Peer Pressure I got back from the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. It's such a cool event...just watching all these brilliant minds in game development riff off each other. It was fantastic for me in terms of networking and just learning more about the industry. I got to catch up with a lot of old friends, make new contacts, and strengthen old ones. I cranked out lots of work too and got drunk for the first time this year. As I get older I feel less and less confident in my ability to attend a trade event, write, network, and hang out for days at a time. I was surprised I did it for two days at D.I.C.E. I'm still not sure I'll make it through E3 this year...but I say that every year. One of my most pleasant surprises was catching up with Van and Seamus. I haven't seen Van in months. She's changed a lot. Motherhood will do that to you. It's beautiful to see how much she loves her baby. He's so incredibly cute. I might steal him to use as an accesory to pick up women. Just take a look at little Max. How adorable is he? I did get irritated at my fellow journos throughout the event. One of my favorite parts of D.I.C.E. seminars is watching high-profile developers ask each other questions. It irked me every time a journo asked a question. We have so many opportunities to interview developers and I don't think D.I.C.E. is our time to question them. It just seemed really inappropriate to me. A bunch of us had a roundtable with Shigeru Miyamoto. That was the right time and place to ask questions -- to really get his insights. Instead most of the questions were banal, product-related queries that he obviously can't address until E3. I asked him a question about his new dog in the context of how his gardening hobby influenced Pikmin I was wondering if his new dog has given him any game ideas. A few of my peers scoffed, but they're idiots. I mean, Miyamoto has taken his experience of playing in a cave in Kyoto and turning that into Zelda. Certainly he sees things in the relationship and interaction between a man and his dog that most people do not. Oh well, the one mainstream jounalist in attendance made a point to compliment me on my question. Okay, I'm done ranting.