GC 2008

GC - Games Convention 2008

21 - 24 August 2008

(Press & Trade Visitor Day: 20 August 2008)

Leipzig, 2 July 2008

For what is now the third time, visitors with an interest in art will find the GC ART exhibit section a big attraction in Hall 2 at the Leipzig Exhibition Centre. During Europe's benchmark fair for interactive entertainment, the GC - Games Convention, the four exhibitions "Space Invaders. From Outer Space", "History & Culture", "Machinima" and "Digital Beauties" will demonstrate from 21 to 24 August how art and digital worlds blend together. Several workshops give guests at the show the opportunity to design small art works for themselves.

GC ART Special: Space Invaders. From Outer Space

30 Years of Space Invaders - The Anniversary Show

The Berlin Computer Game Museum and the GC - Games Convention pay homage to a classic in video game history by giving it an exhibition of its own. On an area of 120 square metres, "30 Years Space Invaders" brings a legend to life in both its historical and current incarnations.

"Invaders!" is the major interactive installation at the heart of the exhibition. In this work by the Franco-American artist Douglas Edric Stanley, players are required to make every possible effort to steer the virutal canon from the historical game and fire it against the attackers. Stanley has taken the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 as the background theme. "My work shows how Space Invaders can be seen as a social narrative and related to historical narratives, without losing any of its poetic power", says Stanley. As well as extensive documentation, the anniversary show also offers the original feel of the game, with classic Space Invaders game machines from 1978.

Exactly 30 years ago, the Space Invaders computer game launched a boom unlike anything ever seen before. Not long after the appearance of blockbuster films "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", millions of gamers, joystick in hand, were able to save the earth from extraterrestrials. Space Invaders became a legend and a global icon.

Toshiro Nishikado's invention brought Japan into the worldwide business of video games. It was the first game with a dramatic plot. And for the first time, players could immortalise themselves with a stored highscore. That was one of the main reasons for the success of Space Invaders, as well as making it revolutionary.

GC ART: History & Culture

The big Retro-Gaming Event

A fair at the fair - that is GC Art: History & Culture. The big retro-gaming event lures its visitors into the digital gaming past. Several retro clubs from all over Germany are here with their collector's items in Hall 2 at the GC - Games Convention. With historical computers, consoles and a range of accessories, "History & Culture" reveals the roots of today's high-resolution 3-D games. From the 8-bit technology of the seventies and eighties to "block graphics" - the exhibition provides visitors with an outline of recent game history.

Fans of older consoles will enjoy dropping by the Retro-Forum, where individual exhibits are introduced in more detail by their owners. And playing also has its place at "History & Culture". Every day, visitors will have the chance to thoroughly test out the classics and evergreens of all the hardware generations.

GC ART: Machinima

The Art of Film-Making with Computer Games

Games are not just a way of passing the time or for education, but are also tools for creative expression. The special show "GC ART: Machinima" demonstrates this, showing how computer games can be used for the production of 3-D animated films. Familiar game worlds are used as film sets and the software from various 3-D computer games provides the programme for animation.

Throughout the day, the "Machinima Cinema" will be showing a selection of outstanding machinima productions. The film showings are followed by presentations and workshops with high-profile experts from the machinima scene. The professionals give GC visitors an overview of the diversity of subject-matter, introduce them to the genres and forms of expression and give them live demonstrations of the most important tools.

In the "Machinima Laboratory", visitors can then use several computers to play at the different types of machinima film-making, get tips from the experts and try out new input devices.

The term "machinima" is a made-up word from "machine" and "animation". In the simplest case of "live action machinima", several players join in a network-based multi-player game based on a script, moving their characters like actors within the virtual world. One of the gamers takes on the function of cameraman by recording his or her screen version. This material is then cut and a sound-track is added.

Since it began in the mid-nineties, this scene has attracted several thousand members who meet mainly on the internet to exchange information. This type of film-making is also of increasing interest to the computer game and film industry. In partnership with the "Animation in New Media" project, the GC - Games Convention presents this creative, if unintended use of computer games.

GC ART: Digital Beauties

From Pencil Sketch to Computer Game

Using computers and special software, pictures can be created that are hard to distinguish from real photos. The "Digital Beauties" special show demonstrates what can be done today, and repeatedly confronts the visitor with the question: is the picture real, or a virtual production? A picture gallery presents more than 20 outstanding pieces of work by artists from all over the world.

For all those who would like to try out 3-D programming for themselves, workshops are on offer in the "3-D Laboratory". An expert explains the many small steps leading to creation of a "character" all its own. Those attending accompany every phase themselves on the computer.

The first step in creating a computer game character, landscape or building is also part of the demonstration, namely the pencil sketch prepared by hand. A "concept artist" will demonstrate live the various steps and techniques used in working on the development of a character. The pieces of work this produces serve as the basis for the digital application.

Contact for the Press:

Torsten Anke, Press Officer

Phone: +49 (0) 341 678 8184

Fax: +49 (0) 341 678 8182

E-mail: t.anke@leipziger-messe.de

Contact for Exhibitors:

Peggy Schönbeck, Project Director

Phone: +49 (0) 341 678 8281

Fax: +49 (0) 341 678 8282

E-mail: p.schoenbeck@leipziger-messe.de

Internet:

http://www.gc-germany.com

http://www.gcdc.eu

http://www.leipziger-messe.de