SAN DIEGO — When game designers and executives gather at an event like last week's PlayStation Gamers Day, they're there to deliver a specific script. They've got games to reveal, describe and promote, and they're ready to get in front of reporters' microphones to talk about them.

The "Ratchet & Clank" lead designer stood ready to spill, just a few feet from the "God of War" guys who themselves were a controller's throw from the first people ever willing to speak on the record about a PS3 game called "Pain."

But what else were these gaming people willing to talk about?

» Scott Rohde, director of product development at Sony's San Diego PlayStation studio, was proud to discuss the manic downloadable PS3 game "Pain," which he described as one of the most fun titles he's ever overseen (see "Multiplayer: Tossing People Into Billboards — And Maybe Paris Hilton, Too?"). Since his studio makes baseball and basketball games, we asked him: Can there really be improvements in sports games every year or is there an end in sight to meaningful changes? Do you have a chart on your wall so you know when everything on the checkoff box will be checked off?

He said: "I'll tell you what, technology dictates that to a certain extent, but we have enough to do for the next 10 years to keep on going. I have so many ideas that we want to put into our baseball and basketball franchises. It's exactly the opposite. We never have enough time in our yearly cycle [to get everything included] before we put it out. We have stuff planned out for the next four, five years for both franchises."

» Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment of America (a.k.a. the PlayStation division on this continent), is the kind of guy who — when asked which game he was most excited to showcase at the San Diego event — responds by mentioning almost all of them. Since he's in charge of the PlayStation marketing campaigns on TV and in print — like the current print ad for the upcoming PS3 dragon-fighting game "Lair," which doesn't even show an image of the game — we asked him: Video game graphics have gotten so good, but in video game print ads, the screen shots are always so tiny. Why is that?

He said: "We want to show them off as big as possible as well. ... It's a conversation we talk to our ad agency about. I happen to agree with you. ... Keep your eye out for stuff coming from us. You're going to see some full-size PS3 beauty shots coming to you soon."

» Rohde was patient with questions. Since his San Diego studio is overseeing the development of "High Velocity Bowling" — a downloadable PS3 bowling game that is controlled by the swing of the system's motion-sensitive controller — we also asked him: What do you say to people who say they just saw this before on another platform? Are you guys just copying the Nintendo Wii?

(Watch Rohde defend the PS3 bowling game's originality here.)

» Sam Thompson, line producer for the Sony-published, Naughty Dog-developed "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" was perfectly willing to explain his game, which will be one of the big titles for PS3 this fall (see "Multiplayer: Hunting Treasure, Stealing Tanks At PlayStation Gamers Day"). Since most people probably don't know what a line producer is, we asked him: What did you do last week on this game?

He said: "We created a demo. We ran a focus group for three different age groups on the title. We got two trailers done. We voice-cast one actor. We recorded about 10 percent of the dialogue for the game. We managed to get the title into QA [Quality Assurance, meaning the testing department]. Yeah, that was about a week for me just on this title."

» Cory Barlog, the Sony game designer who oversees the "God of War" series, was happy to discuss the ins and outs of "God of War: Chains of Prometheus" for the PSP. Since Sony's highly anticipated side-scroller "LittleBigPlanet" will let any user make their own level and then share a playable version of it with PS3-owning friends over the Internet (see "Multiplayer: Getting Hands-On With PS3's 'LittleBigPlanet,' 'Home' "), we asked him: Are you planning on making a "LittleBigPlanet" level when the game comes out?

He said: "I would totally do that, mostly because I am just so insecure that I would make that level myself and vote for it 100 times." When pressed to promise to make one: "I don't even have time to take a vacation. I would love to do it, but if I commit to you now, I'm going to get called out on the Internet by you."

More from the world of video games:

Nintendo announced the company's summer lineup on Monday. Fans of "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption" who previously hung on Nintendo of America's promise of an early 2007 release date can now safely assume they meant early in the 2007 NFL season: The game is set for an August 20 release. Other summer highlights include the Wii soccer game "Mario Strikers Charged" for July 20; a Nintendo DS sequel to the "Brain Age" series also coming August 20; and a DS extension of last year's "Chibi-Robo!" game for GameCube called "Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrol." That last little game gets to share shelf space on September 25 with the not-directly-competing Xbox 360 juggernaut "Halo 3." ...

If you do something interesting in a virtual world or massively multiplayer online game, do you deserve an award? Last week, virtual real-estate mogul "Ailin Graef" (real name Anshe Chung) of "Second Life" and virtual nightclub-owner "Neverdie" (real name Jon Jacobs) of "Entropia Universe" announced that nominations are open for the first-ever Virtual World Awards. The awards will recognize extraordinary player feats in virtual worlds, something both moneymaking players know plenty about. (Graef was recognized last year by MTV for her role in "Second Life"; see "Playa Rater: The 10 Most Influential Video Gamers Of All Time"). The nominations window will close in November, and the awards will be presented in the winners' respective worlds in February. For more information, visit VWAwards.com. ...

So-called non-games on the Nintendo DS have been big in Japan for about two years. The system has hosted hit DS dictionaries and language-training programs, talking cookbooks and travel guides. Very little of that software has come to America. On Monday, games publisher Ubisoft announced an effort to change that. The company is launching a casual games division. What will that entail? The company is promoting a new series from the division called My Coach. The first game in the series, a Nintendo DS and Wii pairing called "My Word Coach," is designed to improve users' verbal skills. Later in the year, the company will produce a DS title called "My Life Coach." According to a Ubisoft press release: " 'My Life Coach' is a personal coach that gives anybody concerned about their well-being the willpower they need to change their habits the way they want in a motivating and fun way."

Recent video game stories from MTV News:
"Makers Of Violent Video Games Offer Rare Defense Of Their Work"
"Multiplayer: Getting Hands-On With PS3's 'LittleBigPlanet,' 'Home' "
"Multiplayer: Tossing People Into Billboards — And Maybe Paris Hilton, Too?"
"Multiplayer: Hunting Treasure, Stealing Tanks At PlayStation Gamers Day"
"Multiplayer: Debating 'Halo 3,' 'Pokemon' And More In Extra Innings"