -- April 29th brings GTAIV to Xbox 360, "on day one." Starting Fall 2008, GTA DLC will hit Xbox Live Marketplace.Oh, and there will be "plenty of games for the whole family to enjoy," adds Schappert<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-168.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:16am PT</span> -- A new guest on stage -- Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki! He's here to demonstrate Ninja Gaiden II (AKA GOTY 2008, FYI)<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-172.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:17 am PT</span> -- Itagaki, in his usual leather-and-sunglasses attire, grabs the microphone with confidence and tells us about how the Japanese gaming industry still has lots of vitality.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:18 am PT</span> -- A never-before-seen level is running on "real hardware." <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:19 am PT</span> -- The Temple of Sacrifice... sounds creepy. Ryu stands in a long, dark corridor and equips... oh my, that's a big sword.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-260.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:20 am PT</span> -- He runs into a massive open area, ad hundreds of dragon-like creatures populate the sky. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:21 am PT</span> -- Ryu battles some hideous creatures on a rickety bridge, effortlessly (and violently) dispatching them. A monster with a chainsaw for an arm pins Ryu down and attempts to separate im from his head. This is aweosome. Ryu pulls out the lunar staf and goes utterly ballistic. These monsters are in big trouble.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:22 am PT</span> -- The environment's scale is highly impressive, far beyond that of anything in the original Xbox 1 game(s).<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-239.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:23 am PT </span>-- A save point -- Ryu saves and a "record" icon appears at the top. It's recorded a clip of the gameplay, and players are able to upload their films to Xbox Live. More violence ensues!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:25 am PT</span> -- Ryu dashes down a path, but is blocked by enormous winged creatures. Some hacking, some slashing and a brief Xbox 360 controller disconnect (whoops!) takes care of them. A gigantic demon appears -- he seems disgruntled. " You ungrateful monkeys!"<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:26 am PT</span> -- "Submit or die." We choose... FIGHT! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:27 am PT </span>-- <span style="font-weight: bold;">June 2008 is the release date </span>Dear June, get here NOW. The game will be shipped in " early June" around the world. North America gets it on June 3rd.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-175.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:28 am PT </span>-- " We'll send you one of those play and charge kits," quips Satchell as he reappears Next up: a developer from the other side of the world. Welcome Peter Molyneux.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-364.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:29 am <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span></span> -- He's showing us Fable 2. "No surprises," says Molyneux. Two new features are up for discussion and a live demo is to be shown. "It's very scary."<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-346.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:30 am PT</span> -- In Fable 2, money is very important. You get money for doing jobs and... well, gambling. Walk into a pub and play a game -- this one's called Keystone.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-356.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:31 am PT </span>-- A bit of a cross between Roulette and Craps, says Peter. He bets on 17, rolls the dice and ... wins? We think he's cheating. It was a trick! It's actually an XBLA game.. the money won can be used in Fable 2.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:32 am PT</span> -- The game will be released a few weeks before Fable 2 -- "You'll be rich before you start playing the game." Peter points out that he's a woman. In the game. His Fable 2 character stands in a lush forest, the trusty Fable dog a few steps behind.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-350.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:33 am PT</span> -- The next feature requires an assistant. "What I really want is dynamic co-op," declares Peter. At any time during the game, another character can join you.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:34 am PT --</span> Peter's friend teleports into the scene -- any experience and money he earns here can be taken back to his own single-player game.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-363.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:35 am PT</span> -- It seems the friend can't bring his dog -- aww. The two characters stand at a fork in the road. They're off to pick a fight. " Combat is a big thing, " says Peter. It has to be accessible and deep enough for everyone -- "It's gonna be amazing."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:36 am PT</span> -- Some monsters are slain, with Peter's character wielding a gun and his friend swinging a sword. It seems a little abrupt. Peter heads off to his home -- he's been pregnant, you know. His son runs up, "I never thought you'd ever come back!"<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-343.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:37 am PT</span> -- "It's complete simulation." Peter's husband doesn't seem pleased -- in fact, he seems like a douchebag. Peter's friend shoots the husband! That seemed harsh. Peter warns us to be careful about who you invite into your game and marches off.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:38 am PT</span> -- Satchell's back, and speaks of the gaming opportunities that lie ahead in 2008. Games " for the people, by the people." James Silver could be the next Peter Molyneux, suggests Satchell.<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/ms-gdc-08-367.jpg" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:39 am PT</span> -- A Gears of War logo? A chainsaw? Marcus Fenix. What's this video about? Oh, of course, it's Gears of War 2!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:40 am PT</span> -- CliffyB burst in (with a chainsaw) and leaves us with a tiny piece of info. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gears 2 in November 2008, only on Xbox 360.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:41 am PT</span> -- Okay folks, we're leaving. And we're taking our seats with us. END<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/joystiq-live-from-the-microsoft-gdc-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1119877/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/joystiq-live-from-the-microsoft-gdc-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>BreakingNews</category><category>GDC08</category><category>Keynote</category><category>Liveblog</category><category>Microsoft</category><dc:creator>Ludwig Kietzmann</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-02-20T14:35:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>A look back at GDC 2007</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/13/a-look-back-at-gdc-2007/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/13/a-look-back-at-gdc-2007/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/13/a-look-back-at-gdc-2007/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ds/" rel="tag">Nintendo DS</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/pc/" rel="tag">PC</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ps3/" rel="tag">Sony PlayStation 3</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/wii/" rel="tag">Nintendo Wii</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/xbox360/" rel="tag">Microsoft Xbox 360</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/a-look-back-at-gdc-07-490-revised-2.jpg" alt="" /><br /></div>
<span style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 7px;"> <script> var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/A_look_back_at_GDC_2007_just_in_time_for_GDC08'; </script> <script src="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.js"></script></span> Next week, the Joystiq crew will pack their precious belongings (a laptop, some clothes, and a towel) before flying off to the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. So now seems about as good a time as any to reflect back on last year's GDC for a taste of what's to come. Sure, there's a dearth of playable demos when compared to <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/e3/">E3</a> or <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/tgs/">TGS</a>, but what other trade show can say they redefined the <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/tag/ducttape">role of adhesive</a> in internet conversations?<br /><br />Keep reading for our remembrances of the keynotes (what's Game 3.0 again?), last year's big news (Harmonix and EA are doing what?), the sessions and interviews (the Wii is how many Gamecubes duct-taped together?), and the whole culture of GDC (Miyamoto made quite a splash).<div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/02/a-look-back-at-gdc-07-490-revised-2.jpg" alt="" /><br /></div>
<span style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 7px;"> <script> var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/A_look_back_at_GDC_2007_just_in_time_for_GDC08'; </script> <script src="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.js"></script></span> Next week, the Joystiq crew will pack their precious belongings (a laptop, some clothes, and a towel) before flying off to the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. So now seems about as good a time as any to reflect back on last year's GDC for a taste of what's to come. Sure, there's a dearth of playable demos when compared to <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/e3/">E3</a> or <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/tgs/">TGS</a>, but what other trade show can say they redefined the <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/tag/ducttape">role of adhesive</a> in internet conversations?<br /><br />Keep reading for our remembrances of the keynotes (what's Game 3.0 again?), last year's big news (Harmonix and EA are doing what?), the sessions and interviews (the Wii is how many Gamecubes duct-taped together?), and the whole culture of GDC (Miyamoto made quite a splash).