Gamenews Weekly
Production Pages
Every month in Gamenews Weekly: Production Pages - games in development in Australia. To get the next issue, and lots more, subscribe to Gamenews Weekly today!

Dissecta Events March 2006

Legal
Pac-Man Sample: Lawsuit Settled
Reuters.com reports in the US that Namco and SonyBMG Music Entertainment have settled a lawsuit over the allegedly unauthorised use by a SonyBMG artist of a sample from Pac-Man. Namco had gone as far as filing a lawsuit in New York. For the article, click here. [31 August 2005] [top]

Society
Some Cool Quotes
We run a quote every week in our email newsletter Gamenews Weekly, and here are some of the cooler ones from recent issues: "There were more experiments, but I can't recall the details. I think any one of those would have been a good game at the time, but we were under no pressure to finish anything. Since then I've grown to appreciate the role of producers and milestones in the creative process, though there's always a creative tradeoff." - Dan Gorlin, author of 'Choplifter'. "Difficulty, after all, is magnetic, much desired: hence the video game, the crossword puzzle, golf. They are reliable, packaged forms of difficulty." - Robert Pinsky, former poet laureate of the US. "What's weird about voicing a video game is you have to allow for what a gamer might do. So, what I recommend with any of the games I work on is go into a corner or go somewhere and keep clicking on something, keep doing something really stupid because eventually you will hear 'there is nothing there.' You know, 'step away from the window' or whatever. We record a lot of things most gamers would never hear." - Bruce Campbell, Actor and Writer. [31 August 2005] [top]

Publishers
Heroes of the Pacific - Ubisoft North American Publisher; Deal with Red Mile
Californian publisher Red Mile Entertainment, which announced it had the rights to Heroes of the Pacific in May, has signed an exclusive deal with Ubisoft. Ubisoft will publish the game, developed by IR Gurus in Melbourne, in North America for PS2, Xbox, and PC; available September 28, 2005 for consoles and in October 2005 for the PC. For the Ubisoft press release click here, for the May Red Mile press release, click here. [30 August 2005] [top]

Industry
Atari US Sells Humongous Entertainment To Parent Company
Nasdaq listed Atari Inc has announced the sale of its Humongous Entertainment studio to Infogrames Entertainment SA, Atari's French based majority stockholder, for approximately US$10.3 million. Atari says the "Humongous assets consist primarily of intellectual property, existing inventory and license rights. Approximately $2 million of the purchase price represents pre-payment of certain future costs Atari will incur related to platform royalty advances, manufacturing costs and milestone payments. Additionally, Atari has been granted exclusive distribution rights for Humongous products in the U.S., Canada and Mexico through at least March 31, 2006." For the press release, click here. [30 August 2005] [top]

Development
Mac Indie Game Making Article
Apple.com has a neat article introducing independent game making tools: "Just as iMovie and Final Cut Pro brought movie creation to the masses, so have four tools enabled anyone with a vision to create their own video games: Sawblade Software’s Power Game Factory, GarageGames’ 2D and 3D Torque Engines, OverTheEdge’s Unity and Phelios’ PTK." For the article, click here. [29 August 2005] [top]

Events
Explore Fantastic Four, 20 September 2005
Torus Games will feature in 'Explore Fantastic Four', a Dissecta event to be held Tuesday 20 September in Melboure. The event will be held at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, ACMI Screen Pit, Federation Square, starting at 7pm. This will be Dissecta's fourth live event. Fantastic Four the film has already taken $295 million worldwide since release in July. The video game licence was acquired by US based Activision, a US$1.4 billion dollar publisher. Fantastic Four the video game was released for multiple formats with the PS2, Xbox, and Game Cube versions created by Californian developer Seven Studios (bought by Activision in May), and the PC version by Canadian company Beenox (bought by Activision in May as well). Another version of Fantastic Four was created for the Game Boy Advance by Melbourne's own Torus Games; the GBA is a platform which has sold over 65 million units since release with Nintendo soon to release a further GBA platform, the Game Boy Micro. For the Dissecta website, click here. [29 August 2005] [top]

Morten Brodersen, CEO Third Wave Games (middle) speaking about the development and
self-publishing aspects of War World, at Dissecta's third event held 23 August 2005
[left side, Tom Crago, CEO Tantalus Interactive, right side, David Hewitt, Co-ordinator of
local International Game Developers' Association, and far right, Dissecta host Gerry O'Brien].

