We called it and we did it: We rocked the Games Convention and man DID we rock! Whoever visited us at our booth in Hall 5 could witness the sheer insanity that was FISHLABS - and to the people who weren’t there: Man, did you miss out on something!

Happy winners of our mobile games and a Walkman phone

Just like the happy winners of a Sony Ericsson W760i Walkman phone, who couldn’t believe at first that they’ve actually won something. Or the endless numbers of mobile gamers, waiting for their free mobile game to be beamed on their mobile phone! And last but not least the huge amount of visitors, which we’ve been able to please just with a Sony Ericsson lanyard or a FISHLABS T-Shirt, in exchange for their participation in our prize.

It’s been four very exhaustive but worthwhile days with the visitors at the fare, from which most people didn’t expect THAT kind of visual quality from a mobile game, as we displayed our games on five big plasma displays at our booth. On which we countered that just FISHLABS mobile games look that good!

THIS is what mobile games can look like? Here at FISHLABS, they do!

No matter what age, position or reason for being at the show - anybody who took a glaze at Galaxy on Fire 2, Gladiator, Blades and Mages or Powerboat Challenge felt the urge to get one of those FISHLABS mobile games. And we felt this urge at our counter, where visitors pushed each other to be the next in line to get one of those free mobile games, which sometimes took some time: When 300 mobile phones pollute the air with their Bluetooth signals it becomes hard to single out one of them…

As a day at the fare can be somewhat exhausting, many people chose to relax a little bit at our booth - thanks to our cozy seats, which some people found so cool that they’ve tried to take some with them!

Get some FISHLABS mobile games for breakfast!

We’ve been up front at the main hall as well - the first booth people could put their eyes upon was: FISHLABS mobile games with our classic 75er Ford Transit. This is where people could get their flyers right away and take part in our prize. As you see, there was no escape from us!

Even the trade visitors got their fair share of FISHLABS mobile games - we placed some bigger-than-life mobile phone at the entrance to Hall 2, where we presented ourselves as part of the “Hamburg@Work” booth. Lots of people gazing at the visual quality of our games here as well.

We even made it into the nightly news - the ARD Nachtmagazin taped our booth and people playing FISHLABS mobile games for their coverage of the first day of Games Convention and had one of our promoters show them a mobile game in detail.

We’ll meet again - with our bus and the FISHLABS mobile games at the YOU in Berlin!

Sounds too good to be true? You’re bothered, that you couldn’t make it to Leipzig this year? No problemo! We’ll be back at the YOU in Berlin from October 24. to 26 in Hall 23, Booth 213 - be there!

The Games Convention is just around the corner, and our preparations are in high gear. This time, we will have three booths: you will find our promotion van right inside the entrance in the large glass hall, where our mobile games can be downloaded free to your phone via Bluetooth. Our promotion girls will then show you the way to our main booth G20 in Hall 5.

Sony Ericsson W760i Walkman mobile phone drawing

At our generous booth in Hall 5, you can not only get a first-hand impression of our upcoming games, we will be giving away a super-cool Sony Ericsson W760i Walkman mobile phone every 2 hours. In addition, we will be holding drawings for FISHLABS games packs, each with 5 full versions. That way, you can start playing right away. You should probably just relax on one of the many cube seats at our booth, because our games won’t let go of you so quickly.

First FISHLABS mobile game on Symbian with OpenGL ES

Our business partners will always be able to reach us at the GameCity Hamburg booth F11 in the Business Centre in Hall 2. There we will demonstrate another ‘world premiere’: Powerboat Challenge™ on the Symbian platform with full OpenGL ES hardware rendering. Even with four boats at once, full-throttle graphics, and all of the light, reflection, and water effects switched on, the native game runs at maximum visibility at an unbelievable 30 frames per second in full resolution and landscape format. That is mobile console gaming at its best!

Galaxy on Fire™ 2 gameplay video ready to go

Along with our current mobile games Powerboat Challenge™ and Rally Master Pro™, we will also be showing the release candidate for Gladiator and the first playable version of Galaxy on Fire™ 2, which you have been eagerly awaiting. For those of you who may not be able to travel to the GC, we have put together the very first gameplay video for Galaxy on Fire™ 2.

