€2.50 for a cup of Fanta. That’s the price of coming to Gamescom.

And it’s pretty much the only thing I can complain about. Koln is a beautiful city full of friendly people who don’t mind speaking English to us ignorant foreigners. It’s incredibly hot out, the women are unbelievably pleasing to look at and there is this one massive building across the river that’s full of games!

First off, Gamescom is packed. Much more than Leipzig was two years back. The lines are long, weather you want to play the latest FIFA, watch a trailer for Portal 2 (that’s already been leaked online) or see a live-demo for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Even the line for the latest Tractor Simulator game was huge!

We knew we were in for somthing special when literally 5 minutes into entering the show floor we were sharing an escalator for none other than the amazing androgynous Dance Dance Revolution guy, and his sidekick, from Konami’s e3 press conference (If you don’t remember, watch this). We also bumped into Warren Spector in the press area while looking for Tamoor. Our most entertaining rendez-vous was with Felix from Broken Rules, the guys behind AndYetItMoves. He sat down with us for a good 30 minutes and talked about the games upcoming release on Wiiware, and the trials and tribulations of life as in indy developer. We’ll be posting that pretty soon.

In terms of games played, myself a Mark ran straight over to FIFA 11 first thing yesterday. In our two player game the pre-match loading screen had one of us controlling the goalkeeper. Much like in real life, you’re position is the most important thing while playing as a keeper. You’ve given quite a bit of help when it comes to saves, but enough to make it feel worthwhile. The actual game felt very similar to previous FIFAs with the exception of passing, lobbing and off-ball movement. The pace of the ball is determined by how long you hold the button down, and thought it’s initially tougher, it allows you to pull of passes impossible in previous FIFA games.

So far game of the show is “Kung Fu Riders”, a Playstation Move game where you control a Japanese businessman who rolls down hills on his office chair, knocking over old ladies and collecting money. Yup…

For now, that’s all I have to talk about. Batteries are charged so we have to keep filling these tapes.
More updates coming, keep your eyes here.

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