Things We Saw and Heard at GDC '09

As I write this article, the Game Developers Conference 2009 is just about kaput for another year. No doubt, countless deals were made, oftentimes between well-groomed men in suits and ponytailed, bearded fat guys in stained t-shirts. Dozens of lectures were given -- some insightful and engaging, others obvious and boring. Some games were announced and demoed, including a new Zelda for Nintendo's handheld. And, of course, media vultures like myself conducted interview after interview, rushed to post first movies and screenshots and fought for any exclusives we could find. Honestly, though, the pickings were slim this year. I don't know if that's because the beaten economy has forced normally-bullish publishers to restrain themselves, temporarily dropping out of the typical game-show pissing contest, always marked by bigger booths, more wares, half-naked women and buckets of booze. Instead, booths were usually small and conservatively equipped. There were a few exceptions to the rule, of course. Nintendo, for instance, was on the show floor with a comparatively large booth overrun by game kiosks, but the company is swimming in cash and can still afford to hemorrhage a little. That said, I took more meetings in private suites this year than in any past and the show floor itself was certainly less grandiose and flamboyant.

On Wednesday, I got a text from Dan O'Leary, president of development studio n-Space, probably best known for the first-person shooter Geist for GameCube and, more recently, Winter. You might remember the latter as an in-development survival-horror game for Wii, as I ran a piece on the title a short while ago complete with first video. Since then, fans have campaigned for Winter, going so far as to create and populate a petition in support of the project. O'Leary said he was in town with creative director Ted Newman and wanted to show me what they had dubbed "Winter 2.0," an improved version of the original demo. Since I last saw the game, n-Space assembled a small team and spent about two weeks updating and adding polish to it. Some notable changes. It now uses Wii MotionPlus for more accurate character attacks and object-based interactions. The 3D engine has seen some optimizations. Most obvious, the textures have all been up-rezzed and the muddy look on up-close exteriors is removed. n-Space has added a host of graphic effects, like more realistic falling snow, and completely overhauled the flashlight so that it beams forward a per-pixel light that looks fantastic as it illuminates darkened hallways. I asked O'Leary why he was in San Francisco with Winter 2.0 and he explained that a few publishers have showed some interest in it, which is a good sign. With any luck, maybe the project will find its way to retail yet.

Sometimes news finds you in the most unconventional ways. As I waited for an interviewee to become available, I sat in a hotel bar, pulled out my laptop and worked on some other assignments. Meanwhile, I could clearly hear a conversation taking place by two groups of men at the table nearest me. On one side of the table, the executive types, wearing suits and clearly there to do business. On the other side, two men I could only presume were game developers -- timid, nervous, not dressed to kill. At GDC, you see these meetings all the time and I honestly paid this particular one no attention until I heard one man mention Wii. They got to talking about the platform and then the suits asked for more information on a wake-boarding game, which they said they were very interested in. One of the shy guys explained that it was designed specifically to work with the Wii Balance Board, which seemed to impress the men across from him. It was a very enthusiastic conversation and I wish I could have eavesdropped longer, but I had to get up and get to that interview. As I walked out of the bar, I noticed that Disney Interactive was holding an event on another side of the floor. Don't know if the wake-boarding game is related, but could be. It'll be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

During the show, there were all sorts of companies showing off Wii MotionPlus, from AiLive to countless developers, all fascinated by the device. No major revelations about the technology itself, but one interesting tidbit did come up a couple times. Namely, that MotionPlus might ship infused inside of a jacket and cannot be removed. A perma-Wii remote condom, if you will. Bad news if you hate the Wii rubber because, if true, you will have to use one if you want to play games with MotionPlus, plain and simple. Although I have never been a fan of the controller jackets, I can see the logic. Novice gamers, flailing around wildly as they try to play tennis, have already demonstrated that they can't be trusted in close proximity to TVs and walls. If Nintendo adds in yet another detachable component into the equation, these same players might accidentally blow themselves up.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/967/967467p1.html