GDC Keynotes

We got the two head honchos this year at the Game Developers Conference to give keynotes. Phil Harrison spoke on Wednesday afternoon for Sony and Shigeru Miyamoto got the Thursday slot. Being my first GDC, I had never seen any of the guys behind the games in person so I was a little juiced to say the least. The keynotes were held in the South Wing Esplanade at the Moscone Center. The room held around 300 people (maybe?) and, being a member of the press, I got to skip the line and head for front and center.

I couldn’t wait to hear what Phil Harrison had to say about the PS3. Sony has got to do something big before they are totally left in the dust by both the Wii and Xbox 360. I was anticipating something along the lines of Harrison saying how the PS3 is fine, there should be nothing to worry about, and then dropping a ton of numbers to bore everyone to death. Luckily I was saved from such blasphemy. Phil’s speech was entitled “Game 3.0: Developing And Creating For The 3rd Age of Video Games”. Game 1.0 was defined as the disconnected console with static game disk and Game 2.0 was the connected console or PC with static game content on the disk. According to Mr. Harrison, we are now in the Game 3.0 era, which consists of such wonders as customization, content creativity, community, localization, collaboration, social service, and emergent entertainment. Okay, I thought, where is this headed? Yeah, everyone these days are about online play, downloadable content, and the gamer community. How is Sony going to revolutionize what we already have? Enter Phil Harrison’s announcement for the PS3 called “Home”. Home runs off the PS3 browser and is a 3D social networking service. First you create your character and Sony has provided a pretty in-depth editor to customize your online self. Environmental lobbies have streaming high definition video playing advertisements and gameplay videos, advertising banners that can be updated as well as voice chat. There are different lobbies such as the gaming lobby with bowling, arcade games, pool, etc., a cinema to view movie and television trailers, and also a “Hall of Fame” trophy room for each player to show off his/her gaming achievements. Players have their own private apartments where they can deck out their virtual living situations as well as invite friends over to hang out and party. All and all it is a pretty slick and fancy interface. Home looks cool and I know that people are going to eat it up, but for me do I really care about this? It is cool to be able to hang out with the handful of friends that don’t live near me, but why would I want to go bowling in the virtual lobby when I can go down to the neighborhood bowling alley and drink beers? I just don’t think that I want or have that much time to spend on another life. The Home Beta will be released in April with the full service launch being Fall ’07.

Now for some software announcements. Singstar, which has sold over 2 million units, has moved to the PS3 with Singstar Online. In this updated version users are able to get video previews of songs, buy new songs in the store, record performances, and leave/receive performance comments. This to me just is another avenue for the music industry to make a shit load of cash and rub horrible pop music in our faces. I cannot wait for this to be all over the PS3 servers so I can either kill myself out of a pop culture overdose or laugh my ass off at losers youtube style. Singstar Online will be out May/June in Europe and later ’07 in the US. Finally we saw a new game called Little Big Planet. This game is under development by a new company named Media Molecule and is a completely dynamic title to build and play in. Players can easily create their own levels/worlds and share them with everyone else. Like Singstar you can share your levels with others around the world, see how your creation is ranked by how many times it has been played, leave/receive comments, etc. Once again, Little Big World is probably going to be a huge hit with the masses but I am not sure if it is going to change the gaming world. I do have to give Sony props for at least moving in the right direction. The push to get people to be more creative and not just sitting around shooting people is a plus in my book. This should help Sony but they still have not addressed their key problem, which is having quality games on their system. Put some good releases out that people can have fun with and you will sell more systems.

Thursday brought to San Francisco a gaming legend, Shigeru Miyamoto. Speaking of moving in the right direction, Nintendo has their shit together. This was a huge event for me since Miyamoto created most of the games that started my gaming career. The creator of Donkey Kong, Mario, and Zelda brought a very personal message for the attendees this year. He started by explaining the change in games over the last few years. In 1998 the top games were GoldenEye 007, Gran Tourismo, Banjo-Kazooie, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Mario 64. In 2004 the top games were GTA: San Andreas, NFL 2K, Madden, and Halo 2. Quite a change in game types for just a six yar span. Miyamoto was worried that gamers were being turned into zombies with this new shift and also, could Miyamoto-type games still work in today’s gaming trends?

Nintendo realized that games were becoming too complicated for casual gamers and only hardcore gamers were the majority of the current market. Thus they wanted to expand their audience, and games like Brain Age, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing have helped to bring in people that previously would have never played games. Nintendo wants to bridge the gap between age and various backgrounds with both the DS and Wii, and as an entertainment company, they were willing to take risks in order to provide what they hold highest, FUN. Miyamoto felt that the biggest risk in Nintendo’s lifeline so far has been the Wii. The GameCube was viewed as just a step in Nintendo’s story as they were waiting for the right technology to be available. According to Miyamoto, there was a dilemma after the GameCube came out which was did Nintendo want to run the risk of trying to reach out and bring in new gamers, or did they just want to go ahead and improve the hardware like usual? When the Wii was debuted at E3 in 2006, Miyamoto knew they had made the right decision as he viewed the long lines and happy faces that littered Nintendo’s booth.

When developing a game, Miyamoto does not dwell on small details or specific parts of a game. His end goal is to entertain and he always mentally pictures if the player will have a smile on his/her face while playing a game. Take Wii Sports for example. There is only one stadium, no licenses, only three innings are played, you cannot bunt or control fielders, etc. In the end it is not a very realistic game at all when compared with other current generation platforms, yet people are enjoying Wii Sports now because of a different form of realism; the ability to interact in a simplistic manner with others. Oh yeah, and have fun doing it.

There is an obvious difference in company agenda and the respective business plans between Sony and Nintendo. Sony has opted for the hardcore gamer scene where graphics, audio, and complexity reign supreme. They are attempting to bring in people through their PS3 Home and creative games such as Little Big Planet, but they are more of alternative distraction to the long-standing game formula that will keep gaming stagnant. Nintendo on the other hand has decided to return to its roots: entertainment. Interactive and simplistic controls, ease of use, and innovative gameplay have been prioritized over advanced hardware upgrades. Already being a hardcore gamer I cannot pick which is a better plan. I do have to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt though. I am very impressed at their risk taking and ability to always be challenging the norm. I haven’t had a Nintendo console since the SNES. I have a N64 but I didn’t get it until much later, after I turned to the PlayStation side. I think I am ready to head back to the land of my gaming roots and revisit Donkey Kong, Mario, and Zelda. Good work Nintendo, I think you are going to win this one out.