As noted earlier, I travelled to Beijing, China for the ChinaJoy game expo and conference. Admittedly, this was one my most enjoyable trips I’ve taken in a long time. Despite the obvious language barrier, Chinese developers (and people in general) were extremely friendly and welcoming. Luckily, given the flight in/out times, I got some decent time to do some personal tourist action (see the shots/comments below). The event itself was only three days, consisting of three major overlapping events: E3-style game expo, a business forum and a mini developer conference. There was also a LAN tournament, some government related press events, and cosplay showings, etc.

(Continue reading about my trip to China, or jump straight to the fun pictures!)

The expo portion was actually much larger than I had expected. Still nowhere near E3 proportions, but with something like 100 exhibitors with fairly built-up booths, it was no Kentia Hall… The show organizers estimated that a total of 50,000 people (mostly public) passed through the expo hall over the three days. It is interesting to note that almost all games look like a derivation of Diablo. It has been theorized that the Korean developers had been inspired by Blizzard’s work (mainly Diablo and Starcraft), basically serving as the oundation for most MMO games coming out of Korea. These games have filtered into China and now serve as inspiration for much of Chinese development output…

The technical and business conferences were a great start for a first time event, but were a bit short on real substance. A few of the invited international speakers gave good lectures, but most sessions were product/company pitches or another set of slides on MMO growth in Asia. Again, a good start, but needs work. My two lectures (one on serious applications of game tech and one on basic game design) seemed to go over well, but you never know what might have gotten lost in translation…

From the expo and conference you did get a sense of the massive potential for games in China. At the same time, you can’t help but wonder how they’ll overcome many of their challenges: piracy, tight government control, funding, lack of trained workforce, etc. Several of these issues (like talent and funding) are common everywhere and just take time and hard work. Piracy is a whole other story. To date, most legitimate games business is dominated by PC MMO games along with something like US$100million of pirated boxed games - selling at US$1 a pop! And, despite the fact that most consoles are not on sale (due to piracy concerns and government regulation), there are four different console oriented magazines with 500k+ readership. To say that piracy is a major issue is an understatement.

On the government front, things are less obvious. There are three different ministries (ie, culture, technology, publications) that want "control" over the game industry and don’t always agree on policies, etc. Further, there’s an inherent concern over the potential negative effects of games (ie, violence, addiction, sex, etc) with very little understanding of the topics. Further to the possible "obvious" negative effects, there seems to be an underlying devaluing of play and fun, and that games need to be developed that help Chinese society overall and promote "healthy consumption" (as several gov officials noted). And, on top of all that, there’s the well known issue of outright censoring of content that the government doesn’t like (eg, Command & Conquer: Generals, Age of Empires, etc).

No doubt, the Chinese government adds friction to the equation. But, that said, they do seem to be supportive in several ways. They are looking to bump up support for game dev education, provide funding for start-up developers along with the usual raft of tax breaks, etc. Work on tightening piracy and IP laws is also on the agenda. Further, they helped to establish the Chinese Game Publishers Association last year. So, there’s certainly hope.

It was nice to see a lot of other Asian countries on hand. Korea was there in full force with various MMO games/developers on hand. Japan had a relatively large presence as well, with top execs from Square-Enix, Koei, etc.

On the IGDA front, I’m excited about the outlook for a chapter in Beijing. I was able to speak with several locals who were very interested in starting an IGDA chapter so that local developers could start to better communicate, share knowledge and build community.

Anyway, I could go on, but my brain is kinda fried from the flight back. I’ll just dive into the photo gallery :)


An outside shot of the Beijing Exhibition Hall. Note the Russian archetectural design…


An official from the General Administration of Press and Publication of the People’s Republic of China gives a welcoming speech during the opening ceremony.


NCSoft had a large presence on the show floor, and had people lined up around the corner to get play time with Lineage II.


Some "cosplay" folks dressed up in Counter-Strike gear.


Eric Zimmerman (gameLab), Kiyoshi Shin (IGDA Tokyo Chapter), Edward Huang (Shanda Networking) and Ajay (Teckwah Online) enjoying lunch on the first day.


Gilles Langourieux (Ubi.com) gives what was probably the best lecture of the day. He spoke candidly about Ubisoft’s strategies in China.


The banquet reception on the first night of ChinaJoy. I was the only one sitting at the head table without a suit on ;)


An animated Eric Zimmerman (gameLab) discusses various rules of play…


Kiyoshi Shin (IGDA Tokyo Chapter) lectures on the "otaku" culture of hardcore game/anime/etc consumers in Japan.


More cosplay enthusiasts. From Korean MMORPG “MU”.


Rob Huebner (Nihilistic Software) provides five rules for running a successful studio.


Ubisoft had the largest presence of any Western publisher.


I couldn’t quite figure out the controls for this interesting new game…


This was Sony’s "booth": an info desk, a PS2 with an EyeToy running and a car with various hightech gadgets. Hmm…


The red wall of signatures in support of stricter anti-piracy and cheating laws, etc.


Awesome dinner at a vegetarian Buddhist restaurant. From bottom-left: Hiroko Osaka (Northwestern University), Jason Della Rocca (IGDA), Ajay (Techwah Online), Rob Huebner (Nihilistic Software), Rundeep, Gage (Enorbus), Eric Zimmerman (gameLab), Justin Colby (Enorbus).


The Great Wall of China. It was certainly great!


The stairs never end… It was a challenge getting to the top.


The Wall never ends. As noted by the first space shuttle crew, it was the only man-made structure they could see from space.


Emperor Yongle. One of the most respected from the Ming Dynasty.


…part of his tomb.


Right side shot from the hotel room. The expo hall was just right of the park/zoo. There was a lot of smog, so it was hard to see the true density of buildings off in the distance.


Left side shot from the hotel room. Lots of buildings!


The Jade Island in Beihei Park.


The Nine Dragon Screen. Also in Beihei Park.


The mote and exterior wall of the Forbidden City. The wall goes to the very end of the picture, and runs still further on the right. This is where the Emperors used to live…


A makeshift skating rink on the moat of the Forbidden City. As a Canadian, I found this quite amusing ;)


Front entrance of the Forbidden City.


Chairman Mao’s picture on the front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace.


The Monument to the People’s Heroes in the center of Tiananmen Square.


A street shot in Old Beijing.


Rob Huebner (center with blue shirt) enjoys the hospitality at a special Tibetan new year’s celebration. (We were invited through friends of a friend…)


Cultural dancing at the celebration.


Traditional disco dancing at the "Rock & Roll Club" later that night… We were the only Westerners there. It was fun.