Wednesday Aug 18, 2004
Tickets go on sale for the UK's biggest gaming event… ever!
1st - 5th September 2004 at London ExCeL London
Although the weather might hint otherwise, Summer is not far off - and the nation's games-players, young and old alike, should already be making plans for how to spend their free time. And the best will definitely saved for last, as Game Stars Live offers a fun-filled climax to the summer season with a five-day long extravaganza of gaming fun in early September.
Those wishing to ensure they have one of the hottest tickets in town can book online through the show's spanking new Website (www.gamestarslive.co.uk). Game Stars Live is the hottest new multi-platform consumer gaming event and takes place between 1st –5th September 2004 at ExCeL London, London's state-of-the-art Exhibition Centre.
This brand new public event is set to be the biggest and most important consumer gaming event and exhibition the UK has ever seen, with 100,000 consumers predicted to pass through the doors during the five day event. Its vast entertainment halls will premier the hottest games, gadgets and consoles months before their public release, across a floor space the size of over three football pitches.
Game Stars Live will include a main stage area from which the media partners including ITV, Capital FM and XFM will broadcast. It will also include a series of features such as The Bear Pit games challenges, The Virtual vs. Reality Zone, The European Online Gaming Championships, and Get Into Gaming, a careers and education zone, amongst many others.
Advance ticket prices are:
- Adults - £10 per day in advance (£12 on the day)
- Children under 12 - £5 per day in advance (£6 on the day).
The Game Stars Live event is based on the ITV Game Stars programme, TV's biggest games brand. Broadcast across the ITV network, Game Stars is the first ever TV show to celebrate gaming as great entertainment. It attracted 5.6 million viewers last year, a figure set to rise for the second show this Spring.
In keeping with the Game Stars ethos, Game Stars Live will be a vibrant, adrenaline-pumping interactive entertainment experience, designed to excite, delight, amaze, inspire and enthral. It is the most ambitious consumer gaming event ever devised, allowing the gaming public to get interactive with the top titles for Christmas 2004 wares alongside other lifestyle brands, music, sport and high-profile entertainment acts.
About ITV Game Stars
Game Stars is ITV's celebration of the best video and computer games as great entertainment. Game Stars combines the biggest annual poll of popular opinion about the nation's favourite games with a tour to find the UK's Greatest Gamers. Broadcast at Easter, it is was watched by over five million people in 2003, increasing ITV's share of the key 16-34 demographic beyond its typical audience.
It enjoys in store support through GAME stores, a special Game Stars magazine from Future Publishing, sampling opportunities through the national press and a nationwide PR and promotions through all media
GAMES - SOME FACTS
Recent research shows that UK consumers spend over £2 billion a year on video and computer games. 10 Million games consoles are in UK homes alongside 10.2 Million PCs and 9 Million Game Boys. Nearly half of these people say they play games most days. UK Games industry sales are 3 times bigger in value than cinema box office and in excess of those for video in the UK
In a world market worth £12 billion, the UK Computer and video games market is the third biggest in the world, after USA and Japan. It continues to enjoy the most dynamic growth in the entertainment sector, averaging 15% since 1996. The UK computer and video games industry generates a positive balance of export trade valued far in excess of TV and film and on a par with music
UK is the European centre for the distribution of games software, attracting more inward investment than any other EU country. The great majority of global games publishers site their European H/Q in UK. The UK also has more development studios than the whole of the rest of Europe The age profile of computer and video game players shows the great majority to be within the 25-34 age group
The UK distribution of games has been strictly voluntarily regulated since 1994, monitored and administered by the Video Standards Council, to ensure that all games, where required, conform to legal and mandatory rating by the BBFC under the Video Recordings Act. Every game published in UK carries an age rating on the box, providing sufficient guidance to ensure that consumers can make informed choices when buying games, especially when buying for children.
Less than 1% (just 7!) of computer and video games attracted a BBFC 18 rating. (Source: Video Standards Council) From 765 games published in 2002, 67% (512) of games were suitable for all ages from three upwards. (Source: Video Standards Council)