Play Stations

design awards

	SILVER AWARD
	Category: Island - $150 per Square Foot or More Exhibitor: Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH Design/Fabrication: Uniplan GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne, Germany, 49-221-8-4569-0, www.uniplan.com Show: Gamescom, 2009 Budget: $1.4 million Size: 51-by-41 feet Cost/Square Foot: $670

hen the first video game was invented in 1947, people were too busy playing Monopoly, Scrabble, and Clue to have a, well, clue about its significance. Today, 70 percent of the world plays video games. And it was these gamers that Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH wanted to celebrate at Gamescom 2009.

Designed by Uniplan GmbH & Co. KG, Sony's 2,091-square-foot booth merged architecture with video games until pixilated and physical realities seemed to fuse into one. Split into five themed areas - adventure, racing, social entertainment, children's games, and a central hub called the home plaza - each gaming area appealed to a particular niche.

In the adventure-games area, for example, action junkies ducked into rectangular boxes hanging from an overhead truss. Inside the boxes, players tested their mojo on the latest games for Sony's PlayStation consoles.

In the social-entertainment area, attendees chilled together on red blob-like plastic chairs under a sky of crimson-hued helium balloons and silver plastic disco balls. Here, self-made films from a pre-show "SingStar" - a karaoke-like game published by Sony - competition played on 10 LCD monitors while the winning contestants themselves performed live.

Since Gamescom allows children on the show floor, the exhibit's children's area was designed for up-and-coming players. Kids could game away inside four dome-shaped "bird's nests" suspended above the gaming area.

By the time Gamescom ended, the company estimated that several thousand attendees had played on its more than 400 gaming consoles. "Designers created an environment where customers yearn to interact with Sony's products," one judge said. Indeed, as far as its target audience was concerned, Sony was the only game in town. E

Charles Pappas, senior writer; cpappas@exhibitormagazine.com

Let the Games Begin
Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH created an arcade-like atmosphere that used a brain-overload palette of shiny silver and bonfire red. The design also showed how well Sony understood its audience with a mash up of "Grand Theft Auto"-intense games, immersive gaming areas, karaoke-like contests, an obstacle course, and a graffiti wall.