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Sony to unveil PS3 TV tuner, says BBC
According to the BBC, a new peripheral will be announced at Leipzig "that will allow the recording and playback of digital TV" on the PS3. This isn't news for those that remember previous statements that said they're going "to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder."The Sony keynote is just moments away -- stay tuned for what will undoubtedly be some interesting fireworks we'll be able to share with you.[Via Joystiq]
New Metal Gear trailer dies during Leipzig
The Konami press conference at Leipzig was supposed to feature a brand-new trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4. The crowd, jittery in anticipation, shivered as they saw the opening moments of Kojima's latest ... and were shocked to hear the audio start fading away -- and the video, gone. Konami pulled the plug due to "technical difficulties." Now, the trailer is being rescheduled for tomorrow, to satiate the bloodthirsty crowd.At the very least, Europe knows that Kojima is aiming for a simultaneous release for its upcoming PS3-exclusive. "In the past, I felt bad that the European versions of Metal Gear were always last. I can confidently say that we aim to have a simultaneous worldwide release with Metal Gear Solid 4."
Sony Europe shooting off "fireworks" at Leipzig
If only Sony were being literal! It's been a while since a lot of us have seen fireworks, so when we heard Sony had some, we squealed a little bit inside. However, the meaning behind the words was more symbolic, proving to us once again that the PS3 has a lot of big announcements coming. SCEE head David Reeves said E3 wasn't where the real announcements started -- Leipzig is the place for Sony Europe to shine: "We prefer to make our big statements in Leipzig, it suits us much better ... There will be absolute fireworks at peak, that I can promise you. We will be doing things no-one has seen yet for both PS3 and PSP."What could there possibly be in store for us? More games? Firmware 2.0? It's anybody's guess at this point -- we're running out of ideas for things the PS3 can do. It can already accomplish quite a bit. Whatever the case, whether it be a European price drop or the announcement of a few new titles for PS3 and PSP, we'll be excited enough to set off fireworks of our own.[via PS3 Forums]
Konami to announce something new (yet old) at Leipzig
In addition to several other titles, Konami has announced that they'll debut something (mostly) new for the DS at Leipzig -- a remake! That's right, the remade game isn't just for Square Enix anymore, though it was starting to seem that way. Konami's planning on showing off an all-new take on one of their "classic arcade smashes," which leaves the door wide open for speculation. We're guessing it won't be something in Konami Arcade Classics, since they'll be showing that at GC already, as well as Let's Yoga (we approve) and Steel Horizon.
Dreamcast still strong, two new indie games at Leipzig
Coming up on its eight birthday, the Sega Dreamcast continues to prove that it's worthy of attention, with two new independent titles announced for the aging system. Publisher RedSpotGames will be debuting these titles at this year's Leipzig Games Convention, starting this Wednesday.The first game, Dalforce, is a vertical-scrolling "bullet hell" shooter title which allows for up to four players. The second, Wind and Water Puzzle Battles, is an action puzzle game being ported from the GP2X. According to Arcade Renaissance, both games are scheduled for first-quarter 2008 releases, although RedSpotGames' website is currently down for maintenance, and we can not confirm this. Both titles will, however, be shown off at Leipzig this week, so stay frosty as we bring you more details once the conference gets under way.
Hacked Silent Hill demo smuggled, released to public
The Games Convention in Leipzig is only a few days away, and it appears that Konami's upcoming Silent Hill UMD demo from the show somehow got leaked for public consumption. Unlike regular demos, this must be ripped into a disc image and run off of a homebrew-enabled PSP. We're not sure if Konami is too appreciative of having early code released to the public, and we're going to refrain from linking to places where it's available for download. However, video proof (seen above) shows that this is, in fact, real. [Thanks, Joe!]
Rockstar to rock Table Tennis at Leipzig
It's been little under a month since the official announcement that Rockstar would be bringing its budget Xbox 360 title Table Tennis to the Wii. That, of course, has made us very sad bloggers, as if there is any game deserving a port to the Wii, it's this one. Seriously, we can't wait to ping pong it up (if only we had confirmation of Wi-Fi compatibility).Now, word comes that Rockstar will be at the Leipzig Games Convention to unveil the next installment in their Midnight Club franchise and, more importantly, show off the Wii version of Table Tennis. Until then, we'll just have to wait it out until some video manages to find its way onto the net or Rockstar dishes out a press release confirming the inclusion of Wi-Fi.
