GamesCom Cologne 2009 - Gamecom Awards

[Toxa]

http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/

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: 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
LIVE STREAM:
Gamescom Press Conference Live Stream August 18th


18:30 – 20:30 CET (16:30– 18:30 GMT, 9:30-11:30 PDT, 12:30-14:30 EDT) Sony Computer Entertainment
LIVE BLOGS: gamescom SCEE Press Conference Recap

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.

GAMESCOM LIVE STREAMS:

Gamescom Live Stream Press Day(Justin.tv)

Electronic Sports League: Germany Stream (from Wednesday on)

What to expect from..

[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:
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)
Dragon Age: Origins (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
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
Front Mission Evolved (PS3, Xbox 360)
Nier (PS3, Xbox 360) - 2010
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) - 28.08.09
Mini Ninja (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, NDS) - Fall 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 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:
Katamari Forever (Playstation 3)

[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.
....


[Supplemental info]

Map of the fair with main players positions marked