Organised by Capital Games from December 6th to 8th at La Défense, the Game Paris tradeshow was an opportunity for the Paris Region Economic Development Agency to invite 17 international video games sector professionals to come and discover the know-how of a group selected among top Paris Region sector players.

Hailing from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Italy, Guatemala and Canada, the visitors were first taken to the Isart Digital School in Paris' 11th arrondissement, a 3D video games and film school that has won 36 prizes in just 6 years, as well as developing a close partnership with Japanese video games school NCC. With over 600 registered students for the 2011 school year, the establishment is actively seeking development studios worldwide to give its students their professional start.

The party then went on to visit the nearby premises of Spir.Ops, a company specialising in artificial intelligence (complex personalities, directional tools etc.) and designing applications for video games, transport networks and security over large-area sites. Spir.Ops has partnerships with research laboratories such as the CEDRIC and the IIM (International Multimedia Institute).

Next they headed for SolidAnim in Ivry-sur-Seine, where they were shown the company's 32-camera motion capture equipment (for body and face), including the track on time functionality, the only one of its kind in the world. The presentation took place in the 150-m² studio, adjacent to a 200-m² greenscreen room. Founded in 2007, SolidAnim provides MoCap and 3D facial animation solutions, as well as professional services like shoots, post-production and special effects.

After that, the visiting party proceeded into the heart of the French Touch domain, calling on Wizarbox Studio in Sèvres, a Capital Games member with a great variety of projects underway: video games and services (serious games, adventure, entertainment/educational, for consoles, for PCs etc.). This young company employs about 50 people working on 30 projects, including Scrabble (PC, Wii, DS - 2007 and 2009), Lea Passion Medicine (DS - 2009), So Blonde (PC, Wii, DS - 2008 and 2010), and Venetica (X360, PS3 - 2010).

Lastly, they headed for Telecom SudParis, and engineering school and a member of the Telecom Institute (an institute of reference for ICT in France), and were given to see the school's advanced research in mobile MMOG, which included a live demonstration.

The day ended with an invitation to Paris Town Hall, where the visitors met with Capital Games members at a cocktail party.

This Business Tour was organised with the help of Capital Games, Cap Digital and Game Connection, in partnership with the Paris Regional Council, the Municipality of Paris, Paris Développement and the Essonne Economic Agency, with a view to promoting Paris Region know-how in the video games sector.

If you wish to be informed about upcoming Business Tours to be organised for the promotion of Paris Region know-how, please contact us at htinti@paris-region.com