<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/13/a-look-back-at-gdc-2007/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1112584/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/13/a-look-back-at-gdc-2007/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>a-look-back-gdc07</category><category>gdc</category><category>gdc07</category><category>gdca</category><category>igf</category><category>joystiqfeatures</category><category>keynote</category><category>nintendo</category><category>sony</category><dc:creator>Ross Miller</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-02-13T17:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Microsoft's John Schappert to deliver GDC keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/15/microsofts-john-schappert-to-deliver-gdc-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/15/microsofts-john-schappert-to-deliver-gdc-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/15/microsofts-john-schappert-to-deliver-gdc-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/xbox360/" rel="tag">Microsoft Xbox 360</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/08/john-schappert-ea.jpg" alt="" />In a keynote entitled "A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Community," Microsoft will either discuss the implications of chasing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_blaster">Sound Blaster</a> owners from their homes... or the "Xbox 360 platform's next step in democratizing game development," which is what it says here in the press release. The same informative block of text notes that Microsoft's keynote at this year's <a href="http://www.gdconf.com/">Game Developers Conference</a> -- its first since 2005 -- will be delivered by John Schappert, otherwise known as "Corporate Vice President of LIVE, Software and Services for the Interactive Entertainment Business" since <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/08/former-ea-exec-joins-microsoft-as-vp-of-live/">leaving EA in August 2007</a>.<br /><br />Schappert's schpeech will delve into the Xbox 360's schtrategy for 2008, touching on topics such as online gaming, digital distribution and support of smaller developers. <em>Top</em> developers are also part of the talk, with some of their plans for the Xbox 360 expected to be unfurled and plastered across colorful pie charts. Joystiq will provide a full report during the keynote on February 22nd, taking special care to describe <em>a future wide open</em>. We suspect it'll be obnoxiously bright and smell vaguely of gasoline.<br /><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/15/microsofts-john-schappert-to-deliver-gdc-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1087578/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/15/microsofts-john-schappert-to-deliver-gdc-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>GDC-2008</category><category>John-Schappert</category><category>Keynote</category><category>XBLA</category><category>Xbox-Live</category><category>Xbox-Live-Arcade</category><category>XboxLive</category><dc:creator>Ludwig Kietzmann</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-01-15T17:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Today's Guitar Hero-as-a-prop video: Bill Gates Keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/08/todays-guitar-hero-as-a-prop-video-bill-gates-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/08/todays-guitar-hero-as-a-prop-video-bill-gates-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/08/todays-guitar-hero-as-a-prop-video-bill-gates-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ps2/" rel="tag">Sony PlayStation 2</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ps3/" rel="tag">Sony PlayStation 3</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/wii/" rel="tag">Nintendo Wii</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/xbox360/" rel="tag">Microsoft Xbox 360</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/video/" rel="tag">Video</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ces/" rel="tag">CES</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/rhythm/" rel="tag">Rhythm</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/business/" rel="tag">Business</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/casual/" rel="tag">Casual</a></p><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29413.html"><img align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/12/gam_schoolofrock_225.jpg" alt="" /></a>If you saw <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/06/despite-guitar-hero-skills-bill-gates-cant-join-u2/">our</a> <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/06/guitar-hero-champ-plays-guns-n-roses-song-with-slash-on-real-gu/">coverage</a> -- don't click yet if you didn't -- you know the <em>Guitar Hero</em>-related jokes from the final* Bill Gates <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/bill-gates-live-at-his-12th-and-final-ces-keynote/#comments">CES keynote</a>. But even if you know the premise, these videos are worth watching as a study in tradeshow comedy. Is humor in the timing or the delivery?<br /><br />See the keynote comedy after the break.<br /><br /><br />*As Microsoft chairman, that is.<center>  <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"  codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392">	<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> 	<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=29410"/> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=29410" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object>  <br />   <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"  codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392">	<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> 	<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=29413"/> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=29413" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object>  </center><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href=http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29413.html>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/08/todays-guitar-hero-as-a-prop-video-bill-gates-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1080535/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/08/todays-guitar-hero-as-a-prop-video-bill-gates-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>bill-gates</category><category>ces-2008</category><category>ces-keynote-video</category><category>guitar-hero</category><category>hottest-video</category><category>hottestvideo</category><category>keynote</category><category>video</category><dc:creator>Zack Stern</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-01-08T01:31:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>NCSoft pledges Sony support, exclusive PS3 online games</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/ncsoft-pledges-sony-support-exclusive-ps3-online-games/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/ncsoft-pledges-sony-support-exclusive-ps3-online-games/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/ncsoft-pledges-sony-support-exclusive-ps3-online-games/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ps3/" rel="tag">Sony PlayStation 3</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/online/" rel="tag">Online</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/e3/" rel="tag">E3</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/mmo/" rel="tag">MMO</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-sonys-e3-2007-keynote/"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/07/ncsoftps3exclusive.jpg"  alt="" /></a><br /></div>
During <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-sonys-e3-2007-keynote/">Sony's E3 2007 keynote</a>, President and CEO Jack Tretton announced a new partnership with developer NCSoft, creators of online titles like <em>Lineage, Guild Wars</em>, and <em>City of Heroes</em>.  As part of the partnership, NCSoft will begin developing exclusive online titles for the Playstation 3 and its Playstation Network.<br /><br />This exclusivity can apply to both new and current IPs, although no specific games were mentioned.  "Only the Playstation Network can support the types of games that NCSoft has become famous for" says Tretton.  At the moment, it is unknown whether NCSoft will continue to support other platforms.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href=http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-sonys-e3-2007-keynote/>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/ncsoft-pledges-sony-support-exclusive-ps3-online-games/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/938293/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/11/ncsoft-pledges-sony-support-exclusive-ps3-online-games/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>cityofheroes</category><category>e3</category><category>e307</category><category>guildwars</category><category>keynote</category><category>lineage</category><category>ncsoft</category><category>ps3</category><category>sony</category><dc:creator>Scott Jon Siegel</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-07-11T15:10:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Engadget &amp; Joystiq live from Microsoft's E3 2007 keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/10/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-microsofts-e3-2007-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/10/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-microsofts-e3-2007-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/10/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-microsofts-e3-2007-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/microsoft-xbox/" rel="tag">Microsoft Xbox</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/xbox360/" rel="tag">Microsoft Xbox 360</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/07/dsc_0611.jpg" /></div>
Ok, we're live from Microsoft's E3 2007 keynote! The event officially kicks off at 8:30PM PDT, but we'll be doing our usual pre-game coverage here.<br /><br />
<div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/07/dsc_0617.jpg" /><br /></div>
<strong>8:06PM PDT</strong> - Ok, so the event is being held at -- get this -- a high school? It's a damned fancy one if you ask us, full coliseum style seating.<br /><br />
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Nope, it's not gray. Trust us. <br />
