GGL Wire

Tomorrow the waiting ends, and first E for All Expo begins at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The games industry trade show is open to the public, and features a Major League Gaming Halo 3, Halo & NBA Live 2008 tournaments, a Video Games Live concert, the GDC Game Career Seminar, a cosplay contest and an exhibition of video game art. Major companies attending the event include Intel, Electronic Arts, Konami and THQ. Nintendo will have some kind of presence, but not a major booth.

E for All replaces the public consumer portion of E3, which as of this year became a smaller industry-only show. The gaming community has speculated all year about how E for All will measure up against its predecessor.

The entire GGL Wire video and editorial teams will be on hand, along with the cast of Epileptic Gaming. Keep checking back here for live video and news coverage!

Blizzcon 2007: Video coverage by GGL Wire

Today, lead designer Tom Chilton discussed World of Warcraft’s PvP philosophy; and where the game is headed in Battlegrounds, the games’ faction versus faction instances, and in Arena, the free-for-all gladiator-style combat employed in the global Arena Tournament.

There are three types of WoW PvP: Battlegrounds, Arena, and “outdoor world” PvP on PvP servers.

Battlegrounds Philosophy:

• “PvP should be for everyone, not just the hardcore”
• “The hardcore should have a place to shine.”
• “Players should be able to compete in PvP using primarily PvP rewards if they choose.”  This means players should not have to participate in PvE raids to earn the equipment they need to perform well in PvP.

Continued…

Blizzcon 2007: Video coverage by GGL Wire

Today a panel of four Blizzard game designers discussed character classes in World of Warcraft; where they were, where they are, and where they are going. I typed away as fast as my little fingers could move, and here are the facts.

Game Balance
Rob Pardo, V.P. of game design and original lead designer on WoW (and one of the 100 most influential people in the world, according to Time – suck it, Bono), talked about general issues of game balance in the history of WoW.

Rather than have a ton of classes for diversity, have a lower number of very cool, very unique classes that can be customized.

In the beginning of the design process, WoW character classes were inspired by two sources; traditional pen & paper RPGs (read: Dungeons & Dragons), and Warcraft III. For instance, the Mage was an amalgam of the WC3 Archmage and Sorceress; while the Hunter combined the WC3 Headhunter, Huntress and Ranger. Continued…

This year’s Tokyo Game Show, to be held September 20-23, will be the largest since the event’s inception in 1996.  The Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) announced the details in a press release today.

TGS is expected to be the world’s largest game industry convention, in the wake of the downscaling of E3.  Only the Leipzig Games Convention rivals TGS in scale.

In the past, the three-day show had the first day open only to those in the gaming industry.  This year, a second industry-only day was added.

From the press release, in Engrish:

As of July 31, the projected participation in TGS2007 is 168 exhibitors occupying 1,708 booth units. This would make it even larger in scale than the largest past show (148 exhibitors, 1,701 booth units, in 2006).

This may be attributable to the fact that this year marks the full-scale introduction of software titles for the new game platforms released over the past 1~2 years. With numerous major titles set to go on sale, this year’s game show serves as an ideal forum for titles to steal a lead in the run-up to the critical end-of-year/New Year’s sales season, which can be expected to draw even greater interest from visitors to last year’s event.

The show will take place at the Makuhari Messe Convention Center in the western region of Chiba Prefecture, close to the Tokyo Disney Resort. It is expected to draw 180,000 visitors.  Sony CEO Kaz Hirai is scheduled to give the keynote address.