London Games Festival

22 October – 2 November 2007

London Games Festival returns on Monday 22nd October with an extended run of two weeks. The festival is a cultural celebration of computer and video games with public and industry events taking place across the capital.

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Video Games Live

www.videogameslive.com
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, SE1 8XX
tube: Embankment / Waterloo
dates: from 5.30pm Mon 22 Oct
Tickets from 0871 663 2500 or www.southbankcentre.co.uk (from £19.50 + booking fee)
Video Games Live is a ground-breaking new live performance showcasing the thrilling music of video games, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and choir, and the cutting-edge visuals, interactivity, technology and fun that video games provide. The evening includes performances of some of the greatest game franchises and music, including Mario, Zelda and Halo, through to a special retro classic arcade medley, featuring over 20 games such as Pong, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders and Tetris.

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Dare to be Digital

www.daretobedigital.com

Shop 14, Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL
tube: Old Street
dates: daily 22 – 24 Oct
Exhibition featuring concept art, finished characters, games trailers, playable demos and a documentary film plus some games will be available for free download. Drop in to find out more about how video games are made and details about Dare to be Digital - the UK’s premier video games design competition for university students.

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Zero Gamer

www.londongamesfringe.com
01zero-one, Hopkins St, Soho, W1F 0HS
tube: Piccadilly Circus
dates: 1 – 6pm 22 – 26 Oct
FREE
Zero Gamer looks at games played, unplayed and unplayable, the spectator and the spectacle. Sometimes we just like to watch, and machinima, gameplay videos and spectator gaming events take the activity out of interactivity. Part of the London Games Festival Fringe.

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The British Academy Video Games Awards

www.bavga.co.uk
Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ
dates: Tues 23 Oct
Tickets available to attend
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is the UK's leading organisation dedicated to the recognition and promotion of excellence in the fields of the moving image. Renowned for its high profile Film and Television Awards ceremonies, the prestigious BAFTA mask has long been seen as a symbol of excellence.

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Guy Debord’s Game of War

www.londongamesfringe.com
01zero-one, Hopkins St, Soho, W1F 0HS
tube: Piccadilly Circus
dates: 6 – 9pm Tues 23 Oct
A founder of the Situationist International, Guy Debord was also a gamer who devoted much of the last 20 years of his life to developing, playing and promoting a table-top military simulation, The Game Of War. To coincide with Atlas Press' new publication of the rules, the game will be played by a motley group of activists, artists and academics, using a facsimile of Debord's original 1977 design of the pieces and board. Part of the London Games Festival Fringe.

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London Game Careers Fair

www.gamecareerfair.com
The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL
tube: Old Street
dates: daily 23 – 24 Oct
FREE but pre-registration required
Now in its second year, the exclusive recruitment event at the London Games Festival provides the opportunity for publishers, studios and game companies to speak with professionals, recent graduates and individuals from related industries, such as computer graphics, animation, and film, who are interested in pursuing careers in game development.

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London Gamer Geeks Quiz Night

www.londongamesfringe.com
College Arms, Store St, WC1E 7DH
tube: Goodge St
dates: 6.30pm Wed 24 Oct
Info: 0207 436 4697
FREE
Geeky games-type thing where you get the chance to do stuff like wailing at games awards, one-up each other about how much you love Sega and exchange invite codes to l33t betas. Part of the London Games Festival Fringe.

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Computational Brain

www.londongamesfestival.co.uk
Dana Centre, Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, SW7 2DD
tube: South Kensington
dates: 7 – 8.30pm Wed 24 Oct
FREE but essential to pre-book at tickets@danacentre.org.uk or 0207 942 4040
How similar is the human brain to a computer? Event featuring new control mechanisms of the future including thought-controlled gaming. Can computer models of brain activity allow us to read minds? Will we ever be able to build a digital version of the amazingly complex human brain? All this and more answered!

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Eyes on the Game

www.londongamesfestival.co.uk
Dana Centre, Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, SW7 2DD
tube: South Kensington
dates: 7 – 9pm Thurs 25 Oct
FREE but essential to pre-book at tickets@danacentre.org.uk or 0207 942 4040
This event will showcase technology that tracks a gamer’s eye movements. What do you watch when playing a video game? Your character, the virtual environment or the in-game adverts?
Research will identify what draws attention and can be used for development of future games and to aid in-game advertising.

