I’m back from the Games Convention in Leipzig, Europe’s leading computer games event and it was fun as always. In comparison to Games Convention 2007, this year’s was bigger, had more exhibitors, more trade and end user visitors, and more journalists than the year before. And we are not taking about a couple more people, this year 203,000 people went to Leipzig to see the latest in the Gaming industry, 18,000 more than last year (http://www.gc-germany.com/index.php?page=64 ). And believe me; last year was already very full-on and loud.

At GC you also see the cultural differences between countries. At gaming shows in the US, such as E3 in Las Vegas, you can see all kinds tough ego shooters, no matter how old you are, but the booth girls are dressed very conservatively, whereas in Germany the Leipzig organisers have a close eye on everybody showing games with age restrictions to make sure no kids see even the high score or setup of a age restricted game, but booth girls, wearing hardly anything, sometimes only body paint isn’t a problem. For Germans this is totally normal, for Americans it’s unbelievable.

It’s as much fun as it is exhausting – and I am already looking forward to going again next year.

Uli