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Next 'Games Convention Online' set for July 8-11 in Leipzig
It appears that Games Convention Online has justified its existence for a second year, as the show will take place July 8-11, 2010, at the Leipziger Messe in Germany. The inaugural show last year drew in 43,000 attendees and organizers have added an extra day for more breathing room in the schedule to accommodate "business talks." Games Convention Online was Leipzig's way of staying on the map after it lost the mega European games convention, which became GamesCom in Cologne. That show brought in an astounding 245,000 attendees its first year.
Leipzig Games Convention cancelled for 2009
Since 2002, the Leipzig Games Convention has been the predominant European expo for gamers, recently rivaling the Tokyo Game Show as the largest games event in the world. In a move contradicting that success, organizers have just announced that this year's Games Convention will not be held in its traditional form at the Leipziger Messe Fairgrounds. In its place will be Gamescom, which has been backed by Nintendo, Sega and Microsoft. Who could compete with that?You may remember the importance of this Games Convention in recent years to such MMOs as Warhammer Online and Age of Conan. In fact, when AoC's servers merged recently, the EU servers fared a bit better than the North American ones. Not to fret though, as the organizers have announced an online version of the convention called Games Convention Online. "We will be combining the real fair, that is, the offline event, with an online event," says Wolfgang Marzin, Leipzig Trade Fair CEO. "This means that millions of gamers are linked in on the internet and can take part in the Games Convention Online in Leipzig live. The Games Convention Online will host tens of thousands of visitors in Leipzig, and several million in the whole world."
Leipzig Games Convention dead, long live Games Convention Online
Or rather, GAMES CONVENTION ONLINE as the press release puts it. The Leipzig Games Convention, Europe's premier video games showcase, will be closing its doors in 2009 thanks to competition from Cologne's Gamescom, a new event which premieres this Summer. Gamescom boasts the full support of the industry, which it has snatched from Leipzig's grasp. This includes acting as host for GDC Europe, which had previously been hosted at Leipzig alongside the Games Convention. The Leipzigger Messe isn't done with games, though, as it will play host to a new event this year. Games Convention Online will take part in Leipzig between July 31 and August 2, and will focus on "the most dynamic market in the gaming industry: browser, client and mobile games." An exciting prospect, by all accounts, but we suspect it may not see as great a turnout as Gamescom might. As if the news couldn't get any sadder, Leipzig's CEO Wolfgang Marzin says the industry can come back any time (please!). "If the industry is again in search of a platform for console and PC games and hardware with the know-how of the GC - Games Convention, we will immediately be available."
News from the Wider MMO World: August 26, 2008
The MMO genre is more than World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online. Here's what's going on in the rest of the world.Mabinogi welcomes Generation 3The MMO that bills itself as "your fantasy life" has gotten its next upgrade with Generation 3. Now Mabinogi players will have the ability to marry each other, complete with license and wedding attire for both genders. An overarching quest will require warriors to recover dungeon seals to prevent the Fomor from entering the world. And finally, the pet system gets an overhaul, with new interactions, behaviors, and controls. The removal of the combat cap, increased UI options, and new items all await players in Generation 3.Neocron 2 developer declares insolvency10Tacle Studios AG, parent company of Reakktor Media GmbH, developers of Neocron 2, declared insolvency on August 6th. They are awaiting an insolvency administrator to determine what will happen with the game servers. In a later update to the original forum post, Kirk Lenke, CEO of Reakktor Media announced that the insolvency will not affect business operation of Neocron 2, and that they are still in development for upcoming title Black Prophecy.
Auf Wiedersehen, until next year: Leipzig 2009 set for Aug. 19-23
The Leipzig Games Convention was apparently a success and is already scheduled to return next year from August 19 to 23. The "final report" by the Leipziger-Messe states that 82.1% of attendees asked for the show to stay in its current location, with more than a third of attendees traveling over 300 kilometers (186 miles) to attend.The show had 203,000 attendees, with 547 companies exhibiting their wares. Showing that Leipzig is actually becoming of interest to the media as well: 3,800 journalists attended, up from 3,395 in 2007. It'll be interesting to see how Leipzig does next year when it will reportedly have some competition from GamesCOM in Cologne.
GC 2008: First footage of Cursed Mountain
You'll have to endure some conference attendee's phone call at the beginning of this off-screen Cursed Mountain footage, but it takes place during the seemingly interminable intro anyway. This video contains the first actual images of Deep Silver's horror title, which, at first, only seems scary because the music and the editing tells you it's supposed to be. It's just a foggy mountain, which isn't really that terrifying unless you're there. But then ghosts arrive, and it's generally accepted that ghosts are scary.Judging by the brief glimpse of an onscreen prompt, QTE-style gestures figure into the combat. Either that is what they meant by motion-controlled combat, or those arrows were on the screen as a tutorial, to help players learn the gestures. There's also a pointer visible on screen, which may just be used for investigating or may also be part of the ghostbusting.
