Game Live Tour brings top titles to Union, students

The Game Live Tour will invade the Indiana Memorial Union's Frangipani Room Wednesday, featuring more than 20 new and yet-to-be released video games for all the current consoles and personal computers.\nThe games will be available to play for free from noon until 5 p.m. The companies on the Game Live Tour this year include Electronic Arts, the number one video game publisher in the world, Rockstar Games, creators of the popular Grand Theft Auto franchise, and Ubisoft, the company responsible for the Splinter Cell games.\nBesides showcasing games for the Sony Playstation2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube, cellular phone giant Nokia will be demonstrating its all-in-one cell phone/portable gaming device/MP3 player, the N-Gage.\n"This is a great opportunity for students to kill time in-between classes by playing games that aren't even on the market yet in an atmosphere very different from when they play at home," said Union Board Marketing Director Sarah O'Brien.\nThe Game Live Tour, based in Sausalito, Calif., has been touring college campuses since late 2002, but this is the first time it has hit IU, a prospect which has many gamers salivating.\n"I can't wait to try out some of the new games," freshman and avid gamer Zach Sutphin said. "I'd like to know if something is worth my money beforehand."\nThe tour displays games on a scalable 50-screen PC and Video kiosk system administered by representatives from the publisher. EA Games will be on hand with giveaways and two current big sellers, "Fight Night 2004," for all three systems, and "Samurai Warriors," which EA is publishing for the PS2. Also being shown to most gamers for the first time will be "Burnout 3," a popular racing sequel that won't hit consoles until September.\n"This will be a huge event for gamers," said EA spokesman Trey Geiger. \nAfter trying out unreleased games, gamers can give feedback to its creators. Many of these suggestions are put into the game before release, Sutphin said.\n"It's always important for companies to get feedback about their games," Sutphin said. "We know what we want to play, but a lot of companies don't unless we tell them."\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.