Kotaku: games convention 08

The Games Convention Über Update Post

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:40:35 MDT

The Leipzig Games Convention, the consumer showing of Europe's finest forthcoming video games (read: whatever SingStar version is planned for the Holidays), hits the Leipziger Messe from August 20 to August 24. And Kotaku was there! No, they're not there anymore, and yet they keep writing. Seriously, we can't stop.

If you missed anything, peruse our massive catalog of updatage, a reference guide to everything we've written from the show updated throughout each day. If you'd prefer to "feel" Games Convention through the power of interpretive dance, we got you covered there, too.

Game Impressions
New Dead Space Hands-On Impressions
Killzone 2 Multiplayer Hands On - Five Good Things
The Witcher Enhanced Edition - What A Difference A Year Makes
Fracture Multiplayer - The View From Germany
Golden Axe: Beast Rider Impressions Of Excessive Brown
Left 4 Dead To Follow Portal, TF2's Example
Runes Of Magic - More Than A WoW Clone
MadWorld Isn't Just About Throwing People Into Walls Of Spikes, Y'know
Heavy Rain: You're Soaking In it
Dead Rising Wii - How Gimped It Is
Hands-On: Losing The Twin Towers With Invaders!
The House of the Dead Overkill Impressions Of Delicious Gore
Beer Goes Well With Guitar Hero: World Tour
Hands On With Street Fighter IV 360
Web Of Shadows Hands On - Spider-Man Reborn
Dark Void - Have Jetpack, Will Travel
MK vs. DC: Hands On With The Joker
Grand Theft Auto IV For PC Eyes-On
H.A.W.X. Aces Air Combat
inFamous - Sucker Punch's Electrical Outlet
Far Cry 2 Map Editor Makes Map Editing Easier
Bayonetta Impressions: What Deadly Hair You Have!
StarCraft II: Hands-On With The Zerg
Wipeout HD One-Year Anniversary Impressions
Star Wars: Clone Wars - Saber Rattling
The Chronicles Of Spellborn: A Different Kind Of MMORPG
Diggin' Lode Runner XBLA At Games Convention

Game Announcements
What's In SingStar: Queen Anyway?
Naruto: Ultmate Ninja Storm Getting Day One DLC
Silent Hill Homecoming Coming to Steam in September
Buzz!: Brain Bender announced for PSP
'SingStar: Singalong With Disney' Announced For PS2, Exclusive to PAL Territories
SCEE announces VidZone Service For PS3
EyePet Brings Virtual Monchichis To PlayStation 3
GH: World Tour Wii Gets Mii Freestyle, Air Drums
Konami Sheds Light On Lords Of Shadow
Wonder Woman, Raiden Two Of Four New Kombatants
House Of The Dead Overkill Beats The Shit Out Of Grooming A Horse
EA Sports Adds Tennis To '09 Line Up, Snags Wimbledon Rights
BioShock Brings Challenge Rooms to PS3, Coming Oct. 21, Oct. 24

Interviews
Blizzard Is Tired Of You Asking When StarCraft II Will Be Done
Brian Bright On Guitar Hero: World Tour - We're Bringing It
PS3 World Tour Rock Band Compatible
Only The Barbarian Will Return In Diablo III