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Dorkfest – Console Hacks

www.londongamesfringe.com
01zero-one, Hopkins St, Soho, W1F 0HS
tube: Piccadilly Circus
dates: 6.30 – 8.30pm Thurs 25 Oct
FREE but please reserve your place on insync@01zero-one.co.uk or 0207 025 1985
Games machines - and other gadgets - are often capable of doing much more than they were originally designed for, plus nowadays they're also a) cheap, and b) everywhere. Inspired by the international "Dorkbot" meetings of "people doing strange things with electricity", cartoonist Tim Hunkin and a team of tinkerers explore some of their unexpected entertainment potential. Part of the London Games Festival Fringe.

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Sense of Play 07

www.senseofplay.com
Soho Theatre, 21 Dean St, W1D 3NE
tube: Tottenham Court Rd
dates:9.30am – 5.30pm Fri 26 Oct
FREE but online pre-registration required
Sense of Play is a one-day symposium and content showcase co-sponsored by the University College for the Creative Arts. The event aims to promote lively debate on the nature of game design: what it means to different people – both inside and outside the industry. Focussing on the creative and cultural dimensions, Sense of Play examines game design as both a discipline and craft, offering different perspectives on its current and future possibilities. Part of the London Games Festival Fringe.

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Text 4 Treasure

www.txt4treasure.com
Central London
Text ‘t4t’ to 60300 to register for details of starting point
dates: daily 27 – 28 Oct
Put yourself into a game & stand a chance of winning some great prizes. Get a team together for a text treasure hunt in central London with clues sent by sms. Game devised by the BSc Computer Visualisation and Games team at London Metropolitan University in conjunction with Gamelab London and Genius Telecom

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Fuse 07

www.londongamesfestival.co.uk
Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Shepherd’s Bush, W12 8TT
tube: Shepherd’s Bush
dates: Fri 2 Nov
To book: Visit the official MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/fuseexplosion
Ubisoft is fusing together music and gaming to create a Battle of the Bands alongside a Battle of the Gaming Clans. Rock music and gaming fans will join a host of music and gaming stars to pack out the legendary Shepherds Bush Empire and witness the best of the countries unsigned bands in a genuine festival atmosphere.

3D Harrier Jump-Jet Action Game

You can download a free trial version from the website.

Durell Games has released Harrier Attack II for Windows, a unique arcade, action, and strategy game that puts you in control of a Harrier vertical takeoff jet. Your mission is to command the skies and rid your three colony islands of aggressive enemy invaders.

Unlike simple action games that become less challenging as you learn their weapons and defensive systems, Harrier Attack II rewards your efforts. As your flying and fighting skills grow, the program feeds you more difficult, complex missions. You'll train your brain to master the plane's command system, and become one with your machine.

Harrier Attack II is a 3D side-scrolling shooter, with all of the frenetic action of the popular Harrier Attack! game released in 1983. The latest version features a diverse array of weapons and add-ons, fresh game-play, and a new, challenging mission structure.

Harrier Attack II offers a fascinating combination of control, damage, and award systems. As you master your aircraft, you'll learn to enhance targeting, perform real-time repairs, and avoid damage. Combining aerial maneuvers and automatic attacks, you'll experience a blistering, gun-blazing battle in every mission.

With more than a dozen generic and specialized weapons at your disposal, you can choose the right weapons to deal with specific targets for maximum accuracy and destructive efficiency. The program requires guile and mastery of the plane's defense systems to deal with the enemy's awesome firepower. Harrier Attack II tests your leadership skills as you are joined by your wingman. As a team, you have to deal with the strongest enemy assault in the final mission.

As you progress through the game, you increase the capabilities of both pilot and Harrier. Early missions are straightforward, with single sorties, limited fuel, and infinite ammunition. Later campaigns, however, demand a more sophisticated mindset. You must arm and fuel your Harrier, taking into consideration the mission objectives and weight limitations for your chosen takeoff method. Multiple sorties may be flown in a single mission, rearming and refueling as the situation allows.

