GAMA Trade Show–I Am Attending, Tell Me What I Should Blog About?
GAMA, The Game Manufacturers Association‘s annual trade show (GTS) starts on April 14th-17th 2009. This is the primary trade show for publishers to show their new games to retailers and “earn” some shelf space.
I am attending on the 14th and 15th, so my question to my readers is; what should I blog about at the show? The reason for my question is that I believe I am the only member of the rpgbloggers.com network attending. (Oops, almost forgot the Pulp Gamer guys, so not totally alone.) So I am (nearly) alone at the show and the amount of material I can blog about is potentially vast. I need to pick my targets carefully to make efficient use of my time. That and I want to try to cater to the needs of my readers. ;-)
I will cover the usual suspects, like new game releases and demo session reports, but I am open to any special requests from my readership. If there is a game, game developer or publisher that you, my readership, believe deserves special attention, please mention it in the comments. I will do my level best to accommodate your requests. Do not feel limited to role-playing games either. I play board games also, with a fondness for the German imports, so just about any game related request will be considered!
Here is the list of companies that will be in attendance at GTS 2009. If you prefer a hyper-linked list of exhibitors, I put one together on rpgseek.com.
Hyperllinked GTS 2009 Exhibitor List
GTS 2009 Exhibitor List
AAA Anime
ACD Distribution
Acrylicos Vallejo
Alliance Distribution
APBA Games
APE Games
Asmodee Editions
Atlas Games
Bandai
Bastion Studio
Battlefront Miniatures
Bucephalus Games
Bullet Hole Games
Bunky’s Enterprises (in the GPA booth)
Cactus Game Design (in the PSI booth)
Catalyst Game Labs
Chessex Manufacturing
Cloud Kingdom (in the GPA booth)
Crystal Caste
Cynergy Data
Darkson Designs
Days of Wonder (in the Alliance booth)
Department of Homeland Security
Dragonfire Lasercrafts
Dream Pod 9
Duncan Toys
Dustgame Ltd
ElfinWerks
EOS Press (in the GPA booth)
Family Games
Flying Buffalo Games
Flying Frog Productions
FRED Distribution
Gale Force 9
Game Publishers Association (GPA)
GameBuyer Magazine
Games Workshop
Gamestation, Inc.
GHQ
Gorilla Games
Greater Games Industry Catalog
Green Ronin Publishing
GTS Distribution
Host-Party.com
Hero Games (in the GPA booth)
Inner City Games Design (in the GPA booth)
JLB Studios
Konami
Koplow Games
Looney Labs
Magazine Exchange
Mayfair Games
Mazology
MindWare
Mongoose Publishing Ltd
North Star Games
Ody-See.COM Ltd
Offworld Designs
Osprey Publishing
Out of the Box Games
Pegasus Hobbies
Playroom Entertainment
Pokemon USA
Privateer Press
Publisher Services Inc
Pulp Gamer
Randolph Rose Group
Reaper Miniatures
Screenlife
Silvergate Distributors
Smirk & Dagger
Squires, Margy/David
Steve Jackson Games (in the PSI booth)
Strategicon
Studio 2 Publishing
Tablestar Games (in the PSI booth)
TC Digital (Chaotic)
Three Sages Games (in the GPA booth)
Ultra Pro
Upper Deck Entertainment
Wells Expeditions
White Wolf (in the PSI booth)
Wizards of the Coast
Wood Expressions
WorldWise Imports
Xtra Innings
Trask, The Last Tyromancer
About the Author: Trask is a long-time gamer, world traveler and history buff. He hopes that his scribblings will both inform and advance gaming as a hobby.
GTS is great. I was there last year and enjoyed it thoroughly. Be sure to pack moisturizer and lip balm, and drink plenty of water (I’m from Miami and I was completely unprepared for the dry desert air).
Plan your days and have a list of priorities. You WILL be overwhelmed, so having a plan of action will help you sort things out. Be mindful of the exhibitors when they are attending retailers and be flexible with your time for them. Ask them for all the news they have to give; that’s what they’re there for! Cover the big guns, but also pay attention to the smaller companies and independent creators roaming the hall. Some of the best stories are to be found there, and you could help promote a game that otherwise would get lost in the mix.
Above all, have fun, and remember everyone there is a gamer as well.
Thank you for the advice, Daniel. I have a soft spot for the smaller companies, so I will give them equal time. As for the weather, I live in Arizona. Anything under 105 F is jogging weather.
Trask, The Last Tyromancer
I would be especially curious about how the economy is impacting the bigger companies. Home basement companies have such a low overhead that there survival pretty much matches the owners personal finances. So I would be most interested in the state of the larger, more influential, companies in our genre. WOTC, Steve Jackson, Mongoose, Green Ronin, Atlas, and Mayfair to name a few.
As a native Puerto Rican living in Miami, the dry air wrecked havoc with me last year. Ugh.
Check out the GTS episode I did of my podcast if you want to get an overview of last year’s event in preparation for this one:
http://highmoonmedia.com/tgt/tgttdf-special-episode-04-gts-report/