Stone Roses track revealed for Guitar Hero III
If you were among those who had an issue with the addition of a My Chemical Romance pack to Guitar Hero II yesterday, maybe your spirit will be lifted by this news: It was revealed at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival that the Stone Roses track "She Bangs the Drums" will be included on Guitar Hero III. If you're unfamiliar with the Roses, check out the entirety of their eponymous first album, considered by many to be one of the greatest pop records of all time.What's more, this is apparently just the start of the European-based song reveals, with more tunes that hail from Our Fanciest Continent to be revealed at the Leipzig Games Convention. We've still got our fingers crossed for Falco.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos rated for Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 may become home to another, less infuriating Mark of Chaos in the coming months if the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle website is to be believed. The German software ratings board -- think ESRB but far more interesting to pronounce -- has updated its database with an entry for "Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Battle March (GC Demo)" for the Xbox 360. The title would imply the existence of an Xbox 360 version of last year's PC real-time strategy game, due to be shown off at the Leipzig Games Convention taking place later this month. Developed by Black Hole Entertainment, the original game received some varied reviews and several complaints about its adherence to the tabletop game's rules. If indeed a real game, Battle March joins a steadily growing battalion of RTS games marching onto Microsoft's console. [Via Eurogamer]
Will Wright's Spore to be playable at Leipzig
Though absent at this year's E3 media summit, Spore is still reportedly on track for a 2008 release. According to GameSpot, Will Wright's simulation of Life, the Universe and Everything will be shown behind closed doors at this years Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.How far along will the game be? Will we get to try all of it or just select portions? We'll find out soon enough; the Leipzig Games Convention takes place August 23 to 26.[Via Evil Avatar; thanks, Sam]
Nintendo to keep it intimate at Leipzig
Nintendo wants to get all kinds of intimate at this year's Leipzig conference, apparently, as they aren't going to treat this year's show a bit differently. Instead of the usual big theatrical deal, Nintendo will be offering smaller media tours, taking attendees through their line-up of games with someone from Nintendo Germany.Why the new approach? "It's important for people to play our games to fully understand them," a Nintendo spokesperson stated, further adding "We feel it's better to do this through more intimate briefings than through a big conference. Also, a lot of people who come to these conferences never actually play the game, so with these smaller presentations everyone will play them, and will get to ask the question they need to." Having been to a lot of these types of shows, we think the change is for the best.What do you guys think?
Tim Schafer to keynote GCDC 2007
When Double Fine's Tim Schafer isn't doing battle with birds or crafting incredible, overlooked games, he's got to fill the hours somehow. Later this month, he'll be idling away the days in Leipzig, keynoting the GC Developers Conference. Even if you don't recognize Schafer from Psychonauts (and the sales figures would suggest that you don't), you may be familiar with his work on Monkey Island 1 and 2, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle.He'll be speaking on the "challenges and methods of interjecting creativity into modern game design," and we can't think of a better candidate for the job ... well, there might be one or two, but none with his button-selling skills. On a more personal note, Tim, could you please use the opportunity to tell us what you're working on next? Pretty please?
Leipzig expects 200k people at Games Convention
The Leipzig Games Convention is expected to have over 200,000 attendees this year. Just to give a little perspective, the madness of E3 2006 in Los Angeles only came in around 60,000 people. The convention takes place at the 115,000 sq. meter Leipzig Exhibition Centre and may be its last time there; given the convention's 40% growth this year, organizers are allegedly looking for a larger location. Leipzig and the Tokyo Games Show both have higher attendance than E3 because they're open to the public.Leipzig will have 410 exhibitors this year from 26 countries. The sprawling complex will apparently be completely packed with exhibitors, there will even be a "family entertainment area" for parents and children to test educational software. The Games Convention is not the only thing going on at the time, there will also be the Games Convention open-air summer festival, which will have "live concerts, a range of sports, an outdoor pool and camping facilities." Wow, there's going to be a lot of people there. With an expanded crowd, they better not be charging €15 for a bratwurst or we fear it will devolve into the Leipzig's equivalent of Woodstock '99. Actually, with gamers at the helm ... that might actually be worth making popcorn for.