Harrier Attack II has 28 day and night missions, and more than 40 training exercises. You'll fly over varied terrain to gain control of enemy encampments, airfields, bridges, and harbors. The enemy is equipped with tanks, trucks, APCs, missile launchers, boats, landing craft, submarines, aircraft, and helicopters.

Harrier Attack II runs under Windows 2000/XP/Vista, and requires a 3D hardware-accelerated graphics card. A single-user license costs $25.95 (USD), and may be purchased securely online from the website.

2008 Game Developers Conference

Registration Opens and Website Goes Live

CMP Technology’s 2008 Game Developers Conference returns to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco to bring the videogame industry together for a week of networking, learning, and inspiration February 18-22, 2008. The world’s largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment has taken steps this year to boost its focus on community-building and networking with the expansion of its lineup of summits that take a closer look at the industry’s emerging trends, and through its myGDC initiative, which features enhanced social/professional networking capabilities on the GDC site. The conference is also simplifying the pass structure, to provide more intuitive access to the diverse experiences at the GDC. Complete details and registration for the conference are available now at www.gdconf.com.

“Now that the Game Developers Conference is the world’s largest professionals-only game industry event, it’s more essential than ever for us to foster microcommunities that will enable clusters of attendees with similar interests to share with and challenge each other,” said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference. “We are taking a cue from our own content this year by broadening our trademark exploration of breakthrough game development with particular attention to the rise of casual and social online spaces. To embody these trends, we are increasing our support of focused communities through summits, and have enabled more individual profile development and professional networking on our website starting next month.”

The GDC has made some significant changes in order to bring attendees closer together and provide them with the most relevant content in 2008. The timing for the content programming cycle was adjusted forward to ensure that sessions reflect the most current trends and issues for the game development community, and feature the most cutting-edge technologies. In addition, the conference has expanded its lineup of single-track summits dedicated to specific communities. The 2008 lineup includes the return of the Serious Games Summit, the Independent Games Summit and the Casual Games Summit. New to the schedule this year are the Game Outsourcing Summit, pioneered in 2006 at the GDC’s successful standalone summit in Los Angeles, and the Worlds In Motion Summit, focusing on the intersection between games and online worlds. The standalone GDC Mobile event continues as well, as a dedicated conference with breakout sessions.

Community interaction before, during, and after the GDC is also being emphasized through new offerings including the myGDC social networking features on GDConf.com launching in early November. All registered conference attendees will be able to create, search and share profiles; connect and collaborate with other GDC attendees; and continue the networking long after the show. In addition to these virtual enhancements, conference attendees will also gain more onsite face-to-face time with this year's new option to purchase hourly attendee meeting rooms at the conference, for a more professional and distraction-free pitch or business meeting.

More than 16,000 game industry professionals will convene during GDC and, as such, intuitive access is another priority for the conference. GDC passes are therefore now being divided into five easily navigable categories. The All Access Pass offers entry into all GDC offerings including lectures, panels, roundtables, keynotes, tutorials, summits like the Serious Games Summit, and even the standalone GDC Mobile conference. The Main Conference pass gives attendees access to the GDC’s lectures, panels, roundtables, and keynotes. The Summits and Tutorials pass allows entrance into the entire summit lineup listed above, as well as the GDC’s popular technical one- and two-day tutorials. There are also Expo Passes for those who want to peruse the expo floor only without attending any of the GDC’s editorial content, and a GDC Mobile pass for entry into that conference exclusively. Details, prices and registration for all passes are available now at www.gdconf.com.

Online games hours dropping...

Statistics show an overall drop in hours played for top ten games

Average hours spent by Xfire users daily playing World of Warcraft have dropped by nearly 18 per cent from August numbers, according to data from the community and data application for the month of September.

It sets a pattern which is mirrored across many of the other top ten MMOs, with second-placed Guild Wars showing a 13 per cent drop and third-placed Silkroad Online falling over 27 per cent.

One of the likely main reasons for the drop is the end of the summer holidays for schools and colleges across Europe and the US.

Other key MMO titles remained relatively static, with MapleStory, Flyff and Eve Online taking fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively. Lord of the Rings Online remained in eighth place.

The top ten first-person shooters have also fallen across the board, although there was no change in the top five most played titles.

