The final stop on my tour of gamescom 2010 is hall number 9, where developer Bigpoint’s booth was (quite literally) one of the bigger eye-catchers. With loud music, near-constant dance performances and countless giveaways, they drew in the crowds to promote its online title Poisonville. Though I would dare suggest that including Germany’s playmate of the month (Bernadette Kaspar) as a character in the game and having her meet visitors at the booth in Cologne certainly did not hurt them either. I just called it a very good excuse to dust off those old German language skills 😉 Turns out she was very sweet and down-to-earth when talking to her, but if you want to see her as a Grand Theft Auto-esque character then check out the game, which can be played for free starting this month.
With many of the major game publishers being concentrated in the areas I reported on during the past few days, hall 9 saw many hardware developers present their personal vision on developments in gaming. Roccat was present and introduced the Kone+ gaming mouse, Razer presented its mechanical keyboard BlackWidow and Mad Catz was showing its brand new line of pro gaming mice, the Cyborg R.A.T.
Also very prominent in this part of gamescom 2010 was MMO gaming. Trion Worlds had brought Rift: Planes of Telara and End of Nations to Germany, with Rift being (a very good looking) fantasy role playing game and End of Nations promising to merge the classic real time strategy genre with MMO elements. The concept of battling for world domination online definitely sounds intriguing, so it will be interesting to see how that one turns out.
Trion Worlds was not the only big MMO developer at gamescom, with Ncsoft drawing in the biggest crowds in hall number 9. Well-known for working on games such as Guild Wars, Aion, City of Heroes and Lineage, they came to Germany to promote both Aion and the upcoming Guild Wars 2. For the first time ever, the sequel to the very well-received Guild Wars was available for the public to play, with many of the game developers joining in from across the Atlantic. If you’re going to PAX then check out the North American live debut of the game, set to be a worthy follow-up to one of the most successful MMOs ever and winner of the “best online game” award at gamescom 2010.
Which brings me to my wrap-up of my show floor coverage. In line with what they did at the end of the show itself, I want to present my own awards for categories not covered by gamescom itself (since they were completely made up by yours truly). So here goes:
Most promising game that is not a sequel: Rage, with Enslaved: Odyssey to the West deserving a special mention.
Most potential for innovation in hardware: Kinect, with an emphasis on the word ‘potential.’
Best use of atmosphere at the show: F.3.A.R’s booth, with some very dark lighting, made you feel tense before even playing the upcoming horror/thriller FPS.
Most deserving of more attention: Civilization 5.
Moment of the show: Peter Molyneux presenting Fable 3 and filling the hearts of everyone attending with anticipation.
Though this wraps up the series of reports on what could be seen at gamescom this year, there is one more surprise coming up. Keep checking this space for something exclusive to Twin Galaxies, coming to a browser near you very soon.
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