Wednesday was a very interesting day for Justin and I at the Game Developer’s Conference. To start the day off we had an interview scheduled with Robert Bowling, Community Relations Manager at Infinity Ward; the meeting was supposed to start at 10:30 PST, however, due to all of the hectic drama that surrounds GDC, it had no chance at being on time. Considering that Wednesday was the first real day of the show, everyone was running around like roaches in the bright light, so while Justin was waiting for Robert to show up at the Press Lounge in the West Hall of the Moscone Center, I decided that I should go and take a little stroll in order to get some photos for you guys.
So I wandered around the building a bit, in attempt to kill some time when I managed to hit the outside of the building. That is where I got a little bored and decided to take this picture
Outside Moscone West
After that, I wandered across the street where I proceeded to take a long walk to the North Hall of the Moscone Center, where the Expo portion of the show is being held. Upon entering, I went to my right and proceeded to take the escalator downstairs to the lobby. I immediately had flashbacks of E3 2005, as the lobby looked really familiar.
Inside Moscone North
As I entered into the lobby, it finally hit me that I was actually at the Game Developer’s Conference. The thing that sets this apart from E3, is the fact that GDC revolves around the developers and their technology rather than the media/consumer involvement of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Instead of hordes of developer booths displaying early builds of games, we are treated with a bunch of middle-ware companies showing off their latest technology or developers recruiting for new talent. Nothing really to see here, so I made the decision to look on my cell phone to see if Justin had called and surely enough he had and the interview was already done.
So we later met up in the West Hall where we pondered on what we would do next. We came to the conclusion that we would have to split up to cover as much as we can. So Justin and I went our separate ways. After going to a few sessions such as Censorship in Videogames and Independent Developers on PSN, which PSU will be covering with full fledged features next week, our inaugural first day at GDC ’08 was completed. From here on out, the rest of the night would get really wild.
Justin Pinter playing Devil May Cry 4
At around 6PM PST, we made our way to the W Hotel, where Sony was hosting a nice sized party that involved industry insiders and PlayStation enthusiasts in order for them to meet and mingle. Here we enjoyed free drinks and some fun PS2 and PS3 titles to play such as GT 5 Prologue and Buzz.
Will O’Neal and Sarad Jackson
Interestingly enough, I ran into Will O’Neal, former regular on the G4TV show, Attack of the Show. This guy was drunk out of his mind but really cool to talk to. I wish we could have had more time to chill with him because the guy was attracting the ladies like moths to the dark.
After that was over with, we walked back to our hotel to get about 5-6 hours of sleep so that we could be up and prepared for the early LucasArts: Force Unleashed presentation the very next day.
Wednesday was only a segway into what will happen on Thursday. So please check back for PSU @ GDC.