Director of Marketing for World Cyber Games, Aaron Smolick talks to Gabriel Zamora from the Examiner all about the WCG – what it is, when it was established and what they stand for in the gaming community.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

How exactly did the WCG get started?

The World Cyber Games were started in 2000, and it grew from country to country. This is the ninth year, and we are up to 800 players at the Grand Finals from 78 countries around the world. It started as an Olympic model and has grown every year consecutively, year after year, to the point where we are today. And next year will be our tenth year.

Check out the entire article here.

The TGS is well underway in Tokyo so we’ve got loads of highlights from the show courtesy of Gametrailers.

Here’s one of my favourites, Left 4 Dead 2 which I can’t wait to play. Check out the gameplay video fresh from the Tokyo Game Show:

The Penny Arcade Expo 2009 (PAX) was held last week in Seattle, USA. It’s a three-day event that features gaming and presentations by some of the world’s biggest game developers. It’s not E3 but it is kinda like E3 in the sense that it’s for gamers and about video games. E3 caters more to the media than the public whereas PAX is open to anyone that gets in to register.

So we thought we’d take the best PAX 2009 had to offer and highlight some of those presentations here at Game Culture.

On with the show!

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Here’s a demo video clip for Star Wars: The Old Republic as featured at PAX 2009, courtesy of GameSpot.

Twisted Pixel’s Comic Jumper

I hadn’t heard of this game before looking at the content from PAX this year. Here’s the video clip of gameplay taken from JoyStiq’s coverage of PAX 2009. Captain Smiley is the hero of this game along with his side-kick named Star who is stuck to the captain’s chest! Sounds rad? Check it out:

The Secret World from the makers of Age of Conan

I played Age of Conan and whilst I didn’t play it for long, it was still alot of fun. Here’s the latest and greatest title from the developers of AoC called ‘The Secret World’. The Illuminati class looks insane!

Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

Ratchet and Clank fans will be happy to see images of the latest instalment coming our way entitled Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time:

Highlights of PAX – Part 2 follows tomorrow!

One of the main goals of Game Culture is to serve gamers with information about local events and competitions nationwide. And one of the biggest problems gamers face in New Zealand is the lack of information about gaming events. The media can be a good source of information but will usually only cover big events that have an international scope or focus (such as xLAN and the WCG). We support these events and organisers as well, but we’re also trying to provide support for the local gamers and smaller gaming events.

We’ve come up with the idea to create a directory of contacts which will consist of individuals and other organisations that support video game culture in New Zealand.

If you’ve got a gaming event, LAN or just want your clan or news advertised somewhere to gain support from the public, this is the place to do it. Game Culture will upload your details to the gaming directory which we’ve  dubbed as the ‘New Zealand Gaming League Directory’.

The directory is located here. If you would like your organisation or event to be added to this list, contact us here. Be sure to include all relevant details about your event or organisation including contact details (phone, email etc), names, addresses. If your event is a one-off event, that’s fine too, just be sure to let us know so we can keep the directory up to date. If you are charging an entry fee for your event, please include these details also.

Competitions

If your event is a competition rather than a LAN or social get together for gamers, PLEASE include details of what type of competition it is and for what type of console (that is PC, Xbox 360, PS3 etc).

International Competitions, events and gaming leagues

We will also be including details of international organisations (such as the Aussie Xbox competitive ladder) to the directory. If you know of any competitive gaming leagues or organisations that we haven’t added or you think should be listed, contact us here.

Thanks for your support and gameon!