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<strong>8:19PM PDT </strong>- Hip hop and Chemical Brothers blasts out amid the green neon lights and giant silver balls. Microsoft's decision to hold the event outside is taking its toll on us. The chilly breeze is making us wish we wore jackets. Pants too.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:20PM PDT </span>- The intensity of the green stage lights seems to be increasing. It's somewhat disconcerting to view the people next to us turning a bright shade of green in the resulting glow. We're surrounded by aliens...or very ill people.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:23PM PDT</span> - "Ladies and gentlemen, the show will begin in ten minutes." A mysterious fog is appearing on the edges of the stage. Did a 360 just overheat? LOLZ!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:28PM PDT</span> - Two white 360s and a black Elite are up on stage. If there's a gray system around we don't see it. Commence furious internet speculation!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:30PM PDT</span> - There's a low object covered in a black shroud on the left side of the stage. What could it be? Maybe the return of the original Duke controller?<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:32 PM PDT</span> - "Please turn off your cell phones and pagers." We're pretty sure nobody here has a pager.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:34 PM PDT</span> - Five Halo fans from Libertyville, Illinois, are playing <span style="font-style: italic;">Halo 3</span> music. Two guitarist, a violinist, and a drummer -- there's even an electric fiddle. The audience is drooling profusely.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:36 PM</span> - The violinist is flipping out to a hard rock version of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Halo</span> theme. Well, flipping out as much as she can. It is a violin, after all.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:38 PM</span> - Peter Moore steps out and thanks the band, Coporeal. "These fans represent the people who will be playing Halo 3 in just 11 weeks."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:40 PM PDT</span> - Every demo shown tonight will be released this year. "It's the greatest lineup in video game history." A giant Rock Band logo appears on screen and Peter starts playing.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:42 PM PDT</span> - He's singing now. Somebody get us out of here! The drummer is thoroughly abusing his fake drum set. Moore accidentally pauses the game. "It's me." he cries.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:44 PM</span> - "The Strokes, Black Sabbath, Nirvana, The Who and more bands coming later this week." You can build bands online too ...<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:45 PM</span> The <span style="font-style: italic;">Viva Pinata</span> crew appears on screen. "The party animals are coming." A series of mini-games with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Viva Pinata</span> animals. It's... <span style="font-style: italic;">Viva Pinata: Party Animals.<br /></span>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:47 PM PDT</span> - Moore goes from cuddly critters to <span style="font-style: italic;">Mass Effect.</span> A video with large cities and characters discussing a disgruntled alien plotting to wipe out the galaxy.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:48 PM PDT</span> - Mass Effect will be coming in November. On to the numbers. "Xbox 360 has the largest installed base with 5.6 million units in the US. ... We're outselling PS3 by nearly two to one."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:50 PM</span> - Moore: "Since November, Xbox 360 third party games have cracked the top 10 list 18 times. Number of Wii and PS3 titles in the charts in the third-party top selling sales charts: zero, nil."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:52 PM PDT</span> - Half of all consumer spending in this generation is on the Xbox 360. The top five games of the last gen were all Halo and Grand Theft Auto or Madden.<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:53 PM PDT</span> - The only console that has GTA, Halo and Madden this holiday is ... well, you know. Take out Halo though ...<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:56 PM PDT</span> - A crapload of video demoes on screen. Project Gotham Racing 4, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, Call of Duty 4,Stranglehold, Guitar Hero 3, Beautiful Katamari, Lost Odyssey, NBA LIVE 08, Mass Effect, Fatal Inertia, Medal of Honor Airborne, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Ace Combat 6, NHL 08, Assassin's Creed, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, The Simpson Game, Splinter Cell Conviction, Nascar 08, Eternal Sonata, BioShock, Madden NFL08, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, Crash of the Titans, Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix, The Orange Box, Bee Movie Game (YEAH!), Rock Band, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:57 PM PDT</span> - MS VP Jeff Bell steps out to show of an Xbox Live version of the DVD game "Scene It!" It's a hideously mutated remote with an enormous red button. "Four controllers and the game are included for the price of one Xbox 360 game."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:58 PM PDT </span>- "I'm pleased to announce that our friend at Ubisoft will be bringing Naruto: Rise of a Ninja exclusively to the Xbox 360." OK!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">8:59 PM PDT</span> - Naruto demo shows on-screen. Hyper-kinetic fighting is the order of the day. The graphics capture the anime quite well.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:01 PM PDT</span> - Jeff Bell pimps out the fact that this year's EA Sports games will be "twice as fast" as last year's games. Reggie Bush comes out and proceeds to wallop Bell, running four gazillion yards for a touchdown.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"> 9:06 PM PDT</span> - Xbox Live has more than 7 million members. "We've added a new member every eight seconds." New games for XBL Arcade: Bomberman Live!, Undertow, Hexic 2, Sonic the Hedgehog (finally!), War World by Ubisoft, Sensible World of Soccer, Every Extend Extra Extreme, Geon by Eidos, Wing Commander Arena, Feeding Frenzy 2, Track and Field, Spyglass Board Games, Golden Axe, Space Giraffe, Super Puzzle Fighter II HD Turbo Remix, Marathon: Durandal, Poker Smash, Switchball, Tetris Splash, Puzzle Quest.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:08 PM PDT</span> - The video store is the fastest growing part of Xbox Live. Two thousand hours of entertainment in the last year, 500 in HD. $125 million has been spent on this content. Disney movie titles are coming to Xbox Live!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:10 PM</span> Disney movies will be available tonight and in high-def!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:12 PM PDT</span> - Elite is coming to Europe on Aug. 24. VP Shane Kim comes on stage. He runs down a list of some of the same games we saw earlier. Yawn.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:15 PM PDT</span> - The Project Gotham Racing 4 team comes out to show off the game. "For the first time ... bikes will be introduced to PGR4 ... Honda, Suzuki, Ducati, and more."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:16 PM PDT</span> - Dynamic weather effects are shown off. There's fog in Shanghai. You can share photos and videos online when the game comes this September.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:18 PM PDT</span> - Alan Wake, Too Human, Fable 2 and Halo Wars show how MS has "given game creators the resources to shoot for the stars, take risks, and go for things other creators can only dream of."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:19 PM PDT</span> - Lost Odyssey is next up. "What is the cost of my immortality?" asks the protagonist.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:20 PM PDT</span> - Intimidating architecture and loud noises aplenty in the trailer.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:22 PM PDT </span>- Games for Windows now. Gears of War coming to PC ... big surprise (not!). New content, a game editor, and "some very big surprises are in store." Cliffy B comes out to show Gears on the PC.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:23 PM PDT</span> - Co-op will be in the Windows version. Marcus Phoenix goes against a massive Brumak in a typical dilapidated Gears environment.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:25 PM </span>- Five new single player levels in the PC version. The game is clearly running at 60 FPS. Cliffy leaves and Moore comes back on stage.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:27 PM</span> - Sega, Eidos and THQ are delivering a dozen Games for Windows Live games this year. Epic is building GFW Live into Unreal Engine 3.0.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:29 PM PDT</span> - Nearly ten million gamers have moved to Vista. Games like Crysis, Hellgate: London, and Conan: Hyborian Advenures on Windows are all joined by: Thrillville: Off the Rails, the Bee Movie Game <br />(YEAH x2!) Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties, Stranglehold, Bioshock, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Blacksite: Area 51, World in Conflict, Lost Planet, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Zoo Tycoon 2: Exctinct Animals, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Viva Pinata, Spider-Man Friend or Foe.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:31 PM PDT</span> - Call of Duty 4 gets shown off. A scary (and obscenely loud) voice talks about honor and economies. Probably a villain of some sorts then.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:34 PM PDT</span> - Two Infiinity Ward developers come out. They're promising "variety" in their next game. A real-time demonstration begins with the character inching his way through a bleak field, shadows bouncing off a very detailed rifle. He scans the grass for enemies, takes aim and kills an enemy from a far. "He's down. Goodnight."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:35 PM PDT</span> The shadowing is impressive, with seemingly every branch of a nearby tree casting an inky shadow on the soldier's weapon, and his comrade.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:38 PM PDT</span> - Exclusive multiplayer beta of CoD4 coming to Xbox Live. Check the Call of Duty web site for more details. Back to Peter!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:41 PM PDT</span> - Now we've got Grand Theft Auto 4. Real time footage is all from the 360 version, Moore notes. Episodic content coming sometime in Spring 2008.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:42 PM PDT</span> - Resident Evil 5! It won't be out this year, unlike every other game shown today.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:43 PM PDT</span> - The RE5 protagonist seems to be in a creepy, dusty African town. Oh, and crazy sickle-wielding citizens? Yeah, they're back. Full trailer on XBL marketplace July 26.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:44 PM PDT</span> Assassin's Creed. Jade Raymond comes up, accompanied by hooting and whistling. A new sprawling city is shown, with the protagonist high atop a tower. He leaps into a passing hay cart. "Luckily no one saw that."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:46 PM PDT</span> - The city is Jerusalem. "Part of your experience in the game is getting to know the city, and getting to know the people. They may help or hinder you. ... Last year we showed you the monks as one way to get in, but tonight we're going to show you a different way to get in."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:47 PM PDT</span> - Altair (the protagonist) distracts some guards with a well-placed, err, corpse. He dispatches another feeble guard and enters a dusty home. He then runs into a trap and is surrounded. "So now since we're cornered ... it's a good time to fight."<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:48 PM PDT</span> - Altair's perforating his enemies with deadly efficiency, hurling an enemy through a set of nearby shelves. Animation seems a little rough in parts. "No two chase animations are the same," says Raymond. Altair pushes people out of the way as he chases someone across the rooftops. They still slow him down a bit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:50 PM PDT</span> - November '07 for Assassin's Creed. Peter Moore returns. "Now each generation brings with it a few select stories that are groundbreaking and define storytelling. For many, that story was Star Wars. Thirty years later, a new generation is claiming a new story, and a new title ..."