The first minute and some-odd seconds of this clip is dull, boring, blergh. From the 1:15 point, things get exciting, thrilling even! Don’t skip ahead. Skipping is for wussies.

From the 1:50 point, though, things get boring again.

That would be very embarrassing. We can feel our faces flush red hot right now.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is an upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game for PC from developer BioWare and LucasArts. Release date is currently unannounced.

“We will be making an official announcement regarding our forthcoming Video Store, next week, at Gamescom,” says European PlayStation Store manager Angela Madronero. To be fair to him, Madronero could’ve been asked about the video store. To be fair to us, he could cut the corporate song and dance and tell folks what’s up.

The video-on-demand service is already live in the US, hitting the PSN Store July of last. Former Sony Computer Entertainment Europe honcho David Reeves stated that the service would not be hitting Europe until 2009. Be patient European peoples!

News: Sony to unveil PS3 video store at Gamescom [CVG]

Taking place on July 31 and August 1 in the former home of the once-massive Gamescon, the convention will focus on the online aspect of gaming.

Former CEO of SCEE David Reeves has signed on as a leading keynote speaker for the show, the conference announced.

Reeves’ talk is entitled “Schrodinger’s Cat and Heisenberg’s Dog – The Change from Offline to Online”. Reeves will explain what “everything online” means for the industry.

“At the GCO, I will provide a view of when online sales of games overtake classic retail distribution”, Reeves said.

With the carpet sort of pulled out from under Leipzig last year it will be interesting to see how the survive and if they thrive with this new, more niche, focus.

David Reeves and Jong Hyun Wi to Give Opening Keynote Speeches [Gamescon]

The 2009 Gamescom already has 300 exhibitors registered from 25 countries with more than 40 percent of them coming from abroad. The event, which will fill the 120,000 square meters of exhibition space at the Koelnmesse Trade Fair Tower, runs from Aug. 19 to Aug. 23.

“These figures confirm that Cologne’s trade fair centre, with its international network, its infrastructure and its connection to international transportation routes, is the ideal location for the games industry’s leading trade fair,” said managing director of Koelnmesse Oliver P. Kuhrt.

Among the confirmed developers for the show are Activision Blizzard, Capcom, Electronic arts, Microsoft, Square Enix, Take Two, Konami, Sony, Warner Brothers, dtp Entertainment, NCsoft and Funcom.

The show will also have gaming zones focused on different themes including, lifestyle, sport, action and adventure and E-Sport.

Finally, the show is going to trop and beat the cosplay world record, hoping to gather more than 400 cosplayers to the event. Yes, cosplayers in inhibition-free Germany!

Will Kotaku be there, oh we’ll be there alright. Though no promises about drunken renditions of Hungry Like the Wolf.

BioWare’s epic fantasy will be making the rounds at various comic cons and consumer expos across the glob starting in July and ending in early September. Here’s the lineup:

July 22-26, San Diego Comic-Con (San Diego, California)
August 13-16, Gen-Con (Indianapolis, Indiana)
August 19-23, GamesCon (Cologne, Germany)
August 28-30, Fan Expo Canada (Toronto, Canada)
September 4-6, Penny Arcade Expo Seattle (Seattle, Washington)

Last year at PAX, there was a pretty spiffy Dragon Age booth set up near the entrance to the exhibit hall. BioWare reps were demoing the game for small groups of 10-20 at a time and giving everyone who got in a lurid orange t-shirt that’s probably one of the softest swag shirts I’ve ever touched. It was probably one of the longer lines I’ve waited in next to the Fallout 3 hands-on exhibit.

This might be the only chance fans have to actually play the game before it comes out — BioWare hasn’t said a word about an XBLA or PSN demo so far — so if you live near any of those venues and really want a look at the game before buying it, go check it out.

BioWare to Unleash Dragon Age: Origins 2009 Summer Tour [IGN]

What’s a European gamer to do? With the once enormous Leipzig Games Convention fractured, two new gaming conventions are popping up around the same time to take its place.

Technically, the Leipzig Games Convention still exists, but the folks putting it on just announced that they’ve decided to refocus the gaming event on just online and mobile games. Seriously. This new, seemingly horrible, convention will run from July 31 to August 2.

But the thing is, it was so, so, so great before that it’s hard to just turn our backs on it cold turkey.

Unless there’s another draw… say in Cologne.

This morning the Cologne Gamescom (yes, with an M) sent out an email reminding everyone just how great their new, first-time-ever show is going to be. Never mind that there’s not more camping at the venue, or the hijinks of the “beach” or that Cologne, I’m told, is crowded and hard to get around even without the help of an international convention.

The Gamescom, which runs from August 19 through the 23, has the backing of quite a few big companies like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and the German Trade Association of Interactive Entertainment Software.

So yes, this is exactly what it sounds like: A pissing match with gamers caught in the middle, full stream.