News
Left 4 Dead Box Art To Change? "Stay Tuned"
Artists Pulls 9/11 Invader Exhibit from Games Convention
LBP's User-Generated Content Is Region-Locked? Huh?
Taito Considering Legal Action Againt 9/11 Invader Artist
Guinness World Records Set At Leipzig GC
Killzone 2 Adds Multiplayer Bot Action
The Activision Presser, With Special Guest German Guy
Get A Good Look At The New PSP-3000
Konami's GC 2008 Presser - Here's What Happened
GC Presser Round Up: Sony
Artist Explains WTC Space Invaders Exhibit at Games Convention
Space Invaders Attack World Trade Center At Games Convention
PS3 Wireless Keypad Ships This Holiday Worldwide
New Official Details, North American Date For PSP 3000
Meet Your Sexy New Red Alert 3 Cast
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune 160GB PS3 Priced, Dated for North America
Warhawk Jet Packs, Crash Commando, Savage Moon Invade Sony PSN
PS3 Firmware Update Lets SingStar Owners Rip PS2-Only Tracks [Update]
Heavy Rain Gets Public Showing At Games Convention
PlayStation 3 160GB Model Coming To Europe
PlayStation 3 Controller Getting Wireless Keypad
Sony Announces New PSP Model
Gary Oldman Answers Call of Duty
Sims 3 Will Be Out In February 2009
Rumor: Sony To Debut EyeToy Play 2 At Leipzig
Unless You're Nintendo, Game Consoles Are Expensive
Frenchies Bust Into Sony Presser Rehearsal, Spoilers Ahead
PC Gaming a $10.7 Billion Industry
Here's What EA Is Bringing to Leipzig
Street Fighter IV Console Debut At Leipzig GC!
360 Gets Improved Controller, But Only For A Limited Time
Family of 9/11 Victims Tear into Space Invaders Exhibit
PSP-2001 vs PSP-3000
No 160GB PlayStation 3 For You, Australia
Team Fortress 2 Updates Coming To Xbox 360 Later This Year
Invaders! Indeed No Longer Playable At GC 08
The GC Adventure Comes To A Close
David Perry's Keynote: Sony Will Never Make Money on the PS3
Leipzig GC Sets New Attendance Record
Don't Worry, Red Alert Fans, Jenny McCarthy Is Apparently A "Badass" Tanya
Behold, Leipzig's Best In Show
Leipzig Games Convention Dated For 2009... And That's Final!

Videos
MK vs. DC: Joker Will Shoot You In The Face
Games Convention As Interpretive Dance
New Dark Void Trailer Talks Vertical Cover
New Wheelman Walkthrough Shows Early Mission and Lots of Car Crashing
Midway Releases New Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Teaser
Tyranids Eat Space Marines In Dawn of War 2 Trailer
First Real Pro Evo 2009 Gameplay Footage
Prince of Persia Gameplay Walkthrough
The First Lords of Shadow Trailer
New MadWorld Trailer Is Mad As Ever
See Your Sexy New Red Alert 3 Cast
Far Cry 2 Map Editor Looks Absolutely Amazing
Debut FIFA 09 Trailer
New Killzone 2 Multiplayer Trailer
A New Perfect World International Trailer
Capcom Releases New Resident Evil 5 Trailer
Something Wicked This Way Comes, A New Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince Trailer
New Mirror's Edge Gameplay Trailer Shows Free Running Acrobatic Insanity
Watch The Heavy Rain Gameplay Trailer
Midway Releases New Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Teaser
New Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Cinematic Trailer
Own The City That Never Sleeps in This is Vegas!
New Fracture Walkthrough Talks About Multiplayer
A Look at Mercenaries 2: World in Flames "Zero Rules" Co-Op Play
New Jumpgate Evolution Trailer Shows Intersteller Greatness
Mechanical Arm Swinging Goodness in Bionic Commando Trailer
This Time, Decapitate Zombies With Your Wii-mote

Screens
Sexy New WipEout HD Screens
New Red Faction Guerrilla Screens
New RACE Pro Screens
New Mortal Kombat vs DC Screens
New Lego Batman Character Announced, Batgirl!
Will Diablo III Be Playable At BlizzCon?

Booth Babes
It's Not Games Convention Until The Stripper-Mobile Arrives
Aion Booth Babe Feeling Blue
Sega Sexes Up Samba De Amigo For Games Convention
Age Of Conan Does Booth Babes Right

Culture
GC Stories - A Light In The Darkness
Games Convention's Most Ignored Games
Sega Wins Kotaku's Coveted "Best Press Kit Of Games Convention" Award
Cosplay Runs Rampant At Games Convention
Wanna Play SOCOM At Games Convention? On Your Knees, Boy!
Lunchtime At Games Convention 2008
Germany - Ich Leibe Es!
Where Old Promo Statues Go To Die
And Then They Started Breakdancing...

