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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!

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Industry
Game Industry Ends 2005 on a Downer
The global video game industry will end 2005 with lower than expected sales figures according to various reports, with high demand but low supply of the Xbox 360 causing game players in certain markets, particularly the US, to hold back on buying games until they have upgraded to the new system or to the equally anticipated PS3. The Boston Herald reports "a shortage of the must-have system [Xbox 360] has already cut into game sales and threatens to make next year even tougher. To make matters worse, Sony hasn’t given details about when it will release its own next-generation system. As a result, gamers aren’t buying new games. They’re waiting until they have a new console." There is also uncertainty among analysts as to whether sales in 2006 will be below or above 2005, although indications are more pessimistic than optimistic. Despite the poor short term outlook however, key publishers like EA, THQ, and Activision are still expected to do well in the medium term, according to a recent US based Money Show Digest article. Notwithstanding the next gen transitional issues, the game industry is also under attack from the rise of pre-owned game sales which provide revenue only to retailers while taking away dollars that could be spent on purchasing new product, the growing interest (and gamer time) being captured by simple retro style TV game consoles, and continuing attempts by legislators to try and restrict sales of violent video games. Game players also have their own issues to deal with, with one Xbox 360 owner who took his new console through airport security in New York setting off a security alert; an xray scanner operator thought the console looked like a bomb, according to United Press International this week. For the Boston Herald article, click here. For the brief UPI article, click here. For the Money Show article, click here. And for an article on retro TV consoles, click here. [30 December 2005] [top]

Government
Holiday Reading - New Vic Govt ICT Plan
The Victorian Government will head into the 2006 election year with a renewed vision for the Victorian ICT industry, having launched the Victorian ICT Industry Plan 2005 – 2010 this December. The plan is billed by Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Marsha Thomson, as drawing on the "wealth of experience and ideas within the industry to create a strategic way forward for the growth of ICT in Victoria." A Key feature of the plan for the game industry is assistance to estabished a motion capture facility. The plan also focusses on growing ICT clusters and networks, developing industry related skills via scholarships, and trade mission support. To download a copy of the Victorian ICT Industry Plan 2005 – 2010 click here. [30 December 2005] [top]

MMORPG
Blizzard Says World of Warcraft has 5 Million+ Players
Blizzard Entertainment, recently in Melbourne recruiting at the local Australian Game Developers Conference, has said its massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft "has surpassed five million customers worldwide." Blizzard adds "World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players that have accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules." Blizzard recently announcement World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, an expansion for the game to come in 2006. [20 December 2005] [top]

Education
Game Making in China
This CBS News article here provides a short but interesting insight into game making in China, and the push to create centres of learning for the industry. "The Chinese government has said it wants to fuel the growth of its domestic video game industry and it's putting its money where its mouth is. Officials plan to spend 1.8 billion dollars to open video game development centers in the next few years in the hopes that will lead to the development of dozens of new Chinese-made games." reports the article. [20 December 2005] [top]

Industry
Funcom Lists in Oslo Norway
Funcom, which bills itself as "Europe's largest developer of subscription-based Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs)" has listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE). The company is presently developing "Age of Conan," an online action RPG. The company raised almost US$30 million as a result of the listing it says, and according to Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas this "means that we can further improve the quality on all aspects of our forthcoming online games." For their website, click here. [16 December 2005] [top]

Movies
MTV to make Game Based Film
Viacom subsidiary MTV Films announced last week it has acquired the rights to make a film based on 'Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure' video game concept. The game is being developed by Atari and is due for release early next year. The film will be distributed by Paramount Pictures. [16 December 2005] [top]

Industry
UK: Publishers Seeking Action on Pre-Owned at Retail
MCVUK.com reports that it has been "contacted by several bosses in the past week, following strong comments from Electronic Arts’ UK MD Keith Ramsdale, in which he criticised some retailers for deliberately extending the reach of their pre-owned offers and “making brand new product look worthless”. Further "publishers have agreed to discuss privately what action may be possible to stop the trend, either under the auspices of trade body ELSPA or simply via legal protection." Publishers are concerned they can't forecast correctly and that pre-owned is limiting market growth. For the article click here. [16 December 2005] [top]

Development
Ubisoft Dissapoints Itself With King Kong on Xbox 360
The BBC reports that Ubisoft has suggested "fans wanting to get the best out of the King Kong video game should avoid the version for Microsoft's new Xbox 360. Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot admitted that the 360 game is too dark on standard TVs, making it hard to play." For the article, click here. [16 December 2005] [top]

