In the wake of E3's downsizing, there has been a flurry of activity from other game conferences. Many have announced plans to increase their size and gaming focus, and some are aiming to take over parts of E3's old business.

First up is Gen Con, which bills itself as "The best four days in gaming", or rather eight days, since there are two Gen Cons held in Indianapolis and Southern California. As Gamespy reports, both Gen Con events will be expanding in 2007 and will feature more videogame content, and the So Cal event will even be moving into E3's old digs at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Its videogame coverage won't be as comprehensive as the old E3, however, since Gen Con also covers other forms of gaming like board games, role-playing games and miniatures.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is positioning itself as a possible saviour of smaller game companies who might find themselves out in the cold after E3's downsizing. The CEA has formed an advisory committee to investigate whether it could hold a new gaming event in 2007:


Like E3, and unlike Gen Con, the CEA's new event would be a trade show designed to facilitate business dealings between developers, publishers, retailers and so on.

G* (or G-Star), a Korean games show and trade event held in November, has also entered the ring as an E3 alternative. Gamasutra reports that G*, which claims an attendance of 160,000 people, considers E3's downsizing an opportunity to increase its size and content even further.

Another event that continues to grow larger is the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), which focuses on game culture rather than business deals. In 2007 PAX will be held in a venue three times the size of the 2006 location, and the event is attended by big game companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Ubisoft. But as FiringSquad reports, the PAX organisers want it to keep its focus on the game community rather than business.

Finally, FiringSquad has a speculative article predicting which game shows are likely to replace E3. It concludes that the most likely contender is the Leipzig Game Convention, which will be held later this month and features big name exhibitors like Blizzard, Midway, Take 2 and Ubisoft.

"Replacement" is probably the wrong word, though. E3 was downsized because it grew too big and unwieldy, so other events will want to avoid the same mistake. In any case, all these conventions will ensure we're never short of gaming news.

Big Huge Games patches Rise of Legends to v2.0

Big Huge Games, the developers of Rise of Legends, has released patch 2.0 for the game. Other than the usual fixes for crashes and exploits, the patch includes a new four player map called Inferno, as well as additional multiplayer controls for banning and suspending accounts. A number of balance changes have also been introduced, potentially altering players' strategies.


The patch can be applied by using the game's auto-updater.

Since its announcement, the buzz surrounding Will Wright's latest venture Spore has grown to epic proportions. The first truly original title from Wright since The Sims in 2000, Spore allows you to develop your own alien species, from a single-celled organism right through to controlling the entire modern civilisation of your species' planet.

Initially, Spore was targeted with a late-2006 release date, but in a recent interview with GameSpot, Will Wright has stated that "we're saying the second half of next year for now". Looks like Spore will be sitting on the 'to be released' list until at least the end of 2007.

Spore will allow players to:


Check out the official site for all the latest media surrounding Spore.

Everyone's favourite Florida attorney, Jack Thompson, has appeared on G4TV's Attack of the Show, along with Mark Friedler of GameDaily and Adam Sessler of G4TV. The subject of the panel discussion was (what else?) game violence, specifically Rockstar's upcoming PS2 game Bully.

The usual criticisms and defences of games are presented, with Thompson claiming that Bully will result in real school violence against protestations coming from the other two panellists. There's only about eight minutes of talk time, so the discussion is shallow and only briefly touches on important issues.

Unfortunately for all the gamers who love to hate him, Thompson comes off quite measured and reasoned, despite Adam Sessler's ostensible attempts to fire things up.

To see the discussion in full, head to G4TV's website. It's worth a watch for entertainment's sake, but don't expect it to enlighten the game violence debate.

Making garage games becomes easier

The Internet publishing label for independent games and game makers, GarageGames, has announced the release of version 1.1.1 of the Torque Game Builder.

Touted as the "world's most powerful 2D game engine", the Torque Game Builder provides budding game developers and professionals alike with all the tools needed to create just about any game they can imagine. Priced at a very affordable US$100 for an "Indie" license, curious users can download a free 30 day trial of the Torque Game Builder from the GarageGames website and try their hand at developing their own 2D games. However, if 2D game development isn't really your cup of tea, you could always check out the Torque Game Engine.

For a full list of changes in version 1.1.1, please see the full change list on the Garage Games website.