Gamescom 2012 Day One Roundup: Grand Strategy and Graphics Power

The first full day I have spent at the 2012 edition of the Gamescom event, the biggest European trade show dedicated to video games, were linked to three big companies, each of them a leader in its field.

I’ve had meetings with Nvidia, which talked about the future of the graphics card business, CD Projekt RED, the best pure role playing game creators in the world of gaming, and Paradox Interactive, a company that’s growing by exploiting niches in the PC space.

The highlight of the day for me was, of course, Europa Universalis IV, the most recent incarnation of a series that I was a fan off since I was about 18 years old and discovered that, with the right mods, I could make Moldavia a serious power in the Balkans during the Middle Ages.

I also liked the concepts and the execution behind Impire, the combination between strategy and role playing game that aims to bring the Dungeon Keeper into the modern world and into the Ardania fantasy setting with upgraded graphics and some new mechanics.

But the most impressive meeting I had today was with a hardware maker, Nvidia, which talked more about delivering emotion and feelings to the player than about polygon counts or the number of cores on its upcoming graphics chips.

Nvidia is interesting making PC based gaming the best it can be and they have both the resources and the commitment to give console makers a run for their money.

Expect to see more powerful mid-range cards with Nvidia chips and important advances in the mobile devices, from phones to tablets, which use the Tegra chip technology.

Last but not least I was thoroughly impressed by the way Gamescom 2012 feels, a much warmer and human show than E3 2012 earlier in the year.


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