Category Archives: GC 2009

Ex-SCEE president David Reeves is to keynote Games Convention Online, as you can see here, with a talk owhich will apparently answer the question of when online game sales will overtake standard retail.

Reeve’s talk is titled, “Schrodinger’s Cat and Heisenberg’s Dog – The Change from Offline to Online”.

GCO takes place on 31 July and 1 August in Leipzig.

So far, over 300 exhibitors from 25 countries are registered for Gamescom 2009 in Cologne.

Names you may have heard of that will be attending include: Activision Blizzard, Bigben Interactive, Capcom, dtp entertainment, Electronic Arts, Funcom, GOA, Hama, Koch Media, Konami, Microsoft, Namco Bandai, NcSoft, Nintendo, Rondomedia, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Tivola, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.

It will be loaded to the gills with games, news, cosplayers, and other fun stuff.

Guess what? We’ll be on hand too.

The long and detailed press release is through the jump. Bring your lunch.

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During GDC we were given a sneak peek at Dragon Age: Origins via a demo with BioWare.

The scene shown to us was of the Village of Redcliff, where the villagers are being plagued at night by a horrible mist that brings the dead with it.

Your group of warriors must decide whether to help the villagers out or not. This is where things can get a bit tricky for you, because an approval system has been set in place. Every decision your character makes, affects the way your group of hardened warriors react to you.

For instance: When the leader of the village asks you to help them deal with the dead invading the town night after night because the local royalty is holed up in the castle –and subsequently no help at all– you will be presented with a choice of dialogue. What you choose to do may directly be in opposition to what your party members feel should be done.

Should you choose to help, one or two members may disagree with you and thus you choosing to help can lower your approval rating with them. Each of the characters will react race or class appropriately to your decisions. You can persuade them though, and like most attributes, your persuasion ability can be leveled up. This helps your character learn to make realistic decisions for the success of your game.

Another interesting tidbit we where shown, was a tree system relating to different battle tactics for each character in your party. In this tree, you can predicate how each character reacts to enemies and custom build the responses just like you would an RTS.

For example: The Mage in your party can be “programmed” to fire off spells at ranged opponents while you and the warrior in your group tank. Same for the archer, and any other party member.

To see how all of your customizations are working out for you, you can switch from a third-person view to a tactical one (looking down on the action) and the screen looks just like your typical RTS. You can give orders in this mode using the real-time cover system explained above.

Described as the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate, BioWare says that Dragon Age will be a much larger game than Mass Effect and with so many different options, the possibilities for length are vast.

Expect Dragon Age: Origins to land in stores for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 “late fall”.

Spore-creator Will Wright has told VG247 that he believes Cloud will work if supported properly by developers and publishers, and that the concept represents a “great opportunity” for the industry.

“In the future, if people are really browsing these things, it’s a great opportunity,” he said, talking of Cloud-based systems like OnLive, which was announced this week at GDC.

If Cloud gaming’s successful, however, Wright said it wouldn’t affect the way he develops games.

“No, not really,” he said when asked if a surge in Cloud popularity would change his content.

“With hardware I really don’t care if it’s Xbox, PC or Cloud.”

OnLive caused quite a stir earlier this week with its remote-play concept, a theory apparently debunked yesterday by tech specialist Richard Leadbetter.

We met up with Michael Pachter at GDC yesterday. In return for us showing him where to pick up his badge and sneaking him into the Luminaries Lunch, he told us why he thought Rockstar and Microsoft have yet to release any concrete download numbers for GTA IV DLC, The Lost and Damned.

The Wedbush Morgan analyst reckoned the content has so far failed to meet expectations for either company.

“It’s not like The Lost and Damned sucked, because it didn’t, and it’s not because [they] did not market it well,” he said.

“I just don’t think it has met their expectations, and it would have been better if they had set their expectations realistically.”

Pachter opined that the Live attach rate is one of the reasons The Lost and Damned hadn’t hit the intended mark.

“The main reason is because not too many Xbox 360 owners are hooked up to Xbox Live,” he said.

“100 percent of GTA IV owners are not hooked up to XBL. Therefore by definition, not every single person who owns GTA IV has Xbox Live. Because of this, I don’t think the numbers were as high as they had hoped for.

“When I personally look at DLC, I wait until the second one is released, that way I have over 40 hours of extra content instead of 20. It’s like playing a whole other game,” he added. “And I think a lot of people feel the same way.

He also added that he expects Rockstar to eventually offer a special edition of GTA IV to include both The Lost and Damned and the second, in-the-works piece of DLC.

