Games Convention

The Games Convention, sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention and abbreviated as GC, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its concept was created by the Leipziger Messe (Leipzig Fair) in cooperation with Bundesverband für Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware (German Federal Association for Entertainment Software) amongst others. The 2010 Gamescon was held August 18th to August 22nd.

With 183,000 visitors, 2,600 journalists, and 368 exhibitors from 25 countries in 2006, the Games Convention was the second biggest gaming event in the world, together with the Tokyo Game Show, only superseded by Gamescom, which is also held in Germany. By comparison, both the Leipzig and Tokyo shows, where gamers of all ages can visit the show floor, are three times the size of the trade-only 2006 E3 show in Los Angeles. The Business Centre at Leipzig is reserved for professional visitors. In 2008, the Games Convention had a record of 203,000 visitors. The conference takes place in a sprawling modern complex of exhibition halls in Leipzig.

To help identify younger visitors, coloured bracelets are handed out to attendees, indicating their age: "12 years and older" (green), "16 years and older" (blue), and "18 years and older" (red). These colours correspond to the age indicators used by the USK, the German version of PEGI or ESRB.

In April 2011, it was announced that GCO 2011 will not take place.

Read more about Games Convention:  History, Statistics, International Games Convention Developers Conference, Press Day and Press Conferences, Symphonic Game Music Concert

Famous quotes containing the words games and/or convention:

    In 1600 the specialization of games and pastimes did not extend beyond infancy; after the age of three or four it decreased and disappeared. From then on the child played the same games as the adult, either with other children or with adults. . . . Conversely, adults used to play games which today only children play.
    Philippe Ariés (20th century)

    Every one knows about the young man who falls in love with the chorus-girl because she can kick his hat off, and his sister’s friends can’t or won’t. But the youth who marries her, expecting that all her departures from convention will be as agile or as delightful to him as that, is still the classic example of folly.
    Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)