Middle East Film and Comic Con comes to Abu Dhabi

The Comics Convention in San Diego has a cult following bringing together over 125,000 movie, comic and gaming fans from all over the world. It’s the biggest gathering of geeks in the world attracting everyone from top movie and TV stars to comic book collectors. Similar conventions are held in other parts of the globe and for the first time ever, the ‘con’ comes to the UAE.

Organized by the team at ExtraCake, the event will be held in Abu Dhabi early next year. Expect celebrities, exclusive premieres, cult films, anime and manga, action figures, video games and a lot more.

We caught up with Arafaat Ali Khan from ExtraCake PR to talk about what we think is the most exciting thing to happen to the Middle East in a long time.

MEGamers.com: Tell us about the Middle East Film and Comic Con (MEFCC), the team behind the event and what’s been involved so far in organizing it?

Almost everyone from our entire team is a geek in some form or another so we’re doing the event for ourselves as much as anyone else, and honestly we’ve been thinking about it for a long time but it’s only recently that we think both the consumer market and the content industry has caught up to support a full blown Con.

We have a number of entertainment type events planned and being a fully integrated agency we see this as an opportunity to not only branch out and contribute creatively to the region we call home, but also to provide a platform for the industry and fans alike.

MEGamers.com: What made you decide to host a Comic Con event in this region?

Our office probably has more space for action figures than we do for files and folders (we’re paperless as far as we can be!) so it’s a dream project for the entire team. We’ve all at one point or another thought about how cool it would be having a ‘con’ in the Middle East and we got tired of waiting!

It’s a tried and tested forumla overseas and the region has seen a big surge in interest of animation, manga & cult entertainment in recent years plus there are companies & individuals producing work to an international standard in our opinion.

Entertainment is also one of the main social pasttimes and spending habits of people in this region. Even looking at ‘mainstream’ cinema or TV, the majority of popular movies etc. in the region are related to sci-fi, fantasy, comic books and animation.

The event isn’t just for comic book fans after all and if you’ve watched Lost, Heroes or any number of recent series there’s something for you too. We believe there is a massive fan base out there that doesn’t have any outlet for their interests and we’re hoping to create that platform.

MEGamers.com: What challenges are you facing putting together such an event?

There are a few for sure.

The fact that this is a brand new concept for this part of the world means that there is some level of education required for potential exhibitors and sponsors.

That said, once we explain that the genre includes everything from film and TV to comic books and cosplay and interests everyone from the young child who loved Avatar to your 50 year old Trekkie people get excited pretty quickly!

Some will come to meet celebrities and get autographs, some to see previews and new releases while others will come to check out the merchandise or just have a fun day out.

One thing that isn’t a challenge it seems though is generating interest amongst the fans!

There is a great buzz building through social media and word of mouth already and we’re all excited to make this a long term highlight on the social calendar for the region.

It’s official: GAMES 10 to be held in September

We’ve received news from the organizers of GAMES 10 that the event is confirmed and will be held between 16th to 18th September 2010. The event will be held at Dubai Festival City.

GAMES, which stands from Games Alliance Middle East Show, has been known as the E3 of the Middle East, giving gamers the opportunity to play games months before they are officially released.

This year’s event is expected to be bigger than ever with multiple zones at Dubai Festival City allocated to the event. The big draw for 2010 will be Sony’s Move and Microsoft’s Kinect, both of which are expected to be showcased at GAMES 10. Among the bevy of games expected to be showcased at the event are Gears of War 3, Halo: Reach, F1 2010 and Gran Turismo 5.

Expect more detailed information soon.

Rumor: GAMES 10 to be held this September

Our sources tell us that GAMES 10 will be held in September this year and will include some big announcements including the launch date of Kinect (Project Natal).

The Games Alliance Middle East Show (GAMES) is the region’s most successful gaming conference and has been dubbed by fans as the E3 of the Middle East. Over 7,000 gamers attended the exhibition at Dubai Festival City last year and we expect this year to be bigger than ever. The show gives gamers a chance to play some of the hottest upcoming titles before they release in the market and is supported by a gaming alliance of Microsoft, Sony, RED Distribution and Pluto Games, four of the biggest names in the regional gaming industry.

