GDC: PlayStation Blogger Lounge Wrap-up (Part 1)

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Jeff Rubenstein Sr. Social Media Manager
6 Author Replies

PlayStation.Blog @ GDC

If you’ve been wondering (aloud, some of you), where this Blog’s GDC updates have been – well even the best laid plans can be crushed under the treads of mighty Flu Season. Rest assured, once my temperature drops under 100 F (fingers crossed), I’ll make an effort to get answers to those questions you were nice enough to send in last week.

On the opposite side of the coin, our PlayStation Blogger’s Lounge was a success in that it allowed dozens of media outlets access and time to post hundreds of stories on GDC developments such as Insomniac’s Nocturnal initiative, Sony’s PhyreEngine graphics engine, and hands-on impressions of flOw PSP, echochrome, and GT5: Prologue with the new Logitech Driving Force GT wheel.

So much thanks to sites like Kotaku, Joystiq (and their affiliated Fanboy sites), Destructoid, GameSpot, Gamervision, IGN, Level Up, MTV’s Multiplayer, and everyone else who dropped on by over the past few days.

Sidenote: it’s becoming clear that we need to re-institute our policing of the comments area. A number of you have mentioned that they’re sick of wading through unrelated requests that have begun creeping back into nearly every blog post. So, keep it on topic, people! We don’t enjoy banning people as much as you might think (we’ve really only done it like 10 times in the history of the blog).

If there’s something off topic you’re itching to talk about, send it to the Contact Us link on the right side of the blog (we read them!), or take it to the ever-present boards. Thanks!

gdc08inside playstation

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122 Comments

6 Author Replies

  • StupidityTries
    February 22, 2008 at 2:32 pm PST

    Hope you feel better soon Jeff!

    • Jeff Rubenstein
      February 22, 2008 at 2:49 pm PST

      Thank you all for the kind words. I really feel terrible (illness aside), because the flu derailed the coverage plans.

  • Sakimori_X
    February 22, 2008 at 2:39 pm PST

    Thanks for the update, Jeff. Glad to hear we haven’t been forgotten. Also, great news on PhyreEngine!

  • Jeigh
    February 22, 2008 at 2:42 pm PST

    Wow! A lot of people were talking about GDC being a dud, but that PhyreEngine sounds like a huge success! :D

    And do get better, Jeff. Hearing from you is always reassuring. :-)

  • Jenovah
    February 22, 2008 at 2:46 pm PST

    Jeff, when is the next Sony Gamers Day?

    I am dying to see the late 08 lineup :(

  • reinheart
    February 22, 2008 at 2:48 pm PST

    Hope you feeling better Jeff, had the flu 2 month ago… was bad.

    and I agree it’s sometimes needed to ban people for posting the same stuff over and over which is unrelated to the topic of the blog, happens on my site a lot…

  • BulletToothTony
    February 22, 2008 at 2:56 pm PST

    hey jeff i just got over a flu so i know how you feeling bro..
    Overall GDC was good imo, but i am looking forward to E3 thou, it’s like it never ends huh

    Anyhow, about everyone nagging it is annoying, i’m 28 and i’m guessing i’m a bit more mature than most people here, thou i may be wrong, but just how you find it overwhelming and you are probably working really hard to get things done, what i have always suggested in this blog it’s not to keep everything a secret.

    I mean a lot of these features were suppose to come out in last november so people have been somewhat patient, i’m a home beta tester so is not a big deal to me but to others it is..

    A strong suggestion is just share some news.. we get news from a slip up from someone that they might’ve said or that sony registered something and someone found out, it shouldn’t have to be that way, this is the blog, gamers don’t want surprises anymore. We like to be informed that’s why gamesites get million of hits a day and keeping it a secret it’s not working for you or us.

    Let us know, XMB still in the works, tell us when are you hoping to release it but say something, but to just ignore what people keep asking just leads to more frustration.