Pre-Show Updates
No PS3 Price Cut At Leipzig
No Leipzig Press Conference From Microsoft
Nintendo Not Attending Leipzig This Year
Games Convention 08 Is Press Conference Central
Blizzard Unveiling Lich King cinematic, Details at Leipzig
Age Of Conan Invades GC
Sega's GC Line Up - Sonic, Samba, And Surprises
Headstrong's Secret Sega Title To Get Leipzig Outing
1C's Games Convention Line-Up Featuring Playable Theater of War 2
Dragon Age Visits Gen Con Indy, GC, PAX
Paradox Interactive At GC - Project Mayhem?
Video Games Live Brings Crysis Music Home
Why Gears of War 2 Won't Be At Leipzig
Deep Silver At Games Convention 2008
What's EA Bringing To Games Convention?
Early Images From Games Convention 2008

Heavy Rain: You're Soaking In it

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:30:00 MDT

Quantic Dream's David Cage walked us through a playable version of the developer's shrouded in mystery PlayStation 3 game Heavy Rain at Games Convention. The roughly twenty minute demo featured scenes shown in the teaser trailer from SCEE's keynote. But before we actually got to take a look at the game, Cage prepped us on the team's design philosophy. Heavy Rain, he told us, was an adventure game devoid of traditional "interactivity" — shooting, driving, fighting — with a story driven by a player's actions. Those choices, he said, would have a tangible impact on the outcome.

He compared Heavy Rain's story structure to a rubber band, one that can be deformed and stretched by your choices in-game. Cage told us that what we were about to see would help us remain spoiler-free — our demo was a standalone scenario, not integral to the game's actual story.

After wrapping up his excited sales pitch — and showing us the "best looking menu of the show" featuring motion captured eyes — we began our first look at Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain's main character, the woman seen in the first teaser, arrived via motorcycle at her destination, a taxidermist's residence/workshop. Based on a conversation she had on the ride in, we learn that she's an investigative journalist on the hunt for the Origami Killer. In the demo, she visits the house of Leland White, a suspect in an unidentified murder case.

Standing outside in the pouring rain, we got our first taste of Heavy Rain's non-traditional control scheme. Cage lamented the use of an analog stick to control a character in 3D space, in relation to an ever changing camera angle, explaining Quantic Dream's implementation.

Similar to the method of moving your character in the developer's own Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain uses a racing game inspired layout. You'll use the R2 button as an accelerator to move forward, steering her head and shoulders to guide her with the left analog stick. This gave her movement through the space a much more fluid feel, with no jittering or awkward ambling.

(We'll talk more about Heavy Rain's control scheme in another post, because of its rather unique implementation, and focus more on the action here.)

After attempting to go through the front door, getting no response, the character moved into the house, through an open kitchen window. Transitioning through the demo level's highly detailed environments, we didn't see any loading, as Cage says the game will stream data from the disc and hide load times elegantly.

The kitchen environment floored us with the game's attention to detail. Everything in the game looked natural, lifelike, with high resolution wallpaper textures and softly casted shadows. With almost no HUD — you'll only see contextual cues to interact with objects and complete "Quick Time Events" — there's little in Heavy Rain to remind you that you're playing a video game. The near photorealistic environments and characters certainly help.

The main character continued her investigation indoors, finding clues in the fireplace and garage. During these moments, the game dropped hints about how the environment will behave. For example, while in the garage, surveying a blood stain on the floor, she attempted to raise the garage door, which had been locked from the outside. Flipping a switch, the door raised, then became stuck. Similarly, when walking upstairs, floorboards creaked. Both were important environmental factors that played out later.

While the main character was idle, mentally processing some evidence she'd unearthed, the game seemed to take control of the camera. Cutting and panning across the room, showing off realistic reflective surfaces on a series of picture frames, focusing on the numerous mounted heads in the taxidermist's house. The changing view lent the game more of a cinematic feel and the cuts were surprisingly well edited on the fly.

