EVENT REVIEW - GAMEHOTEL FUTURE MOVES

Extreme hover board racing, stylish kung fu moves, and novel control systems  - in one of the most entertaining editions of GAMEHOTEL's flagship event, visionary game creators from Europe and the US offered a glimpse into the rich future of interactive entertainment.

Highlights of the three-hour event included: a preview of the hypnotic rhythm action game Guitar Hero by Alex Rigopulos, CEO of leading US music game developer Harmonix; a demo of one of the most fun and stylish PC games of recent years by Mark Healey of Peter Molyneux's legendary Lionhead Studios; and the first edition of the GAMEHOTEL REPLAY series dedicated to the multifaceted relation between technological innovation and creativity.

Other memorable moments of the show centered on gameplay innovations and fresh types of interaction between players and the game world, including an exhilarating Karaoke sing & dance session featuring skilled attendees, a fascinating demo of the EyeToy Antigrav title, and a new themed edition of GAMEHOTEL's MUSIC VIDEO SHOWREEL.

SHAPING THE FUTURE
As the City of Lights resumed its bustling level of activity after the traditional summer break, GAMEHOTEL convened luminaries from the game development and creative industries, as well as numerous representatives from the media, to a stylish former aristocratic town house in central Paris for a new edition of its flagship event.

"Here, in these former town houses (known as hotels in French,) 21st century interactive pop culture meets the spirit of the legendary Parisian salons of the 17th and 18th centuries," remarked GAMEHOTEL producer Tina Cassani with a hint of a smile on her face. "Today, these progressive and cultivated women who invited philosophers, scientists and artists to promote new ideas and have fun, would certainly be inviting game designers!"

"Video gaming holds a unique position in our cultural landscape," says Bruno Beusch, head of organizing TNC Network, and host of the GAMEHOTEL series. "Games are in a situation comparable to that of movies in the first half of the 20th century. Game creators are currently shaping the future of interactive entertainment, and creating the first masterpieces of a new art form. GAMEHOTEL is playing host to the future Chaplins and Hitchcocks of video games!"

GAMERS' SKILL SET
The evening kicked off with a warm-up mix assembled by edgy US electropop band Freezepop. The trio has a sizeable cult following based on songs featured in several PlayStation2 video games, including mesmerizing rhythm action titles Frequency and Amplitude, created by leading US music game developer Harmonix.

Harmonix' CEO, Alex Rigopulos, was the first guest of the show. In a captivating chat with the host he told the audience why they have started combining two of the most emotionally satisfying activities in human existence: making music, and playing games. "Playing music is a profoundly joyful experience. But few people actually have access to that experience, because it's just too damn difficult." Noticing the similarity between the sophisticated skill set most gamers have acquired - like translating complex visual symbols into hand motions - and the skills specific to musicians, Alex Rigopulos wanted to "create something that allows people to actually play music while playing a game." He went on to demo how Harmonix' rhythm action title Amplitude lets the players immerse themselves into the fabric of the music, and "experience music on a deeper level, not just as listeners but as active participants."

THE NEW MTV
Despite its many awards, and dithyrambic critical reception, Amplitude proved to be difficult to market. "It's not enough as a game developer, to create a great game. You need to also create a message, one sentence that makes people want to buy the game," Rigopulos said, before showing how the lessons learned had influenced the development of Harmonix' upcoming music title, Guitar Hero. Featuring many great rock songs, fun stereotyped rock and roll characters, and even a wild guitar peripheral developed in partnership with legendary guitar maker Gibson, the game puts the player at center stage of his or her very own rock band.

Linking the evolution of the music game genre to the dramatic changes in music distribution, Rigopulos predicted that "this genre will really blossom over the coming years." As forward-thinking music publishers start considering games as the new MTV, video games may well gain momentum as an alternative distribution channel for music. Criticizing the limited risk taken by many current publishers when it comes to game soundtracks, he announced that Harmonix will start to collaborate directly with musicians to bring the fusion of games and music to a new level. They are also planning to blend music gameplay with gameplay from other categories, "for example combine the rhythmic element of martial arts and fighting games, with music games."

GAMEHOTEL REPLAY
The multifaceted relationship between creativity and technological innovation was the focus of a new series, GAMEHOTEL REPLAY. Launched to frame gaming within a larger perspective, the series invites high-profile guests from the industry to look at key moments in the evolution of video gaming by commenting on milestones in software and hardware development. "We're evolving in an excitingly fast-paced industry environment," said GAMEHOTEL director Bruno Beusch. "Relating current developments to key titles and technologies of past years helps to generate greater awareness of the unique history of video gaming, and of its massive cultural power."