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:51 PM PDT</span> - Moore: "I'm very pleased to present to you a unique partnership between Bungie Studios, Weta down in New Zealand, and director Neil Blomkamp. This live-action trailer gives you a chance to see what they've been working on, and a new chance to believe."<br /> <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 9:52 PM PDT</span> - Green text on a computer screen. "Re-armament initialized." Machinery in a large factory is manufacturing UNSC helmets, a young man is getting his head shaved. A huge array of Warthogs and weapons are shown, with a Pelican rising from beneath a cargo door.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:53 PM PDT</span> - The green console is back! It's a new console for the "Halo Nation" (read: you). A Halo 3 special edition with a gray controller and other accessories.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:54 PM PDT</span> - The special edition is out this holiday as part of the greatest holiday lineup in history, sez Moore. Reaction in the crowd is lackluster.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:58 PM PDT</span> - A voiceover warns that "your world will BURN." A wide variety of locales is shown: underground caverns, a murky swamp, a desert. We see Cortana clutching her head and falling to her knees. Glimpses of a large space battle, Master Chief firing a stationary turret from within a Pelican. He seems to have a violent disagreement with the Arbiter at one point (oh, those two!)<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">9:59 PM PDT </span>- The conference is done. The band from earlier returns to play us off to our appointment at the chiropractor (this ampitheatre is not comfortable).<br /> </div><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/10/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-microsofts-e3-2007-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/937168/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/10/engadget-and-joystiq-live-from-microsofts-e3-2007-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>breakingnews</category><category>e3</category><category>e307</category><category>e3breakingnews</category><category>joystiqfeatures</category><category>keynote</category><category>liveblog</category><category>microsoft</category><dc:creator>Ludwig Kietzmann</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-07-10T23:08:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Today's queueiest game video: Miyamoto keynote line</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/todays-queueiest-game-video-miyamoto-keynote-line/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/todays-queueiest-game-video-miyamoto-keynote-line/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/todays-queueiest-game-video-miyamoto-keynote-line/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/wii/" rel="tag">Nintendo Wii</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><p><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I-M32aUdVqw" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></p>
<p>It took a good four minutes to traverse roughly half the line that circled a whole city block around the Moscone center's South Hall. We know your time is important, though, so we sped the above up to double speed. </p><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href=http://youtube.com/watch?v=I-M32aUdVqw>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/todays-queueiest-game-video-miyamoto-keynote-line/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/849174/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/todays-queueiest-game-video-miyamoto-keynote-line/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>GDC</category><category>GDC07</category><category>keynote</category><category>line</category><category>Miyamoto</category><category>San Francisco</category><category>SanFrancisco</category><dc:creator>Kyle Orland</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-03-09T04:05:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Joystiq and Engadget live at Nintendo's 2007 GDC keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/08/joystiqs-live-coverage-of-the-nintendo-gdc-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/08/joystiqs-live-coverage-of-the-nintendo-gdc-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/08/joystiqs-live-coverage-of-the-nintendo-gdc-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ds/" rel="tag">Nintendo DS</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/wii/" rel="tag">Nintendo Wii</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/giantline.jpg" alt="" /><br /></div>
<strong><span style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 7px;"> <script> var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Live_Coverage_of_Nintendo_s_GDC_Keynote_2'; </script> <script src="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.js"></script></span>10:07 a.m.: </strong>We're sitting at the Miyamoto keynote. We count five screens of nine Wii logos apiece, totaling 45 Wii logos. That's a lot of Wii! The podium glows blue with a white Nintendo logo and the background shows an effervescent blue cloud that fits accordingly to the inoffensive electronic beats.<br />
<div align="left"> <br /><strong> 10:08 a.m.:</strong> More Daft Punk, just like yesterday's Sony keynote -- only this time, it's the original. Perhaps it's a subtle allusion how Nintendo and Sony view each other -- old-school originality vs. technically proficient remixing. Yes, we went there.<br /><br /><strong>10:20 a.m.: </strong>A GDC helper, um, person informs us to make more efficient use of our seating positions. "The place is going to be <em>packed</em>,<em>" </em>he says. People nod right before averting their eyes from the garish green shirt he's wearing. <br /><br /><strong>10:25 a.m.:</strong> People continue to pour in and fill up the cheap seats. Luckily, prestigious press people like us get reserved space up front. Suckers!<br /><br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/miyamotogdc2.jpg" /><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />10:31 a.m.: </span>There's Adam Sessler in the distance, chewing gum and scanning the crowd intently. The way he's chewing seems to indicate either extreme disinterest or extreme anxiety. We brought lots of extra gum.<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:38 a.m.:</span> A GDC employee/volunteer slouched in front of us is wearing a T-shirt that reads, "Ask me -- I can help." Well, this Sudoku puzzle is giving us a hard time ...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:48 a.m.:</span> Our photographer, Zack, is getting hassled for using a camera tripod in our current seating area. " My legs are longer than this tripod," he argues. "Yes sir, but your legs aren't a fire hazard," the GDC helper replies. We briefly picture his legs consumed by flames.<br /><br />
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:53 a.m.:</span> The keynote is running quite late, as evidenced by the facts that (1) it's 10:53 a.m., and the show was scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m.; (2) Miyamoto isn't anywhere to be seen; and (3) we've looped back to the Daft Punk song we were listening to when we arrived.<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:00 a.m.:</span> GDC head Jamil Moledina comes out to make the intros. "Will Wright calls our next keynote speaker the Steven Spielberg of gaming ... the Steven Spielberg of games is about to arrive."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:03 a.m.: </span>The Wii menu appears on screen, with a GDC07 channel (?). A slightly disturbing Miyamoto Mii is selected and added to Mii plaza. It fades away and the real Miyamoto appears. It's magic!<br /><br />
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:05 a.m.:</span> Miyamoto notes that it's been eight years since his last GDC appearance. He whips out a Wii remote and shows ... pictures of his garden on the photo channel. Stop the presses!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:08 a.m.:</span> He's moved on to pictures of games gone by. He compares the best selling games of 1998 -- <span style="font-style: italic;">Goldeneye, Ocarina, Gran Turismo, Super Mario 64 </span>-- to today's top sellers -- <span style="font-style: italic;">GTA, Madden, Halo 2, ESPN NFL2K5</span>. Oh noes!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:10 a.m.: </span>Video games have gotten a bad reputation over the past few years. Reporters were focusing on how games and gamers were perceived. As developers, we felt threatened.<br /><br />
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:14 a.m.</span>: Miyamoto talks about his family's reaction to his games. His wife didn't really like <span style="font-style: italic;">Ocarina of Time</span>, until his daughter started getting into it. Suddenly, Mrs. Miyamoto was enthralled. The wife-o-meter registers a hit!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:17 a.m.:</span> But the wife-o-meter must climb higher! Mrs. Miyamoto likes dogs, as do many other people around the world (including women). Of course, this led to <span style="font-style: italic;">Nintendogs</span>. When Miyamoto told his wife the game had no enemies, it finally made her look at games with a different perspective. <span style="font-style: italic;">Brain Age</span> really pushed over the edge of the gaming abyss (creepy!).<br /><br />
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<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:20 a.m.: </span>A Mrs. Miyamoto Mii (say that three times fast) shows up. She's hawt! Miyamoto says Miis are like the first step in game design. "When she gets going, I can retire" he jokes. No,Miyamoto! Don't leave us! You can NEVER RETIRE!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:22 a.m.:</span> Now he's talking about balance. People at Nintendo discuss games all the time, even in the bathroom (giving the term "Wii games" a whole new meaning. Har har).<br /><br />
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<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11: 25 a.m.: </span>Third parties were initially worried that the Wii remote would mean turning their back on traditional franchises. The TV remote design highlights the concept of balance. He's always dreamed of the kinds of things you can do with the remote. Now those dreams area reality. It's magic ... again!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:28 a.m.:</span> Miyamoto is showing a picture of some sort of Japanese card game museum. The card are shown on touchscreens on the floor, and you can move them with your feet. It's like having a DS on the floor, Miyamoto says. Note to readers: Playing the DS with your feet can lead to a stinky/broken DS.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:31 a.m.:</span> Apparently Nintendo helped design this museum exhibit. Since it wasn't a game, they didn't have to worry about how it would end, and it was a joy to work on. This "game" truly bridges the gap between the generations, Miyamoto says. Awwww, how sweet.<br /><br />
