3rd Games Convention Asia Opens in Singapore

GCA 2009 Presents Global Games Companies

SINGAPORE:For the 3rd time in a row, Games Convention Asia opened its gates at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. With 120,000 visitors expected over the next few days, latest games releases, tournaments and competitions can be seen at the show halls. Games Convention Asia was offi-cially opened today by RADM (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts and Wolfgang Mar-zin, CEO of the Leipzig Trade Fair.

"We are very happy to be back in Singapore for the third year and it is especially heartening to have Minister Lui grace the occasion. It is our sincere wish that all our participants and attendees will reap immense value from this year's GCA," said Wolfgang Marzin, CEO of the Leipzig Trade Fair.

Highlights of GCA Exhibition
80 local and international companies like Microsoft, IAHGames, Elec-tronic Arts, NHN, Cherry Credits xand Gambit will showcase their latest games and products during the four-day event. Replay Interactive will offer pre-orders for WWE Smackdown VS RAW 2010 (X360, PS3, Wii) and Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma 2 Collector's Edition (PS3). Moreover, the consumer will stand a chance to win a personalised WWE replica championship belt (life sized and engraved with winner's name). The Gambit booth will feature latest games like Showtime (SG lab), Snap Escape (SG lab), Abandon (Summer Game 2009), Shadow Shoppe (Summer Game 2009), Waker (Summer Game 2009) and Pierre (Summer Game 2009). Amongst other titles, NHN is going to present its item-based MMORPG Call of Chaos. Games Technology Solutions (GTS) will show the first Sinhala mobile game that was launched in Sri Lanka. The upcoming game Saradiel: Robin Hood of Sri Lanka (Xbox, PC) will also be demonstrated. Talent House Studio will be scouting for dancers, singers, models, new faces, cosplayers, HipHop, magicans, freestylers, deejays and many more. The best player of the ‘Hour' is wanted.

" Games Convention Asia focuses on both the business and the gamer. It enables the various players in the game industry to interact with one another while showcasing their latest products and services to the public," said Jorg Zeissig, Managing Director of LMI Asia. "The public exhibition serves as a stage for Asian and international publish-ers, developers and distributors to present their work to the global gaming audience."

D.I.C.E.Summit Asia

To-day, the 3rd GC Asia Conference opened with the first ever D.I.C.E.Summit Asia. Together with the traditional GC Asia Con-ference held on the second day, this year's GCAC will feature over 50 world renowned speakers in more than 30 sessions and panels until September 18. The GC Asia Conference is being held alongside Games Convention Asia, September 17-20, at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

"It is our wish that the first-ever D.I.C.E.Summit Asia will be an in-valuable forum for Asia Pacific's interactive entertainment community's best minds to share ideas and experiences outside their studios," said Joseph Olin, President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS).

"This year's GC Asia Conference and the inaugural D.I.C.E. Summit Asia offered a variety of gaming luminaries with important insights to share on the gaming industry's most pertinent issues today. We be-lieve this active exchange of knowledge and ideas will significantly contribute to the value of the Asia Pacific gaming industry," said Jorg Zeissig, Managing Director of LMI Asia.

The D.I.C.E. Summit Asia was marked by keynotes from master game makers like Masaya Matsuura (NanaOn-Sha), Eundo Chae (Nexon Korea), Yasuhide Kobayashi (Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios), Takahiro Murakami (Electronic Arts) and Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games). On the second day of GCAC, Tesuhiko Yasuda (SCEA), Scott Foe and Ian Livingstone (EIDOS) will give a keynote.

The two-day conference is dedicated to every aspect of the value chain. From game concept to marketing and distribution, the GCAC tracks focus on Art and Design, Business, Development and Produc-tion and Mobile. Major developments and systems, along with new ideas on creative development are key parts of the conference. For example, Eberhard Schoneburg (Artificial Life) will speak about "Mobile Participation TV", Mario Wynands (Sidhe) is going to lecture about "Cross Platform Development" and Lisa Hanson will give an outlook on China's Games Industry. Current topics are explored in panels like "The Use of Microtransactions in Asia" and "Global Outsourcing".

The GCAC program includes speakers from more than 15 countries, among them Olivier de Rotalier (Ubisoft, Singapore), Harald Riegler (Sproing Interactive, Austria), Dongmin Lee (NHN, Korea), Dave Sharp (binary Asylum, UK), Vishal Gondal (IndiaGames, India), Charles Speyer (Glassegg Digitalmedia, Vietnam), Nils-Holger Henning (Big-point, Germany), Bob Wallace (Strategic Alternative, USA), Monte Singman (Radiance Digital Entertainment, China), Ganesh Kumar Bangah (MOL, Malaysia), Alexander Fernandez (Streamline, Nether-lands), Tom Crago (Tantalus, Australia), Paul Gadi (G2iX, Philippines) and Christopher Natsuume (Boomzap, Japan).

Premieres at GCA 2009
One key highlight of the show will be the Singapore finals and South-east Asian finals of Southeast Asia's largest e-gaming tournament, the One Asia Cup, organized by Infocomm Asia Holdings (IAHGames). The cup will be played on the EA SportsTM FIFA Online 2 platform throughout the entire duration of the event.

Games Convention Asia will also be a bustling stage for artistic performances and skilfully dressed gaming enthusiasts. On Sunday, September 20, a qualifying round of the Asia Pacific Cosplay Champi-onship 2009, taking place in Australia at GO3, can be seen on stage.

Furthermore, GCA 2009 is the platform for the launch of the first ever Asia-Pacific Games Directory (APGD). Conceptualised and designed by the Games Exchange Alliance (GXA), the directory offers compre-hensive and up-to-date information on the various gaming companies in Asia Pacific.