GC Asia 2008
And now it's 12 countries represented by exhibitors.
SINGAPORE – August 29, 2008 – Leipziger Messe International (LMI) Asia Pte Ltd, the organizer of the Games Convention Asia (GCA) and Games Convention Asia Conference (GCAC), today held a press conference led by Jorg Zeissig, Managing Director, Leipziger Messe International (LMI) Asia Pte Ltd. Zeissig was joined by games industry representatives, Allan Simonsen (coordinator of the Singapore Chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and co-founder and technical director of Boomzap), Chris Soh (president of the Singapore Gaming & Gamer's Association, SGGA), and Aroon Tan (president of Games Exchange Alliance (GXA), managing director and co-founder of Interactive Digital Dreams and Magma Studios), to discuss the program and highlights of this year's GCA and GCAC. Games Convention Asia 2008, will be held 18-20 September, 2008 at the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Singapore. This year's theme for the convention is "Inspire Yourself." The inaugural show last year drew more than 70,000 public visitors, and this year's event is expected to draw even more attendees from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and North America.
Exhibitors
LMI announced that companies representing 12 countries have already signed up to exhibit at this year's GCA. Exhibitors have been confirmed from Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Malaysia,
and China, with other countries still moving toward participation. Additionally, the Leipziger Messe International (LMI) Asia Pte Ltd has confirmed that attendees will see world premiere product unveilings during the show.
“Multi-cultural game development is a major theme when you are talking about a region such as the Asia-Pacific," said Jorg Zeissig, managing director, LMI Asia. “With the number of international companies we are presenting, as well as some confirmed world exclusive premieres, we are confident this year's GCA and GCAC will eclipse last year's show in terms of knowledge exchange, and importance on a global level."
“Games Exchange Alliance sees GCA as a key platform and partner for the regional gaming industry," said Aroon Tan, president of Games Exchange Alliance and managing director and co-founder of Interactive Digital Dreams and Magma Studios. “After the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by different gaming industry associations in this region during last year's GCA, we will take a significant step at this year's GCA for the growth of the regional gaming industry."
"GCA 2008 is going to be an exciting event for the local and regional gaming community," said Chris Soh, president of the Singapore Gamers' Association. "Not only will attendees get to see the latest gaming products from the Asia-Pacific, but they will also receive first-hand experience on the importance of the video game industry in Singapore and Asia."
Games Convention Asia Conference (GCAC)
Alongside the GCA, the GC Asia Conference is being held September 18-19. GCAC is set to be another successful event with top-class speakers and sponsors. In 2008, GCAC will welcome more than 50 speakers, many for the first time, including Giordana Contestabile of Popcap, Yoav Tzurya of Exent, Jason Swearingen of Novaleaf, Theo Sanders of Razer and Henry Jenkins of MIT.
With Joonmo Kwon, CEO of Nexon Corporation and Nexon Mobile and Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek and developer of the graphical games Far Cry® and Crysis®, there will be two world-class keynote speakers at this year's GCAC. LMI will be announcing additional speakers in the coming weeks.
"This year's GCAC pulls together an escellent speaker line-up covering both development and business topics, and there are some amazing keynotes planned by Joonmo Kwon, Cevat Yerli and others," said Allan Simonsen, co-founder and technical director of Boomzap. "GCAC's the biggest show for game developers from across Asia to come together to learn, network and play with their peers from around the world."
Student's Day
For the first time, the organizers of GCAC will hold a Student's Day on September 20th. GCAC is excited to give back to the community by providing a free-of-charge Student Day Special Event, featuring some of the highlights from GCAC. The Gold-level Sponsor of the special day is DigiPen, the Institute of Technology. GCAC Student's Day will include lectures by Joonmo Kwon, CEO of Nexon (Kart Rider, Maplestory), MIT Professor Henry Jenkins, Ubisoft Singapore Technical Director Claude Langlais (Assassin's Creed), and many others to inspire and educate the game developers of tomorrow.
“It's also very exciting that GCAC is giving back to the community by creating the free-of-charge GCAC Student Day, where some of the best speakers from the show will do a full day program specifically tailored to aspiring students of game development," continued Simonsen.
About Games Convention Asia/GC Asia Conference
Games Convention Asia (GCA) is the "Digital Media Gateway of Asia." Described as the only event in the Asia-Pacific region enabling the interactive entertainment and digital media industries to network and interact with publishers, developers, distributors and corporate clients while showcasing their latest products and services to the public, GCA serves as the platform for Asian publishers, developers and distributors to present their work on an international level. The Games Convention Asia Conference (GCAC) acts as an entryway for companies seeking to enter the Asian interactive entertainment market. …
GC Asia and GC Asia Conference on the internet: http://www.gc-asia.sg
Contacts
Leipziger Messe
Nancy Pfaff, Press Officer
+49 (0) 341 - 678 8186
n.pfaff@leipziger-messe.de
Asia-Pacific
Red Dawn Communications
Florence Ang / Ian Purnomo
+65 6222 4704
press@reddawncommunications.com
North America
International Digital Entertainment Agency
Sean Kauppinen
+1 415-299-2156
gca@ide-agency.com
Contact for GCA
Sponsors, exhibitors and partners:
Joerg Zeissig, Managing Director LMI Asia
+49 (0) 341 678 7900
j.zeissig@LM-international.com
Contact for GCAC
Sponsors, speakers and participants:
Frank Sliwka, Project Director
+49 (0) 341 678 8288
f.sliwka@leipziger-messe.de