Of course, this video does not represent the final version of the game. Above all, we still have not fully implemented the head-up display and so we have left it out here. But you can already see what direction the gameplay is going: for example, you are no longer tied to one station, but can fly directly to nearby planets and their stations and move freely between star systems using jump gates.

You can also get an eyeful of the new graphics quality in the sequel in this video – and that even though these are not even the final graphics! You can expect not only gaming highlights, but also visuals that may be unique in the field of mobile games!

Take a close look, and you will discover even more gameplay features: for example, the option of taking control of the turrets yourself. Very handy when you are attacked from behind  or when flying past larger battleships, if you want to take out their guns with targeted fire. Or the new special weapons, such as EMP bursts, which incapacitate your opponents for a brief moment, so you can finish them off. And the nukes are nothing to sneeze at – they’re a real blast! Especially if you have to destroy a real monster ship or too many enemies are after you all at once.

FISHLABS on GCDC Mobile Games Panels

FISHLABS will not only be in the exhibition area of the Games Convention, but will also be taking part in three mobile games panels on Monday during the GCDC:

The State of the European Mobile Games Industry

Abstract: The European mobile games industry has developed its own quality and style that is unique in the world. Europe is also the home of Nokia, Gameloft and high profile international developers such as Ideaworks3D, Fishlabs and Digital Legends. Many European studios (Elkware, Iomo, Haiku, Sumea, etc.) have been bought by Japanese and American studios in the recent past and this is a trend that is likely to continue in the coming years.

Enough reasons to ask ourselves: can we grow the mobile entertainment business ourselves? Can we do our own research and development? How about Financing? Can we improve the European market commercially? Any best practices in the games or media industry?

On or Off Deck: Is there a future for mobile games distribution without the operators?

Abstract: 2008 started with the launch of NGage, the announcement of the Iphone SDK and Google’s Android program. Big companies seem to discover the potential of mobile game distribution, a potential that was already discovered by Jamba, Zed, Buongiorno and Sony Ericsson with Fun and Download. C4M sees a future in the Japanese distribution model based on free games, others are experimenting with distribution via e-mail, virtual item buying and in-game advertising.

This panel of experts will give you an insight in the present and the future of off deck distribution strategies.

Multi Platform Publishing Strategies

Abstract: To be announced.

After Powerboat Challenge™ did a whopping 93% score at Airgamer, the leading German mobile games online magazine, our latest mobile racing game also rocked at Mobile Games FAQs with a final score of 94% and a top score of 95% in graphics. The mobile games tester Anannya Sen comments about the mobile game:

“When you first load up the game you will probably notice the stunning graphics. I don’t know how Fishlabs manage to do it, but they really push the capabilities of each handset. On my K800i the graphics were stunning 3D rendered polygons of powerboats, marshes and lakes. The water effects are lovely, as are the lighting effects. This includes reflection and even lens flare and at times I had to remind myself that this was a mobile game.”

The review is quite long and enthusiastic. It describes a variety of positive aspects of the game in detail. Anannya’s final conclusion puts it straight:

„I couldn’t put this game down. Day or night I was wanting to have a quick go, either to get a gold medal whereas previously I had got silver, or to increase my style points on a race I had already won. It was that much fun to play and after completing it with one character, you can play through the game again to upgrade another character. In most games this wouldn’t be too much fun having played the game so much already, but with the stylishness and addictiveness of this game, I am seriously considering doing just that.”

And here are the scores of each category – all above 90%!

Pro:

Contra:

Of course you can download the game directly from us
(at Fishlabs without any extra download fees!):
http://www.fishlabs.net/en/games/racing/powerboat_challenge_3d.php

or, if you prefer to read the full review about Powerboat Challenge™ at Mobile Game FAQs first, follow the link below:
http://www.mobilegamefaqs.com/reviewfull.php?orig=rev&id=928