Milan Games Week kicks off, long weekend for the youth universe

A full immersion in board games and videogames, music and pop culture, talks and meetings with authors, films, TV series and cartoons. On Friday, the curtain will rise on "Milan Games Week & Cartoomics 2024", or MGWCMX for short, the great kermesse for a very heterogeneous audience of fans of all ages that will take place in pavilions 9, 11, 13, 15 and in the Auditorium of Fiera Milano in Rho, organised by Fiera Milano in collaboration with Fandango Club Creators. The auditorium will host the Fantasticon film fest, the second edition of the festival dedicated to the anime, fantasy and horror genre. It will be a succession of film and TV series screenings, guest speakers, dedicated masterclasses as well as, for the first time, a competitive section dedicated to genre shorts. Among the many screenings not to be missed will be the preview of Piece By Piece with Universal Pictures international Italy, a film that invites the spectator on an extraordinary journey into the life of pop icon Pharrell Williams, to discover the evolution of one of the most innovative minds in music told through the lens of Lego animation, the special event dedicated to the world of One Piece, with the screening of One Piece Film: Red, in collaboration with Anime Factory, Plaion Pictures' label, and with the participation of cosplayers and fans of the franchise and a panel on the incredible phenomenon; the preview of the first two episodes in dubbed version, the second in absolute preview, of Goldrake U. Space will also be given to music by Radio 105: on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 November at 3.30 p.m. on the Central Stage inside Pavilion 13, The Kolors and Coma Cose will perform, respectively. The third edition of the Urban Show will bring Italian rap and trap singers to the stage.

Also on the Central Stage will be video game stars such as the four actors from Baldur's Gate III. On Saturday morning, it will be the turn of Shinji Mikami, inventor of the timeless masterpiece Resident Evil, who will look back on his career together with the many fans who will flock to the event. This will be followed by the return of the four actors from Baldur's Gate III, who will be on hand to answer the public's questions. Finally, on Sunday morning, Shinji Mikami will reflect on the current state of the video game industry. Space will also be given to three Italian video game development studios, to offer an unprecedented retrospective of one of the most fermenting digital sectors in Italy and the world, who will give an exclusive behind-the-scenes account of their latest productions.

Among the video game tournaments will be 'The Tournament of Champions', the isybank University Master final organised by 2Watch. An event that will celebrate university talent in a unique atmosphere: 4 challengers, 2 for the Clash Royale title and 2 for the Rocket League title, will compete in two breathtaking finals to win prizes for university education. Saturday will see the meeting of two of the most iconic realities in world pop culture. Lego bricks and the videogame phenomenon Fortnite will be the protagonists of a unique event! On stage, Lego designer Erik Jensen will explore the details of the development of the Lego Fortnite sets, the challenges of making them and the collaboration with Epic Games to create a continuum between the digital and physical experience. At the end of the day it will then be time to carbo-load and laugh, with the Power Pizza Podcast team. Lorro, Nick and Sio will take to the Central Stage with an unprecedented energy charge, to talk about everything that fascinates the audience of Milan Games Week & Cartoomics: manga, comics, videogames, films and much more. On Sunday, eSports will be big protagonists with an event that will bring the world of gaming closer to urban culture, in collaboration with Novo Esports, featuring top creators such as Pow3r, CiccioGamer and Marinoski.

Isybank, Intesa Sanpaolo's digital bank, is sponsoring the Freeplay Area with around 200 stations to play titles including: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Black Myth Wukong, Star Wars Outlaws, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Persona 3 Reload, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, EA SPORTS FC™ 25, Tekken 5, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Astro Bot, LEGO Horizon Adventures, Fortnite and Rocket League. Friday's Gamestorm Stage will feature the final round of the MotoGP eSports World Championship Global Series with 11 riders competing in the final 3 races of the championship to decide who will be the MotoGP eSports World Champion of 2024. Two Fortnite-themed events will take place on Saturday. It starts with 4Sided Air Action Vigorsol, the first Fortnite tournament on creative maps. This will be followed by the Gillette Bomber Cup, and for the first time in the tournament's history, the 2024 edition will open its doors to everyone: from amateur players to pro-players, anyone will have the chance to write their name in the competition's roll of honour. The grand finale will be staged at MGWCMX and in addition to Piz and Xiuder, 6 other talents will compete for victory, each with their own team. The last event on the Gamestorm Stage at MGWCMX 2024 will be Trinity powered by Plenitude, the first format in Italy that aims to unite creators from the entire Riot Games ecosystem by involving more than 40 leading figures from the League of Legends, Valorant and Teamfight Tactics communities.

In Hall 11 is the Electric Town, where - amidst technology, gadgets and manga - you can breathe in the scent of the Orient; one of the leading Japanese companies in interactive entertainment, Nintendo, cannot be missing here. Thanks to an entirely dedicated Nintendo Stage, there will be countless moments of play and fun offered by the Big N, which will bring its most famous titles to the stage. The eBay Hero Stage is the space dedicated to the world of comics, where national and international guests will take turns in meetings, panels and talk shows. From the live drawing workshop of the International School of Comics to appointments with world famous authors such as Simone di Meo, author of the event poster, who on Friday will talk about his exclusive exhibition. An excellent partner of Milan Games Week & Cartoomics is the IULM University of Milan, which during the three days of events will hold several talks by its professors, on the Multiverse Stage also in Hall 11. On Friday and Saturday Takahiro Yoshimatsu, the master of Japanese animation whose influence has extended to works on Dragon Ball Z: The Divine Revenge, Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge and Trigun: Badlands Rumble, will take the stage.