SW: TOR - Playable at GamesCon

Blast, Cologne isn't so far... but yet, a) I lack the money and b) there would not really be leisure to play for us normal mortals. -__-
 
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The show is called GamesCom. Obviously the name is so bad, nobody can remember it. ;)
 
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I just didn't have the nerve to wait there ... There was also a tiny exclusive comic handed out. A friend of mine has one.

It might be the same as the one that was handed out on the Comic Con several weeks ago.
 
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Noticed in the second video that KOTOR2 music (I think it's KOTOR2 at least). Wonder if they'll reuse those soundtracks.

Anyways, doesn't look especially exciting.
 
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The show is called GamesCom. Obviously the name is so bad, nobody can remember it. ;)
Yes, it's so bad it looks like a typo. GamesCon(vention) it is, no matter what officials want to tell me.
 
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Yes, it's so bad it looks like a typo. GamesCon(vention) it is, no matter what officials want to tell me.

Interesting. I looked through the official site and didn't find any explanation, what "gamescom" stands for (it is written without any capital letters).

The only vaguely related info is the existence of a subforum called "GamesCompetence", but this doesn't seem to be the real reason for the overall name.

Does anybody know an official explanation for the name?

Edit: The introductory text for the main page contains the sentence "As a game trade fair, games festival and business platform, ..." .
In that light gamescom could stand for games+commerce (but they wouldn't admit that, I assume).
 
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I bet Gorath knows more. From what I read the "GamesCon" from Leipzig was cancelled for 2009 and was degraded to some "Games Convention Online", while this new "GamesCom" in Cologne is a new convention. Guess they couldn't call it GamesCon for legal reasons but wanted to profit from a very similar looking name. Still a stupid name though, looks like those cheap imitations of brand name stuff you can buy on the streets.
 
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Messe Leipzig owns the "Games Convention" brand. Of course they were not interested in giving it away.
"Gamescom" can recycle the "GC" short form. It's obviously meant to be a clone. The BIU (the organisation of the BIG publishers in the German market) decided not to renew their contract with Messe Leipzig. Instead they made a deal with KölnMesse to host a similar show. Köln has the bigger convention center and by far the better infrastructure (Rhine-Ruhr area; it doesn't get any better than this anywhere in Europe). Leipzig on the other hand had the GC as their main event, a small but state-of-the-art convention center (much better accustics!), an ear for small exhibitors (-> the BIU represents only about a dozen BIG publishers; the rest can literally go f*ck themselves) and really smooth organisation. Especially compared to this year's GC from a normal visitor perspective. Leipzig delivered quite a polished experience. Köln will need years to reach this level of organisational skill for this kind of event.
I guess the main reasons for the change were that MesseLeipzig was near its capacity limit at 200k visitors, and the different vision. Leipzig wanted the GC to be the leading German show. The BIU wanted the biggest European show. Leipzig changed focus, but it was already too late. The BIU had made their decision. They acted quickly to make sure no show in the UK could take the place they wanted for their new GC. The Gamescom will release their numbers either today or tomorrow. Anything below 200k has to be considered a failure.
Of course the originally planned GC in Leipzig had to be cancelled. All big publishers directly voted for Köln and against Leipzig through the BIU. Instead Leipzig created an Online GC. Not a bad idea on paper. Online games are growing and this is the only market segment in which German companies are worldwide market leaders. We'll see next year if this concept works. Of course they had to declare their first installment a success. Talk on the streets is different though.
 
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(-> the BIU represents only about a dozen BIG publishers; the rest can literally go f*ck themselves)

I'd like to take the liberty to stress this. Bold printing by me.
 
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Official GamsCom numbers:

245.000 visitors:
228.000 consumers
17.000 business visitors
 
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Yea, I expected something around 250k, esp. after those crowds yesterday.
 
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I still don't know whether it was wise to go on Thursday or not - simply because I can't compare.
 
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Well, it's clear you don't want to go on Saturday. The business center is closed on Sunday, which makes it quite likely that at least a few presentation for the public are only scheduled from Wednesday (press & business day) to Saturday. This leaves Thursday and Friday as desireable days for a normal visitor.
 
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Yes, Sat is also the day most people don't have to go to work which obviously makes it the family day. I'd say crowds were about 2-3 times as big compared to Friday which was probably a bit more crowded than Thu due to the heat on that day.

EDIT: I got the comic - it's called Threat of Peace.
 
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From experience I can say that Wednesday (pressday) is the best day :)
Closed for the public so I could go and play most of the games without having to wait. After 17.00 hours it's almost empty, which was even better....
 
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