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:35 a.m.:</span> Now Miyamoto's on to the third part of Nintendo's vision -- risk. The GameCube was a half-step towards this vision, he says, with the giant A button, but it was still too complicated. DS and Wii are much more risky.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">11:36 a.m.:</span> They "dared to take the greater risk" with a one-handed controller. The long lines and happy faces of Wii players at E3 proved they made the right decision.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:37 a.m.:</span> Corporate vision is important, but personal vision is key, Miyamoto says. The harder you look at games the farther you get from finding the things that make them important. When Miyamoto designs, he imagines the face of the player as they play.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:40 a.m.:</span> Miyamoto reminisces about the DS launch in Japan, and shows video of a Japanese girl squealing with delight (or sharp pain... we think it's probably the former). "That's the reaction I always want," Miyamoto says. <br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">11:42 a.m.:</span> Miyamoto keeps that image of the happy player in his mind at all times. He reminds the team of it when they begin to stray from their goals. Developers should always be willing to take risks and delay games when they're not ready.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:45 a.m.:</span> Positive emotions like these are necessary to expand the gaming audience and lure in people who are scared of traditional games. Reviewers should add a new category detailing how much non-gamers like a game, he says. We guess that's good if any non-gamers happen to accidentally read the review ...<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:48 a.m.: </span>Players experience talking about games is also important. Apparently, the original <span style="font-style: italic;">Zelda</span> prototype didn't go over well in Japan -- people were struggling with the puzzles. Instead of making it easier, Miyamoto took away the sword at the beginning. This made players focus on talking with other players and exchanging advice for what to do next.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:50 p.m.: </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Animal Crossing</span>, a game without competition, "bumped up the wife-o-meter" and sold over 7 million copies, Miyamoto says.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:54 a.m.</span>: Prioritization is also important. Miyamoto has always wanted to make a realistic baseball game, but <span style="font-style: italic;">Wii Sports: Baseball</span> isn't realistic at all because a full baseball sim would fit in the unrealistic Miis. He'd like to do a realistic baseball game in the future though. <span style="font-style: italic;">Pennant Chase Wii</span>, anyone?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:55 a.m.</span>: Trivia: <span style="font-style: italic;">Wii Sports: Baseball</span> originally had Mario characters, but people preferred the Miis.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">11:58 a.m.:</span> Last key point -- tenacity. Like the tenacity of the audience that has been sitting here for almost two hours. The Famicom disk drive was intended for a face animation program at one point. "But how could this be a game," someone asked him. "It would be a very fun idea," he responded. Gripping.<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12:01 p.m.:</span> An N64 disk drive prototype video shows a polygonal Yamauchi bowing and thanking Nintendo fans with the standard N64 blurriness. Strong shades of the Mii Channel here. A 3D Iwata and Miyamoto come out and dance with what Miyamoto calls "great rhythm." People still didn't see it as a good game idea, but Miyamoto pressed on.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">12:04 p.m.: </span>When another team started using the face animation idea on a DS game, Miyamoto told his team they were useless. "They often don't appreciate me that much," he says. He was frustrated with himself, too, though, for failing to turn this face-making program into something more substantial. He wanted something that wouldn't be a game in itself but that could be used to make sharing in other games more fun. More realistic graphics would make things more complicated and less like a fun program for everybody -- he wanted something simple. Tenacity finally paid off in Mii channel, of course.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12:06 p.m.:</span> ANNOUNCEMENT! Miyamoto is working on a channel that will allow people to compete in popularity contests with their Miis. Stop the presses again!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">12:08 p.m.:</span> Miyamoto introduces Mario, and asks "What ever happened to Mario 128?" Apparently we've already played it -- in <span style="font-style: italic;">Pikmin</span>. Elements will also be in <span style="font-style: italic;">Super Mario Galaxy</span>. A video is shown showing Mario zipping past planets, spinning through stars, collecting coins and dashing about on all sorts of structures.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12:10 p.m.</span>: Graphics are by far the most impressive yet on the Wii. Mario is avoiding falling blocks and floating on a giant flower. The game will be out this year, Miyamoto confirms.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12:14 p.m.: </span>"Your vision doesn't have to be my vision," Miyamoto says. You should apply your own visions. "You've given me a lot of faith about the future of our industry." True success will mean breaking out of the industry and becoming part of the larger culture. With Nintendo's tools and visions, we can make it happen. "We must always remember the human touch. After all, if we can convert my wife, we can convert anyone, right?" Crowd explodes into a gibbering mass of screaming fans as the keynote ends. We're going back to our Sudoku, now.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/08/joystiqs-live-coverage-of-the-nintendo-gdc-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/848568/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/08/joystiqs-live-coverage-of-the-nintendo-gdc-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>breakingnews</category><category>GDC07</category><category>keynote</category><category>liveblog</category><category>miyamoto</category><category>Nintendo</category><dc:creator>Ludwig Kietzmann</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-03-08T13:12:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>GDC Vox Pop: Why weren't you at the keynote?</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-vox-pop-why-werent-you-at-the-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-vox-pop-why-werent-you-at-the-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-vox-pop-why-werent-you-at-the-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/voxpop1.jpg" alt="" /><br />Judging from the line outside Moscone's South Hall at about 10:15 this morning, it might have seemed like everyone at the Game Developers Conference was at <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/joystiq-and-engadget-live-at-sonys-2007-gdc-keynote/">Sony boss Phil Harrison's keynote speech</a>. That's far from true, though, as Moscone's West Hall was filled with attendees either unwilling, unable or uninterested in attending the major speech.<br /><br />Eric Bendle form Sierra Nevada Corp. (pictured above) said he was heading down to the speech but "got distracted" by the stuff happening on the convention floor. Bendle seemed mildly interested to find out what was being announced at the speech, but as a defense contractor, he felt the content probably didn't apply too directly to him anyway.<br /><br />Read on for more justifications for missing the speech.<img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/voxpop2.jpg" alt="" /><br />When I asked Kevin Borer from Riot Games about missing the Sony keynote, he said he "didn't even know it was going on." Even if he had known, he said his Expo pass wouldn't have let him get in anyway. He had yet to even make a quick circuit of the show floor, and seemed more interested in doing that than listen to some guy talk about the PS3.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/voxpop4.jpg" alt="" /><br />Justin Stark from Digital Artists Management was also unaware Sony's major speech was going on. Stark said he's been coming to this show for years and is "more interested in making business connections than listening to a speech." As it is, Stark said he only had a half hour to sneak away from his company's booth elsewhere on the show floor, so he probably couldn't spare the time to listen to Harrison anyway.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/voxpop5.jpg" alt="" /><br />Carlton D'Silva and Reetu Khatau from Virtual Marketing said they had hopped off a flight from India and arrived at the show just before I talked to them Wednesday morning. They hadn't even had a chance to look at the show schedule, much less plan a trip to an hours-long speech. Regardless, they figured the content probably wouldn't be of interest to them. "We're not so much technology people," D'Silva said. "We're more about connecting people."<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/voxpop6.jpg" alt="" /><br />Gamestop Assistant Manager Leland Wiseman says he wanted to go to attend Harrison's keynote, but he couldn't afford the hundreds of extra dollars to upgrade his Expo Pass to one that could get him in to the speech. He seemed openly envious of those who got to hear about the latest PS3 and PSP announcements first hand. "I'd love to be there if I could, believe me," he said.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href=http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/joystiq-and-engadget-live-at-sonys-2007-gdc-keynote/>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-vox-pop-why-werent-you-at-the-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/847792/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-vox-pop-why-werent-you-at-the-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>GDC07</category><category>keynote</category><category>sony</category><category>Vox pop</category><category>VoxPop</category><dc:creator>Kyle Orland</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-03-07T14:52:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Joystiq and Engadget live at Sony's 2007 GDC keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/joystiq-and-engadget-live-at-sonys-2007-gdc-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/joystiq-and-engadget-live-at-sonys-2007-gdc-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/joystiq-and-engadget-live-at-sonys-2007-gdc-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ps3/" rel="tag">Sony PlayStation 3</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2269.jpg" />
<div align="left"><strong>10:20 a.m.: </strong>We're being let in and taking our seats now.<br /><br /><strong>10:30 a.m.: </strong>We've taken our seats, but the press is still milling about. Coldplay is playing over the sound system, a PlayStation logo is on the screen, and giant props from the just-announced-this-morning <em>LittleBigPlanet</em> flank both sides of the massive screen.<br /><br /><strong>10:32 a.m.:</strong> On the left side of the stage there's a large tree--pretty much life-size--that looks like it's made out of a glob of clay, the right side has a gear rotating, about the same size as the tree. Is it a water wheel? Colored lights glaze across the ceiling in maroon, greens, and blues. <br /><strong><br />10:33 a.m.: </strong>The room fits about 5,000 people, it will be full. A many-iterations removed remix of an LCD Soundsystem song is playing<br /> </div>