With the much-awaited next generation console gaming hardware just around the corner, the first edition of GAMEHOTEL REPLAY looked at how key games have taken advantage of the creative potential offered by new game consoles in recent years. Guest commentator Julien Merceron, Ubisoft's world wide technical director, and game aficionado supreme, replayed what many consider to be one of the most emotional moments in gaming history, the unexpected death of Aerith in Squaresoft's Final Fantasy VII. "Many players have cried during this scene," he said, and showed how the developers of Final Fantasy VII have used the potential of the then new PlayStation One to offer the players a new degree of immersion and emotional engagement thanks to integrated cinematics, 3D characters, and smart emotion management. In a second REPLAY demo, he showed how the impressive use of new technologies in Rare's Banjo Kazooie, released on Nintendo 64, convinced most developers to definitively switch from 2D to 3D.

KICK-ASS CHI POWER
Coming up next was a screening of the brilliant music video Facing the Void by Franco-British director Arno Salters, created for up-and-coming band General Elektriks. The clip combines breath-taking stop-motion animation and kung fu marionettes, and acted as a perfect segue to the show's next guest, Mark Healey, of Peter Molyneux' legendary Lionhead Studios.

Mark Healey is the creator of Ragdoll Kung Fu, one of the most stylish and fun PC games of recent years. Re-defining the beat 'em up genre with awesome gameplay, it lets the player control the marionette of a kung fu fighter. Healey described the game as a "kung fu fight with string puppets in which you don't have to worry about getting the strings tangled up or even having a kung fu fight at all if you don't feel like it. In short, it's all about Chi power." From the revolutionary mouse-driven control system, to the amazing real time animation, to the wild kung fu moves and low gravity fights - this kick-ass piece of software is living proof of the extraordinary richness of today's interactive entertainment.

During his absorbing presentation, Healey gave an overview of the many great features of the game, and triggered general hilarity when he demoed the cool gameplay ideas evolving around hallucinogenic mushrooms that slow down time. "Il faut manger les champignons spéciaux," he summoned the audience in his freshly acquired French, "and when you have eaten enough mushrooms you can get really high," referring to the character's free floating slow-mo trips into outer space.

CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT
In the course of the following chat with the host and the audience, Healey confirmed the imminent distribution of the Ragdoll Kung fu on Steam, the distributor of the Half Life games. He also stirred everyone's curiosity as he revealed that Peter Molyneux has given him carte blanche to "come up with something unbelievably cool" at Lionhead Studios.

Mark was then joined on stage by Alex Rigopulos. Talking about both Lionhead Studios' and Harmonix' practice to create a work environment that encourages the creative energy of collaborators instead of crushing it, Alex explained that they had deliberately assembled a very diverse blend of people from different backgrounds. "Often in games the background is very much exclusively in game development, but we have musicians, designers, and interface designers." While this also implies that he gives employees time off to tour and pursue their creative side projects, he remains convinced that the long-term payoff will be more original games.

Referring to the relation between Hollywood majors and independent film, he added: "Video game publishers have not yet learned to cultivate that kind of creative talent in the industry and that is a real problem right now." While Healey admitted that he was "totally surprised" by the massive interest in his game Ragdoll Kung fu, Rigopulos saw it as a clear expression of a growing hunger for originality in the market. "People want to be surprised. When I played Keita Takahashi's Katamari Damacy for the first time, I actually wept because I was so happy that a creator had the opportunity to make a game that was so original and fresh."

PHYSICAL GAMING
After an inspiring break featuring another trendy puppeteering music video by talented young Italian director Lorenzo Fonda, Alex Rigopulos went on to demo Harmonix' hugely innovative EyeToy Antigrav game. While Mark Healey's Ragdoll Kung fu lets the player control the body movements of a kung fu marionette, Antigrav lets the player use his whole body to manipulate, or marionette, a 3D game character and race a hover board through futuristic landscapes.

"What if there's no barrier between the player, and the character he controls? What if the player can directly control the motion of a character with the motion of his body?" In his fascinating demo, Rigopulos offered an intriguing glimpse into the future of interactive entertainment, where the player merges physically with the gaming console thanks to novel input devices such as cameras. Discussing the gradual disappearance of the frontier between virtual and real world in so-called "physical gaming" with guest commentator Julien Merceron, Rigopulos also mentioned the emergence of a whole new set of unexpected design challenges, such as the physical fatigue of the player. "Controlling that hover board with your own body is a workout, you get tired!"