Handhelds
Nintendogs in the UK: Dog Marketing
Nintendo will soon publish Nintendogs for the DS in the UK and other western countries, after taking Japan by storm. Nintendo has announced two cross promotional marketing initiatives; one with UK's largest dog welfare charity, Dogs Trust, and another with UK's number one dog food company Bakers Complete. Nintendo's joint marketing activities with the Dog's Trust will take place August to December and include on-pack branding and fund raising initiatives with Nintendo appealling "to its league of fans, hounding them to support Dogs Trust and sponsor one of its 26 sponsor dogs at one of its 15 rehoming centres nationwide." Nintendogs will also promote Bakers Complete with discount coupon's in launch copies of the game, and will be promoted on 1.5 million packs of Bakers Complete, and on its website. For the European Nintendo website click here; for the Dog Trust website click here; for the Bakers Complete website click here. [28 August 2005] [top]

Society
European Youth Marketing Company Research: Children and Games
European youth marketing company JuniorSenior says its research of 4,000 children aged up to 15 years old shows 61% play games on a daily basis; they actively search out their information and products; the price of new games plays a small role when purchasing games; and that the role of internet as an advertising medium is growing amongst this age group. Further, 65 % preferred to play games on pc while "only 12% of children occasionally copy games from friends." With respect to marketing, the research revealed 32% learn about new games through their friends; 26% through advertising; 11% from the introduction or demonstration of a game in a television show. For the website, click here. [28 August 2005] [top]

Events
Victoria: Digital Media Fund Internship Program Information Evening
Film Victoria’s Digital Media Fund runs an Internship Program, and will host an information session Wednesday 7 September at 6.30 PM in the Yarra Room, 2nd Floor, Melbourne Town Hall. Aimed at potential applicants, speakers include Andrew Niere of IR Gurus and Mike Hollands from Act3 Animation. The internship program, the next round closing 10 October 2005, is open to game development companies, as well as broadband, visual FX, post production and animation companies. Contact DMF@film.vic.gov.au or call 03 9660 3200, or visit their website here. [28 August 2005] [top]

Development
Game Player's Bill Of Rights
Independent game design consultant Ernest Adams (Dungeon Keeper lead designer, audio/video producer Madden NFL Football products) has put forward a game player's Bill of Rights, which makes for interesting reading. "The Right Not To Be Insulted. I downloaded somebody's version of Minesweeper for my cell phone the other day. Minesweeper is one of those games that you can lose instantly, by pure bad luck. It's a short game, so that's OK. But in this particular version, if you accidentally trigger a mine, the game puts up a message saying, “Better learn the RULES,” and that's simply insulting. Of course I know the rules. This need to taunt the player for making a mistake, or losing the game, seems to be a weakness of young male game designers, and it's a bad practice" writes Ernest. For the article, click here; for Ernest website, click here. [28 August 2005] [top]

Events
Brisbane Game Dev MeetUp Group: 27 August 2005
The Brisbane Game Developers Meetup Group will meet Saturday 27 August at 5pm at the Pavilion Bar, Stamford Plaza, Brisbane CBD (beer garden). For the group's MeetUp website, click here. [23 August 2005] [top]

Game Music
Official Soundtrack for Wipeout Pure
Distinctive Records, in conjunction with Sony Computer Entertainment and Stomp, are to release an official soundtrack for the 1995 PlayStation game Wipeout Pure. The soundtrack coincides with the release of the PSP verison of Wipeout, to be released 1 September 2005. The high energy soundtrack is specially crafted for the game from a range of top artists and features many exclusives and previously unreleased tracks from the likes of Aphex Twin, LFO, Stanton Warriors, Paul Hartnoll (Orbital) Photek, Hybrid, Friendly, Freq Nasty, Way Out West, Stanton Warriors Ils and Rennie Pilgrem states Distinctive. The soundtrack will be distributed in Australia by Stomp / EQ. For the record labels website, click here. [23 August 2005] [top]

Society
Modders Drawn Into Limelight
The Hot Coffee drama has drag the modding community into the spotlight, with Macon.com, operated by the Macon City Telegraph in Georgia in the US, running an article exploring the risk that game modders pose to society, stating "for the uninitiated, these game hackers, known as "modders," are a terrifying lot." The article does go on to provide both sides of the argument and is an interesting view on the role of modders and the far reaching effect they can have. For the article, click here. [18 August 2005] [top]