    Anyhow, i know that once MGS4, Killzone2 and Resistance2 hit our consoles and hopefully XMB will be out by then the blog will get a lor more quieter, until then share some light with us, we would greatly appreciate it..

    feel better dude

    • Jeff Rubenstein
      February 22, 2008 at 3:13 pm PST

      I hear you Tony, when we don\’t share info, it\’s usually because there\’s a lot of things up in the air. We don\’t get any joy in keeping secrets.

      On top of that, the two most asked (and yes, ignored) questions here involve Home and XMB. Home is being developed largely in Europe, and most firmware stuff really gets done in Japan. We\’re (quite literally) in the middle.

  • NewYork214
    February 22, 2008 at 2:56 pm PST

    cant wait to see some of the Q and A’s. and everyone seems to be gettin the flu. i had it 2 weeks ago.

    I hope the comments get monitored more. or maybe you should have a section where the whiners can just go to talk to each other.

  • Gunwing
    February 22, 2008 at 2:59 pm PST

    Hay Jeff In know just what you got man I got it too! So did my dad, and my mom as well! It’s going around and it’s nasty! My fever peeked at 104 last night before I got to bed. Any Higher and I might have just died right there.

    Keep at it man! Drink lots of Water and take a rest and you should be back on your feet in no time!

  • nacho805
    February 22, 2008 at 3:01 pm PST

    hope you get well soon

    atleast you have time too rake up kills on cod4 now

    and play sum patapon :-D

    dont froget too eat sum chicken soup its really good fr you around this time

    i saw in the news last night that docters messed around whit the flu shoots and got the orders wrong

    late late show whit craig furguson was also sick last week

  • CrimsonCalibur
    February 22, 2008 at 3:01 pm PST

    Hey Jeff, Hope you start feeling better soon. We are all anxious to hear from you.

    And thanks for stepping up with the comment monitoring. It was definitely getting out of hand again.

  • MUGEN02
    February 22, 2008 at 3:04 pm PST

    maybe when you feel better you can go yell at Eric Lempel about why the ps3 hasn’t had a firmware update in over 2 months.

  • unit138
    February 22, 2008 at 3:05 pm PST

    Flu sux. My family has had it for a month, traveling from person to person. (It hasn’t reached me yet! W00T!) So get well soon!

    So this is my first time to post in a long time because the password retrieval system is not so user friendly… *Grrr*

    Im actually psyched about GDC this year though! Ive been keeping an eye on it on through 1up and G4 and other various minor sources. This years lineup is fantastic! (Im a PC and PS3 gamer) But Im ready to hear from our awesome insider (that would be you Jeff! LOL)

  • Genki-Rocket
    February 22, 2008 at 3:06 pm PST

    Sorry guys but what a let down compared to last year.

    Not even some new trailers…?

    No GDC content on the PSN?

    How many major events has MS done in it’s “bringing it home series now?” You did a few cursory trailers at e3… but since then MS continues to run rings around you in terms of getting content on Xbox Live in timely fashion.

    You say you are listening… sometimes feels like there’s not much doing?

    The In-game XMB Shirts felt like a slap in the face to users who feel their PS3 is hamstrung without this feature… Who’s idea was that? If you actually had news it would be genius. As is… it felt like it was poorly planned… and certainly not great PR.

    We didn’t even get updates on the things you revealed last year…

    Last year you were taking the lead with user content… this year MS took that batton and ran with it…

    GUYS… After last year i was really hopng for more leadership from you…

    I FEEL REALLY LET DOWN.

  • Draicus
    February 22, 2008 at 3:06 pm PST

    Looking forward to seeing everything you managed to round up and whatever else you plan on finishing once you are disinfected. Don’t feel bad about getting sick and having it mess up the schedule. That’s life! I just barely got over the flu, now my son has it, and my wife is coming down with something as well. It’s just not possible to predict that sort of thing, and certainly not something you should worry yourself over.

    Get feeling better!

    P.S. When you get the chance, poke Dylan Jobe in the eye a few times and get him to update us with some official specs of the recent Warhawk design contest and Operation: Broken Mirror. :P

  • Seanscythe2
    February 22, 2008 at 3:16 pm PST

    Get Well Soon!