SING (AND DANCE)
As Rigopulos had put one non-negotiable condition to his appearance at GAMEHOTEL, which was that he'd NOT be singing, NEVER, EVER, in front of the audience, courageous attendees had to test Harmonix' upcoming Karaoke Party title, especially the game's fun new party mode where the player has to sing and perform dance steps at the same time.

Taking care not to disfigure the gorgeous designer toys presented in the new edition of the DESIGNER TOY SHOWCASE set up with retailer Artoyz, the volunteers revealed one of the great qualities of physical and social gaming in general: the people who are playing these games have fun, but the people who are watching them playing have just as much fun - or maybe even more.

More great live action happened courtesy of the GAMEHOTEL POP CULTURE QUIZ. This light-hearted contest once again tested both the audience's pop-savvyness and hand-eye coordination, as attendees had to carefully toss their answer sheets into a container held up by the host - a unique occasion to witness some highly skilled attendees shooting awesome 3-pointers. Gamehotel producer Tina Cassani joined the host and guests on stage for the final draw. Although the questions seemed challenging to the attendees, a happy winner emerged and took home the special prizes sponsored by the show's guests.

And as the audience finally left the GAMEHOTEL venue after a three-hour extravaganza, one attendee summed up his experience like this: "As a real alternative to most conventional industry events GAMEHOTEL gives a voice to the people who create tomorrow's games, and lets us hear their thoughts, their ideas, and inspirations. A penetrating event and debate on the rich culture of video gaming and its evolution. These odes to the originality of video games will be legendary in a few years."

PRAISE FROM THE PUBLIC AND THE MEDIA
GAMEHOTEL was launched in 2003 as a series of international events spotlighting the most innovative personalities of the worldwide video games scene and offering wide-ranging access to the cultural phenomenon that is interactive entertainment. In 2004, it has become part of the official program of the world's premiere video game developer convention, the Californian Game Developers Conference. The audience and the media described GAMEHOTEL events in glowing terms:

French daily Libération: "A great evening on digital pop culture". Leading London-based game magazine Edge: "GAMEHOTEL offers moments of rare cultural insights. A valuable and enduring achievement; refreshing and exuberant". Californian Xbox Nation magazine: "Fun, relaxation, and intelligent discourse! A much-needed counter-balance to the industry's play-it-safe agenda". Yahoo: "The symbol of future events on video games". Online game magazine Gamespot: "[Featuring] some of the most innovative people in games, GAMEHOTEL was a success." French weekly Télérama: "The place where you discover tomorrow's games and digital heroes." High-profile game magazine Gamasutra: "A celebration of video gaming as it relates to pop culture at large." Influential blog Kotaku: "Crawling with hot game designers. A slick stage presentation and interview extravaganza ... impressive." Tokyo-based game magazine Famitsu: "Relaxing atmosphere, cheerfully designed!"

The guest list of previous GAMEHOTEL events and spin offs reads like a who’s who of video games: Japanese music-action game master Masaya Matsuura; Sony Worldwide Studios' president, Phil Harrison; Sims creator Will Wright; French and Swedish alternate reality gaming pioneers Tom Söderlund and Mathieu Castelli; British game developer legend Peter Molyneux; French visionary David Cage; author and columnist Steven Poole, and many more have shared their thoughts and visions while demoing their latest titles.

GAMEHOTEL BRAND
In addition to its flagship live events, GAMEHOTEL also produces an ongoing series of TV/radio programs on game culture, as well as GAMEHOTEL seminars and focus sessions on game-related skills and techniques in education and the workplace. The release of a book on GAMEHOTEL is scheduled for 2006. This entertaining journey into the universe of video games will spotlight the positions, ideas and visions of leading video game developers and GAMEHOTEL guests.

SEASON FOUR
In early 2006, GAMEHOTEL's flagship live event will continue its European tour and swap the intimate setting of a Parisian town house for the vibrant feel of one of Europe's most thriving club environments. A new edition in Paris will be followed by the first venture into the German-speaking part of Europe.

The upcoming GAMEHOTEL events will be held in conjunction with a complementary professional conference. GAMEHOTEL PRO will respond to the increasing interest in game-related skills and techniques in the workplace, among IT and telecom professionals, in creative industries, as well as in the education and research communities.

See also: event preview - stellar lineup at parisian gamehotel events