The keynote speech from Hideo Kojima was about his game design philosophy, which he said is essentially "making the impossible possible." Here are a few slides from his presentation: Read more...

During the Q&A session following the Level-5 game design panel, someone asked president Akihiro Hino if we would see all six "Professor Layton" games released in North America and Europe. He said that he'd like all the games to come out in those territories, and that the company is working on the localizing the second title in the series, "Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box," which he hopes it will be out in six months.

During the DSi development panel, DSi design director Masato Kuwahara showed some early handheld prototypes that never made it to market. Like this Game Boy Advance predecessor from 1995, the first prototype for a next-gen color handheld system, shown next to a DSi:

"There's no way you're fitting that thing in your pocket," Kuwahara said via a translator. "You would be shocked to see how big that device was." He also said that the graphics engine wasn't proficient, and that there were performance issues.

The next prototype shown was a touch-screen adapter that Kuwahara designed to attach to the Game Boy Color. He said it was not "favorably received" by the software development team because the LCD screen didn't have a backlight. He also revealed that Miyamoto liked the adapter when it was used on the GBA SP, but it was not brought to market. Kuwhara was disappointed but said, "I'd like to to think my prototype led to the appearance of the Nintendo DS."

Outside the DSi development panel, I ran into Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing, while she was fervently playing her DSi. She was playing around with the music function, and looking like she was having a lot of fun, even though she told me she was suffering from a cold. (I'm pretty sure she never stops smiling.)

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At the start of the Q&A session during the "Evolving Game Design" panel, Suda51 had questions for his fellow panelist, Fumito Ueda, the lead designer of revered titles "Ico" and "Shadow of the Colossus."

"I think I'll represent everyone here by asking Mr. Ueda: When is your new game going to happen?" Suda said. After some laughter and applause, Ueda replied, "The Japan studio bosses are here so I can't say anything specific, but it might be something similar to what's been done. ... The essence of the game is rather clsoe to 'Ico.'" As Suda asked more questions, Ueda then pleaded, "I can't talk about this anymore! Don't ask anymore questions please! As soon as I stop talking they're going to shoot me!"

Yes, you read that headline right. Even Suda51, whose work includes the quirky, ultra-violent titles "Killer7" and "No More Heroes," was surprised by some of the characters in "Fallout 3." When talking about storytelling in games during the "Evolving Game Design" panel, Suda said via a translator, "Even ['Fallout 3''s] minor characters are shockingly crazy and it makes me wonder what is going on in [lead designer Emil Pagliarulo's] head; Emil, I would like to open up your brain and look at it." Back at you, Suda.

When asked how he incorporates fan feedback into his next game during the "Evolving Game Design" panel, "Fallout 3" lead designer Emil Pagliarulo addressed how many gamers didn't like the fact that the game ended -- at all. "We look at other games, and how many other games end? All of them, so we'll end 'Fallout 3,'" he said of the thought process behind the idea. "Roll credits, it's over -- but people didn't like that so much." He added that "Fallout 1" ended as well, but the studio underestimated how much people viewed "Fallout 3" as a sequel to "Oblivion."

"So for us," he said, "it doesn't even go as far as the next game, it goes as far as DLC." He then explained how in the third piece of DLC for the game, titled "Broken Steel," they're addressing this issue by changing the end of the game so it doesn't end anymore. "That's a great thing about doing DLC," he said. "You don't have to wait for a full four-year development cycle; you can react in a matter of months to player feedback."

During the "Evolving Game Design" panel, "Fallout 3" lead designer Emil Pagliarulo elaborated on the ending that could've been. [Spoiler alert!] Read more...

In a panel called "Evolving Game Design: Today and Tomorrrow, Eastern and Western Game Design" with designers Emil Pagliarulo ("Fallout 3"), Fumito Ueda ("Ico," "Shadow of the Colossus") and Goichi Suda ("Killer7," "No More Heroes"), each person was asked to describe their general design philosophy. Suda (a.k.a. Suda51) told us his inspirations via a translator, saying, "I take a look at TV, film and games and then try to get good ideas." He added, "Being alone is very important. I go to the bathroom, I try to poop and then I will come up with an idea. This is a true story!"

This morning I saw a demo of a very early build for "Split/Second," the new racing title by Black Rock Studio, the developers behind last year's "Pure." Global brand manager Mitch Powers showed me the game, and called it an "action-arcade street racing game set in the world of a primetime reality TV show." While that description sounds unwieldy, the HUD for the game was simple: all the information the player needed (rank, score, number of laps) was displayed on the bumper of the player's vehicle.

"We're investigating different ways of showcasing the HUD without putting to much on screen, really keeping it minimal," Powers said, adding that this was far from the final product. When I asked if he thought other racing games' HUDs were too cluttered, he said, "I think games in general can have too much stuff in their HUD. We're always looking at innovative ways to incorporate important information into the HUD, or at least give gamers the option [to see what they want]. If I want to see it, I'll see it. But I don't want it to be persistent if i don't want to see it. In 'Split/Second,' we really want to showcase the blockbuster action that's happening within the race; we don't want to cover it up with HUD elements."

How much do you want in your HUD? Do you think less is more?

"Split/Second" is slated for release on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 early next year.