After the protagonist went upstairs, uncovering the corpses of a half-dozen women — all taxidermically preserved in a variety of sensual poses and situations — the owner of the house came home. The game's camera then went split screen, giving us a view of the killer and the heroine. After listening to her internal thoughts, something the player can do at branches in the game's story, she was determined to get the hell out.

As she crept downstairs, avoiding the creaking floorboard with a QTE and out of the garage, we had a constant camera view of the taxidermist (who occupied about a third of the screen), making for an incredibly tense escape.

Cage then showed us a different version of that scene, picking up the moment the killer returned home. After failing to stay quiet, the killer found the main character hiding in a wardrobe. This kicked off a much more action oriented series of events, with numerous Dragon's Lair-style reflex focused button presses. In between these Quick Time Events the Quantic Dream rep was in control of the character, whose animation changed to a more panicked style. She was clutching walls and taking missteps down stairs, conveying fear through animation and facial expression.

The QTEs, not something I'm particularly fond of, mind you, looked to be implemented well. They were graphically designed well too, with a clean black and white button hovering above the object she was interacting with (or avoiding). That means that as the knife was being swiped at her, the button graphic followed the arc of the killer's stab. It was a nice touch.

This particular scenario, Cage said, was indicative of what will be included in the final game, estimating that some 50 or 60 would be included when the Heavy Rain shipped. Each would offer multiple outcomes, scenarios that could be replayed to allow for new perspectives on the story.

To say that we were impressed by Heavy Rain would be an understatement. Quantic Dream is certainly sitting on something unique with the game, with what appears to be a balanced blend of gameplay and cinematic storytelling. It also happens to be the second best game we've seen at Games Convention, graphically.

Keep your eyes peeled for the demo — no, we don't know when that's coming — because we suspect it will look exactly like what we saw at Leipzig. And you'll probably think it's amazing, too.

Space Invaders Attack World Trade Center At Games Convention

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:10:00 MDT

Let's file this one under "Too Soon." Seen at the "Invaders!" booth, tucked away in Hall Four of the Games Convention being held in Leipzig, Germany right now, was this ~~non-~~interactive installation featuring the classic Taito space faring aliens laying waste to the Twin Towers. It was projected on a massive screen in the vicinity of lots of classic Space Invaders goods, as the game is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It was... it was weird.

This hits three years after the first and last game to take on the World Trade Center hit Brooklyn.

Honestly, we're not quite sure what's going on here quite yet, as we didn't know the German translation for "What the fuck?" We do know, however, that the 8-bit tower jumpers and the negative score applied to each WTC tower to indicate damage aren't going to sit well with, we're thinking, everyone we know who doesn't hate freedom.

Update: It is an art exhibit, according the the French-American artist.

Heavy Rain Gets Public Showing At Games Convention

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:50:44 MDT

The Quantic Dream developed Heavy Rain, described by president David Cage as dark and emotionally driven, made its public debut at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's press conference today. Little details were divulged on the PlayStation 3 horror game during its brief cinematic showing, but David Reeves of SCEE called it "horrifying."

We watched the game's protagonist, seen in the 'casting call' trailer shown at E3 years ago, investigated an abandoned house, filled with what we assume to be ghosts frozen in time. Visually, the game looked spectacular and moody, heavy in sepia tones but with occasional dashes of primary color, but we'll have more in-depth impressions of Heavy Rain when we see it behind closed doors tomorrow.

PlayStation 3 Controller Getting Wireless Keypad

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:40:00 MDT

Sony showed off a new wireless keyboard for the PlayStation 3 controller, intended to help with in game text messaging and PS3 browser navigatoin. The black keyboard clips on over the front of the DualShock 3/SIXAXIS with the keyboard located above the main controller area.

The wireless keyboard also features a touchpad mode to allow for mouse input. David Reeves, president of SCEE, said that this touchpad control mode may be used in future game development.

The keyboard will ship in eight configurations in Europe to support the numerous languages and keyboard types in the continent.

