gamescom posts

The debut of the new Gamescom gaming trade and consumer show in Cologne, Germany in August 2009 was a massive success by any definition. Over 245,000 people attended the show, making the first Gamescom the biggest such event in the world (E3 attendance last year was a mere 40,000, less than a sixth of Gamescom's)

Today the organizers of Gamescom announced that the event would be held once again in Cologne on August 18-22 in 2010. They already claim that a number of new exhibitors from Germany and abroad will be attending the event in addition to those that came this year. The first Gamescom had over 450 exhibitors from 31 countries show up . . . along with the customary Stormtroopers for its opening ceremony.

It was just the event's first year yet the debut of Gamescom in Cologne Germany has to be considered a massive success. Today the event's organizers said the show brought in 245,000 people over the five days of the event. Last year's Leipzig Games Convention had "just" 203,00 folks show up.

That officially makes Gamescom the single largest game convention on Earth with just one year under its belt (E3 has just 41,000 people this year and PAX had under 60,000 last year) and as you might expect the organizers are planning to do it again next year. The 2010 version of the event will be held on August 18-22 in Cologne.

NCsoft's big MMO game launch has just passed another milestone on its way to its US launch. Today the publisher announced that Aion, already out in its native Korea, has indeed "gone gold" for the US version and will ship to stores as planned on September 22.

Aion has been selling well in in the US with pre-orders for the game appearing at or near the top of retailer's best selling PC games lists. The limited Collector's Edition of the game is nearly sold out at retailers. NCsoft will show off the Western version of the game for the first time at this week's GamesCOM and at Penny Arcade Expo in early September. The Western version of the game has new zones, quests and skills along with new character customization options.

The big European convention this year will be the first GamesCom and already a number of publishers have announced big plans to show off their upcoming titles at the event in Cologne, Germany on August 19-23. Kalypso Media will be there showing off the upcoming Tropico 3 which is schedule for release on the PC in September.

However, Kalypso will also have the first details of an all new mystery game that will come from the company's Realmforge Studios. In addition Kalypso will also reveal the first details about the next game in the long running Patrician series which is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2010.

Last year, the Leipzig Games Convention was boasting of having over 200,000 attendees who came to the single largest games convention in the world. However things are a little different this year for the event. With the major players of the games industry in Europe now putting their support to the new gamescom event in Cologue next month, the Leipzig event opens up today with an emphasis on online and MMO games.

Even with the changes and the fact that the event lacks the big boys in terms of exhibitors, the revamped Games Convention Online claims it expects to see 50,000 attendees at the event. We suspect that number is a tad optimistic but if they can achieve that number it will still be more people than this year's this year's E3 (which had about 40,000 attendees). The new Games Convention Online runs until Sunday, August 2.

It looks like the fight between the two major consumer-trade conventions in Germany has finally come to a head. GamesCOM, the new event to be held in the city of Cologne, has announced they have switched their dates from early September to August 19-23, 2009. That happens to be the same dates as the Leipzig Games Convention which last August had over 200,000 attendees.

GamesCOM's advantage is that they have the support of the industry consortium BIU which in theory means most of the major game publishers would want to attend their event. However, organizers of the Leipzig Games Convention claimed after last August's event they also had broad support to attend their show. Clearly, one or the other has to give in. Which will it be?