David Jaffe, Peter Molyneux, Greg Zeschuk, Cliff Bleszinski - four of the most creative minds in gaming industry share their thoughts on the four things that sell: sex, violence, ratings, and gaming design. Get their take on the the consumers' perception, the fun, the taboos, and the necessary.

Hmm. I see CliffyB is making bold statements yet again. Bold as they come, it's always interesting to see how a game developer assesses the current playing field that he is working in. So what's Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski commenting on now? In an interview, he remarked that some of the more influential game developers out there aren't always given the honor or appreciation that they so deserve.

This year's Game Developers Conference was graced by many high profile individuals from the gaming industry, each with their own take on the video game industry. At David Perry's Lunch With the Luminaries, Phil Harrison pointed out that making Wii Games might not automatically be a ticket to success. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

What's next-gen for you? Is it over-the-top, photorealistic graphics? An art direction that blurs the line between videogame and masterpiece? Perhaps online play? This is what five of this industry's luminaries tried to figure out at this year's Game Developer Conference. Check out what they had to say in the full article.

Peter Molyneux, one of the most established video game designer still around today, has recently revealed that they are working on a new franchise capable of revolutionizing the whole game AI.

To make his point more clear, he referred to the 2001 PC title Black & White which was considered special at its time. Know more about this after the jump!

Prominent figures of the gaming industry such as Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, and well-known director Steven Spielberg are gearing up to make waves at the Game Developers Conference 2008 scheduled in February at Moscone Center in San Fransisco. There will be sessions discussing topics such as storytelling in Bioshock (Xbox 360, PC), three spankin' new features added to EA LA's Fable 2, and the upcoming puzzle-video game Boom Blox for the Wii.

 

Julian Eggebrecht, Factor 5 president and lead director, has been announced as the opening keynote speaker for the GC Developers Conference (GCDC) 2007 in Leipzig (also known as the Leipzig Games Convention). Details of his speech have yet to be revealed, but we can expect it to be interesting at the very least. Factor 5 is currently working on the PS3-exclusive game Lair.

Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios' president, will also be giving a keynote focusing on the company's classic games. The GCDC 2007 will be held from August 20 to 22 in Leipzig, Germany. Other GCDC 2007 international speakers will include:

• Jason Manley (Massive Black)
• Christopher Schmitz, (10Tacle Studios)
• Jennifer MacLean (Comcast Interactive Media)
• Dr. Michael Wimmer (The University of Vienna)
• Alexander Fernández (Streamline Studios)
• Cindy Armstrong (Webzen)
• Amir Taaki (Crystalspace)
• Jeff Strain (ArenaNet)
• Vlad Ihora (Telia Sonora)
• Barbara Lippe (Avaloop IT Solutions)
• Pamela Kato (The GamerX)
• Uwe Nikl (Level 3)
• Matt Firor (Ultra Mega Games)
• Konstantin Ewald (Osborne Clarke)

For the second time around, the Develop Conference & Expo 2007 will make a landing at the Hilton Brighton Metropole to draw in around 1,100 attendees from 22 territories. Starting July 24, the two day conference will tackle issues relevant to the game development community across seven different tracks, as stated from the official press release.

Underneath the design, production, coding, business, art, audio and world vision tracks, four "C"s will define each track's themes: Community, Connectivity, Creativity, and Control. Taking off from the 2007 Game Developers Conference's touch on online and social trends of the industry, the Develop Conference will be investigating into user-created content, inter-format networking, varied and user-created game conceptualization and the use of "new wave devices." Conference advisory board chair Owain Bennallack explained the conference's focus, saying:

We think developers are now ready to hear a lot more about how the lessons of Web 2.0 can make their games better and more successful, and the Develop conference in Brighton is the only place to do so, as well as picking up plenty more traditional hints and tips about programming, art, audio, and production.

At July 26, the Expo segment of the event will commence, with different flavors of access passes for the Conference and Expo. Develop will be offering 20% discount to early bird registrants, who log into the official web site and purchase access passes by July 1, 2007. And get this folks: Expo passes are absolutely free of charge.

Expect 40 of Europe's most innovative companies from "every sector of games development" to make an appearance, including speakers Vfx's Peter Chaing, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, Instinct Technology's Mike Gamble, Sony CE Europe's Kate Ellwood and Blitz Studios' Steve Williams.

I was bored last night. Not able to stand the monotony, I decided to go through my game shelf just to see if there was something that I could pop into my PlayStation 2 and enjoy. I eventually picked up and dusted off my copy of Clover Studio's Viewtiful Joe 2.

I decided to play through the first stage mostly as Sylvia. While I was blasting through the stage with her pink guns of unrelenting joy and joyfulness, I suddenly got hit by a wave of nostalgia. I needed a 2D platforming high.

Why go with 2D you ask? Well, it's because if there's anything that Castlevania on the DS and Viewtiful Joe by Clover proves, it is that there's still room for well-done 2D platforming games in this hyper defined, 1080p, next-gen world.

Dammit, I want to play Commander Keen again.

This isn't really news. This is a long rant-ish post, and to save you the pain of having to read through a dinosaur's gaming woes, you're only going to have to read the rest of the post after click on that "Full Article" link below. Zerglings, cyberpunk hippies with mini-guns, and space-travelling pre-teens await after the Jump!

No wonder a whole lot of shows have hailed Peter Molyneux as a gaming god. The man's a genius. Don't believe us? Check out his latest mad experiment.

During his GDC demonstration in 2005, the Lionhead Studios head demoed his brainchild: The Room. Not really a game, but more of an experiment dabbling in Hyper realistic surroundings, portals, and incredible definition. Where objects age and books have individual pages. A lot of people say that graphics are superfluous and what's important is gameplay experience and fun, well, thing is, sometimes graphics add to the fun and contributes to immersing you into the experience. As this demo shows, it's all about execution.

Synergy of interaction, design, and graphical power, something we should expect and grade the next-gen by.