Industry
Financial Reports for 3 Months to End June 05: EA, Activision, THQ, Midway, and Atari
Electronic Arts: Net revenue for the first quarter was $365 million (US$1 is worth about AUD$0.77), down 16 percent as compared with $432 million for the prior year but above their expectations. Sales were driven by Medal of Honor European Assault and Battlefield 2, each selling over 1 million copies in the quarter (Battlefield 2 selling 1 million copies in 2 weeks). Other key titles included Batman. FIFA Street, MVP Baseball 2005 and Need for Speed Underground 2 which sold over 500 thousand copies in the quarter. For the quarter, EA made a net loss of $58 million, compared with net income of $24 million for the prior year. EA expect second quarter net revenue, ending 30 September 2005, to be between $600 and $630 million with full year net revenue expected to be between $3.3 and $3.4 billion (for the past year net revenue was $3.129 billion). EA results here.
Activision: Net revenues for the first quarter ending 30 June 2005 were a record $241.1 million as compared to net revenues of $211.3 million reported for the first quarter last fiscal year. Net loss for the first fiscal quarter was $3.6 million, as compared with net income of $12.0 million for the previous first quarter. The company stated that to date, Doom3, Madagascar, and Fantastic 4 had all shipped over 1 million copies. Activision bought the developer of Madagascar, Toys for Bob, and the developer of Fantastic 4 (PC) Beenox, during the quarter as well. Activision expect second quarter net revenue, ending 30 September 2005, to be approximately $200 million with full year net revenue expected to be $1.47 billion, a little higher than previously stated (for the past year net revenue was $1.405 billion). Activision results here.
THQ: For the three months ended 30 June 2005 THQ reported net sales of $158 million, above their expectations, and a net loss of $4 million; the company states the better than expected performance can be attributed to two new original properties, Destroy All Humans! and Juiced which have both shipped more than one million copies each, as well as WWE Wrestlemania 21. For the same period a year ago, THQ reported net sales of $88.2 million and a net loss of $3.9 million. THQ President and CEO Brain Farrell said the success of Destroy All Humans! And Juiced "significantly expands THQ's portfolio of predictable, recurring franchises…We plan to continue to leverage these brands on current and next-generation consoles." Other predictable and recurring franchises, which will have games out over the next nine months, include WWE SmackDown!, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Incredibles, Full Spectrum Warrior, Tak and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War." THQ expect second quarter net revenue, ending 30 September 2005, to be approximately $125 million with full year net revenue expected to be $750 million (for the past year net revenue was $756.7 million). THQ states it has expanded its internal development capabilities to 11 studios and nearly 1,000 employees" and formed a new studio based in New York focused on next-generation game development. THQ report here.
Midway Games: Net revenues for the second quarter for the company, ending 30 June 2005, were $36.9 million as compared to net revenues of $47.3 million reported for the second quarter last fiscal year. Net loss for the second fiscal quarter was $29.9 million, as compared with net loss of $11.2 million for the previous second quarter. The figures were below company expectations. The company says Area 51 and , Unreal Championship 2 released during the quarter were top sellers for the company, so to continued sales of NARC, released the quarter before. Previously the company had said for the full year expects net revenue of $225 million (a 40% increase on last year) and net loss of $47 million (up from prior expectation of $38 million). Midway report here.
Atari/Infogrames: Reporting from France, Infogrames Entertainment says revenue from ordinary business for the first quarter of the fiscal year, to 30 June 2005, amounted to 55.5 million euros (1 euro is worth about AUD$0.63). In addition the company says, revenue of 52.7 million euros was generated by the sale of licenses during the period, as the Company sold back digital rights to Hasbro last June, resulting in a better financial position for the Group for the current year. As part of the transaction with Hasbro, Infogrames entered into a new licensing agreement giving it rights to ten major Hasbro franchises, including Dungeons and Dragons, Monopoly, Scrabble, Yahtzee, and Boggle. Infogrames said the quarter "reflects business generated by the current catalog, in the absence of new releases." Coming up, the company is to release The Matrix: Path of Neo, Dungeons & Dragons Online (PC), Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi (PS2), and Fahrenheit. North American operations of Infogrames, under the Nasdaq listed Atari, saw revenue of $24.2 million with a net loss of $32.8 million, as compared to $108 million in revenues for the previous first quarter with a net profit of $12.1 million. Atari Inc report here, Infogrames report here.
Take-Two Interactive: Take-Two has yet to release results for the quarter ending 30 June 2005 (its third fiscal quarter) with results for the second fiscal quarter ending 30 April 2005 released only at the start of June. For its second quarter ending 30 April 2005 Take Two had net sales of $222.1 million as compared to $153.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2004. There was a net loss for the quarter of $8.2 million, compared to a net loss of $14.6 million last year. Take-Two said it attributed its increased second quarter sales to the launch of Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition for PS2 and Xbox, and Major League Baseball 2K5 again for PS2 and Xbox, and "continued consumer demand for its Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" title for PS2. Third quarter results will cover the period of the hot coffee mod. Take Two previous report here. [18 August 2005] [top]