GC 2008: Piping hot trailer for The Conduit
Not every Wii fan is an FPS person, and thus we may not be as fully attuned to the nuances of what makes an FPS badical, but we can recognize good Wii graphics when we see them, and we think that The Conduit is looking pretty great. This trailer, released for the Leipzig Games Convention, is all fancy atmospheric lighting effects and dudes (and alien dudes) getting shot up.We're a bit troubled to see slowdown in the trailer, but that happens in every FPS running on a system that regular people can afford. It hardly detracts from all the blowings-up.%Gallery-25003%
Official NCsoft Europe podcast: Games Convention edition released
Who better to talk about the Leipzig Games Convention and the gaming industry in general than the people who develop the games. In NCsoft Europe's most recent official podcast, the community team discusses the convention itself, answers live questions from fans and lets us know about the state of new projects such as the highly-anticipated Aion.The interesting thing about this audio is it's recorded live at the convention in German and English. Each question is answered in both languages, so if you're wondering what Guild Wars is in German, it's Guild Wars. Also, be sure to follow along with the latest Games Convention happenings over at Stephen "Rockjaw" Reid's blog for updates, videos, photos and more!
GC 2008: EVE economist says players set the game's course
Speaking at the Games Convention in Leipzig, EVE Online economist Dr. Eyjolfur Gudmundsson suggested that the game's 245,000 players drive its development and innovation even more than the team at CCP does. That could be construed as populist pandering, for sure, but Gudmundsson -- who was addressing a room full of game developers -- dedicated most of his talk to the notion of "unleashing the power of players."He pointed to the Council of Stellar Management -- a democratically-elected group that represents the player-base in meetings with CCP -- and the player-driven open market that manages itself in accordance with real-world principles of economics as examples of the communal direction in action.This is a notably different mentality than that found in World of Warcraft and similar games which dispense carefully constructed experiences to the players from the developers at the top. EVE stirs an open ended pot of players to cook up gameplay experiences. Godmundsson is talking up the open approach, but both methods arguably have their own special strengths and pitfalls.
GC 2008: Konami news roundup
Konami sent out three new DS game announcements for Europe at the ongoing Games Convention, so we thought we would provide it all at once in digest format. Along with the announcements, there's a bunch of art and screens to look at as well. You'll find galleries after the break.Before we get started, however, check out that Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia art. It's easily among the best Castlevania art we've ever seen. Time Hollow, the time-traveling adventure game from Shadow of Destiny creator (and Suikoden IV producer) Junko Kawano, is coming to Europe this November! The magic-themed Animal Crossing-esque communication game Tongariboushi to 365-nichi no Mahou is being released in Europe as Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry. Winx Club Secret Diary 2009 -- pretty much Diary Girl in a Winx Club theme -- coming out in Q4 of this year. Media: new screens for Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, in addition to the new games!
GC 2008: Left! Right! Chu! Chu! Ulala in Samba
Click for more Ulala goodness. A Sonic cameo in Samba de Amigo has long been old news, grandpa, but we've also been promised appearances from other Sega characters and venues. Here are the fruits of those promises: a cameo from the galaxy's funkiest news reporter, Ulala, and a special Space Channel 5 stage. Ulala's presence makes perfect sense really; as the protagonist of Sega's other awesome rhythm extravaganza, her inclusion was surely inevitable. Now all she needs is her own game. You listening, Sega?%Gallery-20601%[Via press release]
GC 2008: Finally, a pet game we can get behind
Click image for MORE MONKEYS. "Monkey Madness Wii targets kids ages 6 to 8 years," reads the opening line of the press release for Ubisoft's new monkey sim. "Like hell it does!" say we. Okay, so maybe it does, but we can't help being drawn to Ubisoft's newest pet game (and at least it's not Monkeyz). Fact: monkeys are adorable and awesome. Everybody thinks this, so no wonder Ubisoft settled on making a game about them. We've had it with labradors and kittens, frankly.In Monkey Madness Wii, kids we will be able to adopt a monkey and then befriend, train, feed, play with, and photograph our simian chum. There's a range of ridiculous outfits to dress George in (we've already settled on a name), and George's personality will be shaped by how you treat him -- he could be meek, courageous, loyal, indifferent, or something else. We can even cross-breed George with other species of monkeys to create "fantastical hybrids," which sounds a tad disturbing, but we plan on George being an amorous little bugger.We haven't even touched on the neatest feature of Monkey Madness Wii -- the ability to upload George to your Wii Remote (using the Wiimote's 6 kilobytes of on-board memory) and take him to a friend's house to play with the monkeys on their Wii. Clever! In fact, this is wasted on chil'n, and we'll say it now, readers: DO WANT. Now, can you resist a monkey gallery?%Gallery-30057%[Via press release]
GC 2008: Castlevania Judgment reserved for 2009, mysterious character appears
