Tech Blog

[#1]

We're just four days from Fan Expo Canada, the largest combined video game , horror , comic , science fiction and anime event in the country.  The annual convention keeps on getting bigger and better each year, especially for gamers who have the best Gaming Expo (GX for short) line-up ever seen.

Fan-demonium has never been higher for the 16th annual Fan Expo, with a star-studded celebrity ensemble including William Shatner, Adam West, David Cronenberg, and Stan Lee.  Also expect to see a deluge of cosplayers dressed as their favourite characters from Star Wars, Star Trek, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Kingdom Hearts, and many more hit franchises.  The Fan Expo will once again take over the massive Metro Toronto Convention Centre North Building which occupies 250 , 000 square feet during its three-day run from August 27-29, 2010. Last year’s attendance was just shy of 60,000.

The Fan Expo offers plenty for gamers to see and do such as meeting your favourite celebrity at autograph and photo sessions, participating in workshops with industry experts, and exclusive collectibles and memorabilia from more than 600 vendors.

The gaming schedule has already been posted, here are the highlights:

Featured Guests

An amazing line-up of featured guests have been announced including:

• Felicia Day, Creator and Star of "The Guild" web series
• The casts of EP Daily and Reviews on the Run
• Jarret Cale and Geoff Lapaire, producers, writers and stars of Pure Pwnage
• Alexandre Parizeau, Ubisoft Senior Producer
• Tommy Tallarico, video game composer and producer of Video Games Live
• Brent "Brentalfloss" Black, musician who puts satirical lyrics to classic video games (check out his YouTube channel here )
• Ryan Sohmer and Lar Desouza, writer and artist of Looking For Group web comic
• Rob McConnell, Lead Programmer at Longbow Games
• Joseph Ganetakos, Video Game Developer of Full Auto series
• Ryan Creighton, President of Untold Entertainment
• Carol Zara, Creator/Host of Digitally Blonde

The Gaming Guest of Honour this year is none other than Yoshitaka Amano, the legendary Designer & Artist for the first six entries of the Final Fantasy series.  In 2006, the creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, recruited Yoshitaka to work on video games at his new studio Mistwalker.

Gaming Competitions and Gaming Stations

The GX will feature onsite live competitive console tournaments for the following titles:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
• Super Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

All three consoles makers will be showing off their new motion and 3D technologies, with PlayStation Move, Kinect for Xbox 360 and Nintendo 3DS all playable on the show floor.

Nintendo of Canada will be hosting a Dragon Quest IX tag mode event all three days of the Fan Expo, so bring your copy of the game over to the Nintendo booth to receive a free downloadable Special Event Map and connect with other Dragon Quest fans to exchange maps.

For a second year in a row, Walt Disney Studios is presenting the TRON: Legacy booth featuring 3D footage from the highly-anticipated film.  Playable at the booth will be the TRON: Evolution video game which is scheduled for release on November 1, 2010 for the PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Meet the casts of EP Daily and Reviews on the Run

For the first time ever the complete casts of EP Daily and Reviews on the Run will be coming to the Fan Expo for meet and greet opportunities.  This is your chance to ask the experts questions on video games, comics, and movies.  Check out their autograph schedule here .

Panel Sessions

There are a number of interesting video game panels being offered at this year's Fan Expo, including:

The History of Video Games

Syd Bolton, curator of Brantford’s Personal Computer Museum, will join video game television icons and Reviews on the Run co-hosts, Victor Lucas and Scott Jones, on a panel discussing the history of video games. The panel will discuss where video games have been, where they are currently and where they are going. Bolton will bring select pieces of gaming history from the museum collection to share with attendees during the event.

The Role of the Writer and Producer in Today's Video Games

Video game writers and producers will be discussing the challenges and hurdles they face to bring their ideas to market in an industry where they are often overlooked or misunderstood.

State of the Local Video Game Industry

Toronto game developers will speak about the evolution of the local video game industry, which has historically lagged behind hotbeds such as Vancouver, LA, Montreal, and Austin.  The Ontario government has promised big investment in the local economy, which began with the announcement of Ubisoft Toronto .  See how this investment has impacted the community and why the GTA is a growing force for next gen game development.

Fan Expo Canada Ultimate Gaming Party

The annual Fan Expo Canada Ultimate Gaming Party returns again this year, hosted by nerdgirlpinups.com and featuring a number of GX guests.  Described as "flirtatious fun" the party promises to have a wide variety of playable games with your favourite pin-up, with an "awesome surprise at midnight" whatever that means.

The Hand Eye Society

The Hand Eye Society, which we've talked about many times on the Future Shop Tech Blog, will be on site to display works in progress.  The group will also bring the Toronton, a 1982 arcade cabinet the group has retrofitted to play games by local Toronto indies.  Playable games at the Fan Expo will be Albacross, Mondrian Provoked, and Heavy Weather.

Well, there you have it.  Plenty of exciting video game events happening at this year's Fan Expo.  For more information on the GX, check out the expo's homepage .

[#2]

I'm going to be at the Expo this weekend! Can't wait.

[#3]

I am looking forward to Fan Expo, and while I know a lot of the above guests are going great to talk to, I am still a little confused by the fact that most of the GX guests are games journalists , not game designers!

There are quite a few games studios in Toronto, and even more in the rest of Canada, and I don't understand why Hobbystar, the company behind the Expo, can't seem to attract more guests from Canadian developers...

[#4]

Thanks for the nod!

[#5]

You're welcome Brent, I look forward to meeting you at the Fan Expo!