And you East-coasters that have been asking and asking for us to come to you…well, it’s official. The PlayStation.Blog is coming to New York City and Boston (PAX East) next week! Specific details coming soon.

As for San Francisco, it was a day-long celebration of God of War III. Several of you lined up as early as 5am to secure a spot in our massive tent. (Check out ALL the pictures of our God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup on Flickr!)

At around noon, we unleashed the burrito truck upon the line! Now that spells CHAOS!

Shortly after, we opened the tent “doors” to the masses. Everyone was greeted inside by PlayStation 3s loaded up with God of War Collection, and a special challenged awaited. The test? Complete the God of War II Challenge of the Titans “Blind Fury” the fastest…in one try. You die, you’re out. And the winner would lock down a God of War III Ultimate Edition!

We thought we’d see plenty of quick deaths, but in fact, many of you utterly blitzed this challenge. But only one came through with a time that could arguably last through the ages. 16 seconds! 16 freakin’ seconds! Here’s your winner:

Throughout the day, we raffled off TONS of games, posters and other unique PlayStation goodies. Anyone who brought a PSP took home God of War: Chains of Olympus, but we also gave away MLB 10: The Show PSP, Heavy Rain, Fireteam Bravo 3, Killzone 2 and much more.

The highlight of the meetup was definitely the presence of Stig and the Sony Santa Monica Studio team who stopped by to sign autographs for everyone who came! All attendees also scored a limited-edition God of War III art book!

And finally, there was the chance to take your picture and create a personalized God of War III cover! There are some truly great shots in Flickr, so flip through ‘em!

Good thing “Space Captain” Steve flew in from Brisbane, Australia to show off Blade Kitten to us during GDC. In this interview, Steve talks about the game’s origins as a comic-book-meant-to-be-the-origin-for-a-game, the game’s vivid art style, and when you’re going to get to play it – along with some never-before-seen video.

Let us know what you think so far, and I’ll pass your feedback to Krome!

Can you believe March 16 is just around the corner?

Greetings from GDC 2010! This year we’re going big at the Game Developers Conference, with a major press event today. Couldn’t make it in? Sure you can! Just watch our live stream below.

The show starts at 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern:

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

And if you have the means to get here, do it – we have a history of treating our fans to extremely good times. And tomorrow is no exception as you’ll have many chances to win great PlayStation games and prizes, get autographs from members of the development team, create your own God of War III box, and much more. So whatever the means – train, plane, car, bike, rollerblades, horse, camel – get here tomorrow! There’s only one God of War III event and we don’t want you to miss it (In all seriousness, if you arrive on a camel, you’re getting something incredibly cool).

Check out our initial post for all the fine details, but here’s a quick recap. We’ve got a couple HUNDRED tickets for our very special community (that’s you!) to get you in to the amazing and mega-exclusive God of War III event, where you’ll get to go hands-on with the final version of God of War III, enjoy some epic food and hospitality, and watch a still-secret-but-guaranteed-to-be-super-awesome band perform.

And all you need to do is show up. But we HIGHLY recommend arriving early. The hands-on event doesn’t start until 7pm – so we’re setting up a community-only pre-event party that goes on all day. What does that entail? Free food from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m, awesome schwag giveaways and raffles, free wi-fi (In the words of Triumph, “For you to Tweet on!”), the chance to put yourself on the God of War III box, autographs and more! So if you haven’t already signed up, RSVP on our Facebook Page!

Important Details:

• The hands-on event goes from 7-10pm on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at the SF Concourse Exhibition Center. The pre-party meet-up begins at noon (you’ll see our tent in venue’s parking lot). Directions here. Don’t even think of strolling up at 6.30pm – you ain’t getting in!
• Keep in mind that you must be 21 or older to get into evening hands-on event, but anyone 18+ (or with their parent/guardian) can come to the all-day meetup. ID *will* be checked!
• Parking is rough in the area, so try to take BART or Caltrain – both very close to venue.
• Once you’re in, you’re in — no ins and outs (don’t worry, we will have bathrooms). Unless of course you don’t want to stick around for the amazingly awesome hands-on event at 7pm. Then you’re free to leave at will…but you’re making a HUGE mistake!
• You must RSVP via this Facebook event invite
• Be sure to leave your replica Blades of Chaos at home
• You might wanna think about bringing your PSP ;-)

The End Begins at GDC…

Earlier today, we sent this God of War III invite out to media, industry luminaries, heads of state, space marines, surviving Greek and Roman gods, and select reality TV show stars (nobody from celebrity rehab shows, thankyouverymuch).

Assuming you don’t fit into one of those categories, we did what we always do here at PlayStation.Blog: score extra tickets for you community members. We’ve got a couple HUNDRED tickets to get some of our close, personal friends (this means *you*) into this super-exclusive event, where you’ll get to go hands-on with the final, polished version of God of War III, enjoy our legendary hospitality, and watch a Really-Awesome-Band-That-I-Can’t-Name-Yet perform.

What do you need to do? Well – just show up.

Based on previous meet-ups we’ve held, we know some of you will get there early. For this event – we’re expecting it. Heck, we’re practically demanding it!

