The international game exhibition GSTAR 2007 (www.gstar.or.kr) has started its 4 day rave at KINTEX, Ilsan on November 8. GSTAR is hosted by the GSTAR Organization Committee chaired by Hong Gi-wha and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Information and Communication. The slogan of this year is Exciting Games, Growing Business. The main focus of this third exhibition is to set a firm foundation for the exhibition to reinforce differentiated business support policies to make a place for a game culture festival.
Participation of 150 companies from the globe
A total of 150 companies around the world are participating this year. There are 89 companies on the show floor and 67 companies in the business hall. An export consultation session called Global Business Meeting in Korea includes 97 companies from 17 countries. Notable Korean online companies are Nexon, NC Soft, JC Entertainment, Yedang Online, NHN, SKT, T3 Entertainment, G Pax, Neowiz, CJ Internet, NTreevsoft, Uniana, Joymax, and On Net. Foreign exhibiting companies include Microsoft, CryTek, CDC Games, Shanda, Tencent, and Gamepot. Taiwan, Thailand, England and Finland have also sponsored pavilions to showcase their countries' companies. On the show floor traditional arcade companies such as IR Robot, D Gate, and Komuse are showcasing their rides and antique arcade machines like merry-go-rounds and gopher punching. E3Net and Futuremark, mobile gaming companies, have their own booths as well.
Korea academic institutions are well represented at this show. Sogang University, Hongik University, College of Korea Information Technology and Chungkang College of Cultural Industries are some of the 18 Korean participating universities. The foreign counterparts are Academy of Art University, Garnegie-Mellon University, and Nippon Engineering College. They make up the Academy Hall in the show.
Serious side of GSTAR
GSTAR Investment Meeting is hosted by the Korea Game Industry Agency and the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). One on one business meetings between international venture capitalists and Korean game companies are scheduled at this meeting. Notable international strategic and financial investment companies include HSBC Capital, Daiwa Capital, Intel Capital, JAFCO and THQ. Also during the four days of the program, 200 sessions of Biz Matching are scheduled by the GSTAR Organization Committee. These sessions are between major foreign and Korean game companies. From the 8th to 9th, the Korea Game Conference (KGC 2007) is held in the Conference Room on the second and third floor. This is Asia's largest game conference this year and is hosted by the Korea Game Developer's Association. Gamepot, Tencent, Outspark, CNi and eWave are scheduled to give lectures on the current status of the international game market and the newest technologies.
Tough competition
NC Soft introduces AION, an MMORPG, and the first person shooting game Point Blank. They are also introducing two children's games: Punch Monster and Dragonica. JC Entertainment's new game, Aeronuts, is about sky based combat in the virtual past of early 20 century. The company has coined a new word, skylish, to describe the games' unique feel. If that's not enough flying for you, they made another flying game called Heroes in the Sky, about air combat in World War II. A third game, PRG Ghost X, is a story of a hero fighting against the ghosts in a modern oriental city.
Nexon takes up the largest booth in GSTAR. It is exhibiting 8 games including SP1, Project Heroes, Combat Arms, Elsword, and Slapshot Underground. NHN displays FPS Wolf Team, Package Service Game Pack, which is a new kind of casual game. They also exhibit a rollercoaster racing game called GoGocing, and another role playing game called Spot Aero RPG R2. SK shows Black Shot, Gongbak, and Dinomachia, and casual network mobile games featuring 3D graphics.