    Hope to here better news then the letdown that is known as GDC. Talk about lame in everyway, last year was so much better.

  • MrCamo
    February 22, 2008 at 3:20 pm PST

    hop you feel better soon, i hope that is on topic:)

  • KROmphroy
    February 22, 2008 at 3:20 pm PST

    Thanks for the GDC updates this week man, get well soon-er than later! Got it?!

  • Goodfella2487
    February 22, 2008 at 3:21 pm PST

    Its called the Game Developers Conference, not the Game Demo Conference. Wait for SGD or E3.

  • Rated-G
    February 22, 2008 at 3:22 pm PST

    Hope you get better soon, I just got over the flu and it’s still going around the dorms….

    By the way is there any way we could get the WipEout HD trailer up in the PS Store? Because watching that on my TV would be awesome… I’m totally stoked for that game! I would love to be able to download that onto my PS3.

  • Seanscythe2
    February 22, 2008 at 3:23 pm PST

    The In-shirt XMB was of poor taste they person that came up with it needs a swift kick in the ba..place that hurts a lot. Now if you guys did it and anounced a new FW update that added it then it would be so bad.

    I mean really something that your fans want more then anything you slap us in the face and laugh. You say you are listening to us but a wall listens but doesn’t do anything no matter how long you yell at it. That’s what it feels like with our most wanted topics, you listen and don’t do anything to asure us you are doing anything about it. But what you did do is something the wall wouldn’t you fell on top of us with them lame shirts and crushed our hopes.

    Bad choice of humor, it must be because of the writers strike.

  • Qbrain
    February 22, 2008 at 3:24 pm PST

    I hope you get better soon Jeff! good luck!

    jeff: maybe its a cool idea to integrate comments ratings? like youtube has, if someone makes a comment thats rather ‘offtopic’ then people can vote it thumps down, then when it has more then 7 thumps down, the comment ‘hides’.. and needs to be clicked to view it.
    And you can make ‘thumps up’ comments as well, for people who make cool comments. :)

    -Q

  • Chrisrahosiris
    February 22, 2008 at 3:25 pm PST

    Thanks for all of the coverage. Sorry that you’re sick. Hope you get well soon

  • Qbrain
    February 22, 2008 at 3:26 pm PST

    Also Jeff: i was wondering if you please could tell me if this website if from SONY or if it is a hoax:

    http://www.colorize.net/home/

    You don’t need to tell me anything about what it possibly contains, I just would like to know if this is real from SONY or not.

    -Q

  • Enedok
    February 22, 2008 at 3:30 pm PST

    Since we love “offtopic” so much, can you add a shoutbox where the Gdc widget is now. (With a nice filter from no-no words)

    /Suggestion

    Still, even without the FW, do want that shirt.

  • Lirion
    February 22, 2008 at 3:35 pm PST

    Kinglink why don’t you go post somewhere else where people are superhuman such as yourself?

  • Jenovah
    February 22, 2008 at 3:37 pm PST

    Thanks for the answer Jeff! And get well soon.

  • StupidityTries
    February 22, 2008 at 3:40 pm PST

    @ 24
    It’s just games, mate, relax.
    The fate of the world doesn’t rest on the information coming out of GDC… unless you know something I don’t…

  • Lets_kill_jim
    February 22, 2008 at 3:42 pm PST

    i was hoping for atleast 1 surprise announcement,HOME release or another exclusive IP game. i know its not meant to be GDC but still seeing all the Xbox 360 fanboys posting on forums that they had a great GDC kinda makes me jealous. oh well … Lets hope that the sony gamer thing if in May and we hear some game news.

    i kinda think its the wrong decision though of sony that they didn’t do a Keynote, They where more positive in the news but with not doing a keynote they lost some consumers to the xbox 360 because they did.

    Kind regards Jim

  • P_tear_griffin
    February 22, 2008 at 3:43 pm PST

    Hey Jeff, thanks for the update and hope you feel a lot better. keep us posted when you can!

    By the way guys, anyone got a chance to see pixlejunk Eden, and those indie games like FEZ & Audiosurf… They are awesome!