NextGen
Microsoft Releases US and European Pricing for Xbox360; Two Versions
Microsoft's Xbox 360 will launch with a multitude of accessories and apparanet combinations, with two differently priced models depending if you want a HDD or not. Microsoft says the Xbox360 will launch 'this holiday season' in Europe, Japan and North America, to be followed by availability in Australia, Colombia, Hong Kong, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan in 2006. In the US, the Thanksgiving holidays are always a bonanza for video game sales, and the holiday falls on the fourth Thursday of November every year, this year it will be Thursday 24 November 2005. Microsoft will not want to miss this date in the US. Pricing: In the US/Europe, the Xbox360 will be sold for US$299.99/€299.99/£209.99 for the basic model and for the model with "hundreds of dollars worth of accessories" the price will be US$399.99/€399.99/£279.99. It appears that while the accessorised Xbox360 will have a version of Xbox Live (Silver version) straight out of the box, this connection will not allow multiplayer gaming but rather allow players to chat, share their profiles, and access an electronic market to buy or receive updates, patches, and other downloads. The accessorised model comes with the Xbox 360 console, Xbox 360 Hard Drive (20 GB), Wireless Controller, Faceplate, Headset, Component HD-AV Cable (for high definition output if you have a high definition TV), Xbox Live Silver membership, and a bonus Media Remote. The basic model comes with the Xbox 360 console, wired Controller, Faceplate, Standard AV Cable (just standard definition output for standard TVs). For more information click here. [18 August 2005] [top]

Online
Codemasters To Launch Funsta Games Portals in September
Codemasters will launch an independently branded online gaming portal, Funsta.com, in September to expand its presence in the online gaming market; domains have also been acquired in Australia, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. Codemasters says Funsta.com will target casual and core online gamers with a vast catalogue of games available for play. The games will be available to players through several distribution methods, including a dedicated gaming client, the Funsta Arcade. Codemasters received investment from Benchmark Capital Europe earlier this year, and Funsta is part of current growth plans, the first project for Codemasters Online Gaming (See Codemasters Online Group 1 July 2005). Link to Funsta here. [16 August 2005] [top]

Development
City of Villains Taking Shape
NCsoft Europe and developer Cryptic Studios have released images for one of the signature characters from the upcoming release City of Villains, the follow on for last year's massively multiplayer online game City of Heroes; the character is Captain Mako. Melbourne developer Steve Fawkner of Infinite Interactive commented at Dissecta in June that City of Villains "shows exactly how to extend a world in a meaningful and valuable way, while still retaining the integrity and flavor of the original." For the European City of Villains site, click here. [16 August 2005] [top]

Development
Heroes of the Pacific PC Demo
UK publisher Codemasters has released a PC demo of the IR Gurus developed game Heroes of the Pacific, prior to launch next month. The demo features three single player missions and one multiplayer mission (up to 8 players online, LAN). The game will be available for PS2, Xbox, and PC. For the game website, click the link here. [16 August 2005] [top]

Development
Perception Refutes JoWooD Productions Recent Press Release
Perception has released a statement concerning JoWooD Productions termination of the Stargate development deal, stating "Perception Pty Ltd would like to rectify certain statements that have been made to the press by JoWooD Productions. To be clear, Perception is the official licensee of MGM on Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. Any suggestion that JoWooD has rights to Stargate SG-1: The Alliance upon termination of the contract is incorrect and not based on commercial or legal fact." Perception's CEO, Ben Lenzo, states "We view it as unfortunate that JoWooD would elect to make such misleading and libelous comments to the media and the marketplace. Over the last 9 months, JoWooD has openly acknowledged being in breach of contract in a number of areas including many legal and confidentiality breaches as well as several financial defaults for work performed by Perception and accepted by JoWooD." Perception says it has "begun personal prosecution proceedings against both the CEO, Albert Seidl and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of JoWooD, Andreas Rudas, for the libelous comments made in their press release and will use all legal remedies available to it for the substantial monies owed to it by JoWooD." For the statement, see the Perception website here. [15 August 2005] [top]

