Feature: 'GDC Radio: Burning Down the House'

Gamasutra is proud to present a series of weekly podcasts will alternate between two sources under the overarching GDC Radio brand - the Gamasutra podcast, a new original podcast show, and GDC Radio Archives, which will feature exclusively the best lectures, tutorials, and roundtables from this and previous years' Game Developers Conference. Today's GDC Radio lecture comes from our extensive archive of Game Developers Conference recordings. This week, we present 'Burning Down the House: Game Developers Rant,' GDC 2005's 'Burning Down the House: Game Developers Rant,' the infamous session in which Gamelab's Eric Zimmerman, Deus Ex designer Warren Spector, Maxis' Chris Hecker and others were given the chair to discuss the state of the game biz. The session originally caused considerable controversy thanks to its frank content, and is being release in audio form for the first time. An extract from the official panel abstract follows: "Rant: To rave in violent, high-sounding, or extravagant language; to be noisy, boisterous, and bombastic in talk or declamation. Every year at the GDC, if you listen carefully, there are subtle rumblings beneath the happy audience applause and brisk tradeshow traffic. Every year, in the subtexts of the keynotes and panel discussions, a handful of important issues surface. Are licenses killing games? Are development companies becoming sweatshops? Why does the public think games are bad culture? Where the hell is the indie game industry? Burning Down the House: Game Developers Rant brings these important issues out of the shadows and into your face. Come to this session prepared to have your assumptions questioned and your sensibilities shaken. You have been warned." You can now download the 'Burning Down the House: Game Developers Rant' GDC Radio panel (.MP3, 13.5 MB). [In addition, you can subscribe to GDCRadio.net podcast using iTunes and searching the directory for GDC Radio or by clicking this link. You can manually add the GDCRadio podcast to your iTunes by using the Subscribe to Podcast option from the Advanced menu. When it asks for the URL enter feeds.feedburner.com/GDCRadio.]