PlayStation 3 160GB Model Coming To Europe

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:30:49 MDT

Sony will be bringing one more SKU to the PlayStation 3 family this Fall, doubling the storage of the soon to be offered 80GB model. While the functionality of the console remains the same, the hard drive size will be doubled when the 160GB model ships out to European gamers on October 31.

Price? Just 499 Euro, with 70 Euro worth of downloadable content out of the box.

Sony Announces New PSP Model

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:21:39 MDT

SCEE president David Reeves announced at the company's Games Convention press conference that the PSP-3000 would being shipping this Fall, boasting new hardware features over the current PSP Slim and Lite. Featuring a built-in microphone, a new, brighter LCD screen and Skype out of the box, the PSP-3000 is expected to ship to Europe in October.

Visually, the new PSP 3000 is nearly identical to previous iterations.

It will ship with eight bundles, with pack-ins featuring Harry Potter, Buzz Master Quiz and more. Each bundle will be priced at 199 Euros.

Gary Oldman Answers Call of Duty

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:20:35 MDT

Activision is adding another famous name to Call of Duty: World At War. Joining accomplished shouter Kiefer "Damn It!" Sutherland, who plays Sgt. Roebuck in the Treyarch developed World War II game, will be Gary Oldman. The co-star of The Dark Knight and The Professional will voice one of the characters in the Russian portion of the World at War campaign.

Wonder Woman, Raiden Two Of Four New Kombatants

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:00:00 MDT

Midway announced, in a roundabout way, four more additions to the cast of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe at the Leipzig Games Convention today. After Ed Boon left the stage, having been properly grilled by German personality Oliver Pocher, four images flashed on screen, quickly confirming more of the MK vs. DC line up. On the DC side, Wonder Woman will clash with Deathstroke (aka Deathstroke the Terminator), who joins the short list of known DC Universe bad guys.

On the Mortal Kombat side, two from the original cast return as Raiden and Kano — both of whom bear a striking resemblance to their Mortal Kombat III versions — round out the "greatest hits" cast.

New MadWorld Trailer Is Mad As Ever

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:00:00 MDT

Black and white mayhem galore! Instruments of death include: airplane engines, moving trains, chainsaws, oil drums and tornadoes. If that wasn't enough, the MadWorld has the best character name in recent memory: Herr Frederick Von Twirlenkiller.

EA Sports Adds Tennis To '09 Line Up, Snags Wimbledon Rights

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:00:02 MDT

Peter Moore announced that EA Sports would be adding tennis to its line-up of games in 2009, with rights for the Wimbledon tennis tournament exclusively going to EA. Although Moore didn't provide a name for the EA created tennis game — unless it's simply EA Sports Tennis — he did say that development on the EA Sports addition would be leading on the Wii, with the game supporting the Wii MotionPlus peripheral.

EA Reps also namedropped professionals like Chris Everett, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker, hinting but not confirming that Grand Slammers throughout the years would be featured.

Meet Your Sexy New Red Alert 3 Cast

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:00:00 MDT

EA announced at its Leipzig Games Convention press conference today additional details on the cast of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, including the casting of Jenny McCarthy, pictured, as Tanya, the staple special ops unit. But that's not all. The leaders of the three factions — Allies, Empire of the Rising Sun and the Soviet Union — will be played by JK Simmons, George Takei and Tim Curry, respectively. In the trailer we were shown, Takei's lines appear to be dubbed with his own voice, dialogue intentionally out of synch with his lip movements.

Also announced was the appearance of Kelly Hu, who will join Gina Carano and Gemma Atkinson as the Empire of the Rising Sun's obligatory sexpot. EA's definitely going straight for the groin with this one.

Finally, in the cinematic trailer shown at Leipzig, it appears that Peter Stormare will play a part in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. Oh snap!

The 5,000 Square-Mile Racing Game

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:00:00 MDT

Developer Codemasters is unveiling multi-plat title FUEL at the Leipzig GC. What's FUEL? It's a racing game, so big that it deserves ALL CAPS. It's hailed to have the "largest racing environment to appear in gaming — ever." The game supposedly has a 5,000 square-mile playing area with "no boundaries". Up to 16-players race it out in D.I.Y. cars through places like Nevada's Grand Canyon. The game boasts a full day-and-day cycle and even features a weather system with tornados, thunderstorms, snowstorms and sandstorms. Hope it looks and plays as promising as it sounds.

