See it » Today, the organizers of the 2005 Game Developers Conference, to be held in San Francisco from March 7 to 11, revealed their first keynote speaker. At 10:30am on Wednesday, March 9, J Allard, Microsoft's corporate vice president and chief XNA architect, will deliver a presentation titled "The Future of Games: Unlocking the Opportunity."

　　According to a description on the official GDC 2005 Web site, Allard will talk about "the importance of pushing the industry forward; taking advantage of new technology to not only revolutionize the game experience, but also the development of the games themselves." Allard also spoke at the 2004 GDC, where he introduced XNA, Microsoft's new development system that combines Xbox and PC middleware and design tools.

　　Microsoft's choice of Allard to represent the company has led many to believe that the computer giant will not use GDC 2005 to unveil its next-generation console, most commonly called the Xbox Next. Such an important announcement would likely not come from anything less than the company's top brass.

　　At last year's GDC, the top-drawing keynote was id Software founder John Carmack, who was still riding the wave of anticipation prior to Doom 3's release. SCEA senior executive Andy House also delivered a keynote during which he showed the first game announced for the PSP, Death Jr., on an emulator.

　　For more on the 2005 Game Developers' Conference, visit its official Web site.