Pre-order Kinect at Geekay Games

Geekay Games have informed us that they have teamed up with Microsoft to accept pre-orders for the highly anticipated Kinect.

No official price has been set for the Kinect yet but Geekay estimates it to be between Dhs600 and Dhs750 for various bundles. At the moment, Geekay Games are accepting deposits for the pre-order at all their stores. Deposits are Dhs75 in the UAE and OR 80.500 in Oman. Once the Kinect is launched, those who pre-order can buy the unit with the deposit amount deducted from the price.

“Customers can walk to any Geekay Games store in UAE, Oman or Bahrain and reserve a unit for them. As Kinect is going to be short in supply we are encouraging people to reserve it. People who preorder will get first preference, ” said Shri Bhatia, Sales & Marketing Executive at Geekay Games.

Geekay officials have confirmed that Kinect will release in this region in November 2010 but have not confirmed an exact date.

Kinect for Xbox 360 (originally known as Project Natal) is Microsoft’s controller-free gaming device, based around a webcam-style peripheral for the Xbox 360 console. It enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images.

Middle East Gamers Arabic Beta

We’re excited to announce that the Arabic version of Middle East Gamers is now in the works. Spearheaded by our Arabic editors Amin Abbas and Meshal AlHarbi, the website is set to officially launch mid August.

Here’s a sneak peek of the website for all our regular readers:
www.tbreak.com/al3ab

Comments and suggestions are welcome. We’d love to hear what you think of the new site. If you would like to contribute to the website, please email us at hitesh@megamers.com.

Blog: The hottest game launch of the year

Over 400 gamers thronged to the midnight launch of StarCraft II for what will easily go down as one of the most memorable gaming moments in Dubai.

Possibly the biggest game launch since World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (and in many ways better), the 26th July launch at Emax had gamers drooling at the chops to get a hold of one of the hottest games of this year.

We loved what Emax has done to prepare for the event. Not only was the Mirdif City Centre outlet cascaded with StarCraft II artwork, there were also plenty of activities to keep the fans busy — A LAN setup in the middle of the Emax store with the original game on display to drive a sense of nostalgia, a cutout of Jim Raynor where you can stick your head in and get a picture to take home with you, free cupcakes and coffee for registered fans plus lots of seats around for those who wanted to sit down and have a chat.

We loved that they didn’t go for the conventional ‘stand in a queue for hours’ gimmick but rather gave fans a chance to interact with each other.

If you were present at the launch, check out our ace reporter Nick Rego’s coverage of the event here.

Here are a few pics:

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition Announced

Capcom announced at Comic-Con that Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike will be released as an online edition. No details have been revealed about the game but speculation is ripe that the game will be released on XBLA and PSN.

Here’s some information about the game, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Released on May 1999, the third and final installment of Street Fighter III brought back the classic Street Fighter II character Chun-Li, along with four new characters (Makoto, Remy, Q and Twelve), extending the selectable roster to 20 characters with Akuma now a regular character. All of the returning characters from the previous Street Fighter III games were given new stages, endings and even voice actors, continuing the overall storyline from where the first two games left off.

The commands for Air Parries, Throws/Holds and Leap Attacks were changed from 2nd Impact. Additionally, the player can perform a “Guard Parry” or a Parry during a Guard Stun if the timing is right. A “Guard Parry” is also known as a “Red Parry” due to the fact that the character turns red when performing it. The game also introduces a grade-based “Judgement System”, in which the winning player in a single or two-player match is graded after the match based on Offense, Defense, Techniques and Extra Points. Special Points are also awarded after fulfilling special requirements.

New Epic Mickey footage

Here’s some gameplay footage from the super secret Warren Spector game project.

Street Fighter X Tekken Debut Trailer

This brilliant new trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken debuted at Comic Con this year. We can’t wait to play the game!

Gameplay footage of Ryu and Chun Li vs Kazuya and Nina.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta gameplay video

Here’s some gameplay footage of God of War: Ghost of Sparta, courtesy of GameTrailers.com.

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