MCV says Sony readying announcements for Leipzig
We're still patting down the dirt on E3 and here comes the European trade publications telling us to pay attention to the expanded Leipzig conference. MCV, in a move of pure speculation, believes Sony Europe is ready to announce at the conference a price-cut, video-on-demand and Freeview TV features. MCV bases their predictions on -- wait for it -- statements made by David Reeves that there would be "fireworks" in Leipzig. In case you're wondering, Sony Europe has no comment on these "rumours" and speculation.The Leipzig conference should be interesting this year, considering there really wasn't too much breaking news at E3. Much of the information we got was just digging deeper into stuff we already knew. Also, with the death of X07, Microsoft may save a couple things for the European event. This year is very different from July through the holiday season having a clusterfrack of various conventions where anything can happen or be announced. In the US alone there's still E for All and PAX -- don't forget the Tokyo Games Show in Japan either.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
PSP to get three exclusive services in Europe
Whoever's handling the European PSP is doing a fantastic job. The territory has always offered more colors than in the US, and has offered a greater variety of services, such as VoIP. Now, it appears that Europe is going to get three more exclusive services, to be unveiled at the Leipzig Games Convention next month.We'll be at the GC to offer the latest on-site information. Until then, would you like to make a few guesses on what the new services will be?[Thanks. Karl!]
Leipzig benefits from E3 death, gets 40% larger
E3 died and every other convention seemed to benefit. The Game Developers Conference got more exposure this year than ever before and now the 2007 Leipzig Games Convention is filling in their lederhosen and reports a 40% growth. The growth is apparently due to international exhibitors from outside of Germany. It sounds like the Kentia Hall crowd found a new local. Every major gaming company will be in attendance. Despite what Guillemot wants to believe about his Ubiday, Leipzig is the European E3. A bunch of companies are putting more effort into the show, Activision says, "We expect crowds of national and internationa trade visitors ... to be prepared for that, we are expanding our presentation at this year's fair." Fill in that vacuum everyone, there's still plenty of space to fill up in E3's absence.
Leipzig 2007 site launched, dates confirmed
A new website has been launched for the Leipzig GC Developers Conference For those outside Europe, GCDC is more or less the biggest game convention in Europe. Lots of great news comes out of Leipzig every year, including plenty of 360 news. The convention will be held this year from August 20 - 22. The website has been launched to coincide with the event. It is the organizers belief that GCDC.eu reinforces the "European alignment" of the conference. Also unveiled is the slogan "Upgrade the Future." Speakers for GCDC have not yet been announced, though last year's conference included plenty of heavy hitters including Peter Molyneux. Considering he's on GCDC's front page, we assume he'll make another appearance. Maybe he can take some time to explain this.[Via XboxAddict]
EU Commission looks to harmonize game age restrictions
Are you thinking about selling little Francois Quatorze (that's "fourteen" in French) that copy of Dead Rising he keeps eyeballing? Think again. European Union Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini is seeking to harmonize the rules concerning the sale of video games to minors. The Reuters article specifically cites 16 as the age in question, as Europe ratings board PEGI uses a 16+ rating for games typically rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB. Frattini opines that under current EU-wide rules, retailers still do not consistently check the consumer's age when selling 16-rated video games.Said Frattini, "I do want to harmonise rules ... punishing people illegally selling products, people not controlling and checking identity."The key element here is that Frattini does not want to universal agreement as to which games receive what age restrictions, as the tolerance of certain content factors differ amongst the EU's 27 nations. Germany, for example, recently banned (by means of ratings refusal) a handful of high-profile titles such as Gears of War, Dead Rising, and Crackdown.
GC 2007: Leipzig dated, Singapore unveiled
The 2007 Leipzig Games Convention will take place at the Leipzig Messe (same venue as this year) from August 22 to 26, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Additionally, a Games Convention Asia has been unveiled for September 7 through 9 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Games Convention Asia is said to cover 25,000 square meters of floor space, or the entirety of Suntec's facilities. In contrast, the Makuhari Messe (where the 2006 Tokyo Game Show took place) claims 210,000 square meters of space. GC Asia organizers expect 200 exhibitors and 105,000 visitors, which is about 60 percent of this year's GDC (183,000) and 54 percent of this year's TGS. GC Asia 2007 will likely be just a few weeks prior to the Tokyo Games Show, but will its scale prove complementary or competitive to Japan's ten-year-old convention?
Crack that Whip -- Castlevania coming to Wii?
The Belmont family has been with us for quite some time now and fans are ready to see the series continue on next-gen systems. Who wouldn't want to crack a whip Wii style? In an interview at Leipzig, Koji Igarashi (aka IGA) mentioned the possibilities of a Castlevania game coming out on the Wii stating that he has a few ideas for it. This news came as a relief considering that he had snubbed the idea at E3 saying that a person can't "whip" for long periods of time. Maybe not but we are willing to kill our arm muscles to find out. [Thanks Andrew!]
