TGX & WCG 2009

TGX (The Games Expo) & WCG (World Cyber Games) 2009 was held recently at Suntec City Convention Hall 404 from the 3-5th july. Hosted by Games Exchange Alliance (GXA), a trade industry body in Singapore along with the Singapore Cosplay Club and Virtualand, it showcased a plethora of the latest games, gizmos and gadgets along with cosplay activities.

A couple of competitions were held in conjunction with the event under as part of the WCG 2009. A couple of the featured ones are the DOTA league and a SF4 tournament. With the Finals of WCG 2009 being held at Chengdu, China this year, the WCG has really grown to become an international event spanning locations across the globe as well as drawing competitors from all around.

Other than games, a few other highlights of the expo was the presence of arcade machines featuring games like Tekken, Arcana Heart and of course, SF4. Also, Blazblue: Calamity Trigger and KOF XII were launched, both being fighting games. (Launched by TKA Virtualand)

An especially nice touch I saw at the event was a band playing music from final fantasy, reminding me of the recent events featuring video game music, e.g: Video Games Live and Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. It was really a crowd pleaser with a huge crowd amassing around the band and video screen. It really shows the integration of the music and gaming industries and from this and the recent performances, I won’t be surprised to see more such events popping up.

With more and more gaming related events and tie-ins with other media like movies, music and even cosplay, the transformation of Singapore into a gaming and media hub is slowly turning into a reality. The future does seem bright for gamers and game developers alike.