My trip to GDC

[gellin]

So I went to GDC (Game Developers Conference) from Wednesday - Friday located in beautiful San Jose, California.

Here's a few pics of the outside of the conference center:
davekahler.com/st3/gdc/001.jpg
davekahler.com/st3/gdc/002.jpg

We actually arrived there on Tuesday and got to explore the town and enjoy the nightlife there.

On Wednesday, they opened up the booths where I got to go around and talk to people about they're products and got to see some cool demos on some of there most recent stuff. Sadly, the lack of booth babes there was disappointing and therefore I have no pics to show you of them.

Here's a few of the pics I snapped of some of the cooler looking booths:
Nintendo booth: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/003.jpg

Playstation 3 booth: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/004.jpg

Nvidia booth: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/005.jpg

A bunch of people playing the brand new Nintendo DS Lite that will be arriving later this year: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/006.jpg

On Wednesday, the president of Sony Entertainment came out and gave a speech and we got to see a few early demos of some new PS3 games. The people I was with apparently was not ready to party because of the night before so we went and saw V for Vendetta which turned out to be an awesome movie.

On Thursday, I went to the speech by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. It was mostly based on the DS and he showed us a sneak peak at the new DS title, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass which looked pretty cool. He failed to comment much on the Revolution except that it will also support Sega games with its virtual console idea that allows you to play all of the old school games from the NES, SNES, etc era.

Pic of the stage: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/007.jpg

That night they had suite night were a bunch of the big game developers like Microsoft, Ubisoft and a about 10 other companies threw parties in the hotel, each with an open bar. Fun was had by all.

Friday there wasn't really much going on. Most people were tired and things were winding down.

The main purpose of this conference was to have a bunch of lectures on different topics that cover all sorts of things about making a game. I saw some pretty cool things on the making of God of War, Ultimate Spider-man DS, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and a few others that i can't think of right now.

Finally after exploring all the booths throughout the week, I collected a bunch of junk from them.

Couple of shirts: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/008.jpg

Lara Croft mousepad, frisbee, pens, stickers, keychains, and other random assorted stuff: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/009.jpg

Also, during the speech by Nintendo's Iwata, he talked about some DS game that challenges your brain and gave everyone a free copy: davekahler.com/st3/gdc/010.jpg
Now if only he was handing out a DS so that I could play it...

Overall it was very fun even though a few of the lectures I went to were boring, most of them were worth it. And best of all, my work paided for everything including flights, hotels, food, ticket to attend it, and everything else. And I got out of work for 4 days too that I get paid for. ;D

[Coralcola]

Very cool!! ;D

Still do wish I lived close enough to San Jose to attend one of those, they look like a helluva lotta fun...

Now, being the nosy person I am, I do gotta pick your brain about what ya saw.

What is this Nvidia thing? Is it supposed to be a new game system made by Intel or one of the big electronics companies, or is it a new game coming out soon??

What's new/exciting/interesting/notable/important about this new Nintendo DS Lite?

I'm psyched about the Rev being able to play Sega games too! I gotta see how this single console will be able to do this. What, is it gonna have like 5 cartridge outlets where you can stick one of the old games in to play it? LOL

How did the new PS3 and Zelda games look? Anything interesting or notable about them? Was there ANYTHING mentioned on the DEBACLE known as Twillight Princess??

Anyway, it looked like a good time, and I can only imagine how a bunch of video game fans would go out and party. OH boy................

[Michael Jones]

Very VERY cool. Thanks for showing us those pictures and I too wish I could go to somthing like that.

[gellin]

What is this Nvidia thing? Is it supposed to be a new game system made by Intel or one of the big electronics companies, or is it a new game coming out soon??

No it is a company that makes graphics cards for the PC. I bought one recently so I figured I take a picture of it.

What's new/exciting/interesting/notable/important about this new Nintendo DS Lite?

The screens are much brighter and nicer looking. It is a little bit smaller and looks like a very sleek piece of hardware, similar to what apple has done with the iPod. Having played it, it's very cool and I can't wait for it to come out in the US.

I'm psyched about the Rev being able to play Sega games too! I gotta see how this single console will be able to do this. What, is it gonna have like 5 cartridge outlets where you can stick one of the old games in to play it? LOL

No that 3rd picture I showed you of the side of the Nintendo booth is the revolution and its controller. It has a single tray that will open that you can put gamecube games in or revolution games. The idea behind the older cartridge systems is that you will be able to download those games to the harddrive of the revolution through Nintendo's Wi-Fi internet. Maybe for a fee for each game, or for free. They haven't announced anything on it yet.

How did the new PS3 and Zelda games look? Anything interesting or notable about them? Was there ANYTHING mentioned on the DEBACLE known as Twillight Princess??

There were a few PS3 games that looked ok to me. I'm not a huge graphics guy (I prefer good gameplay) so I can't really comment on them. They did look pretty though. The Zelda DS game looked awesome. It had old style top down dungeons and a 3D overworld like Wind Waker where you sailed around the ocean. It was all Cel-Shaded like Wind Waker and looked really good. Nothing was mentioned about Twilight Princess other than that it will still be on GameCube and be released this Fall.

[Michael Jones]

Is the GDC a thing that anyone can go to or do you have to be a game developer? (This means that I'm guessing thats what you want to be/are)

[gellin]

michaeljones said:

Is the GDC a thing that anyone can go to or do you have to be a game developer? (This means that I'm guessing thats what you want to be/are)

Anyone can go to it. It costs $900 to go to it though if you get in early or else it's $1400-1500 range.

[Michael Jones]

Oh well. Maybe some day .

[Mitchel Kennedy]

Wow Gellin, what an awesome post! Thanks a LOT!

What kind of company do you work for?

[gellin]

admin said:

Wow Gellin, what an awesome post! Thanks a LOT!

What kind of company do you work for?

Glad you liked it. I work for a casino gaming company. Mostly slot machine games. It's not nearly as cool as real games but pays the bills.

[startropicsmaster]

amen.(Even though bills isn't something i worry about, I know what you mean)

[Dood77]

*Ditto*
lol

Maybe GDC will be an option someday, if I'm ever filthy rich (Even if I'm slightly wealthy I'd be spending it all on video games and gadgets and computer stuff ;D)