More Big Signings Announced for
Game Stars Live And EGN Acclaim, Ubisoft, ZOO Digital and others join EA,
Activision, Eidos, Atari, Nintendo and Nokia at major consumer and industry
games events in London during September of 2004
LONDON, (June 25, 2004) — Global
games giant Ubisoft and Acclaim Entertainment today confirmed that they are each
to have a major presence at Game Stars Live, the brand new big consumer computer
and video games show being held in September at London’s ExCeL center.
At the same time, ZOO Digital, Sony
DADC, Distinctive Development and Aladdin Knowledge Systems have also been
confirmed as exhibitors at the industry-facing European Games Network trade
event, which takes place at the same time as Game Stars Live.
Ubisoft and Acclaim Entertainment
are two of the world’s most established games publishers. Ubisoft franchises
include Splinter Cell, Rayman, Prince of Persia and Rainbow Six. Acclaim
Entertainment has enjoyed chart success recently with World Championship Rugby
and will shortly be launching Juiced.
John Parkes, marketing director at
Ubisoft, said: "We’re very pleased to announce our involvement in Game Stars
Live. This is a great opportunity to build the profile of our industry further
and enable a wide variety of consumers to get an early look at our Christmas
line-up, so we’re excited to be supporting this new initiative."
Mary Bond, UK Marketing Manager at
Acclaim, said: "We’re delighted to confirm our support for Game Stars Live as
it’s a great way for us to showcase our games to the consumers pre-release. Game
Stars is growing in stature and extending to a consumer show will benefit the
entire industry."
Ian Stewart, CEO of ZOO Digital
Group, commented: "ZOO is very pleased to be a part of the European Games
Network this September. It is great to finally have a show that recognizes the
importance of the entire industry. We’re sure that it will provide a great
business forum for us and will give us a platform to shout about the fantastic
line-up we have heading towards Christmas and into 2005. We have also chosen
this venue for ZOOtech to demonstrate DVD-Extra Studio to the games industry for
the first time since its launch in April and expect interest from both
publishers and the development community."
The news follows a series of recent
announcements by games industry body ELSPA, which owns EGN, and London EventCo,
the organizers of both EGN and Game Stars Live, which have included:
The launch of new creative
conference, European Developers’ Forum, which has been formulated by games
developer association TIGA
The support of the British
government
Partnerships with Games Stores
Group, Future Games and a series of other consumer media and trade partners
Game Stars Live will take place over
five days at the tail end of the summer holiday period 2004 at ExCeL, the
state-of-the-art exhibition site in London’s docklands from September 1-5, 2004.
It sits alongside the trade-facing show, European Games Network, and the new
creative-focused event, European Developers’ Forum: The Interactive
Entertainment Conference, both of which run Wednesday, September 1 through
Friday September 3, 2004.
Game Stars Live is based on the ITV
video and computer games show, Game Stars. It will be a multi-format consumer
gaming event and will include a main stage area from which the media partners
including ITV, Capital FM and XFM will broadcast. It will also include a series
of features such as The Bear Pit games challenges, The Virtual vs. Reality Zone,
The European Online Gaming Championships, and Get Into Gaming, a careers and
education zone, amongst many others.
European Games Network’s mix of
components will include The Market Place, a show floor of exhibition space with
no free build; The Waterfront Rooms, a series of over 60 dedicated meeting
suites for private meetings and product presentations; The EGN Lounge, an area
dedicated to delegates for meetings; The Conference and Workshop Program and the
TIGA International Content Market, an exclusive area for developers backed by
industry body TIGA.
European Developers’ Forum has
support from the TIGA membership, its Board, key developers from across Europe
as well as tools and technology providers and the academic community. The
conference has been created to provide the development community in Europe with
a professional outlook and a far-reaching program of content, including two days
of development related issues and a day dedicated to mobile entertainment.
ABOUT UBISOFT:
Ubisoft is an international
producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products. A
leading company in the multimedia industry, Ubisoft’s strong and diversified
lineup has grown considerably, as has Ubisoft itself. As well as steadfastly
continuing to partner with several high-profile companies, Ubisoft has also
confirmed its presence on the global market by developing its own exceptional
properties. Founded in 1986 in France, Ubisoft is now present on every
continent, both through offices in 21 different countries including the United
States, Morocco, Germany and China and through sales of products in over 50
countries. The group is dedicated to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video
game titles to consumers around the world. Ubisoft generated a turnover of 508
million euros for the 2002/2003 fiscal year, up 22.5% over the previous fiscal
year. To learn more, visit www.ubi.com.
