One of the more popular questions I get asked is "What's the new Fairmont Bar in San Francisco?" To catch everyone up here, the Fairmont Bar in San Jose was the natural gathering spot for GDC attendees to meet up with colleagues after the day's classes, and in between the awards and parties. Cliff Bleszinski used to call it the Sarlacc Pit, which was particularly appropriate as that's physically descriptive of the venue also.

So now the challenge in San Francisco is finding something that fits that feeling. We think we've found it with Jillian's the bar across the street from Moscone West, on the side of the Metreon. It's got the capacity, and unlike the last time we were in San Francisco, we have taken the precaution of booking the venue Wednesday and Thursday specifically so we can keep it open for GDC attendees. We'll also have signs directing you there, graciously provided by Nvidia. The bar is open until 1am, and we're working on them to keep it open until 2am. We're looking forward to seeing you there!

Posted by Jamil at 04:02 PM | Permalink

This is Jamil again. So, as is clearly plastered all over our site and your inbox, Phil Harrison is giving a keynote at the GDC, titled Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the 3rd Age of Video Games. While I can't go into much detail, Phil is going to demonstrate some of the insights at Sony Computer Entertainment, Worldwide Studios in developing for an always on consumer. This will be the first large-scale public appearance by a managing executive of the PlayStation 3 development team since the launch of the console -- which neatly coincides with the expansion of the GDC keynote hall, from a capacity of 3,000 to 5,000. Since working with developers is essential to the success of any platform, we're looking forward to a frank and open dialogue with the world's greatest concentration of the game development community. Whatever you do, just make sure you're there!

Continue reading "Director's Cut: Harrison & 5000 Developers" »

Posted by Jamil at 10:25 AM | Permalink

Hello, this is Jamil Moledina, the executive director of the Game Developers Conference. Shigeru Miyamoto is giving a keynote at the GDC this year, titled A Creative Vision. He's going to detail his design philosophy from the beginning of the game industry through to the development of the DS and the Wii. I'm not going to bother explaining the relevance of Mario, Zelda, and Wii Sports on our industry and world culture at large, that would be a waste of pixels. I can though share with you a little bit of the magic behind the scenes on the road to GDC.

Continue reading "Director's Cut: The Legend of Miyamoto" »

Posted by Jamil at 05:00 AM | Permalink

Hi, this is Jamil Moledina, the executive director of the Game Developers Conference. I'll be blogging weekly under the heading "Preview Build" to alert you to some of the latest news on GDC, along with the context as to how they fit into emerging trends in game development.

Today, we posted two new talks to the site, Real-World SPU Usage and RSX Best Practices, that expose publicly for the first time the tools and techniques that Sony's first party developers used to create their launch titles.

These intermediate level talks go beyond the simple architecture descriptions previously disclosed to describe the real-world lessons of building for the PlayStation 3. Furthermore, these sessions aim to simplify the complexity cited by some developers in creating games for the platform. Anyone considering or who is already knee-deep in programming for the next gen platform must attend these sessions.

Continue reading "Preview Build: Sony Shares First Party PS3 Secrets" »

Posted by Jamil at 01:33 PM | Permalink