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<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">10:38 a.m.</span>: They've just brought out giant bouncy soccer balls, which the crowd eagerly bounces above their heads. We've just been told they'll be throwing out additional balls through two "goals" on the left and right side of the auditorium. Camera people grab their precious gear while we nervously guard our laptops. The balls are obviously from <span style="font-style: italic;">LittleBigPlanet</span> ... or maybe a next-gen soccer-sim for giants.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:39 a.m.:</span> The two screens flanking the stages show scores for Team A and Team B. Ohhhh, they're aiming the soccer balls into the goals. Team B has 4, Team A has 2. We're right in the middle, maintaining our neutrality in this war. Team B has 6; they're <span style="font-style: italic;">machines</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:40 a.m.: </span>The beats of Daft Punk's around the world fuel the audience's new found appreciation for Brobdingnagian soccer.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:44 a.m.: </span>Lights fading. Dialog beginning. The music has stopped, the crowd is clapping, and a disembodied voice says something. GDC's Jamil Moledina takes the stage.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:46 a.m.: </span>"This is a great time for developers in which all of the platforms are coming to GDC with all of the information and tools coming to their systems. This year's keynotes focus directly on empowering developers<br />Today's keynote speaker is Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer Entertainment worldwide studios."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:47 a.m.: </span>The soccer ball game was an example of audience participation and emergent gameplay ... well, played Sony. Well played. "We're here to talk about some of the things you've just demonstrated in the pre-conference entertainment, mainly audience participation and emergent gameplay. There was a magazine front cover late last year which I thought a pivotal moment in the internet age, in which Time said you were there person of the year."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:49 a.m.: </span>The now famous Time Magazine YOU cover hits the big screen behind Phil. Web 2.0, that's all of you! Go ahead, pat yourself on the back. Really. A medley of logos surround the words Web 2.0 -- eBay, YouTube, MySpace, Amazon, Wikipedia. Game 1.0 slide -- The disconnected console, the static game disc or cart.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">10:50 a.m.: </span>NES, PlayStation, Super NES, Atari, genesis, Gam Boy, Game 2.0 PS2, PC, Xbxo, DS LIte, WoW, ... what, no GameCube?! "This is about the connected device... powered by active communities built on open standards. We want the entire game community to add to this and build on this. This is not something that we want to claim as a copyright or a trademark. It's about community, it's about collaboration. It's about customization. It's about emergent entertainment powered by the audience, with the audience at the center of this universe"<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:52 a.m.: </span>Social, community, localization, localization also (note the spelling, Phil's British!)<br />Emergent entertainment is the buzzword of the day ...<br /><br />The XMB has an additional icon for Home. He selects it and it launches what appears to be a separate app. The producer for Home takes the stage to walk us through all the new features. The screen behind them appears to have frozen ... the audience giggles just slightly.<br />
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:53 a.m.: </span>Another apparent glitch affects the machine they switched to ... but then they get past it. The Home service comes up, and they're met with a "Usage Policy." The audience laughs as Phil clicks Accept. WE can't wait to read this thing!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:55 a.m.: </span>"You will be able to download additional clothing from the PlayStation store to extend and expand your experience. The games themselves will unlock content that will allow you to wear a T-shirt ... Allows you to express yourself and your personality. You can also customize your face ... you can see we have a great deal of control ..."<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2293.jpg" /><br /><br />The virtual PSP looks just like a PSP, XMB and all. The avatar creation tool has dozens of options, from clothing to faces.<br /><br />Phil continues, "So rather than spend a great deal of time focusing on individual face customization, let's look at some presets that we've made already. So where can you go in Home? As we walk around, you can see our banner ads reall y are banners."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10: 57 a.m.:</span> Unlike Nintendo's relatively spartan Mii creation tool (seriously, no redheads?), the Home customization tools offer a nearly unlimited amount of faces. He scrolls through some precreated faces to display the range. Impressive.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2295.jpg" /><br /><br />He shows off advertising in the world, with ads from games like Resistance and HD video playing back on screens in the world, in 3D. The world looks more than a little like Second Life, The virtual keyboard is ... He accidentally types "Ho" instead of "Hi." The audience appreciates the mistake<br /><br />They chat with an Sony employee to show off the voice chat. Sound quality is a little tinny, but that's to be expected.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:58 a.m.:</span> "A games lounge. This was invented to create opportunities for social interaction ... To meet to share to get to know each other while playing very easy, simple games. And then we have our pool table, where you can just walk up and play. We can also walk over to our bowling alley and have a quick frame of bowling. Scott's going to show us his misspent use. Clearly he's spent far too much time in the office."<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2303.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:59 a.m.: </span>The camera swings around when you activate the pool table. You're still inside the 3D world, but the interface becomes concentrated around the pool table. Same with bowling and the Arcade games. The screen gets taken up by a helicopter rescue game, until he moves his head around and are reminded that you're actually in the Home world. He activates a menu to take them from the public space to a private space.<br /><br />"The arcade machines are actually user definable. You ca select which games you want to play and download them into this space. While you play this simple little game, you can also break out the virtual PSP and look around the space all the while maintaining the immersion...communication...being able to chat with other people. We've talked about the public spaces, let's talk about the private spaces. Everyone has their own private apartment."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:00 a.m.:</span> "Let's bring in our friend Adrien over into our apartment.... First thing we can do is change the wallpaper. This is a basic apartment, but very quickly we can change the look and feel. You could have something like Resistance: Fall of War wallpaper. This can become your clan's clubroom. All the communication functionality works everywhere in home. Now you can also download additional furniture. It will either be free, premium items, or it could be linked to particular games as well."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:01 a.m.: </span>The menus used to change the wallpaper look elegant and flexible, just like the character creation tools. No word on whether this furniture you can download will be free or not. We imagine a variety of models could be used. We especially like the games chair ... we certainly can't afford one in real life. Let's hope the virtual counterpart is more affordable.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2306.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:02 a.m.: </span>"... it's also physics based.... you can pile all of your furniture in the corner if you so which you can take any content that's yours on your PlayStation 3 hard disk drive and display it. Let's put in some pictures that we have from our hard disk drive. Here we have some wonderful slides that we've been showing. Scott, point to different parts of the slides. Yes, here we go. (Laugh audience) If you will forgive me, I will quickly take your photograph. If we can take the house lights up a little bit, Everybody smile.<br /><br />"Let's take the memory stick out. And pop this back into the PlayStation 3. There we go. Oh it's on machine four, I'm putting it in the wrong machine. Imagine if I took your picture and you just saw it in there. "<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:03 a.m.: </span>The picture frame they placed on the wall shows some slides from tonight's' presentation. Phil takes a camera out, take a picture of the audience, loads the Memory Stick (of course) into the PS3, and a picture of the audience should pop up. Unfortunately, they're on machine 4 (remember that glitch earlier?), so he used the wrong unit. The audience appreciates his lighthearted tone. Phil laughs.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2309.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />Phil: "Let's go to another apartment.... a more advanced apartment. An apartment that you could extend the available space by buying a bigger space. It's more upscale. It's got a pool table. You can have these premium items embedded as well. Now music that we play in our PlayStation 3 hard disk drive can be streamed to other users in our space, but also video. Let's position a Sony Bravia TV in there as well .We can walk up to the TV and very simply customize the content."<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:05 a.m.:</span> "Here we can put the Casino Royale trailer running live on our TV. ... We have proximity-based audio, so it gets louder as you walk closer." The television notably doesn't break, so Phil takes the opportunity to note that Sony's televisions are well built. <br /><br />"Now you can see that just like in the real world, in the virtual world, the Sony Bravia is a reliable device. And the video continues to run. This is the Home Cinema. Let's go into the movie theater and see some content that's made by motion picture studios, TV studios, and also users themselves."<br /><br />"The television notably doesn't break, so Phil takes the opportunity to note that Sony's televisions are well built."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:06 a.m.:</span> The movie theater space has a large screen in the middle of the room. Just like in other home spaces, the view adapts to the medium. The view zooms into the Spider-Man 3 trailer.