Game Developer's Conference Report 2002 - By Jim Montoya The Game Developers Conference 2002 wrapped up this past weekend. Here are some of the highlights of the conference: On Thursday, Masaya Matsuura, designer of Parappa the Rapper and Vib Ribbon, showed an exclusive demo of a new much anticipated PS2 game. Here is what he had to say about it: "Currently, we are making a sequel to Vib Ribbon called Mojibribbon. Unlike the other games, this game is very advanced. First of all, this game is equipped with real time Japanese rap voice synthesis. What this means is that any kind of text file, as long as it is in Japanese, is automatically converted into rap voice. In the game, Mojibri, a character drawn in ink, is controlled using the analog stick. It is a Japanese Calligraphic Rapping Game where you actually write calligraphy to the music. The screen is mostly drawn with "ink render" as we call it. This "ink render" is created for this game, but the ink can also be handled as actual drops of water. While Mojibri is writing, there is ink spattering about the screen." He went on to say that this game would allow the player to share his or her original poetic rapping over the Internet. Since most PS2 users don't own a keyboard, he came up with a fast efficient method of inputting Japanese characters with a standard controller. A short video clip I made can be found here. Later on in the day, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, creator of Space Channel 5 and Rez, gave a talk called Rez: The Synesthesia that Games Invite. Synaesthesia Rez style is the melding of music, graphics, and game play into a unified whole that leaves distinctions difficult, if not entirely meaningless. To demonstrate the concept, Mr. Mizuguchi proceeded to give a live demo of Rez during which he zoned out playing for about 20 minutes, then suddenly realized he was giving a lecture. He really loves this game and indicated that there is a sequel in the works. He also confirmed that there is an Easter Egg in the Dreamcast Space Channel 5 Part 2 that unlocks a new costume for Ulala, when you have a Rez save on your VMU. On Friday Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator of Daytona USA, Monkey Ball, among many others, gave a talk about the Evolution of Level Design and the Relationship Between Background and Interface Design Procedures. He expounded on the virtues of incorporating the theory of semiotics (Daytona effect) into game design. This all led up to the making of Super Monkey Ball, which by the way was polished up for the GameCube in seven short months. When asked if he would consider making a sequel to Super Monkey Ball, he said he would, though his programmers probably wouldn't like to do it. Friday night the GDC Choice Awards were presented. Japanese winners this year were: Fumito Ueda, for the PS2 game ICO which received the Excellence in Level Design, Excellence in Visual Arts, & Game Innovation Spotlight awards. Tetsuya Mizuguchi also received the Game Innovation Spotlight award, for Rez. The Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Yuji Naka, president and CEO of Sonic Team. Sony's big announcement at the show was the official May 22nd release date of the Linux Yaroze development kit for the PS2. The kit consists of a 40 GB HD, 10/100 Ethernet Adapter, USB Keyboard & Mouse, VESA Monitor Cable (Sync on Green), Linux boot DVD, & Installer DVD. Also provided is full developers documentation for most all chips incorporated in the PS2, plus driver source code. The kit is available for pre-order in the US for $199 and in Europe for 249 Euro. The official PS2 Linux community site can be found here. The Redhat installer included is based on the 2.2.1 Linux kernel. No, the kit does not allow you to read your own DVD or CD-R discs, but you can transfer files with use of the Ethernet adapter. These were just a few of the highlights, all in all GDC this year was a real blast. If are interested in "the art and science of making games", make sure to visit this link.