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Interesting week awaits:
Introduction
Gamescom in Cologne (Germany) is a new conference replacing Leipzig’s Games Convention and inheriting its status of biggest games trade show of Europe. Cologne has much better access and infrastructure than Leipzig, so this conference has a possibility to be even bigger than Games Convention ever was. Already more than 300 exhibitors registered (this year E3 expo has “only” 216, for example) with all big players and platform holders present. UPDATE: Holy ****, updated numbers are 420! exhibitors from 30 countries. Is it biggest video game trade fair ever?
Schedule
The fun begins already at Monday, 17th with European Games Developers conference starting, featuring keynotes from David Cage (Quantic Dream) and Cevat Yerly (Crytek), as well as from Remedy, CCP and Gamesforge. The presentations from Peter Molyneux (Choice: The ultimate game mechanics) and Blitz Games (Games in Stereoscopic 3D) are also sure to attract attention.
The Gamescom starts officially only at 19th of August, but two big press conferences are scheduled to start one day earlier. First shots are fired by Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment:
Tuesday,18th August 2009
note: UK time is GMT+1 or CET-1, CET is a local time in Cologne
16:30– 17:30 CET (14:30– 15:30 GMT, 7:30-8:30 PDT (Los Angeles), 10:30-11:30 EDT (New York)) Electronic Arts
18:30 – 20:30 CET (16:30– 18:30 GMT, 9:30-11:30 PDT, 12:30-14:30 EDT) Sony Computer Entertainment Countdown
LIVE BLOGS: Playstation Blog EU
Official opening of the Gamescom and most press events are at Wednesday. Important events:
Wednesday,19th August 2009
10:00 CET (08:00 GMT, 01:00 PDT, 04:00 EDT) Microsoft Game Studios / Lionhead Press Briefing
12:00 CET (10:00 GMT, 03:00 PDT, 06:00 EDT) KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT GmbH Press Conference
16:00 CET (14:00 GMT, 07:00 PDT, 10:00 EDT) NAMCO BANDAI &Partners Press Conference
17:00 CET (15:00 GMT, 08:00 PDT, 11:00 EDT) Bethesda Softworks Press Conference
Starting from Thursday, 20th August 2009, the exhibition is fully open for visitors. Take into account that there are many fesitivities planned outside of the exhibition halls, including gaming camps, cosplay world record attempt at Saturday, casemodding competition and parkour event, so visiting Cologne burn out your unprepared brains due to overload by extreme fun.
What to expect from..
[Nintendo]
With Nintendo presence being the smallest among three platform holders and without pressconference, I wouldn’t expect much, maybe few confirmed EU release dates and chance to test vitality sensor at maximum.
Confirmed to be present at Nintendo booth are:
„Wii Fit Plus“
„Wii Sports Resort“
„New Super Mario Bros. Wii“
„Mario & Luigi – Bowser’s Inside Story“
„Kirby Super Star Ultra“
„The Legend of Zelda – Spirit Tracks“
„Style Boutique“
„Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box“
„Flipnote Studio“ (DSiWare)
"Glory of Heracles"
[Microsoft]
Having combined press event with Lionhead one can expect another demonstration of E3 stuff, maybe with updated builds of Natal and Milo. Peter Molyneux presence is guarantied, hopefully with a fresh announcement. A bit less likely is announcement of the rumored price drop for Elite model and elimination of Pro.
Those who live in Germany and coming to Gamescom with wish to play HALO3:ODST, can register here: https://www.odst-live-area.de/ . You'll need to have GOLD LIVE account. Unfortunately its already too late for free entrance tickets, but you can still register for ODST play session till 16.08.
UPDATE: Apparently, Lionhead will make a new announcement on the conference, with teaser site showing no other as Che Gevara itself. Thread
[Sony]
By far the most Gamescom hype is concentrated around upcoming Sony conference. Among rumored megatons are PS3 Slim announcement along with a price drop to 299€, GT5 release date, PSN revamp, a new firmware and even less likely things. One, however, can be sure that PSP Go will be present strongly along with GT PSP and other upcoming games for the platform. Finally EU PSP Go price will be announced.
Confirmed to be present at Gamescom are following games from SCE:
PlayStation 3:
• Heavy Rain
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• God of War 3
• MAG
• EyePet
• Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time
• SingStar
• Buzz!