The latest Castlevania Judgment screens, fresh from the Leipzig showfloor, feature a new character not previously seen in the title. "Aeon" is probably one of the fighters produced by manga artist Takeshi Obata, who was drafted in by Konami to provide character designs. Alternatively, he could be from the DS's Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. "Aeon" is not a name we're familiar with from previous instalments of the franchise, and neither Google or the Castlevania Wiki could shed any light on our confusion. Shanoa, the heroine of Order of Ecclesia, is already accessible in Judgment, so we wouldn't rule it out.Whoever Aeon is, you can see more of him here, here and here. In other news, Koji Igarashi confirmed to IGN that the title will now ship to the U.S. in 2009. Grab your stake, hit up our gallery for new shots, and then trek past the break for a new trailer.%Gallery-27187%
GC 2008: Dead Rising trailer is dangerously bloody
We don't question the decision to show a trailer for Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop at the Leipzig Games Convention. In fact, it's not even much of a decision: this is a very large press event, so if you are a publisher and you have a game coming out, you show it. And Dead Rising, just by its nature, is a violent and bloody game, characterized by crowds of (undead) people to be destroyed and piles of improvised weapons to make that happen.But Capcom went the extra mile and bloodied up their trailer -- it's even bloodier than the gameplay footage already was. It's like Capcom's way of saying "Please don't let us sell this, Germany."%Gallery-28028%
GC 2008: Konami rolls Kororinpa 2 our way
Along with Dewy's Adventure, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, and the massively under-rated Mercury Meltdown Revolution, Kororinpa proved that the Wii was the only place to be for enthusiasts of rolling. And now it's rolling back! Konami just announced a sequel to its vowel-heavy game at Leipzig, carefully tilting a trailer and 20 screens in our direction. Finally, another use for our Ball Bearing Maze Special Salver!Over 100 stages will feature in Kororinpa 2, as well as multiple difficulty levels (maybe even difficult levels of difficulty this time), a swish-looking course editor, multiplayer for you and three fellow rollers, and Mii integration (which is now as important and common as having graphics). So long as it also has a better camera, we're already on board. Oh, and boxart that is half as wonderful as that of the original PAL game. Like, seriously, how perfect is this? Expect it early next year.%Gallery-30046%[Via press release]
GC 2008: Rock Revolution late to the stage?
We may have to deal with the rock status quo for a while until the Revolution arrives. According to IGN, Niais Taylor, associate producer of Konami's Rock Revolution, provided an "early 2009" release window for the music game during a demo of the drum kit (which the Wii version does not use). However, there is a bit of potential confusion.If this unspecified release period is worldwide, or for the US, then the game has been delayed from its previous "2008" release. However, if this is the European release date -- which seems likely, since this information was presented at the Leipzig Games Convention -- then the European release, at least, is on track and we don't have any more information about the US release. But the possibility of a delay, we felt, was worth passing on.
Sony intros wireless keypad attachment for the PS3
The news is flying fast and furious out of the Leipzig Games Convention today (we actually just got hit in the eye with a flying piece of news). Apparently Sony is launching a wireless keypad attachment that snaps onto the top of a SIXAXIS or DUALSHOCK3 controller into the mini-USB port. The pad features a "touchpad mode" for mouse input, and can be paired with phones and other gadgets via Bluetooth. No word on pricing, but the pad launches in November, and the add-on will come in eight different languages, which should really help us with our multi-lingual training.
GC 2008: Miis to rock out in Guitar Hero: World Tour
The Wii version of upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour just got a bit more unique. The title will apparently include Mii support, allowing those of you who don't want to go through the pain of modeling yourself in the custom character creator to still get your likeness into the game. No other details about the Mii implementation are available right now, sadly, but we're sure they'll shed some light on it soon enough.For those of you that don't get the joke in the image above, be sure to head past the break for a brief explanation.%Gallery-23491%
GC 2008: EA looking to start up tennis franchise on Wii
For those of you who're fans of tennis, rejoice. EA is poised to present their own tennis title. And, as if that wasn't enough, it will take advantage of Nintendo's new MotionPlus peripheral, joining Ubisoft in proclaiming it's totally awesome. EA also mentions that this will be the first tennis game to include the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which is where Wimbledon is played.So, how many of you are looking forward to seeing this one? A tennis game that takes advantage of MotionPlus? We're excited![Via Joystiq]
Stargate Worlds will be on display at Leipzig train station
European Stargate fans take note: Stargate Worlds will be making an appearance at the Leipzig Games Convention in -- you guessed it -- Leipzig, Germany. As was the case earlier in the summer at Comic Con, Firesky/Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment have some special stuff planned.The team will be "taking over" the Leipzig Train Station, where they'll be showing "the latest" gameplay trailer (we don't know if it'll be new or not, but presumably, right?) and giving away various stuff, including t-shirts and dog tags. Apparently the prizes will be given out by "Stargate commandos." People in uniform, perhaps? Also, Studio Head Dan Elggren and marketing guy Kevin Balentine will be on site to promote the game and talk to the press.The Stargate franchise has always been popular in Europe -- especially in Germany, so we know there are a few of you out there who'll want in on this. And with that subsidized airfare, getting there might be almost affordable, right?