Media Molecule’s Alex Evans and Mark Healey revealed at GDC 09 that LittleBigPlanet is only really half finished.

“We still feel like we’re halfway through the development of LittleBigPlanet, to be honest,” said Healey.

“I claim that LittleBigPlanet is potentially a game creation package, which isn’t finished if you like, but potentially.”

“We want LittleBigPlanet to be something that enables people to make games, not platform game levels.”

The least-finished part of the game is the content creation side of things, said Evans. Read what he has to say about that, and more, over at Eurogamer.

According to MCV, Level 5′s confirmed that the sequel to much-loved DS puzzler Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box – will be heading west within the next six months.

The third part of the series will reach us next year, apparently.

Bit more through here.

This year’s Game Connection, taking place at GDC, has 220 exhibitors confirmed for the March 24-26 event, says Gamasutra.

Self-described as “a unique speed dating event for business-focused game makers,” GC will see over 30 nations represented, 40 percent of which are North American, with 15 percent from Asian countries.

Half of the 220 exhibitors are PC developers, 75 are for Wii, and 35 are companies who focus on PSN, XBLA and WiiWare titles.

Loads of stuff to see and do, apparently.

Koelnmesse’s brought the first gamescom forward to directly coincide with next year’s Games Convention.

The show will take place from August 19-23, and not in September as previously planned.

“gamescom belongs to the entire industry and should enjoy as much acceptance as possible,” said BIU boss Klemens Kundratitz.

“This is why we took reservations voiced by the trade and a number of companies regarding scheduling the trade fair in September very seriously. The advantages and disadvantages of holding the trade fair in September were discussed in detail during a number of constructive discussions with industry participants.”

Kundratitz continued: “Ultimately, the voices opposing the date in September were louder than those in favour of it, which is why we worked on a solution that benefits all industry participants. We eventually approached Koelnmesse with our request for a change of schedule, and they were able to move the trade fair to August. I would like to thank all those who worked hard on setting the new date.”

Press release after the link.

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This isn’t going to get any simpler, is it? Speaking to MCV, Games Convention boss Wolfgang Marzin has trashed 2009 Cologne show gamescom as a “ridiculous” idea.

“We know the truth,” he told MCV. “We’ve already proved that GC works, and we have trade backing – nobody wants a show in September. Another copy of GC in Germany is ridiculous; what is the benefit of holding another show? I am confident that the big show will be GC next year.”

Others, such as Koch MD and BIU member Klemens Kundratitz are less convinced, however.

“There will not be another show of any relevance in Germany,” he said, referring to any other effort next year outside of gamescom. “[Leipzig] might try something, but the top 12 publishers are in the BIU and we are committed to take the show to the next level in Cologne.

“The facts are that we have had a great time for seven years at Leipzig Games Convention, but it is now at the stage where it requires a new environment.”

And on it rages.

Koelnmesse boss Oliver P Kuhrt has issued a stark statement to Leipziger Messe in the face of the East German outfit announcing GC2009 dates. Translated, it says something along the lines of, “Give it up: everyone’s coming to gamescom next year.”

“It was to be expected that Leipziger Messe” would announce dates for a 2009 Games Convention, said Kuhrt.

“They will have to then do this, however, to a large extent without the industry.”

Handbags. Kuhrt said he’s received more than 120 inquiries from companies wanted to attend the first gamescom, including “almost all market leaders.”

Konami has been the first company to officially sign up for the show. No specific dates have been set it as yet.

More on EG.de.

Konami’s put out a press release – in German on WiiTower – confirming attendance at GameCOM in Cologne next year and thanking Games Convention for, you know, being good and stuff.

“Konami says ‘Thanks, Leipzig’ for the many great years and such a positive time,” said Konami marketing boss Martin Schneider.

“We look back on a great development, which the industry has been allowed to experience in recent years. But with this balance we direct the view now also forward and say ‘Hello GamesCOM 2009 in Köln’.”

That quote’s a mixture of Babelfish and our amazing German skills, so sorry about that, Martin.

Games Convention dates for next year have already been confirmed, but if Konami’s move is indicative of the rest of the games industry – hint: it almost certainly is – there may not be much to look at in Leipzig Messe next August.

Shame. Damn shame.

We already have proof positive that Leipzig is to remain GC’s central base of operations, but the super-sized convention may soon be expanding its empire onto North American shores.

“The concept is flexible and the network of the global games industry permits us to be active at different locations. After the Southeast Asian Games Convention, we are now focusing on the North American market,” said Leipziger Messe boss Wolfgang Marzin.

