Who was there: As the 2010 Game Developers Conference entered the home stretch, BioWare lead gameplay designer Christina Norman reflected on the changes made to the company's latest sci-fi franchise in "Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2."

What she talked about: Norman began by noting that the original Mass Effect had a far more traditional role-playing game feel. In particular, the game's power wheel (where players select their abilities) allowed for access to up to 20 abilities, each of which was on a separate cool-down timer. She also pointed out that the game would...

Who was there: A panel of industry humorists including DoubleFine Productions founder Tim Schafer (Brutal Legend, Psychonauts), narrative designer and scriptwriter Rhianna Pratchett (Overlord, Heavenly Sword), Telltale Games writer/designer Sean Vanaman (Tales of Monkey Island, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventure), appeared, answering questions posed by A.V. Club writer John Teti.

What they talked about: After a full Game Developers Conference week of serious, high-minded discussion about business models, social media, and emerging trends, it was finally time for a humor-in-games panel to lighten the mood.

Teti's first question to the panel was to ask...

Who was there: "The Connected Future of Games" panel at the 2010 Game Developers Conference featured some of the biggest names in the online business. On hand to deliver their thoughts on the impact of the connected experience in games were Blizzard senior vice president of game design Rob Pardo; BioWare RPG/MMO group and senior vice president of EA Ray Muzyka; Zynga chief game designer Brian Reynolds; Valve director of business development Jason Holtman; and Nexon vice president of marketing Min Kim.

What they talked about:...

Who was there: Director and scenario writer Motomu Toriyama from Square Enix went over the Crystal Mythos and shared his thoughts on the direction of Final Fantasy.

What they talked about: Motomu Toriyama began his 2010 Game Developers Conference session by introducing himself and then telling the audience that Final Fantasy XIII, which launched March 9, is selling well across North America and Europe. As a scenario writer for Square Enix, Toriyama joined the company in 1994, around the time when Final Fantasy VI was launched.

Shortly after he began, he remembered meeting with the entire development team of 40 people, including the founding fathers of...

Who was there: Rocksteady art director David Hego delivered a presentation on last year's hit Batman: Arkham Asylum, titled "Rebooting a Super Hero Video Game IP."

What they talked about: Hego kicked off his talk with a warning.

"I'm a bit French," he said, asking the audience to forgive his accent.

Hego ran down a bit of background on Rocksteady, saying the studio started with 40 people, but ramped up to 65 by the height of Arkham Asylum's development. The team is an experienced group, he said, with a strong belief that attention to detail is what...