Industry
Midway Reportedly Closes Adelaide Studio
Thanks to a reader who alerted us to this: Sumea.com.au is reporting that US based Midway Games is closing Midway Studios - Australia (formerly Ratbag Studios). Midway only bought the Adelaide based Ratbag Studio, established in 1994, in late July 2005, in a primarily stock transaction of 418,570 Midway shares (see Adelaide's Ratbag Bought By US Based Midway Games for AUD$7 Million, 5 August 2005). At the time Midway Shares closed around US$13.35 (valuing the transaction at about US$5,6 million - AUD $6.97 million), but over the past 4 months the company's shares have almost doubled to close at above US$23 yesterday. It is understood that the closer has been swift and unexpected, and puts scores of game development staff out of work before Christmas in a city where Ratbag/Midway Studios was the one and only established game development studio. In the most recent Midway quarterly financial report Midway says it purchased Ratbag Holdings and subsidiaries for 418,570 shares of common stock having a value of approximately $5,500,000, and $1,000 in cash. The shares were in a staged escrow finishing 4 August 2008. Greg Siegele, the former CEO of Ratbag became Studio Head, and was provided at least 38,052 of the shares, about $500,000 worth, held in escrow for three years and expiring if he quits or is terminated for cause before that time. 10 key Ratbag staff also received rights to a parcel of 38,050 restricted shares, accessible in one third amounts each 4 August anniversary, as retention incentive. Subsequent to the third quarter of the calendar year Midway purchased the privately-held The Pitbull Syndicate Limited, a software developer located in Newcastle, United Kingdom. The deal cost Midway 199,385 common shares (valued at approximately $2,775,000), and $1,000 in cash, with the old owners agreeing to a staged escrow period finishing in three years. This time Midway provided retention incentives in the form of 25,146 restricted shares (valued at approximately $350,000) to 11 key Pitbull staff accessible in one approx one third amounts each 3 October anniversary. For the Sumea site, click here. [15 December 2005] [top]

Industry
Korea Launches Game Portal for US
The Korean Government backed Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency launched a new web site this week at www.gameNgame.com. The site is an online games portal packed with brand new games and older titles not previously released in the U.S. The games are available for free and the not-for-profit game portal aims to promote Korean developers in the US. For the website, click here. [15 December 2005] [top]

Movies
The French Democracy - Fan Made Movie
Activision reports that a unique short film entitled “The French Democracy,” created using Activision's game The Movies, developd by Lionhead Studios in the UK, has attracted international media attention since its release on November 22, 2005 on the game’s website. The film, made by French designer Alex Chan, is a commentary on the social situation which led up to the recent riots in Paris and other French cities and was first written about in The Washington Post, and has sinced been featured on MTV.com, Business Week, and 20 Minutes (a French newspaper with a circulation of over 800,000) according to Activision. For the website, click here. [15 December 2005] [top]

Government
Film Victoria: 9 Jan 06 Deadline for Travel Loans
Victorians planning to attend any of the following new media markets: Game Developers Conference, 20-24 March 2006; MILIA, 3-7 April 2006; or E3 Expo or Conference, 9-12 May 2006, and who would like to be considered for a Film Victoria International Travel Fund – Markets loan, are encouraged by Film Victoria to submit an application by the 9 January 2006 deadline. Guidelines and application forms are available on the Film Victoria Website. [13 December 2005] [top]

Next Gen
Xbox 360 Launch in Japan Rated Luke Warm
An article in the Age comments that while "US software giant Microsoft has gone on the offensive on the home turf of its Japanese rivals, launching its sleek new Xbox 360 console ahead of the holiday season in a tough battle for business," Japanese "consumers appeared muted in their enthusiasm in contrast to the excitement generated at the console's US debut on November 22." For the article, click here. [13 December 2005] [top]

Industry
Midway's Unlicensed Gridiron Game
The LA Times has an intriguing article about Midway and its unlicensed video game set in a world of Gridiron. "Frustrated by the restrictions the NFL had imposed on its "Blitz" line of football titles, Midway set out to develop the video game it had always wanted to make — an over-the-top football soap opera replete with showboating players who revel in causing injuries, doctors who administer performance-enhancing "juice," greedy owners and scantily clad cheerleaders who look straight out of strip joints." The game is Blitz: The League, and apparently sold a decent 135,000 copies in the first 15 days after launch in the US in October. For the article, click here. [13 December 2005] [top]