  • Wisdom Wanderer
    February 22, 2008 at 3:48 pm PST

    I hope you get better. When I was a toddler I use to be in and out of the hospital. Sometimes my temperature reacher 120! I should’ve died numerous times, but I held my head high and prayed to get better.

  • ftwrthtx
    February 22, 2008 at 3:58 pm PST

    Sorry to hear the flu is kicking your butt. It’s getting to everybody here in Northern Ca.

    Thanks for the GDC updates and if you need help policing the comments, I’ll help.

  • Spaceghost4284
    February 22, 2008 at 3:58 pm PST

    This GDC was so uber lame for the Playstation brand. On all the videogame sites it seems like Xbox news was being displayed left and right and all Sony had was some Home info leaked. Oh well, rumor has it that an ad in Famitsu says METAL GEAR SOLID IS OUT JUNE 12th!!! BABOOM!

  • Jeigh
    February 22, 2008 at 4:02 pm PST

    Hey, Jeff, if you feel that you need to delete Kinglink’s comment, I approve. :P

  • NewYork214
    February 22, 2008 at 4:02 pm PST

    i dont think any of the 3 big companies had big showings at GDC. only reason last year was big was becuase sony revealed Home which was for developers to see but it became huge for fans also so it was made into a huge show.

    but E3 will be great for sony i think. especially with resistance 2 being shown if thats what 0708 meant in the video

  • Stoffinator
    February 22, 2008 at 4:06 pm PST

    This was a disappointing GDC from Sony. You guys had nothing you could show?

  • Snap
    February 22, 2008 at 4:10 pm PST

    I’ve said my peace in the other threads. Just because things are being developed in other parts of the company doesn’t mean you can’t get any questions answered about them.

    People are going to ask about Home and XMB until they’re released. Get use to it. If you SCEA guys and gals don’t like it, close all comments.

  • KingSMOKE420
    February 22, 2008 at 4:26 pm PST

    well let me start by saying i hope u get better jeff soon me and my family is all sick we all have the flu and been throwing up for 2 days and i know how it is dude as i type this im still really sick but we need some answers to certain things jeff or elese all these people posting commkents are gonna be posting about u know what for a verry long time and sony might as well bust out with the ban boutton because alot of fans and consumers are reall pissed at u all all we have is like a few games for the station 3 and aint much out to get nor rent well it seems like yall do need help at sony need more techs and so on do not let us down sony we spent alot of money on this system and games and accesories and psn stuff its not even funny and what do we get in return for putting blu rays up top nothing but a good big kick in the butt , by the way thanx for nothing i c where alll of our 600 dollars for this system went to some BS ingame xmb shirts thats really freakn smart too instead of using thatr monet and time for somn useful naw not sony we going to make a in game xmb shirt what the heck is wrong with u all at sony this is some kiddy stuff xbox should be doing but well see what sony is going to do to make this right and better for us all in the ps3 communityb o yea im gonn to buy a damn 360 just so i can play some descent games and get some betta features thjat u all r holding back and teasing us about i know u dont care but we sure in the hell do
    . ps3 wouldnt been nothing without us all buying this 600$ paper weight for nothing,u guys betta make r money worth are while thank u !

  • DaveTheStalker
    February 22, 2008 at 4:27 pm PST

    When are we going to see a “real” hands on review on this new DFGT? That same so-called “review” from someone that never used a wheel to play a game in their life is circulating like the plague.

  • P_tear_griffin
    February 22, 2008 at 4:33 pm PST

    I hope that the PhyreEngine and Insomniac’s initiative to share source code doesn’t end up hurting Sony since they can be used to program for 360 and PC.

  • I-PWN-n00bs-A-LIVING
    February 22, 2008 at 4:37 pm PST

    Hey Jeff, I am just wondering why you guys are so secretive… Like what is the reason for it? There might be lawsuits or something? Can you just give us some sort of estimate on Home there must be something… Please!

