New York Comic Con (NYCC), the second largest popular culture event in the United States, today announces many of the video game highlights during its 2008 event, April 18-20, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. With an expanded focus on video games, this year’s conference includes a look into the award-winning Gears of War franchise and the upcoming Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360 by Epic Games President Michael Capps and Gears of War 2 scriptwriter Joshua Ortega of Microsoft Game Studios. New York Comic Con is a showcase for the biggest and the best of American pop culture and video games. These driving forces in what’s popular and hot are represented through a number of NYCC events, exhibitors, and guests, with this year’s show attracting many celebrities including Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and T.M. Revolution.

New York Comic Con is proud to welcome exhibitors including Konami, Namco Bandai, Square-Enix, and Ubisoft; some of the biggest names in the interactive entertainment industry. These exhibitors will present their current hits and preview the summer’s biggest titles from the show floor. While these demos and videos will be enough to satisfy any gamer, they are just the tip of the iceberg. New York Comic Con will present a special gamer summit on Sunday, April 20, with 12 panel discussions led by video game industry leaders. NYCC’s gamer summit was created with the guidance of TenTonHammer.com and Themis Media, publishers of cutting-edge sites like The Escapist Magazine and WarCry Network. The summit will showcase games including Age of Conan, EvE Online, Iron Man, Warhammer Online, and studios including CCP, FunCom, Turbine, and 38 Studios. The summit will also feature round table discussions and topics ranging from video game journalism and writing for video games, to starting a career in the video game industry.

The gamer summit will begin with a presentation by Michael Capps, president of Epic Games, and Joshua Ortega, the scriptwriter behind Gears of War 2, discussing the origin of the Gears of War saga, its unprecedented success, and offering a glimpse into this year’s upcoming Gears of War 2.

As a benefit to attendees, this year’s show also features an exciting mix of celebrity guests including: Stan Lee (creator of X-Men and Spider-Man), Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy), Ron Perlman and Selma Blair (stars of Hellboy II), Guillermo del Toro (director of Hellboy II), Frank Miller (creator of Sin City and 300), Seth Green and Matthew Senreich (creators of Robot Chicken), John Cho and Kal Penn (stars of Harold and Kumar), Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer (creators of The Venture Bros.), and Eva Mendes (star of Ghost Rider).