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2315.jpg" /><br /><br />"You can see the trailer there. And we can go back up in to the personalized space. Now what we are able to do here is one of two things. We are working with Grouper... who are one of the leading providers for user-content.. in this 3D space. We also have specific movies and television shows that can be accessed by walking into the door. This is a great way to build a community around media content at the same time. So Home is not just about Sony brands and Sony games. It is a much wider network of connected spaces."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:07 a.m.: </span>When switching between locations, a loading screen says "relocating" and a progress bar fills up. It takes but a couple seconds, but we don't like being taken out of this other world. The sports location looks like an ESPN Zone on steroids. The Hall of Fame. Looks like PS3 is finally getting it's Achievements.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2318.jpg" /><br /><br />"The final part of the home experience that we would like to share with you is something called the Hall of Fame," he said. "You decide which trophy you want to position in the premium cabinets and you can share these with your friends." <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Note, Phil is careful to not use the word "achievement" to describe their new feature. That's okay, we're just glad to have 'em, regardless of what they're called.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:11 a.m.: </span>The space is a virtual trophy room (think Predator spaceship). When he looks over the balcony, there appears to be hundreds (thousands?) of additional trophies lining the walls. The system doesn't slow down for a second. You're able to see what other trophies are just out of reach (or, in this case, way out of reach).<br /><br />"It's not just about the games that you own. It's about the entire network of games that's available for PlayStation 3. I think this gives you a sense of where this might go in the future as hundreds and hundreds of titles are added. You can check out the trophies and that give the users an incentive to go and buy your game as well. It's a unique real time 3D community for the PlayStation network."<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:12 a.m.: </span>"In the future, we'll allow you to have pets in your apartment." Pets, you say? "In future, we'll allow you to have more sophisticated clothing as well."<br /><br />This service is already in a private beta now (not that private, eh anonymous leakers). Public beta comes in April.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:13 a.m.: </span>Singstar takes the stage. The menu is fast, polished and elegant. The screens drill down as you move further into the service. <br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2333.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />"I'm going to focus not on the singing part of it, you'll be pleased to know, I'm going to focus on the online part of it."<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:14 a.m.: </span>The SingStore lists 144 items -- we're sure they'll have more when the service is moved live. Remember, Sony owns their own record company.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2334.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />"You'll notice in the bottom-left hand side, the track is downloading. It's downloading in the background, which is a good feature." The audience likes his background downloading quip.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:15 a.m.: </span>The network is down temporarily ... we'll be back soon.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:18 a.m.: </span>Alright, AND WE'RE BACK!<br /><br />"We're looking forward to working closely with the record industry to expand and extend the number of songs available. We will be sharing, later today, at 2:30, something that we are defining as PlayStation Edge. This is a sort of core tools and technologies that have enriched our first-party titles."<br /><br />"Initially PlayStation edge will cover two key areas. GCM Relay. The second area is do do an SVU processing of geometry, compression, optimization. Anybody who's interested in PlayStation 3 game development... check out what all of that is about. Of course all of this technology and information will be shared."<br /><br />Next up is another brand new product.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:20 a.m.: </span>You may remember a game called<span style="font-style: italic;"> Ragdoll Kung-Fu</span>. This was written by a very small team... They released this game to great critical appeal and great critical acclaim... They've formed a company and they've been working on an amazing product for the PlayStation 3 that I'm delighted to share with you for the first time. Mark and i want to introduce you to this awesome game."<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2343.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />The <span style="font-style: italic;">LIttleBigPlanet</span> character on the screen is adorable (nicknamed "sackboy"). The graphics are surprisingly impressive. There is field of vision. The textures are incredibly rich. The inventory looks like an electric lasso that's grows out of the character. He creates a block of wood with a cog on it -- the same thing that flanks the right side of the stage.<br /><br />"This is all about game creativity... we're going to show you two things. Basically how easy it is in this game to make stuff. This isn't about separate, complicated tools, this is about empowering players to do what they want."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:21 a.m.:</span> Alex grabs a controller and quickly joins Mark in world. His sackboy has an Evil Knievel outfit on. Classy. We're not sure if these outfits are user-created or not.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:22 a.m.:</span> You can create images using your EyeToy camera. We imagine whole worlds populated by vulgar images ...<br /><br />"We call it communal creativity and I think this is going to be a big part of Game 3.0."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:25 a.m.: </span>They're able to control the arms of the characters in a really seamless way. Mark pets the giant orange they just created with his sackboy's left hand. He grabs onto the cog, hurls himself on top of it, and starts running as it spins faster. It's a little emergent logrolling game.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2345.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />When they stop moving, the camera moves in on them and we're again reminded of the game's incredible graphics. They may appear simple, but the design coupled with the incredibly rich textures creates an environment that is very impressive.<br /><br />"So what you've seen us doing is use some very simple, creative tools that allow you to make these very tactile, highly interactive environments."<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:27 a.m.: </span>Phil and friend join Mark and Alex for a four-player game that's been user-created. The world has some depth, but the characters move in and out automatically as needed. They're tasked with collecting sponge while trying to manipulate their way through various obstacles.<br /><br />"This is a great example of emerging gamplay. The designers have simple added an orange and a football. [Referring to the game at hand] We want to get to the right. We've got the orange and the football." <br /><br />They need to make their way over a giant soccer ball (remember those?) so several of them cooperate to drag an orange over. One character pushes the soccer ball and uses the momentum to grab onto it and haul him up over the obstacle.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:29 a.m.:</span> Alex pushes the smaller orange, and does the same technique. Since the ball rolls faster, he's able to hurl himself over the soccer ball. Once over, they need to work together to get each one of them over a tree branch. One player holds it down while the others climb aboard. Once on board, their weight holds it down and they can all get on.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:30 a.m.: </span>Jet packs await them on top! All four players equip their packs, work together to lift a massive shell onto a lever, and are rewarded with a door that opens.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2346.jpg" /><br /><br />"Hooray, teamwork. Let's bring it back to Game 3.0. One of the things we had to do was support everything being dynamic in the entire world."<br /><br />The camera zooms in again when they stop. They can control their arms and, if done fast enough, they can hit each other. C'mon, this wouldn't be a video game without a little bit of rough-housing.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />11:32 a.m.: </span>They climb a room on glowing stars. The lights reflect accurately off the walls and the characters. While three of them continue their ascent, one sticks around to throw some stickers.<br /><br />"Even while you're playing the level, you can bring up the tools to start changing and creating the content experience."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:33 a.m.: </span>They climb onto a skateboard; the motion blur is fantastic. They fly through the air, pause for just long enough to get a snapshot and the audience erupts into applause! The four characters are lined up again, as if to take a bow after their very impressive debut.<br /><br />"After you've created that masterpiece, clearly you want to share it with others all over the world. Let's show how that works." <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:34 a.m.: </span>A video starts illustrating the concepts of creating and sharing in LittleBigWorld. The music and design are infectious; the world is full of possibilities. It's like a next-gen, playful version of ExciteBike but with ragdolls and the internet.<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2349.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />They show comments, friends lists, and a "highest rated" chart. Think YouTube or MySpace, but with <span style="font-style: italic;">LittleBigPlanet</span> levels.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11:37 a.m.:</span> Media Molecule leaves the stage to enthusiastic applause. The game will be available in demo form on PS Network this year, and on Blu-ray disc in '08.<br /><br />"So let's go back to our final slide here. You've seen today the industry is on the threshold of a new era of creativity, collaboration, community, commerce... We think this represents tremendous opportunities for the game developers and the gamers... It's going to be a very exciting journey ahead of you and ahead of us."<br /><br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/03/dsc_2347.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />Phil leaves on a high note. The audience claps, the music comes back up, and we're out of here!