Games Convention Asia 09 was held in Singapore’s Suntec Convention Centre from the 17th to the 20th of September 2009. The highlight of the first two days of the convention was the DICE Summit, where influential speakers from the gaming world held round table talks with industry colleagues and promising students from local colleges and universities. The next two days, on the other hand — featured public exhibits, demos, and competitions.

Although the event is quite small compared to North America’s E3 and Japan’s Tokyo Games Show, GCA is nevertheless a good starting point for smaller developers across the region to touch base with other members of the industry, and the rapidly expanding community of prospective game developers soon to graduate from the academe.

Some of my favorites things from the main exhibition floor was the Xbox 360 freeplay demo of their fantastic new racing title Forza Motorsport 3, and the Electronic Arts The Beatles Rock Band freeplay booth. The massive Forza 3 set-up included three wide-format flat-panel screens and a working 1:1 scale model of an actual racing car drivers seat. Meanwhile, the Rock Band booth had all four instruments plus a mike on standby in case you and three of your friends wanted to jam for a song or two.

MMORPG publishers were also out in full force, launching new titles or promoting their current ones with elaborate booths. Several gaming peripheral manufacturers were also present, supporting the event by holding PC build competitions and LAN-gaming events, to the delight of DOTA addicts and PC modders at the con. Last but not least were the game shops selling assorted consoles, titles, and accessories at great prices — imagine an Xbox 360 Elite going for just under SGD 400, or a complete The Beatles Rock Band Set for under SGD 200!

Now what would a gaming con be without cosplay? The GCA 09 Cosplay Competition lured in some of Singapore’s best cosplayers with the promise of representing the island-nation in Perth, Australia for the Asia Pacific Cosplay Championship. Around eight gents, eight ladies, and three groups vied for top honors, which were ultimately won by Armstrong (Best Gents), Sheryl Nome (Best Ladies), and the pair from Final Fantasy XII (Best Group). The Overall Champion and winner of the trip to the Asia Pacific Cosplay Finals was Ironman.

Outside the Main Hall, there is even more cosplay to be seen. Several cosplayers who chose not to compete in the main draw congregated around the Centre’s third floor concourse area for photos and to chat with friends. I took a lot of photos but these are the best ones from the set (the light was quite bad inside the event hall as it was raining outside), and I hope you can see the quality of craftsmanship and attention to detail these cosplayers have put into their outfits.

Although overall the con was a success and was pretty fun for many of the attendees, there are still a few things that could have been improved on. The main exhibition hall, for example — was laid out in a strange pattern, with a massive MMORPG booth right in front of the main stage. There was very little room for chairs for anyone who wanted to watch the onstage events, and yet there was a massive blank area immediately behind and to the right of the stage which could’ve been put to better use.

The cosplay competition was also a bit of a mess, with the Q&A portion suddenly changing from in-character to out-of-character questions, leaving some contestants confused as to how to reply. There was also the disappointing showing at the Group Cosplay competition, where one set of contestants competed in costumes bought from a wholesale costume store. Although the winner for that category deserved their accolade, I have the impression that they were asked at the very last minute to compete in the Group Cosplay just so the prize didn’t go to the group with the tacky store-bought costumes.

It was fun flying to Singapore for GCA 09, and this experience is making me look forward to Anime Festival Asia 09 even more. Cheers to the organizers and staff of GCA 09, and see you all soon to everyone at AFA! 😀

Thanks to MTV Asia for flying me to Singapore to cover the event for the Gadgets and Gaming Blog.