ABOUT ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT
Based in Glen Cove, N.Y., Acclaim
Entertainment, Inc., is a worldwide developer, publisher and mass marketer of
software for use with interactive entertainment game consoles including those
manufactured by Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment and Microsoft Corporation
as well as personal computer hardware systems. Acclaim owns and operates five
studios located in the United States and the United Kingdom, and publishes and
distributes its software through its subsidiaries in North America, the United
Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France and Spain. The Company uses regional
distributors worldwide. Acclaim also distributes entertainment software for
other publishers worldwide, publishes software gaming strategy guides and issues
"special edition" comic magazines periodically. Acclaim’s corporate headquarters
are in Glen Cove, New York and Acclaim’s common stock is publicly traded on
NASDAQ.SC under the symbol AKLM. For more information please visit our website
at www.acclaim.com.
ABOUT ZOO DIGITAL
ZOO Digital Group Plc (www.zoodigitalgroup.com)
ZOO Digital Group, the technology and games publishing company, was founded in
1999 by Ian Stewart (previous owner and founder of Gremlin Interactive plc). In
April 2001 it reversed into AIM listed technology company Kazoo 3D. ZOO has
strong expertise in two areas – games publishing and DVD authoring software
ZOOtech Ltd
ZOOtech Ltd. is a wholly owned
subsidiary of ZOO Digital Group plc. ZOOtech develops, publishes and markets a
professional DVD-Video production system for the creation of highly interactive
DVD-Video discs. DVD-EXTRA STUDIO’s primary advantages stem from radical
improvements to the DVD production process, which make extra DVD-Video
interactivity affordable to design and implement. Throughout its development and
testing, the DVD-EXTRA STUDIO production system was used by leading Hollywood
studios and multimedia developers to establish a new retail category of
Interactive DVDs.
ZOO Digital Publishing
ZOO Digital Publishing is an
established and experienced development and publishing house with an outstanding
industry track record creating retail demand and consumer excitement across
Europe for hit products such as I-Ninja, The Suffering, Need for Speed – Porsche
Unleashed and Sim City 2000. The company excels in providing European
distribution, working with some of the biggest names in the games industry to
provide successful distribution for GameBoy Advance, PS2, PC and Gamecube.
About ELSPA
ELSPA (The Entertainment & Leisure
Software Publishers Association) was founded in 1989 to establish a specific and
collective identity for the computer and video games industry. Membership
includes almost all companies concerned with the publishing and distribution of
interactive leisure software in the UK. ELSPA’s activities include: Official
Chart and Industry Reports, Anti-Piracy UK and EU, PR and Communication, Events.
More information on all these activities can be found at
www.elspa.com
About TIGA
TIGA (The Independent Game
developers Association) is the trade association which represents the business
and commercial interests of the UK’s Independent game developers – i.e. those
that are not controlled by publishers and whose principal business is the
development of games. Launched in March 2001, TIGA has more than 70 member
companies that collectively represent expertise from right across the industry.
TIGA strives to raise the bargaining power of the UK developer community and to
promote transparency between industry specialists, supporting communication
between developers and publishers and those that provide services to them: legal
and tax, human resources; software development and enabling technologies;
hardware and publishing. TIGA aims to benefit its members’ businesses and
creative interests by encouraging a better climate for investment in games, best
business practice, dialogue and favourable terms with key clients and by
lobbying for government support to the industry.
About London EventCo
London EventCo is the in-house
exhibition organising company at ExCeL, created to launch major consumer and
trade shows at London’s prestigious new venue in the heart of the Docklands. An
entrepreneurial company, committed to launch and growth, it is run by a highly
creative and innovative team with extensive experience in the consumer and trade
exhibitions industry.
About ExCeL
ExCeL is London’s largest events,
exhibitions and conference venue, located on a 100-acre site alongside Royal
Victoria Dock in London’s Docklands, between Canary Wharf and London City
airport. It was designed and developed specifically for the events industry and
launched in November 2000.
Shows already held or to be staged
at ExCeL include: World Travel Market, The London International Boat Show, Max
Power London, ExCel Power Boat Grand Prix, London International Dive Show, Toy
Fair, The Property Investor Show, London Expo, Careers & Jobs Live. Professional
Nails & Beauty, The London International Wine & Spirits Fair, IFE-International
Food & Drink Exhibition, Salon International, Bathrooms & Kitchens Expo, Clima
Expo 2003.
Public transport links to ExCeL are
now very well established with Canary Wharf and the City just minutes away on
the Docklands Light Railway and Jubilee Line, with a short 30-minute trip to the
West End. There is easy access to the M25, M11, A406, A13 and ExCeL offers car
parking facilities for over 4,000 cars. London City airport is just five minutes
away, offering over 200 flights a day and providing access to domestic cities
and 27 European destinations. By early Spring 2004, ExCeL will have 14 stylish
bars, cafes and restaurants and a Night Club on site as well as a total of 1500
hotel rooms at 8 hotels within five minutes of the venue. For more information
on ExCeL, what’s on and how to get to ExCeL, please visit
www.excel-london.co.uk .