Call of Duty 2 Multiplayer and Counter-Strike Source took the top slots convincingly, although they lost around 12 per cent and 18 per cent of their audiences respectively.

Battlefield 2, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Counter-Strike 1.6 rounded off the top five.

September's bonus statistic compared all World War II games, and unsurprisingly Call of Duty 2 Multiplayer was also top of that list, with other Call of Duty titles also taking third and fourth places.

Xfire is an application which tracks gameplay statistics for its user base of over 8 million, based mostly in Europe and North America.

PS3 prices slashed by Sony in Japan

40GB model for a cheaper price than the 20GB unit

Sony has announced further price cuts for the PlayStation 3 in Japan, as well as the introduction of the 40GB model to the region.

The 40GB unit, which lacks backwards compatibility, memory card slots and some USB ports, will actually sell for less than the 20GB unit in the region.

The 20GB model will now retail for JPY 44,980, down from JPY 49,980, effective from October 17.

The 40GB model will sell for JPY 39,980 when it's introduced to the market on November 11.

And the 60GB model, which currently retails for around JPY 60,000, will drop to JPY 54,980.

Sony initiated a change in its PAL PS3 business plan late last week by introducing a new 40GB model to market and dropping the price of the 60GB unit.

It then emerged yesterday that the 60GB unit would actually be discontinued as soon as all current stocks were sold, leaving only the lower spec SKU on the market.

40GB model to come in two different colours

The newly revealed 40GB PlayStation 3 will be available in Ceramic White for Japanese customers, as well as the standard black model, SCEJ has revealed.

Priced at JPY 39,980, the new model PlayStation 3 will go on sale November 11 in the region. A White DualShock 3 controller will also go on sale for JPY 5500 separately.

Earlier today, Sony Japan announced further price cuts for the 60GB and 20GB PlayStation 3 units, ahead of the busy Christmas retail period.

Source: Games Industry

Microsoft Bet Big on Halo 3

In its first 24 hours on store shelves, Microsoft's epic video game, Halo 3, earned a record-breaking $170 million in sales. Halo 3's sales broke records set not just by other video games but by theatrical releases like Spider-Man 3 and the novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Of course, the sales were no accident. Microsoft tied a huge marketing campaign to the game, and if the sales had come in less than $100 million, it would have been very tough for the company to swallow. Why is Halo 3 so important to Microsoft? That requires some explaining.

It started in November 2001, when Microsoft entered the crowded video game marketplace with its Xbox video game console. With stiff competition from Sony's (SNE ) Playstation 2 and Nintendo's Gamecube, Microsoft's Xbox was able to withstand the opposition thanks to a video game called Halo: Combat Evolved. Developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft exclusively for the Xbox, Halo: Combat Evolved was the story of a futuristic war between humans and a team of aliens called the Covenant that is determined to rid the galaxy of the human race.

With its intriguing story and amazing state-of-the-art graphics and game-play controls, Halo: Combat Evolved not only sold more than a million copies in its first six months, it also contributed to sales of a large percentage of Xbox consoles as nearly half of the consoles were packaged with the video game. In essence, the game became a sales driver for the Xbox consoles.

For the 2004 sequel, Halo 2, Bungie Studios upped the ante, adding more peripherals including online play through it's Xbox Live service, which cost $49.99 a year. Halo 2 sold 2.4 million copies in its first 24 hours, earning as much as $125 million - including millions in sales of Xbox Live subscriptions.

More from Fox News

Church asks Sony to remove Bafta game

Church leaders have called for Sony's PlayStation 3 game Resistance: Fall of Man to be removed from the awards nomination list at the 2007 British Academy Video Games Awards.

Sony came under fire in June after church officials discovered that the game included a fire-fight scene set in Manchester Cathedral which used depictions of the building without permission.

Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, said at the time: "For a global manufacturer to recreate one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible."

Following a meeting with the church, Sony apologised unreservedly for its actions and took out a full-page advert in the Manchester Evening News expressing its regret over the incident.

Due to its high sales, Resistance: Fall of Man is up for a PC World Gamers Award at the Video Games Awards.

Dean of Manchester Cathedral, the Very Reverend Rogers Govender, has lashed out at Bafta for allowing the game to make the short-list.