• White Knight Chronicles
• DC Universe Online
PlayStation Portable:
• Gran Turismo Mobile
• MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
• LittleBigPlanet
• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
• Socom: Fireteam Bravo 3
Also Sony will show one previously unannounced title.
[Electronic Arts]
EA has a big exhibition this year, with the highlight being FIFA10 official announcement and demonstration.
Other games:
All Points Bulletin (PC)
Army of Two: The 40th Day (PS3, Xbox 360)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Brütal Legend (PS3, Xbox 360)
Command & Conquer 4 (PC)
Dante’ Inferno (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP)
Dead Space Extraction (Wii)
Dragon Age: Origins (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
FIFA Manager 10 (PC)
Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360)
MySims Agents (Wii, NDS)
Need for Speed: Nitro (Wii, NDS)
Need for Speed: Shift (PS3, Xbox 360)
NHL 10 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Rage (PS3, Xbox 360)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)
The Beatles: Rock Band (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
The Saboteur (PS3, Xbox 360)
[Square Enix]
It’s a first big conference for SE after Eidos buy-out, so you can enjoy titles like Pony Friends 2 at S-E booth for the first time ever. What’s more interesting is seemingly heavy push for FF14, which is supposed to be demoed live for the first time ever.
Other games:
Dissidia Final Fantasy (PSP) - 04.09.09
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Xbox 360) - 2010
FF Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Wii) - Winter 2009/2010
Front Mission Evolved (PS3, Xbox 360)
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 (NDS) - Fall 2009
Nier (PS3, Xbox 360) - 2010
Supreme Commander 2 (Xbox 360) - 2010
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) - 28.08.09
Mini Ninja (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, NDS) - Fall 2009
Pony Friends 2 (Wii, NDS) - Winter 2009
[Konami]
Pro Evolution Soccer is set for a real next gen debut in this year installment. Lets hope we'll get at least something about MGS:Rising and Peace Walker.
Other games:
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
DanceDance Revolution
[Namco Bandai]
EU players getting hands on with Tekken 6 and new Dragon Ball(s): Rising Blast for HD and Revenge of King Piccolo for Wii. Also in Business Area one will be able to get hands on with two new games from Games Republic, and see the presentations of Star Trek Online, Dead to Rights : Retribution and Dragonball X.
UPDATE: Sadly Games Republic cancelled all appointments and will not be showing up.
Other games:
One Piece Unlimited Cruise 2 (Wii)
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)
Family Trainer: Extreme Challenge (Wii)
Katamari Forever (Playstation 3)
Champions Online (PC)
[1C]
Biggest Russian publisher will be there with new Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad and a previously unannounced RTS title.
Other games:
* Captain Blood (Xbox 360, PC)
* King's Bounty: Armored Princess (PC)
* Men of War: Red Tide (PC)
* NecroVisioN: Lost Company (PC)
* Rig'n'Roll (PC)
* IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey (Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, NDS)
* Majesty 2. The Fantasy Kingdom Sim (PC)
[Activision Blizzard]
Main features of Activision is of course MW2, music games and sudden obsession of Kotick with increase of the prices. I wouldnt count on freebies at their booth. Blizzard will also be presented at Gamescom, and visitors will be able to get a taste of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and Diablo III.
Other games:
Bakugan
Band Hero
Blur
DJ Hero
Guitar Hero 5
Modern Warfare 2
Tony Hawk RIDE
[Other highlights]
Announcement of new PSN exclusive title from creators of Super Stardust HD.
Monster Hunter 3 (Wii) playable at Capcom booth, hopefully announcement of the release date
Two new stages of Heavy Rain will be demoed by Quantic Dream along with a reveal of new character.
New SplitFish PS3 Controller FREVOLUTION X will be demoed.
Sega will show a playable build of Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll with Balance board support.
2K Czech brings Mafia II to Gamescom.
Capcom will debut PS3 version of Lost Planet 2 and show Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars, MotoGP09/10, Spyborgs for Wii and RE5 for PC.
Possibly Fallout: New Vegas will make a surprise appearance at Gamescom
Crysis 2 trailers will be shown at Gamescom
Tropico 3 playable at Kalypso Media booth in Hall 6.1, C054.
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