GSTAR 2009

Seoul, Korea - April 27th, 2009 - Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (Minister In-chon Yu) announced that Busan is finally selected as a venue to hold the G-Star 2009.

G-Star 2009, which marks its 5th anniversary this year, will be held at BEXCO in Busan from Nov. 26(Thur.) to Nov. 29(Sun.) for four days. G-Star 2009 will be sponsored by both Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and Busan Metropolitan City, and managed by both Korea Game Industry Agency and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency.

G-Star 2009 plans to enhance its exhibition efficiency through programs for encouraging participation of SMEs and policies for relieving burdens on participating companies. Also, it will show the vision of the game industry, using a wide variety of content in which the present and future of games can be explored. As part of its plan, G-Star 2009 will contribute to the establishment of culture for leisure activities by preparing for various kinds of festivals for game culture.

BEXCO, which is a venue of G-Star 2009, is a center dedicated to exhibition and convention. It is located at Centum City, the largest complex city in Busan, in which people can enjoy IT, films, entertainment, and shopping in one place. BEXCO covers the total exhibition area of 26,509 square meters, which is similar to G-Star 2008 exhibition area of last year, which was 26,487 square meters. Many excellent-level hotels and facilities for leisure and shopping are in BEXCO, so it is evaluated by audience, companies and buyers as an optimal place for exhibitions.

- Expanding Policies to Encourage Participation, Establishing On-line Genre Experiencing Room -

The entrance level was lowered so that all the participating companies could get practical benefits. First of all, fees for leasing booths, which have been the biggest burden on participants, would be lowered, but the amount of reduction will be decided in April after gathering opinions from the industry. One line per booth will also be provided for the Internet.

Lodging and traffic supporting policies are also drawn up for participating companies. The Centum Hotel, which is an excellent-level hotel near BEXCO, is designated as an official hotel for G-Star 2009 and the standard rooms will be offered with 70% or more discounted price. Such price discount policy will also be prepared and applied to KTX between Seoul and Busan and flights between Kimpo and Kimhae.

It is notable that on-line genre experiencing room will be operated for the participation of on-line SMEs. In booths, which are comparable to large booths of major companies, on-line games such as MMO, racing, and FPS would be able to be experienced in the experiencing zone so that around 50 SMEs can market their own games. Besides, console, mobile, arcade, board game experiencing zone will be established and operated as well so that all the games of platform can be played by audience.

A future technology room, a game industry promotion room, a game manufacturing experiencing room that show recent trends using cross platform, which shows future vision of games that have used new technology such as IPTV and smart phone, will be prepared and operated. By doing so, ordinary people will be able to approach the game industry, a very promising industry in IT, more closely.

- Busan, the Game City, is full of Business Support Events. -

Various kinds of business supporting events and accompanying events are also notable. On the 1st and 2nd days of G-Star 2009, 2009 International Content Creator's Conference (ICON 2009) will be held at Multipurpose hall in BEXCO and export counseling sessions and game company employment corners will be operated at B2B in BEXCO. City RPG, in which game users can get a chance to play off-line games, will be prepared along the city roads from BEXCO to Haeundae. On top of that, diverse accompanying events such as an e-Sports competition, a national board game competition, and a costume play will be held for families and couples.

Busan determined to take a strong foothold as a center of game culture festivals by holding G-Star 2009. During the Korean pro-baseball season, this event will be promoted on an electric bulletin board in a ball park, and G-Star 2009 promotion zones will be established at crucial places in Busan station and Kimhae airport. Game experiencing zones will be operated at universities in Busan. At famous places in Busan such as Haeundae and Gwang an ri, game theme zones will be prepared and they will promote products for touring through these areas. During G-Star2009 period, roads near BEXCO will be designated as car-free roads and they will be redesigned to provide opportunities of exploring various kinds of game culture promoted by game companies.

The organizer said, "G-Star 2009, which will be held in Busan, the mecca of e-sports in Korea, will be re-emerged as a rich and healthy festival for game culture, putting an emphasis on positive functions of games. We will do our best so that this event can be an efficient marketing tool that creates new values for game companies."

For Further Information, Please Contact :

Sang Won, Chung

Global Business Manager / Industry Promotion Team

E-Mail : swchung@kogia.or.kr

Tel : +82-2-3153-2274