The organizers of the Games Convention Asia (GCA) and Games Convention Asia Conference (GCAC) must be very happy about the success of last year's events. This year's show has already been dated so  those who plan on attending might want to start clearing their schedules. For the venue and dates, head on over to the full article.

The Games Convention Asia Conference is currently underway and has attracted respected delegates from over 20 countries. Industry bigwigs from North America, Asia and Europe were all at hand to share their thoughts on the state of the business.

 

The inaugural GCAC started on September 6 and wraps up on Sunday with an opener courtesy of  Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Second Minister for Information, Communication, and the Arts.

Managing Director for the Conference & Exhibition Management Services  Edward Liu and Leipzig Trade Fair President Wolfgang Marzin were also in attendance to welcome everyone. The two are the main organizers of the Games Convention events.

Marzin commended the host nation at the opening ceremonies and said, "Singapore is the gateway to the booming Asian-Pacific market, and opens up exciting new opportunities for the global games industry." Bob Wallace of Strategic Alternatives agrees:

The games business is a fast-growing entertainment market with participants from all nations. Asia, however, is the fastest growing part of this market, and many new world-class games companies are expected to emerge from Asia. GCA promises to be the first truly pan-Asian games conference showcasing game products and companies, and it is not to be missed by those who look toward the future.

The GCAC is happening alongside the GC Asia exhibit, which shows off the latest in the gaming industry, encompassing all platforms from consoles, PCs, handhelds and mobile phones.

The GCAC is expected to go off with a bang when Electronic Arts Worldwide executive of Music and Marketing Steve Schnur takes on the podium and offers his thoughts. Schnur says he is proud to be a part of GCAC and is excited about his turn to speak.

During the first ever Games Convention Asia Conference (GC Asia Conference) held in Singapore, many countries proved how the industry is also strong in Asia outside Japan. Singapore, known as a big market for MMORPGs, even took a step forward to announce that they're ready to become a games industry center of excellence.

Minister for community development, Vivian Balakrishnan, revealed that around US$ 330 million (SG$ 500 million) of government funds went to research and development in the digital interactive sector.

A student exchange program called "GAMBIT" is also under way for Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to share their expertise.

Other parts of South East Asia expressed interest in the industry. A memorandum that "signifies the recognition of each other as ideal counterparts for future collaboration and co-operation in this region for the benefit of the games industry" was signed by ten Asian game developers associations from various countries like Japan, Korea, Australia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Asia-Pacific is expected to contribute 40% of gaming industry's US$ 39.8 billion annual revenue by the end of 2008, and Singapore wants a piece of the cake. "Singapore intends to be part of the action," said Balakrishnan.

Two new games are lined up from the Singapore-based dev team who worked on the Phoenix Wright ports to the mobile platform. Mikoishi will be showing off their new titles at the Games Convention Asia on September 6 to 8 of this year. Sorry. No. Not Phoenix Wright games. But they definitely look promising enough to hold their own ground despite the courtroom big shot eating up the market.

SteamIron. This title will be spanning across various platforms; its epic journey will start on 3G mobile phones later this year, with other installments on the Nintendo DS and PC platforms to follow. It's a sci-fi fantasy game that is set far into the future in an alternate timeline where electronic revolution never happened. Think futuristic technology (space ships and satellite radars included), but all of which are designed in a retro fashion. The game isn't called SteamIron for nothing. It probably hints on something very much like a steampunk world.

DropCast. Mikoishi's DropCast will follow the life of Ingrid and her living, breathing plush dolls. While a series of casual games are planned across different platforms, the first installment will drop in as an action-puzzler on the Nintendo DS early next year.

Specific details about gameplay for both titles are close to none, however, if there's one thing to keep an eye on, it's that upcoming game convention in Singapore where Mikoishi will finally reveal their games. And with that, watch this space!

US attorney Jack Thompson has commended the UK for banning Take-Two Interactive's Manhunt 2 from sale, adding that he "would absolutely like to see the US and other countries following the UK’s lead."

Thompson said in an article published in MCV UK that the British have a working model where a law has a functional sanction that prevents people from purchasing the concerned material. "I think you all have it right and I think the ruling on Manhunt 2 was spot on – and I see also that Take 2’s The Darkness was banned in Singapore," he says to the UK ratings body BBFC.

Thompson also took a swipe at nemesis publisher and developer tandem Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, saying that the fact that they made Manhunt 2 made it all the more likely for a ban to be imposed. The high visibility of Take 2 and Rockstar – the poster child for what’s wrong in the industry – made it more likely that it would get a ban," comments the activist lawyer.

"In a way the BBFC rating is redundant because the industry itself, the format holders, have banned it," Thompson says in reference to what he says is a sensible act by Sony and Nintendo to not allow an Adults Only-rated game to be sold in their platforms.

And if you think gamers are the only people excited about Grand Theft Auto IV's launch, you're in for a shock. Thompson says "the next big thing that’s going to hit is Grand Theft Auto 4 and we’ll have to wait and see whether or not that deserves a very restricted rating or doesn’t get rated at all."

