By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE – An upcoming Asian game development convention aims to focus on establishing a regional industry for game publishing and development, organizers said.

With over a dozen exhibitors from several Asian and Western countries attending the Game Convention Asia (GCA) in Singapore, organizer Leipziger Messe International (LMI) Asia Pte Ltd said the convention will also showcase Asian game development and publishing firms.

LIMI Managing Director Jorg Zeisseg said developing Asia’s multi-cultural game development sector is the convention’s major theme this year.

Despite the relatively new interest in the video game business in this region, Zeisseg said the GCA will showcase not just gaming companies but also new premium products that have not yet been released.

Zeisseg also said this year would be a bigger event than the previous GCA in 2007.

“With the number of international companies we are presenting, as well as some confirmed world exclusive premieres, we are confident this year’s GCA will eclipse last year’s show in terms of knowledge exchange, and importance on a global level,” he said.

GCA follows the success of the annual Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. Asia’s growing gaming industry — from online game publishing to game development — has been drawing interest from other companies in the US and Europe for distribution and development.

Countries expected to participate include Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Malaysia, and China.

GCA will be held from September 18 to 20 at Singapore’s Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Among the companies and organizations that will be present at the GCA include the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), Singapore Gamers’ Association, (SGGA), Games Exchange Alliance (GXA), Popcap, Exent, Novaleaf, Razer, Nexon Corportation, Crytek and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.