Features: 'GDCTV: The Near Future of Media Distribution'

Gamasutra is proud to present GDCTV, a new section showcasing streaming high-quality video content of some of the notable sessions of this year's Game Developers Conference. In this second edition, in a format that includes streaming video with accompanying slides, we present Parappa The Rapper and Vib Ribbon creator Masaya Matsuura's session from GDC 2005 entitled "The Near Future of Media Distribution", in which he discusses digital distribution and his online music community Recommuni. The full description for the talk is as follows: "Publishers are feeling the squeeze between exponentially skyrocketing next generation budgets, and precipitously dropping retail packaged-goods pricing structures. In the parallel universe of the music industry, record companies stayed in the packaged goods business too long, exposing themselves to digital piracy from consumer-driven P2P technologies such as Napster. Apple saved their day with the iTunes Music Service, aligning author rights with an irresistable price point. As a handful of game sites, developers, and publishers begin to explore this brave new world of pay-per-transaction digital distribution, visionary musician and game developer Masaya Matsuura has built an online music community in Japan that actively champions author rights without oppressive DRM constraints. This talk details the foundation and significance of Matsuura-san's Recommuni service." You can now access the current GDCTV streaming lecture (a brief, free registration process is required if you have not previously registered.)