<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/joystiq-and-engadget-live-at-sonys-2007-gdc-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/847730/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/joystiq-and-engadget-live-at-sonys-2007-gdc-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>Game3.0</category><category>Gdc07</category><category>Home</category><category>KeyNote</category><category>liveblog</category><category>PhilHarrison</category><dc:creator>Ross Miller</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-03-07T13:32:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>GDC to host Miyamoto keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/22/gdc-to-host-miyamoto-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/22/gdc-to-host-miyamoto-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/22/gdc-to-host-miyamoto-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ds/" rel="tag">Nintendo DS</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/wii/" rel="tag">Nintendo Wii</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/gdc/" rel="tag">GDC</a></p><a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=22351"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/01/gdc06.jpg" alt="" /></a>We don't want to alarm anyone, but Nintendo's own Shigeru Miyamoto will be coming to San Francisco this march to conduct a <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=22351">keynote</a> at the <a href="http://www.gdconf.com/">Game Developers Conference</a>. Before anyone gets the wrong impression about this and rushes to Wal-Mart for some poster board in an attempt to be<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/03/23/gdc-the-iwata-drop-the-bom-omb-guy/"> internet famous</a>, please, <em>don't</em>. It makes for fantastic blogging fodder to be sure, but lets spare the development community what should be reserved for the internets.<br /><br />As his first GDC keynote since 1999, Miyamoto's appearance could possibly be the most popular event at the conference. It's not indicated exactly as to what Mario's papa will be talking about beyond "the creative process behind his work on highly-regarded software as well as his thoughts on new Nintendo hardware", his keynote is titled "A Creative Vision." Maybe if we're all good boys and girls, he'll drop less "bombs" and clue us in on the secret of the DS printing money.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=22351>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/22/gdc-to-host-miyamoto-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/740261/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/22/gdc-to-host-miyamoto-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>creative vision</category><category>CreativeVision</category><category>creepy fanboys</category><category>CreepyFanboys</category><category>game developers conference</category><category>GameDevelopersConference</category><category>gdc</category><category>GDC07</category><category>keynote</category><category>nintendo</category><category>nintendo ds</category><category>nintendo wii</category><category>NintendoDs</category><category>NintendoWii</category><category>shigeru miyamoto</category><category>ShigeruMiyamoto</category><category>wal-mart</category><dc:creator>Jared Rea</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-01-22T12:25:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Why we can't wait for iPhone gaming</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/09/why-we-cant-wait-for-iphone-gaming/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/09/why-we-cant-wait-for-iphone-gaming/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/09/why-we-cant-wait-for-iphone-gaming/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/ds/" rel="tag">Nintendo DS</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/mac/" rel="tag">Mac</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/portable/" rel="tag">Portable</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/psp/" rel="tag">Sony PSP</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/wireless/" rel="tag">Wireless</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/business/" rel="tag">Business</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/fashion/" rel="tag">Fashion</a></p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2007/01/dsc_0182.jpg" /></p>
<p>Like most of the rest of the tech-obsessed world, we were following along with rapt attention today as Steve Jobs <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote/">revealed the iPhone</a> to a massive MacWorld audience. Sure, it's pretty cool that you'll soon be able to make phone calls on the world's most popular MP3 player, but what we're really excited about is the gaming potential of the device. Why? Here's why:</p>
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    <div><strong><a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;q=%22multi-touch%22+site%3Ajoystiq.com&amp;btnG=Search">Dual-touch</a>:</strong> Imagine the Nintendo DS touch screen. Now stretch it out, design it for fingers instead of a stylus, and let it recognize two different inputs simultaneously. We can only imagine the gaming possibilities designers can create with this.</div>
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    <div><strong>Accelerometer:</strong> Sure, Jobs uses it to simply switch between portrait and landscape modes, but we don't see any reason this feature can't be used for <em><a href="http://www.warioware.biz/twisted/">WarioWare Twisted</a></em>-style games with tilt-based controls</div>
    </li>
    <li>
    <div><strong>Internet:</strong> Wi-Fi is already old news on the Nintendo DS and PSP, but since the iPhone is a cell phone, you could theoretically connect to your cell network and play online even without a Wi-Fi hot spot. The built-in web browser has the potential to allow for mobile play on thousands of free Flash games as well.</div>
    </li>
    <li>
    <div><strong>Built-in camera:</strong> This may sound a little silly, but we were really excited about the <a href="http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/gizmondo/the-gizmondo-did-eye-toy-190273.php">EyeToy-like functionality of the Gizmondo</a>. Now that that's crashed and burned, the iPhone's built-in two-megapixel camera and detailed widescreen could bring the concept back.</div>
    </li>
    <li>
    <div><strong>Distribution:</strong> iTunes is already on millions of computers and has trained users to accept making micropayments for downloadable content. Oh, and it <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/12/ipod-gets-5-game-downloads-via-itunes/">already has games</a>. Dare we dream of downloading games-on-demand over a cell phone network?</div>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>While Jobs didn't specifically mention any gaming applications for the iPhone during his keynote speech, we think it's only a matter of time before some form of interactive entertainment is announced for the device. At least, we hope it's only a matter of time. Please?</p><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href=http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote/>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/09/why-we-cant-wait-for-iphone-gaming/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/732646/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/09/why-we-cant-wait-for-iphone-gaming/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>apple</category><category>iPhone</category><category>iPod</category><category>Jobs</category><category>keynote</category><category>Macworld</category><category>Steve Jobs</category><category>SteveJobs</category><dc:creator>Kyle Orland</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-01-09T14:35:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Serious Games Summit: Henry Jenkins keynote</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/30/serious-games-summit-henry-jenkins-keynote/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/30/serious-games-summit-henry-jenkins-keynote/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/30/serious-games-summit-henry-jenkins-keynote/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/pc/" rel="tag">PC</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/portable/" rel="tag">Portable</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/simulations/" rel="tag">Simulations</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/business/" rel="tag">Business</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2006/10/henryjenkins.jpg" id="vimage_1" alt="" />I'm here at the <a href="http://seriousgamessummit.com/">Serious Games Summit</a> in Arlington, VA where the keyword of the keynote speech by MIT's Henry Jenkins was convergence. Not necessarily technological convergence -- that mythical, magical black box that will control your media and your life -- but a cultural convergence that allows a community to form a collective intelligence around a game, movie or TV show. The real appeal of media experiences today, Jenkins argued, is not necessarily the product itself, but the community that grows around it, the participatory culture that doesn't come in the box.<br /><br />Jenkins urged the serious games movement to keep this in mind when designing the educational and socially relevant games the conference is focused on. He challenged the diverse crowd of experts from the government, education, military, health and social change fields to create educational games that were less like a spelling bee (high on memorization, low on discussion and engagement) and more like Scrabble (high on experimentation, low on penalties for risk). Jenkins also echoed Will Wright's call for games that are interdisciplinary, that take on multiple agendas instead of just narrowly focusing on one subject.<br /><br />With the final part of his speech, Jenkins focused on specific projects trying to achieve these goals -- games like <em><a href="http://www.educationarcade.org/revolution">Revolution</a></em>, a <em>Neverwinter Nights</em> mod that encourages students to role-play as a colonial patriot, and <em>Labyrinth</em>, an upcoming game that teaches math and logic skills on top of a search for a lost pet. Jenkins also acknowledged the challenges of getting these products out to market (some teachers refused to buy <em>Revolution</em> because of occult symbols in <em>Neverwinter Nights</em>, for instance), but seemed hopeful that companies could break through these barriers by joining together.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> </p><p><a href=http://seriousgamessummit.com/>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/30/serious-games-summit-henry-jenkins-keynote/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/693115/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/30/serious-games-summit-henry-jenkins-keynote/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>convergence</category><category>educational</category><category>Henry Jenkins</category><category>HenryJenkins</category><category>keynote</category><category>Serious Games Summit</category><category>SeriousGamesSummit</category><category>SGS</category><dc:creator>Kyle Orland</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-10-30T10:25:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>TGS: Sony's snoozer, judge for yourself</title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/23/tgs-sonys-snoozer-judge-for-yourself/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/23/tgs-sony