Development
Auran's Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 Gets North American Publisher
Merscom LLC, established 1999, has announced an agreement with Brisbane based Auran Games to publish Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 for the PC in North America. The game is scheduled to be released Q4 2005. Once known as the working title "Engineer's Edition", Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 will ship with fully realized routes that include a wide range of activities users can immediately enjoy. Players will be able to embark on long haul freight services, high-speed passenger runs and challenging yard operations, all while servicing a huge variety of interactive stations and industries. Lloyd Melnick, Director of Merscom, said "We are very excited to publish Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 as it fills a huge void in the US market. Ever since Microsoft discontinued its railroad simulator, hundreds of thousands of fans have been clamoring for a train simulator using great technology. We have the best product on the market to satisfy those fans." For the game website, click the link here. For the Merscom site, click here. [11 August 2005] [top]

Conference
Asian Game Developers Summit, Malaysia, October
The inaugural Asian Game Development Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 11-12 October 2005. The event is being organised by Gamebrains Sdn Bhd, Gameaxis Unwired Malaysia, and Malaysian government agency the Multimedia Development Corporation. The organisers say the AGDS "is the first regional game development conference to be held in Malaysia that is endorsed by the International Game Developers Association and the Malaysian government, and is aimed at promoting game development in the Southeast Asian region." For their website, click here. [10 August 2005] [top]

Industry
Strategic Studies Group Receives The Charles S. Roberts Award
Publisher Matrix Games has announced that Sydney based Strategic Studies Group's Battles in Normandy has received the Charles S. Roberts award, named after the founder of Avalon Hill and annually awarded to a deserving wargame. Battles in Normandy is a part of the Decisive Battles Series, which has previously won a number of awards, including War Game of the Year from both Computer Gaming World and Gamespy, Editor's Choice from PC Gamer, and The Wargamer's Award for Excellence. For the SSG website, click here. [9 August 2005] [top]

Gamenews WeeklyEditorial
Perception Were Not Willing To Give Up Control of Stargate Licence
"German publisher JoWood released an announcement Friday that it had terminated its development contract for the game Stargate SG1: The Alliance, with Sydney based developer Perception. It is a risky opening gambit from JoWood in what is sure to be an interesting few months for those involved in the development. JoWood was handed the Stargate game on a platter by Perception; Perception has a dream of making a blockbuster triple AAA title and went out of its way to negotiate a licence for a game based on the Stargate TV property with owner MGM Interactive. Even getting a foot in the door in the American licensing business costs bags on money. In any event, once Perception did a deal with MGM Interactive, it shopped around for a publisher, settling on JoWood for the flexibility it would provide the developer. JoWood at E3 did a deal with Namco Hometek in America, to help get the game into stores in the North American market. Stargate would be a big title for JoWood and would have a roll in opening up the North American market to the publisher, and would be as important to it as it is for Perception. The licence though, was gained by Perception, and the unusual relationship with the publisher means this is not a typical publishing deal. In November last year we interviewed Ben Lenzo of Perception, and this is what he said about their publishing strategy: "Some publishers wanted to control the license, which wasn't something we were willing to give up. When we met with JoWooD, they understood what we were trying to do and for them, Stargate represented a good solid step into the US market." The crux of the matter really..." get the complete article, join Gamenews Weekly. [9 August 2005] [top]

Development
The Game Developer's Association of Australia July Newsletter Released
The GDAA has released it's latest newsletter with several news stories and an article on the game education sector in Australia. The newsletter reports that "GDAA Member BigWorld now has 45 licenses across the world for its Massively Multiplayer Online Game middleware, with Netease in China now a major customer...While the Netease project has not yet been announced, other Chinese customers for BigWorld are Woncore Communications who are making House of Flying Daggers - the MMO, and Tiancheng Interactive who are making a number of MMOGs using BigWorld." The game education article canvassed Tea Tree Gully campus of TAFE SA (Adelaide), Academy IT (Sydney), Academy of Interactive Education (Melbourne and Canberra), and QANTM College (Brisbane). For the GDAA website, click here. [8 August 2005] [top]

Industry
State of the Handheld Industry
Tantalus Interactive and Torus Games of Australia, and Sidhe Interactive of New Zealand, together with nine other handheld developers from around the world, discuss the handheld industry in NintendoInsider.com's latest 'State of the Handheld Industry' Developer Round Table, located here. [8 August 2005] [top]