Codemasters unveils FUEL [Eurogamer]

Here's What EA Is Bringing to Leipzig

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:00:00 MDT

EA has just announced which of its titles will be on display at the Leipzig GC. According to Jens Uwe Intat, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA European Publishing, "Never before has EA had such a diverse and powerful slate of offerings, and it’s been great to see consumer and critical response to our games. As more and more people come into interactive entertainment, we are ready with the best games in sports, action, casual, horror, simulation, and online. We’ll be bringing more new games to market this year than in our history, and Leipzig is a great European window to showcase those offerings for the broad range of people that love to play them." Hit the jump for the list of games.

FIFA 09

The Sims 3

SimAnimals

Boogie SuperStar

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

LITTLEST PET SHOP

MONOPOLY

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Dragon Age: Origins

Need For Speed Undercover

And a sneak peak at RAGE from EA Partner, id Software

Behind closed door sessions for media include:

FIFA 09, FIFA Manager 09, FIFA 09 All-Play, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09 All-Play, FaceBreaker, Dragon Age: Origins, The Godfather II, Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed Undercover, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Battleforge, Crysis Warhead, Rock Band 2, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, The Sims 3, SimAnimals, MySims Kingdom, SimCity Creator, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT, Boogie SuperStar, LITTLEST PET SHOP, Zubo, and a range of titles from EA Mobile.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will be available for media to play at the GOA business lounge located at Level 1 B03.

EA titles on display for consumers at the Games Convention include:

Boogie SuperStar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, LITTLEST PET SHOP, MONOPOLY, Zubo, Battleforge, Battlefield Heroes, Burnout Paradise, C&C Red Alert 3, Dead Space, Rock Band, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Mirror’s Edge, Need for Speed Undercover, Skate It, Spore, Crysis Warhead, Left 4 Dead, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, FaceBreaker, FIFA 09, FIFA Manager 09, Madden NFL 09, NBA LIVE 09, NHL 09, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09, MySims Kingdom, The Sims 2 Apartment Life, The Sims 2 Apartment Pets, SimCity Creator, MySims.

The Leipzig Games Convention runs from August 20-24, 2008. The EA booth is located in Hall 3, Booth B02.

What's EA Bringing To Games Convention?

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:20:26 MDT

Electronics Arts is going to represent big at the Leipzig Games Convention this year. It's bringing something like three zillion titles to the event by our count, titles like Dragon Age, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge to name but a few. While we've seen a good portion of these titles at E3 and pre-E3 events, we're going to see two unannounced games, something we're sure to learn more about at EA's Games Convention press conference.

The better news is that, despite our previous hands-on time with games like Left 4 Dead and Crysis Warhead, we're going to see all new areas and content. Plus we're going to pester developers for nuggets of info and embarrassing quotes that will come back to haunt them.

We're looking at you Gabe Newell. Hit the jump for the full list — minus two — of what EA's bringing to Leipzig.

Tiger Woods PGA All Play - Wii
FIFA 09 – 360, PS3
FIFA 09 All Play - Wii
FIFA Manager - PC
Dead Space - PS3
Dragon Age - PC
Mirror’s Edge - PS3
Red Alert 3 - PC
SimAnimals -Wii
Sims 3 - PC
Left 4 Dead - PC

FaceBreaker - PS3
Battleforge - PC
Crysis Warhead - PC
Lord of the Rings Conquest - 360
MySims Kingdom - Wii
SimCity Creator - Wii
BOOGIE SuperStar - Wii
Family Game Night - Wii
Littlest Pet Shop - NDS
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Wii
Zubo - NDS

Warhammer Online

What's Atari Bringing To Games Convention?