"Sony has admitted that it did not have permission to film or use Manchester Cathedral in its computer game and has said that it is 'confident there is no legal requirement for us to seek permission'," he said in a statement.

"Bafta should not be seen condoning such behaviour unless they are saying it is acceptable for producers to walk into historic buildings and film interiors, ignoring contracts, rights and liability."

The 2007 British Academy Video Games Award will be held at Battersea Evolution on 23 October.

Toyota Builds It Own Video Game

Toyota has launched its own video game. It can be downloaded through the internet connection on Xbox Live. The game in which "the new Toyota Yaris has a giant tentacle that reaches out of its roof to shoot enemies as it races through a futuristic tunnel, sometimes within inches of soaring fireballs", is the newest thing in marketing, according to The New York Times.

Is the approach a better way to get the attention of young drivers than running regular ads in games? The answer is almost certainly "yes". The game is free and probably fun to play.

But, an auto game, especially on involving any violence, begins to associate Toyota with the seamy side of the video game market. It is championed by "Grand Theft Auto" and is a culture of using cars to commit crimes and destroy enemies.

Toyota may be entering a portion of the video game market that is very different from its public image as a builder of reliable, fuel-efficient cars. And, the potential PR back-lash is not something it was expecting.

Panzer Tactics DS Video

Developer commentary in new video delivers first impressions of upcoming Nintendo DSTM strategy title

The first in a new series of four “Producer in a Box” videos for the upcoming strategy title Panzer Tactics DS is now available for download. This first video in the series introduces viewers to the first authentic, turn-based WWII strategy game for the Nintendo DS™. In the video, project manager Johanna Schober from Austrian development studio Sproing explains the game’s different play modes and starts one of the first missions.

The video is available for download from:
www.panzertactics.com

Three more videos – due to be released over the coming weeks – will showcase the wide variety of units, special commando units and officers as well as the game’s comprehensive multi-player mode. Panzer Tactics DS will be released in the US, Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the fourth quarter of 2007 exclusively for the Nintendo DS

Story

1939: The world stands on the brink of one of the greatest armed conflicts in the history of mankind: the Second World War. Players assume command of the most powerful armies of the time: The German Wehrmacht, the Soviet Army or the Allied Forces. Experience the demanding strategic level of the conflict n three historically-based campaigns for the first time ever on a handheld platform.

Features

• Three exciting single-player campaigns on the side of the German Wehrmacht, the Soviet Army or the Allied Forces
  
• 30 nerve-wracking, historical missions, including undercover missions behind enemy lines
  
• Over 150 different marine, land and air units as well as 20 different special attacks
  
• 30 heroic officers who provide their units additional motivation
  
• Exceptional depth of play and complex computer opponent behaviour make the game playable again and again
  
• Multi-player mode for up to 4 players on 10 different multi-player maps (LAN, Wi-Fi, Hot Seat mode)
  
• Online ranking table
  
• Playable using stylus, buttons or a combination of both
  
• Optional bonus mission goals to unlock additional missions and tactical optimizations
  
• Wide variety of combat animations for all units and a wide range of special effects for explosion and weather depiction
  

Fable - third instalment out now

Get up close and personal with the CTG at Lionhead in the third installment of the studio’s video diary series, which is available for viewing and download at www.lionhead.com and on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Currently recovering from the studio’s 10th Anniversary bash, which included several man hours to create elaborate costumes, fireworks, and an all-around good time, the team is hard at work on “Fable 2” for Xbox 360, the highly-anticipated follow up to the best-selling, Xbox exclusive “Fable.” Members of the CTG took time out of their busy development schedules to describe in detail what it takes to be “a geek,” as well as create the tools and technology that Lionhead is using to create the unique gameplay of “Fable 2,” such as the one-button combat system and crescendo action sequences.

The diary, which runs a little more than seven minutes in length, and is intercut with a recap of the 10th Anniversary Party, includes anecdotes and laugh-out-loud commentary from programmers, staging designers, producers and a “technical master chef;” who describe how CTG’s work feeds back into the development of “Fable 2,” and the case of the “missing fog machine.”

That’s all for now, but please look for continued behind the scenes tours of Lionhead and more installments of the video diary in the future.