The US attorney then concluded with optimism that Americans will adopt a similar rating system to that of the UK, especially Thompson says, if Hillary Clinton becomes the next President. "This has been one of her issues for many years, so I think if she’s elected you’ll see a real push from the White House to have a national sanction hooking into the Government’s rating system."

Gaming in Asia is often associated with Japan, South Korea and China, but the region as a whole is catching up to the growing industry as evidenced by more events being organized to forge cooperation and spread new knowledge on the field.

Games Convention Asia Conference (GCAC) is among the first of such large scale events outside the three aforementioned nations. It's the equivalent of Europe's GCDC and this year, Singapore is hosting it.

The event is none-business in nature and more oriented on talks which seek to impart insights on the state of the industry. However, such conferences have been known to be venues where parties interested in starting commercial ties get acquainted and start partnerships in the long run.

Speakers from Europe, North America and Asia are in the roster of those who will be taking the stage as facilitators of discussions. Bob Bates, story writer behind Unreal Tournament II, will be there, as well as Steve Schnur, EA's Worldwide Executive for Music and Audio.

Local stalwart Chris Natsuume will also be among the first to speak in the events. He was largely responsible for the creation of the game Far Cry. Frank Sliwka, GCDC Project Manager, commented on the new event, stating:

We are confident that the GC Asia Conference will establish itself as the leading platform for the game development community in Asia. The program we put forward will provide attendees with the kind of practical knowledge and numerous networking opportunities for which GC development conferences are well known.

The Games Convention Asia Conference will commence September 6 and last for two days, although no particular venue in Singapore has been named as of press time.

In Singapore, new generation moms prefer computer-related gifts over anything else. G3 Interractive's Lynn Oh has gone as far as to say that women really go for PSP and DS Lite games. She cited Cooking Mama and Cake Mania as two games that are easy for women to get really into.

A good example of a mom who really got into this is 60-year-old Ruth Tang. She has two children who are already working, so now she spends her time playing online computer games. She stated that "I enjoy it! In fact, I play every day for one to two hours. Sometimes when I want to play more, my daughters will say, 'No mummy, not good for you'."

She was drawn to the new hobby because of curiosity. She spied her youngest daughter playing the whole night, and decided to watch her play. Now Mrs. Tang plays video games and claims that it exercises her mind as well as her hands. (Hmm, dont'w we all use the same excuse) Her daughter speaking on her mom's new hobby:

She used to be afraid of technology. That's why I was very, very surprised when she started playing. Before that, she couldn't even hold a mouse properly. I tried to enrol her into community centre courses and everything but she just didn't like it. Nonetheless, she managed to find her own groove, which is good.

So what's in the future for Mrs. Tang? She wants a laptop. We would like to suggest getting an Intel Core 2 Duo laptop for her needs because the it is currently the preferred processor by women according to MC2's Leslie Lim.

If you've watched Pirates of the Carribean one too many times and Jack Sparrow's line; "clearly you've never been to Singapore," is still looping in your head, so much that you're planning to head to South East Asia this holiday Season, you'd be glad to know that there's a gaming related event that's about to happen there.

The second Asian Game Developers Summit is scheduled for December 9-10 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore. The event is jointly organized by the IGDA Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. It aims to promote game development within the region and to provide education, networking, and business opportunities for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, and others involved in game development.

The two day event is set to feature lectures, forums, and round-table discussions on game game design, game technology, game arts, and other things creatives and developers busy themselves with.

The speakers at the event include Ian Livingstone, OBE (Director of Product Acquisition, Eidos), Obsidian's Feargus Urqhart, Koei Entertainment's Raymond Wong, FunCom's Ragnar Tornkvist, and USC Professor Tracy Fullerton.

IGDA Singapore coordinator, Allan Simonsen had this to say:

We are happy to have the recognition and support of MDA Singapore (Media Development Authority, Singapore) and sponsorship by key game players the likes of EA (Electronic Arts, NASDAQ:ERTS), the world's leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment and Hewlett-Packard (Commercial Systems Unit, Asia Pacific and Japan), the industry leader with more than 20 years of experience designing and certifying high performance workstations for game developers.

So heading to Singapore?

Anyway, back to good 'ol Captain Jack. When he said, "clearly you've never been to Singapore," we think he meant this.

Never has the future of online gaming been so controversial in the last decade until now. So much of the world has participated in the virtual world battles that the consequences won't always go unnoticed. On January 7-9, 2007, "State of Play IV: Building the Global Metaverse" conference will be held in Singapore. The core topic will revolve around "the unique regulatory and cross-cultural challenges posed by the growth of transnational virtual worlds."

Statistics reveal that the online gaming market in the Asia Pacific region generated some $1.4 billion in annual revenues last year. The trend continues,so it's expected that the figure will triple by the decade's end. It's significant to know that much of this growth have been attributed to Chinese gamers, as evident in the much-attended Chinajoy conference and software show early this year. But of course, most gamers in the Asia-Pacific region such as India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have also contributed to this phenomenon.

Understanding "what might be" is indeed a challenge. The number of attendees in this conference may even surpass that of Chinajoy's. The conference schedule and registration information will be announced on September 1st, but as always, we'll keep you posted.

The conference is to be sponsored by Harvard, Yale and New York Law Schools, Texas' Trinity University, and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.