The news comes after a highly successful GC08, and confirmation that next year’s show will indeed take place, despite the BIU putting on GamesCOM in Cologne for the first time in 2009.

The full press release, mostly elaborating on the boasts in the aforelinked post, is after the break.

By Nathan Grayson

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According to the official GC site, Leipziger Messe has officially dated Games Convention 2009, which is to run from August 19-23, 2009.

To say this “puts the cat among the pigeons” is a bit of an understatement. The BIU – the German equivalent of ESA or ELSPA – has announced GamesCOM for 2009, a Cologne event that clearly supposed to replaced Games Convention as the major German – and European – games show.

While better travel connections and more hotel rooms are obviously on offer in Cologne, you’d have to be a bit mental to call this year’s Games Convention anything other than a success. Facts and figures:

• Exhibitors: 547 (2007: 503)
• Space occupied: 115,000 sqm (2007: 112,500 sqm)
• Visitors: 203,000 (2007: 185,00)
• Trade visitors: 14,600 (2007: 12,300)
• Media representatives: 3,800 journalists from 48 countries (2007: 3,395 from 46 countries)

Let’s hope someone with an agenda doesn’t go confusing everything for no real reason, eh?

Speaking to VG247 at Games Convention yesterday, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said that E3′s importance for the firm in terms of announcements has diminished in favour of a global approach.

“It’s always important to have something exciting for each key event that we have, and this Games Convention is really gaining lots of lots of importance, not just for the European market but for [the whole business]. E3 was ‘the show’ in the past, and lots of publishers, including ourselves, focused almost solely on E3 and all the news got disseminated from Los Angeles.

“But now, all through the year we have… E3, Games Convention, Tokyo Games Show, so we make sure we have something great for each of the events, and also some messages for local [markets] as well.”

We had a good chat with Mr Yoshida in Leipzig yesterday, and we’ll be bringing you more next week.

Konami’s confirmed Silent Hill Homecoming, PES 2009 and “a massive area dedicated to the ever-popular Dancing Stage franchise” for Games Convention 2009.

The firm will also “use the event to unveil a selection of new, unannounced titles for the first time, with regular showings, Q&A sessions, and product demonstrations within a dedicated stage area.”

“Konami goes into this year’s Games Convention with a very, very strong line-up that mixes familiar titles with exciting new concepts,” said Konami marketing boss, Martin Schneider.

“This year will see more of the fruits of our excellent European RnD push, in addition to stunning titles from Japan. As such, we feel Konami will deliver one of the most diverse and imaginative product lines-ups of the show, and look forward to unveiling our new titles in Leipzig.”

Press release after the link.

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Leipziger Messe just put out a press release spelling out in 40-foot high letters than Games Convention will still take place in Leipzig in 2009.

From the missive:

In response to individual reports in the media in recent months claiming that the GC – Games Convention 2009 would be held elsewhere, the Leipziger Messe boss Wolfgang Marzin clarifies: “The GC – Games Convention is not moving”. Marzin emphasises that the Games Convention is still available to the national and international industry. As the organisers of the GC – Games Convention, the Leipziger Messe would continue to pursue its international strategy. The strength of the world-famous and positively perceived “GC – Games Convention” brand must be exploited to continue expansion of the globally structured concept. An important element in this regard was the Games Convention Asia (GCA) which has been held annually in Singapore since 2007, as Wolfgang Marzin reports.

Got that? IT ISN’T MOVING. It’s just that the show officially sanctioned by the BIU, GAMESCom, will be held in Cologne in September next year. Well handled there, German people.

Full thing after the link.

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Games Convention owner Leipziger Messe has confirmed today that the show is still scheduled to happen in Leipzig in 2009. The news comes in the wake of an joint announcement from the BIU [Germany's answer to ELSPA or ESA - Ed] and Koelnmesse that a new event, GAMESCom, is to be held in Cologne in September next year.

It had been thought that the Games Convention IP may have been licensed to the new showground for a sizeable sum, but in essence the BIU hung Leipziger Messe out to dry, dragging Germany’s main show to a new location and refusing to take any tie of the Games Convention brand with it. On the surface, this leaves Leipziger Messe, owner of the biggest games show in the world, with nothing after building up an annual audience of almost 200,000.

Leipziger Messe, obviously, isn’t entirely pleased about the events of the last 24 hours, saying it is disappointed with the decision and today telling Eurogamer.de that it doesn’t believe the BIU understands the concept of Games Convention or its sister trade event GCDC.

Games Convention 2009 is, therefore, on. Whether or not the BIU has just made the biggest booboo in European gaming history remains to be seen.