The Perks of Passion: GCA 2007

7th - 8th September 2007

The Price of Passion is a heavy one, beyond a shadow of a doubt, but that is not to say that Passion doesn't have its perks. 11am-reporting times, official game "research" during office hours and a huge amount of creative freedom; all add salt to the main course of a meaty slab of Pride served with Job Satisfaction on the side.

But once in a Vampiric Blue Moon, there comes a perk that out-perks the rest; the rare Latino Ass with the extra oomph standing out from a throng of flat Chinese Asses, like adolescent boobs starkingly contrasted against wrinkly, middle-aged .... uh, nevermind. The point is, this perk of perks came in the form of the Games Convention Asia 2007 (GCA 2007), and the best part? This Vampire played the part of more than a mere spectator to this industrial showcase.

The Asian leg of an international games convention normally held in Leipzig, Germany, GCA 2007 was the inaugural convention held in Asia, with separate showrooms for public audiences and business purposes. Since, the Count is now officially one foot into the grave, uh, door, of the industry, I had access to the oh-so-cool limited access business side. It was heart-warming to see so many familiar faces; members of the same cohort, but in different aspects of the industry. It fed my sense of faux-professionalism to chat with other members of the industry as if I knew what the hell I was talking about, asking seemingly intelligent questions, and seeing the projects in development in the local industry. Of particular notice were the much-hyped Lone Wolf game, which is shaping up to be looking mighty impressive; and the projects by Mikoishi, a company which clearly seemed to know what it was doing.

But the public exhibition centre was where the action was REALLY at. Big names such as EA, Sony and Nintendo all took the effort to invest in huge floorspace at the convention. With lame peformances gracing the stage from time to time, numerous games on display for preview or playtesting, and a pool of the public getting absorbed by the razzle and dazzle of each booth, the showroom was a chaotic flurry of light and sound. But perhaps, this is what gaming is about, an indulgant sensory overload.

The most interesting project for me wasn't any of the commercial games available for demo playtesting or preview purposes, but rather a rather cool F1 Racer that uses 4-D technology from NYP. The racer had 3-screens used to display graphics, and a force feedback wheel akin to a Ferarri 355-arcade cabinet, but the secret weapon of the project was revealed under the hands of a REALLY sucky driver. Driving his car onto the grass persistently, a machine was triggered to release smoke to simulate the engine damage, and it convincingly smelt like a burnt engine. I mean, yes, I've always pictured 4-D gaming to become a reality in the near future, but a working demo of the technology in use opened up the floodgates of imagination in my mind; always the designer, I am.

One man's Folly is another Man's Wisdom

Nintendo had the hands-down most impressive booth, and if using the booth as any indication of the effort that Nintendo intends to put into the Asian market, then it must be really set to woo the consumers with the Wii and the DS. With a simple floor layout, erected posters landmarking the rich history of its consoles, and with memorable Nintendo characters on the backside of each of these "educational" posters, it was almost to bring a tear to my Nintendo-fan-eyes.

Lighter? I seriously doubt it.

But the real reason to be crying had to be Nintendo's choice to litter their booth with secondary-school-ish gals hired to attract people to the booth to humiliated themselves by looking stupid playing the Wii games on demo. My most humiliating moment? Dying in Metroid Prime: Corruption and telling the Booth Babe (Chick, might be more appropriate here) that "that room [was] really dark."

I'd bet they think I suck at Metroid

Overall, the entire convention was a little underwhelming and somewhat disappointing as exhibition hall had a little to much breathing room for the relatively sparse crowd, giving a sense of emptiness, beneath all that sound and fury. Aside from the big names, there was not much else to see, and there sure as hell were no major groundbreaking announcements or key-figure conferences. If GCA was meant to be a leg of the international Games Convention, then it was probably more prosthetic than anything else. But given that it was the inaugural convention in Asia, let's hope it picks up in the years to come.

But little of this mattered to the primate in me, as over the course of the 2-days, I began to give in to my more primal instincts and allowed Lust to oust Passion in the fight for centre-stage of my focus and attention; resulting in an increased focus on the Booth Babes surrounding and wandering the booths than anything that actually was on display in the booths. Sure, Passion has its perks alright, and probably come in the form of perky tits and asses.

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