SINGAPORE, Oct. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Singapore on Friday night launched Asia's first video games exhibition to help the public tolearn about the history, culture and future of video games and itsrelationship with science and technology.

    The exhibition, PlanetGames, was jointly organized by the Singapore Science Center and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and supported by the Ministry of Education.

    Speaking at the launching ceremony of the exhibition, which will end next February, Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts Balaji Sadasivan said that this is a timely occasion to promote the appreciation of the value of games as the popularity of this form of interactive entertainment gainedmomentum.

    A survey on infocomm usage in households and by individuals for2003 showed that nearly half of Singapore's Internet users downloaded and played games online, he said, adding that this translated to nearly 700,000 Internet users, aged 15 and above playing games online.

    Balaji said that the games market in Asia is expected to hit 1 billion US dollars by 2005 and Singapore is gearing up for a pieceof this action.

    "Singapore is poised to ride on this growth. With our excellentbroadband infrastructure plus a pool of users who are ready to tryout new games, we have the right ingredients and environment for Singapore to position itself as one of the leading digital exchange hubs in Asia," he said.

    The exhibition is divided into three main areas. At the "past" gateway is the Videotopia Exhibition, an internationally touring exhibition that gives the history of video games around the world with informational kiosks and interactive displays.

    At the "present" gateway, visitors will be able to explore and play with various aspects of current interactive entertainment technology. The gateway to the "future" features some cutting-edgeresearch programs from the Mixed Reality Lab of National University of Singapore. This will be the first time that public could have a close look at the three very interesting and locally designed interactive games that mix reality with virtual reality. Enditem