I suspect the minority of us managed to actually attend the Game Developers Conference, and therefore most or all of us didn't get to attend Tim Schafer's presentation on character design. Fortunately, GameSpy was there, and summarized the talk:

So, exactly what helps define a great videogame character? "People want to be a hero." Schafer argues that the main character should be "the coolest." S/he should have all the best lines, the most active role, and "have other [NPCs] respond to their awesomeness." If ultra-famous, superstar, Hollywood actors wouldn't kill to play the role, then more work is necessary.

Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll be running some photos taken by Marek of Adventure Gamers, who was fortunate enough to attend. For now check out the report over at GameSpy