Special Guest
* Armin Medosch, Telepolis, London: "New Work in the Networks", a short report on the local cyberscene in London

Podium discussion
* Klaus Jens, Eidos (Tomb Raider/ Lara Croft u.a.), Hamburg
* Andreas Lange, Computerspielemuseum Berlin
* Uta Kapp, Terratools (Urban Assault), Potsdam-Babelsberg
* Jörg Koch, Echtzeithistoriker, Berlin <koch@well.com>

Moderation
Pit Schultz and Thorsten Schilling, mikro e.V.

Video
Natural Born Digital, Gusztav Hamos / Katja Pratschke, D 1998

Ambient Video
* Cornelia Sollfrank, Video Edit of Games
* Daniel Pflumm, Arkade Variationen

Audio
DJ pole, Berlin (SuperMario Rap and Game-Musik)

RealVideo
Modem -- ISDN

Game - Demos (fortlaufend)  
Im Foyer sind Konsolen aufgebaut, an denen verschiedene Spiele gespielt werden können, in der Lounge gibt es die Möglichkeit, über einen Beam Spielsequenzen vorzustellen.

Neben "Tomb Raider" und "Urban Assault" z.B. Vorstellung Mine Storm auf Vectrex (1982), einem der kuriosesten Geräte in der Videospiel- geschichte; ein "PONG"- Clone, erstes kommer- ziell erfolgreiches Videospiel (1972); Donkey Kong auf ColecoVision (1982), erstes Jump 'n run Spiel; WipeOut auf Playstation mit Photek's D'n'Bass Sound; MAME, frei verfügbare Arcade- Emulatoren im Einsatz u.a.  
 

WMF, Johannisstr. 20, Berlin-Mitte
Wednesday, 6. Mai 1998, 20:00 Uhr
 

Armin Medosch then reported on the digital scene in London. In particular, he focused on the London equivalent of mikro, the Digital Salon. The main difference seems to been in the greater role played by commercial media companies in the digital discourse in London. For several years, Armin Medosch has worked for the Munich publishing house Heise Verlag and is one of the editors of Telepolis as well as a former founding member of the cultural ship "Stubnitz." 
 

The panel for the evening primarily addressed the commercial aspects of the scene in Germany, and in particular, the German computer game industry. Klaus Jens introduced the company Eidos and its production methods. He also presented a few games distributed by Eidos such as "Tomb Raider." His presentation above all made clear the marketing reasons for the rarity of new ideas for games.

Uta Kapp of Terratools used the evening to issue a call for potential  new ideas, and in particular, for games for girls. She also presented the new product "Urban Assault," developed by a group of young people in her company.
 
Andreas Lange then presented the Computerspielemuseum, the first museum for  computer games in the world. He argued that video games are just as much a cultural good as books. Jörg Koch then tried to highlight the cultural dimensions of the games market with critical questions.

On this particular evening, antique games were on display in the foyer of the WMF, on loan from the Computerspielemuseum. Among them was the amazing classic "Mine Storm" installed on an original Vectra computer.

There were several questions from the audience, but not all of them were satisfactorily answered by the panelists. Or, in the words of one critic of the mikro.lounge: "One may not expect the Ferrari style of a John Romero of ID (Quake), but does the German game industry have to make do with the senile temperament of a small town bank teller? Questions were ignored and no one wanted to see past their own limited horizons. Instead, they preferred to lean on their Teutonic game marketing. But it was Uta Kapp of Terratools who topped it all. Question from the audience: 'What specifically about games can there be for girls?' -- 'Different themes.' -- 'For example?' -- 'We're working on an astrological game.' Before the local geekgrrls could take their revenge, the discussion was over and the demos for the new games from Terratools and Eidos were shown. Games with names like 'Urban Assault' -- does anything else really need to be said?" [ryouri@billund5000.com]

Music for the evening came courtesy of DJ pole, Berlin, while ambient videos edited from games and the arcades by Cornelia Sollfrank and Daniel Pflumm were well received. After the podium discussion, the debate was carried on at the bar.

[J.L.]