EVENT PREVIEW - GAMEHOTEL PARIS EXTRAVAGANZA

With a stellar line up of guests from the international video game and digital pop culture scenes, GAMEHOTEL Season One is set for launch on January 30th.

Video games have long been a powerful medium and a unique form of expression of digital pop culture. In a series of international events GAMEHOTEL presents ground-breaking titles, their visionary designers, and other protagonists from the game industry and its related creative segments in interactive entertainment. As a new addition to the game firmament, GAMEHOTEL aims to establish itself as a high-profile promoter of innovation and diversity in the field of gaming and digital pop culture.

WIDE-RANGING ACCESS
"GAMEHOTEL fills a gap in the current debate on games. Our goal is to open up wide-ranging access to the cultural phenomenon of games, and to provide insights into the various zones of influence on and inspirations of game culture - from music and film to fashion and design, all the way to animation and e-sports," explains GAMEHOTEL producer Tina Cassani.

"Like a shining fixed star in the game sky we want GAMEHOTEL to show the way to an opening up and a continuing renewal of the game medium. And to thus provide a new context for a comprehensive discussion of the position of interactive entertainment in culture and society," says Bruno Beusch, director of organizing TNC Network.

For GAMEHOTEL's Paris Extravaganza TNC Network is inviting high-profile game developers and specialists from Tokyo, Paris, London, Stockholm, Zurich and Hong Kong to a creative summit.

INNOVATION AND INSPIRATION
The main focus of the event is on Japanese rhythm action games, as well as on wireless games. An innovative feature on character design and urban vinyl action figures, showcasing famous Devilrobots from Japan and Brothersfree from Hong Kong, completes the program of inspiring variety, a hallmark of TNC Network's productions.

GAMEHOTEL Paris takes place at a time when the game industry, especially in Europe, is going through a phase of consolidation and reorientation. A time where it is especially valuable "to be even more inspired by things outside our industry," as British game developer icon Peter Molyneux (Black & White, Popolous, Fable) puts it in a GAMEHOTEL interview.

ALL-STAR LINEUP
KIRI MATSUURA (Tokyo), character designer and one of the creative heads of game development studio NanaOn-Sha, which has given us the eccentric and hugely original games Vib Ribbon and PaRappa the Rapper. At GAMEHOTEL she presents, for the first time in Europe, their latest masterpiece: Mojibribon (PS2). A game which stretches the elastic boundaries of the medium by transposing the traditional Japanese art of calligraphy into the world of video games and blending it seamlessly with pop cultural elements. A significant support in the argument for the overdue placement of video games on the cultural agenda of the 21th century.

TETSUYA MIZUGUCHI (Tokyo), head of famous development company United Games Artists. With his truly amazing rhythm action games Rez and Space Channel 5 Mizuguchi-san has received enthusiastic acclamation well beyond the confines of the hardcore gamer community. In the multi-award-winning Rez (PS2) he impressively transforms the visual and musical sensations of clubbing into an ambitious and sensual game experience. An excellent example of the enriching reciprocal cross-pollination between games and digital pop culture.

Swedish development studio It‘s Alive has justifiably entered game history with its SMS-game Botfighters. Thanks to the innovative use of geolocalization technology the game experience is freed from the shackles of the screen, and the user’s real city becomes the game arena. TOM SOEDERLUND (Stockholm), producer and co-founder of It‘s Alive, presents their follow-up project, the mobile soap SupaFly. MATHIEU CASTELLI (Paris), head of the young French company Newtgames, also specializing in wireless games, introduces a stylishly smart multiplayer game for the latest generation of mobile phones, set to be launched in spring 2003 in Tokyo.

DAVID CAGE (Paris), CEO of French game development company Quantic Dream, boldly explores new terrain, in the face of the innovation-killing profit maximization rules of the day. With Fahrenheit he presents a format which, at this point, no gaming company has successfully developed. The game merges interactivity with aspects of tv serials and cinema, and is published in installments released every three or four months. An ambitious project that navigates the fine line between a cinematographically scripted story and the experience of an open-ended exploration by the player.

With STEVEN POOLE (London) and DAVID CHOQUET (Paris) GAMEHOTEL presents two of the top specialists in the game firmament. Steven Poole, acclaimed columnist at Edge Magazine, has written one of the brightest and most compelling approaches to the cultural phenomenon of video games so far, "Trigger Happy - The Inner Life of Video Games." David Choquet, founder of French portal Gamekult, has recently edited the comprehensive collection of game characters, "1000 Heroes" (Taschen publisher), an absolute must for casual gamers and game aficionados alike.

YOSHIZO YOSHIMURA and SHINICHIRO KITAI (Tokyo) from designer collective Devilrobots are among the most charming representatives of Japanese digital pop culture. Influences from television, Internet, character design, animation film, music, fashion, and of course games, collide in their seminal action figure series Tofu Family reflecting the current frictions between an omnipresent global and a diversified local imagery, as well as presenting the weirdest universe you can possibly think of.

With his Flash animations character designer FRANCOIS CHALET (Paris/Zurich) regularly launches small pieces of emotional fireworks into the European club culture. His figures carry those smart visual messages which take their power and viral quality from their formal reduction. The GAMEHOTEL audience will have the opportunity to open a dialogue with them, and by doing so may well discover some of tomorrow‘s game heroes.

Special Guests at GAMEHOTEL are the fashionable designer toys Smart & Seven by BROTHERSFREE (Hong Kong), Cosmouse by Japanese designer KOJI TAKEUCHI (Tokyo), and Electronic Virus #1 Frankie by FURIFURI COMPANY (Tokyo). Recently, urban vinyl figures and designer toys have evolved from mere merchandising into a unique cultural form, and are poised to capture the affections of adoring audiences in Europe.

GAMEHOTEL kicks off at 8 pm with the first Designer Toy Showcase and a warm-up featuring exclusive game character VJing. At 8.30 pm the program takes off with exclusive demos of Japanese music games and wireless games, screenings, panels, and interviews.

Highlight of the evening is the GAMEHOTEL Game Character Contest. The GAMEHOTEL guests have 180 seconds to present their favorite game figure to the audience. A high-speed tour through the video game history of the past 30 years, a fond look at Mario, PaRappa, PacMan & company. These icons of digital pop culture long ago escaped the narrow confines of video games, and have gone on to conquer the screens of our mobile phones and the walls of our cities, taking over clothing and packaging, and actualizing themselves into designer toys, becoming highly prized collector‘s artifacts.