EVENT REVIEW - GAMEHOTEL AT GDC, SAN JOSE

GAMEHOTEL's flagship live event, dubbed the "symbol of future events on video games", kicked off Season Two as a new addition to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California, the world's largest annual game development convention.

As an opportunity to see "some of the most innovative people in games, GAMEHOTEL was a success," stated leading online magazine Gamespot. Japan's number one game magazine Famitsu enjoyed experiencing the latest trends in gaming and pop culture in a "cheerfully designed" setting and in a "relaxing atmosphere," and industry service Mobile Entertainment Analyst concluded that GAMEHOTEL "was all we expected it to be and much, much more."

Highlights of the light-hearted show full of demos, screenings, talks and showcases included the eagerly anticipated appearance of game design legend Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the first demo of NanaOn-Sha's latest crazy title Vib Ripple, and compelling insights into the future of interactive entertainment by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Executive Vice President, Phil Harrison, one of the masterminds of the recent EyeToy success.

THE FUTURE OF INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT
As another exceptionally warm Californian spring day neared its end, crowds of GDC attendees drifted to the GAMEHOTEL venue, the gorgeous Spanish Mission style San Jose Civic Auditorium, in the heart of Silicon Valley, just south of San Francisco.

In its ongoing exploration of the most exciting threads of the future of interactive entertainment, GAMEHOTEL turned its focus on the latest trends in the evolution towards a more mainstream acceptance of games. The lineup of influential industry names was enhanced by innovators from other pop cultural sectors such as music video, character and toy design, spotlighting just how much game culture impacts pop culture around the world.

NOVEL INTERFACES
During his inspiring visit to GAMEHOTEL, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Executive Vice-President, Development, Phil Harrison, who played a critical role in the launch of the innovative EyeToy product range, shared his views on how novel interfaces play a key role in broadening the appeal of games. He located the main success factors of EyeToy-type products in the fact that "people playing the games are having fun, and people watching them are having just as much fun."

Echoing Harrison's claim for taking games to the streets, Mathieu Castelli, CEO of up-and-coming development studio Newtgames, revealed how both online games, and the mobile phone habits of party-goers at Tokyo's clubs had inspired him to design his ground-breaking game Mogi. This fascinating wireless location-based multiplayer experience has been running in Tokyo for several months, and has proved to be an instant hit with many novice gamers, especially among young professional women.

PICTURE TRAMPOLINE GAME
In the first public demo of their upcoming PS2 game Vib Ripple, Masaya Matsuura, head of renowned Japanese development studio NanaOn-Sha, showed how he uses external data in order to deepen the "relation between player and game." Pictures taken by a player's mobile phone camera are transferred to the gaming console, where they turn into a virtual jump board. The full potential of this highly entertaining "picture trampoline action game" was demonstrated using a picture of Phil Harrison taken on the spot during the show.

The same desire to "bring down the wall between the game and the player" drives game designer legend and former UGA-boss Tetsuya Mizuguchi. While revealing his wish to work for upcoming portable gaming systems PSP or Nintendo DS, the creator of Sega's breath-taking musical shooter Rez commented extensively on his decision to leave Sega after fourteen years, and concluded: "I will go on designing games until at least I'm 70!"

FUN AND INTELLIGENT DISCOURSE
"The success of this first edition of GAMEHOTEL's flagship event at GDC has confirmed the increasing expectations of industry players – as well as growing audiences - for light-hearted shows that point towards a rich and diverse future of interactive entertainment" said Bruno Beusch, director of organizing TNC Network, and host of the GAMEHOTEL extravaganza.

"In bringing together visionaries from inside and outside the games industry, and in spotlighting the ever-increasing impact of games on movies, fashion, even toy design, GAMEHOTEL is in a unique position to celebrate games as a driving force of today's pop culture", commented GAMEHOTEL producer Tina Cassani.

CUTTING-EDGE MUSIC VIDEO
Among the show's featured attractions was GAMEHOTEL's popular Designer Toy Showcase, set up in collaboration with San Francisco-based store Kidrobot, presenting a dazzling selection of some of the wildest Hong Kong designer toys by the likes of Michael Lau and Brothersfree.

New to GAMEHOTEL was the Music Video Showreel, a series of breath-taking music videos by MTV Award-winning directors H5. Shown for the first time in the US, H5's ever-expanding visual adventures for groups such as Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, or Royksopp, impressively demonstrated how much popular culture can both reach a mass audience, and explore new grounds. The audience particularly enjoyed one of their brilliant clips based on a mock video game, a cross between soccer and beat ‘em up-type games.

Some of the funniest moments of the show were provided by hyperactive Japanese pop collective, FuriFuri. The famous character designers from Tokyo boldly accepted the challenge to draw a live GAMEHOTEL character based on indications given by the audience. Asked to design something "cool, cute, and intelligent," they came up with a wacked-out character sporting prominent "intelli-wave" antennae set to catch waves of intelligence.

POP-SAVVY ATTENDEES WITH EXCELLENT HAND-EYE COORDINATION
More great live action happened courtesy of GAMEHOTEL's games & pop culture quiz. Throughout the show audiences had to answer a set of questions highlighting the cross-pollination of games and pop culture. In an additional challenge testing their hand-eye coordination, attendees had to carefully toss their answer sheets into a container the host had taken down from the stage décor - a unique occasion to witness some highly skilled attendees shooting awesome 3-pointers. Only the sheets inside the container were valid for the final draw, which was performed by GDC director Alan Yu and GAMEHOTEL producer Tina Cassani. The lucky winners took home a set of the GAMEHOTEL Special Edition Figures, FuriFuri's live character drawing, and an original GAMEHOTEL tees signed by all the guests.

GAMEHOTEL & GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE
This was the first time GAMEHOTEL joined forces with the Game Developers Conference, the world's largest trade event exclusively devoted to game creation. Established 16 years ago, GDC has grown into a key event attended by over 10,000 game industry insiders and decision makers who are driving the $10 billion video game industry.

"GAMEHOTEL shows just how much game culture impacts popular culture around the world," says GDC director Alan Yu. "The reflections of games are all around us, in music, in moving images and even toys."

"We're very excited that GAMEHOTEL has become the latest add-on to the program of the premiere annual games industry event", says TNC Network director Bruno Beusch. "The values GAMEHOTEL promotes meet GDC's desire to engage audiences by continually reinventing the magic of video and computer games."

See also: event preview - gamehotel at gdc, san jose