While the hands-on event doesn’t start until 7pm – we’re setting up a Community-Only pre-event party that goes on all day. We’ll have free food from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Tacos of the Gods, anyone?), limited edition schwag giveaways, free wi-fi (we expect you to Tweet!), the chance to put yourself on the God of War III box, autographs with the developers and CHAOS…in the form of games, of course. We’ve got some really good stuff planned, so take the day off, make the drive from LA/Vegas/St. Louis, and get there early!

This event will be limited, so if you want to go, be sure to RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Here are some important details:

• The hands-on event goes from 7-10pm on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at the SF Concourse Exhibition Center. The pre-party meet-up begins at noon (you’ll see our tent in venue’s parking lot). Directions here. Don’t even think of strolling up at 6.30pm – you ain’t getting in!
• Keep in mind that you must be 21 or older to get into evening hands-on event, but anyone 18+ (or with their parent/guardian) can come to the all-day meetup. ID *will* be checked!
• Parking is rough in the area, so try to take BART or Caltrain – both very close to venue.
• Once you’re in, you’re in — no ins and outs (don’t worry, we will have bathrooms). Unless of course you don’t want to stick around for the amazingly awesome hands-on event at 7pm. Then you’re free to leave at will…but you’re making a HUGE mistake!
• You must RSVP via this Facebook event invite
• Be sure to leave your replica Blades of Chaos at home
• You might wanna think about bringing your PSP ;-)

The End Begins at GDC. Will you be there?

On Thursday, March 11 from 4:30 – 5:30 PM PST, Naughty Dog’s co-lead Game Designer, Richard Lemarchand, will be participating in a session with Baiyon, graphic artist and composer of Q-Games’ PixelJunk Eden, and they want to take your questions to be answered during the panel!

The session will take form as a lively discussion on the inherent similarities of artistic endeavor and will encompass conversations on Richard’s and Baiyon’s games, and the nature of creativity and process in games. We’re hoping to use a number of questions submitted by the community to lead the conversation. If you have a question you’d like to have answered during this panel, please submit it in the comments below and we’ll do our best to get it answered at GDC. We welcome all kinds of questions, serious, fun, etc…we’re looking for variety! Get your questions in before Friday; we’ll close all submissions after that.

Finally, if you’re planning to attend GDC, we hope to see you in the audience or around Moscone!

Naughty Dog at GDC

Thursday (March 11, 2010) 1:30pm — 2:30pm
Among Friends – An UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Post-Mortem
Richard Lemarchand (Game Designer, Naughty Dog)
Room 134, North Hall

Thursday (March 11, 2010) 3:00pm — 4:00pm
Behind the Scenes: UNCHARTED 2′s Unique Cinematic Production Process
Josh Scherr (Cinematics Animation Lead, Naughty Dog), Amy Hennig (Creative Director, Naughty Dog, Inc.)
Room 303, South Hall

Thursday (March 11, 2010) 4:30pm — 5:30pm
Micro or Massive: It’s Fricking Tough to Achieve a Vision
Baiyon Tomohisa Kuramitsu (Graphic Artist/Composer, PixelJunk/Eden), Richard Lemarchand (Game Designer, Naughty Dog)
Room 135, North Hall

Friday (March 12, 2010) 9:00am — 10:00am
GDC Microtalks 2010: Ten Speakers, 200 Slides, Limitless Ideas!
Richard Lemarchand (Game Designer, Naughty Dog), Ian Bogost (Associate Professor, The Georgia Institute of Technology), Chaim Gingold (levity lab), Gary Penn (Guru, Denki), Sam Roberts (Festival Director, indiecade.com), Margaret Robertson (Consultant and writer, Lookspring), Kellee Santiago (President and Co Founder, thatgamecompany), Suzanne Seggerman (President, Games for Change), Jesse Schell (ETC Carnegie Mellon, Schell Games), Jane Pinckard (Business Development, Foundation 9 Entertainment)
Room 134, North Hall

Friday (March 12, 2010) 1:30pm — 2:30pm
Creating the Active Cinematic Experience of UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves
Bruce Straley (Game Director, Naughty Dog), Neil Druckmann (Co-Lead Designer, Naughty Dog)
Room 305, South Hall

Friday (March 12, 2010) 4:30pm — 5:30pm
UNCHARTED 2 Art Direction
Erick Pangilinan (Art Director, Naughty Dog), Robh Ruppel (Art Director, Naughty Dog)
Room 306, South Hall

Saturday (March 13, 2010) 10:30am — 11:30am
UNCHARTED 2 Character Pipeline: An In-depth Look at the Creation of U2′s Characters
Richard Diamant (Lead Character Artist, Naughty Dog Inc.), Judd Simantov (Lead Character Technical Director, Naughty Dog Inc)
Room 135, North Hall

Saturday (March 13, 2010) 1:30pm — 2:30pm
Animation and Player Control in UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune and UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves
Travis McIntosh (Lead Programmer, Naughty Dog Inc.)
Room 135, North Hall

Saturday (March 13, 2010) 1:30pm — 2:30pm
Getting Noticed: Why You Need an Online Portfolio and How to Make One
Jacob Minkoff (Game Designer, Naughty Dog Inc)
Room 306, South Hall

Saturday (March 13, 2010) 3:00pm — 4:00pm
UNCHARTED 2: HDR Lighting
John Hable (Programmer, Naughty Dog)
Room 305, South Hall