    Thanks mate

  • I-PWN-n00bs-A-LIVING
    February 22, 2008 at 4:49 pm PST

    By the way, sorry but GDC ’08 sucks man. In-shirt XMB just pissed a lot of people off, and barely no info on anything else. All we got was the Phyrengine and a bubble machine… I honestly think you guys need to step it up. If you want your customers to be happy just tell us what is going on. I’ve been considering of selling my PS3 for a while…

  • PSPMAN07
    February 22, 2008 at 4:51 pm PST

    Wow, it is utterly amazing, how some of us can be so rude, and unkind to others like us. Utterly Ridiculous

    @ Jeff, hope you feel better, it as well hit here in Milwaukee, and my family as well. So I definitely know how it feels. You sir have great patience.

  • KatanaKing
    February 22, 2008 at 4:53 pm PST

    i have seen no information at all, not of any interest to me anyway. What about a release date for HOME or when you will be planning to release the next firmware with ingameXMB….instead of some childish prank by means of a so called ‘ funny’ t-shirt. Do people actually sit around eating muffins and come up with these marketing tricks?

    In my opinion, the GDC last year was huge for Sony with alot of false promises, this was due to bad sales, but now, all seems well on the sales side so they slip back into their holes and think that the job is done…..i mean HOME has been in the works for a year now, and LBP keeps getting pushed back and pushed back, after all its just some kind of sales gimmik anyway, i think the enjoyment value will wear off very quick.

    Just my two cents, i don’t expect an answer on any of my questions as i usually don’t…..

  • Genki-Rocket
    February 22, 2008 at 4:57 pm PST

    this pretty much sums up how i feel about GDC

    http://frag-cast.blogspot.com/2008/02/sony-gdc-2008-news.html

    Sometimes you guys communicate and it feels like you really ‘get it’ and others you get it so wrong it makes the times you get it right seem like a fluke.

    Jeff it must be hard staying positive in the face off all these negatives comments..!

    fact is though, we are the people that engage with this brand, and we are the people that can make or break it… given that the wii is running away with the mainstream, sony seems happy to upset the hardcore.

    Did something go wrong at gdc? was there meant to be more?

    Is this blog just turning into a mouthpiece? Are you going address any of the issues raised about GDC in a post?

    It’s all well and good saying that GDC is a developer event… if that’s the case you shouldn’t have made consumer announcements there last year.

    If home really is due in spring, then why isn’t there a decent schedule in place?

    I’ve never felt so much like Sony misjudged the mood of fans… it got so much better last year after E3… and now you’ve not delivered on all the talking you did back then.

    WHY CANT YOU ADDRESS THE XMB ISSUE PROPERLY? Is it so hard to get someone to come on the blog and talk candidly about why it’s taking so long?

    Instead it feels like you guys are starting to turn this into a moutpiece by saying people can’t comment on things that are off topic…. the fact that people keep talking about the same issues is not something you should hide from by threatening with the ban-stick – that goes against the very ethos of this blog.

    If you are open and honest about the issues and TRUE timings of things, then all these comments will evaporate. Thats not rocket science, is it?

  • Frazz
    February 22, 2008 at 4:58 pm PST

    Jeff I hope you feel better soon.

    I have an idea that if the two most asked for features are home and xmb then make a blog post about it and let the gamers vent.

    Then start some hardcore banning in the unrelated posts.

  • Chuck-FN-Norris
    February 22, 2008 at 5:01 pm PST

    @ Genki-Rocket

    I agree with you 100%

  • Genki-Rocket
    February 22, 2008 at 5:06 pm PST

    I like to add to comment 47….

    MS showed you guys up big time at GDC – they announced huge features and massives games, including what is going to be their biggest game of the year…

    I think that also showed up the paucity of Sonys GDC offering.

    I will state again though… in case you missed it last time:

    WHY CANT YOU ADDRESS THE XMB ISSUE PROPERLY? Is it so hard to get someone to come on the blog and talk candidly about why it’s taking so long?

  • Wilester
    February 22, 2008 at 5:14 pm PST

    @ Genki-Rocket

    Couldn’t have put any of that better myself.

    Jeff, thoughts?

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