Leipzig 2007 wrap-up

Feature

Now that E3 is gone, Leipzig has taken pole position for being the largest gaming event in the world. Rather than highlight the biggies, we report on some of the less obvious games.

August 28th, 2007 by Sergio Brinkhuis

You can call it E3, Tokyo Games Show or Leipzig Games Convention but no matter what name you put on it, it means (or 'meant' in E3's case) several days of sheer madness. Hordes of gamers flock to see the latest and greatest that the industry has to offer. In return, the industry seeks to woo the faithful with displays of the coolest looking games they have ever created. Or at least that is what they will try to make you believe. Behind the scenes, a more serene event is taking place. Game journalist (and in recent years mainstream ones as well) are also present and are given more in-depth views of the games that developers and publishers are working on.

It has been a while since I went to one of these events, the last was seven years ago and it was the E3 in Los Angeles. Things haven't changed all that much, though Leipzig was definitely more modest than E3 was even back then. Publisher's stands are smaller but that doesn't seem to disturb the 185.000 gamers that have been trudging around the expo floor during the four days of the event. In fact, there were so many that at some point I fled the hall I was in after having moved a whole 10 meters in 5 minutes.

I didn't return that day but sought my refuge in the area's accessible to members of the press only. I had a few appointments but not enough to fill the day so I decided to try my luck and knock on the doors of some of the publishers I was not scheduled to meet. You wouldn't believe the amount of silly ass excuses some of them had for not talking to me. A "Sorry, appointments only" would have been totally appropriate. Sega's PR representative had by far the best excuse, proving that he had NO clue about what the Leipzig Games Convention has become: "No we don't talk to the International press here". Uh huh... Now that E3 has been downscaled to being a industry event, Leipzig may well be the largest gaming event in the world (rivaled only by the Tokyo Games Show). Do you seriously think it is a German-only event? Fortunately other PR representatives were more accommodating and the day turned out to be quite a lot better than I had expected.

You will no doubt read wrap-ups that primarily focus on the high-profile titles so I will be trying not to do that too much. Instead I'll try to reflect on some of the games that may not have the same high profile, but caught my eye nonetheless, either for positive or negative reasons.

Starting with a negative, I was kind of surprised at how poor Mercenaries 2 looked. The game was being demoed on an Xbox 360 but looked as if it had been ported straight over from the Playstation 2. Either the TV that it was playing on had technical issues (which I don't think it had), or the other footage that has been released onto the internet is from the PS3 version that wasn't showing (but should have been). On a more positive note, firing rockets at buildings and seeing them collapse -does- look very cool. While a single rocket will probably not be able to bring down a 16 story building in real life, seeing one collapse with debris flying around and the smoke being pushed towards you... was definitely well done.

Also on demo at EA was Orcs & Elves for the DS. The game, developed by Fountainhead Entertainment and produced by no other than the great id Software, was a huge hit on mobile phones. Not taking any shortcuts, the game is being built pretty much from the ground up for the DS. While it will not be the best looking game to have graced Nintendo's popular handheld, it sure made my heart beat faster. My (PC) gaming roots are firmly grounded in RPG titles such as Eye of the Beholder and Lands of Lore and seeing the ambiance-rich dungeons made me long back to those old classics in an instant. The game just oozes 'old fashioned RPG gameplay' and has become a new entry into my list of "must-haves" for the year.

Akella had me beaming with joy during their demo of Jagged Alliance 3. Fans will be aware of the attempts that have been made to bring the franchise back to life. All failed and to be honest, most deserved to as they were unable to capture the spirit of the original games. But Akella is set to change all that. How? By actually staying really close to the original format and not trying to innovate too much. Being a huge fan myself, I am certain that 'more of the same' is exactly what Jagged fans want. A more detailed report of what I saw will follow sometime later this week but in the mean time, rest assured that we will see a true Jagged Alliance sequel.

Then there was The Settlers: Rise of an Empire. I haven't been able to play the recent demo yet but the game was playable at the show. I find it odd that The Settlers is being scaled down to be nothing more than an Empire Builder. I just can't imagine not taking my soldiers out to conquer enemy territory� It just wouldn't be Settlers would it? The game did look very polished and the game world was rich and well animated. I had gamers sitting on both sides of me deeply concentrating and totally lost in the game so maybe this new way of playing The Settlers isn't so bad after all.

A fairly large area was set aside for a playable version of Age of Conan. While some of the HG team have been looking forward to this game, it simply hasn't grabbed me yet and Leipzig has done nothing to change that. The game looks... bland compared to other MMORPG's. If the online representation of Tolkien's rich world isn't making it, why would something as small as Conan survive? On a more positive note, Eidos did have a nice looking chick crowning visitors sitting on a throne (and no, that's not me sitting there).

Games that centered around music had a huge presence at the Games Convention. Everywhere people were singing into microphones and there were several podia with real-live rock acts rocking away with trailers of Rock Band or other Sing Star wannabe's. While the entertainment value of the rock acts was pretty much guaranteed, it was nothing compared to how much fun it was listening to the visitors who were trying to sing. Rock Band looked fantastic by the way. Guitar Hero will get some stiff competition from it I'm sure.

Overall, Leipzig was a huge success and was a feast to behold and the organization had most definitely pulled all the stops to make it a fantastic experience for its visitors. My only real gripe was that it was simply -too- busy. Yesterday the news was released that the Games Convention would be held in Leipzig another year so I don't think that next year will be any better. Anyone interested in visiting would be well advised to leave the Friday and Saturday to the throngs of Germany's finest gamers, and come on Wednesday or Thursday instead.