Development
JoWood Terminates Stargate SG1:The Alliance
Gateworld.net reports "in a surprise move, Austrian video game publisher JoWooD Productions Software AG announced today that they have put the brakes on Stargate SG-1: The Alliance and terminated the company's relationship with developer Perception PTY Ltd. The company believes that the game as it is being developed will not meet the quality expectations of fans." For the article, click here, based on a press release from JoWood located here. [6 August 2005] [top]

Industry
Adelaide's Ratbag Bought By US Based Midway Games for AUD$7 Million
Midway Games Inc has announced it has acquired Ratbag Holdings Pty Ltd, the Adelaide based game development studio established in 1994; "Midway acquired the privately-held developer in a primarily stock transaction for 418,570 Midway shares." Midway Shares closed US$13.35 yesterday, valuing the transaction at about US$5,6 million (AUD $6.97 million). In addition, 10 key staff received rights to acquire a total of 38,050 shares of Midway common stock, as retention incentives. Midway says the studio is currently working on several unannounced Midway products for both current- and next-generation systems, and we will be remaned Midway Studios - Australia. Midway's President and Chief Executive Officer David F. Zucker said "Ratbag brings to Midway a rare combination of development expertise in driving and on-foot combat that they are incorporating into our games now in development." Midway's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Studios Matt Booty said, "We are excited to add this proven studio with solid management and a strong development team to Midway, and establish a firm foothold in Australia, a great location for top entertainment industry talent. We plan to leverage their talent and technology across our internal development studios, which will support our goal of maintaining our leadership in high quality development." For the press release click here. [5 August 2005] [top]

Development
Irrational Games Canberra Now Hiring
The Canberra studio of Irrational Games (Tribes: Vengence, Freedom Force, SWAT 4) has several vacancies. The studio is currently working on a next generation title, it is very hush hush, but they are now looking for a senior programmer, senior console programmer, programmer, artist, junior artist, and a junior level designer. For the list of positions on their website, click the link here. [4 August 2005] [top]

Education
Game Design Theory And Analysis Short Course, Melbourne
Melbourne based game consultantcy Game Mechanic is running a game design theory short course at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, Melbourne Campus starting Monday 15th August. Two of Australia's most senior game designers will take students on the complex journey behind game creation, promising "discussions and analysis of the games you love and hate the most!". The course runs for three weeks, Monday and Thursday nights, and costs $500 (total 18 hours). For further information, click here. [4 August 2005] [top]

Development
Spartan: Total Warrior Developer Videos
Sega and subsidiary Creative Assembly, which has a Brisbane studio, has released two short online videos featuring game footage and comments from the game's creators. For the website, click here. [2 August 2005] [top]

Online
War World Released
Australian developer Third Wave Games has released the demo and full version of War World, their mech crunching third person action game. Morten Brodersen, the founder of Third Wave Games and lead programmer on War World, said "we're very proud to announce the launch of War World. We believe the game offers something new to players and will give even the most hardcore online gamers a new challenge. We're planning to work very closely with players over the coming months, to introduce new content into the game, to update and modify the experience and make War World the must have title for gamers worldwide. War World has been in total control of the design and development process from day one and we are convinced that the game will find fans all over the world, who appreciate it's mix of non-stop action, active strategy and full-on blasting goodness." Morten will speak at Dissecta's 23 August Event in Melbourne, providing a case study on the development and public and trade relations behind War World. For the War World website, click here. For the Dissecta website, click here. [2 August 2005] [top]

Events
Third Dissecta Event - 23 August @ 7pm Melbourne
Don't Be Distracted By PR! will be Dissecta's third game industry event. A panel will discuss making games and the annoying business of public and trade relations. Key speaker is Morten Brodersen of Third Wave Games (www.warworld.net). To be held at the Australian Games Innovation Centre, Level 8, 14 Queens Road (Atari Building), Melbourne (near cnr Kings Way/St Kilda Blvd). Presented by Dissecta.com, sponsored by Pandemic Studios (Brisbane) - attendees receive the promo only sound track CD for Destroy All Humans! To arrange tickets (booking essential) contact info@dissecta.com. For the website, click here. [1 August 2005] [top]

Classification
OFLC Revokes Rating for Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas
The Office of Film and Literature Classification has revoke the classification of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, stating "the game is now unclassified in Australia. The Classification Board made this decision on the basis that it contains contentious material (activated through a code or otherwise) that was not brought to the Board's attention when it was classified." For the press release, click the link here. [1 August 2005] [top]

Industry
Article on Women Game Programmers
An article from the Associated Press has been doing the rounds in the USA, and was published in The Age in Melbourne last week. It is an interesting article which looks at two female game developers, and their view on women in the game industry. Click here for the article.