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:40:13 MDT

Well, this sucks. Atari says the company plans to "turn up the summer heat" at the Leipzig Games Convention this year. Unfortunate, because the Leipziger Messe can get pretty sweaty, something Fahey and I aren't going to appreciate when we're perspiring pure Pilsner.

How's Atari affecting climate change in Leipzig this year? Hot(t) games, of course! They'll be showing lots of stuff, including What’s Cooking? with Jamie Oliver for Nintendo DS, My Horse and Me 2 for Wii and DS, The Witcher Enhanced Edition and Alone in the Dark for the PlayStation 3.

If that's not already giving you pit stains, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 and Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit will also be there, increasing the spiked hair factor by 9000 percent. Hopefully, Phil Harrison will be there and we can creep him the fuck out one more time. For the full list, hit the press release, after the jump.

ATARI TURNS UP THE SUMMER HEAT AT GAMES CONVENTION 2008

- Atari Storms the Glass Walls of the Leipziger Messe with a Blistering Line Up of Games for Everyone from Anime to Action Adventuring, Family Fun to Fast Cars -

LYON, FRANCE – 8 August 2008 – Once again the thrill-hungry gamers of Germany and beyond will descend on Leipzig this August 21-24 to feast at Games Convention 2008, and Atari will be there in Hall 5, Stand G21 with plenty of gaming goodness for everyone.

Included in the line up are a number of first play exclusives including from shopping to chopping in What’s Cooking? with Jamie Oliver for Nintendo DS™, the next stage in Atari’s equestrian simulation series My Horse and Me 2 for Wii and DS, The Witcher Enhanced Edition which takes the award winning role-playing experience to the next level of perfection, and the equally enhanced Alone in the Dark for PLAYSTATION®3.

Fans of anime ninja action will be able to get their hands on the largest ever selection of playable ninjas in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 for PlayStation®2, as well as the awesome Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm for PLAYSTATION®3 which takes the Naruto experience beyond the anime series for the first time. Recently released blockbuster Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for PLAYSTATION 3 will also be there to remind Naruto that he’s not the only kick ass anime fighter in town.

For a break from all the anime fighting, visitors to the booth can get physical in real time with Family Trainer for Wii, featuring loads of fun mat-based games to get more than just the thumbs moving. Budding equestrians can indulge their horse care and riding fantasies with My Horse & Me 2 for Wii and DS with its new story and gameplay modes. Anyone with a love of good food should spend some quality time with What’s Cooking? with Jamie Oliver for DS, although it’s anyone’s guess whether the food on offer in Leipzig will satisfy you once Jamie’s gourmet creations have got your mouth watering.

Guests over 18 looking for some action and adventure can try their hand with The Witcher: Enhanced Edition which takes the adventures of Geralt to the next level with a host of game improvements and additional content. Lucky visitors will also get the chance to be the first in the world to try out Eden Games’ innovative action adventure Alone in the Dark on PLAYSTATION 3 featuring a number of gameplay enhancements to make the journey more unmissable than ever. Legendary for PC will let FPS fans indulge in the ultimate fantasy battle of man Vs. myth as they find out how much firepower is really needed to take down a giant winged griffon.

Stepping up a gear, Atari invites visitors to put their foot down with GTR Evolution for PC and RACE Pro for Xbox 360, which is the first time Simbin’s formidable expertise in driving simulation has come to console. Featuring unparalleled physics and handling, championships including WTCC, Formula 3000 and Formula BMW, plus a wealth of cars including GT and production models, nothing gets closer than RACE Pro, and to make sure of it Simbin and Atari are bringing the RACE Pro Pit Lane to Games Convention.

Located outside the halls in area A03/1, the RACE Pro Pit Lane is comprised of the RACE Pro truck hospitality area which is currently touring Europe at WTCC race meetings. As well as the game itself, real competition cars will be on display, including a BMW and Dodge Viper, to bring aspiring drivers even closer to the real experience.

Expect all this and more as Atari brings its gaming goodness to Games Convention this August 21-24 in Leipzig Germany. For information about Atari’s entire product line up visit www.atari.com.