Development
Vivendi Grants Fan Licence to King's Quest IX
Vivendi Universal Games has said "after extensive evaluation, Vivendi Universal Games is pleased to announce that the fan developed trilogy project 'The Silver Lining' (previously known as King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining), based on characters from Sierra Entertainment's "King's Quest" series, has been given approval to continue development." The first of three chapters will be completed soon, and Vivendi's OK means the game makers can release the game for free. "We are so thrilled with this news," said Matt Compton, one of the members of the Save King's Quest IX campaign. "We were very hopeful that if we organized the fans of the King's Quest series, we would be able to get Vivendi's attention. It feels so good to know that we were successful in doing that." The Save King's Quest IX campaign was launched in mid-October, just a few weeks after Vivendi issued a cease and desist order to the fans making the game. The campaign focused on asking fans to send letters and emails to Vivendi, as well as having bloggers write about it. King's Quest IX is a fan-created project that has been in development since early 2002, and is based on the King's Quest series of adventure games made by Sierra Online. More than 40 people from around the globe have participated in its creation. Upon completion, the game will be made available as a free download on the game's website here. [13 December 2005] [top]

Industry
In-Game Advertising Still Maturing
"When BP Lubricants USA wanted to raise the profile of its high-performance Castrol Syntec motor oil with ever-elusive young male consumers, it followed them into a popular racing video game" starts this article on Reuters.com. The game is the just released Need for Speed Most Wanted, out from Electronic Arts. Reuters reports that EA had ads in "11 of its 33 games this year" and that in-game advertising is allowing advertisers to find the 30 year old make demographic, which have tuned out of TV and print media. For the article, click here. [12 December 2005] [top]

Industry
GameNews Weekly: Local Game Developers Conference: New Game
The latest issue of our weekly enewsletter looks at how the local annual game developers conference is changing: "Rumors abounded in public before the AGDC, held 1 to 3 December in Melbourne, that this year's AGDC would be the last and that the game developer's peak body, the Game Developers' Association of Australia, would host their own conference in 2006. The rumours were true and the GDAA is now planning for a conference in 2006 that for all intents and purposes, will replace the annual AGDC on the game developers fixture." The enewsletter comes out every week, and includes our weekly Game Japan news item (this week: Samuari 7), industry sourced quote, editorial, and events list amongst other items. [09 December 2005] [top]

Industry
EA Buys Mobile Publisher Jamdat
EA has said it has acquired Jamdat for US $680 million. For the announcement, click here. [09 December 2005] [top]

Development
Red Mile Entertainment Games Awarded at AGDC 2005
US publisher Red Mile Entertainment says it is pleased to announce that two of its titles have won several prestigious awards, including Best Game of 2005 and Best Handheld Game, at the 2005 Australian Game Developers Awards in Melbourne, Australia. The company says Heroes of the Pacific, developed in Melbourne by IR Gurus, received four awards: Best Game of 2005, Best PC Game, Programming Excellence and Outstanding Visual Arts. Also, Gripshift, developed by New Zealand Sidhe Interactive, received three awards: Best Handheld Game, Best Game Design and Best Level Design. Chester Aldridge, CEO of Red Mile Entertainment, says "all of us at Red Mile Entertainment are thrilled that our development partners at IR Gurus and Sidhe Interactive have been recognized for the excellence of their games," adding "the awards vindicate our belief that these studios are among the best up-and-coming game development studios in the world. We are delighted to have worked with them on these games and to continue our partnership for several of our upcoming titles."For the Red Mile website, click here. [09 December 2005] [top]

Industry
Sony Buys Killzone Developer Guerrilla Games
Guerrilla Games must be coming to the end of the development on Killzone 2, as Sony announced this week it acquired the Netherlands based studio Guerrilla B.V. Sony says Killzone "has shipped close to 2 Million units worldwide" and that the studio "is currently working on a new Killzone title for PLAYSTATION 3... [and] also developing a further game within the Killzone universe for PlayStation Portable." Release December 2004 Killzone pushes the PS2 to the extremes to provide a full-on FPS experience. For the studio website, click here. [09 December 2005] [top]

Classification
UK Industry Body Sets up Age Ratings Website
The UK's Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association, ELSPA, founded in 1989, has set up Askaboutgames.com, a new initiative it says is designed to help parents understand the age ratings system for computer and video games so that they can make more informed choices when choosing games for their children. Under the UK system, games which are exempt from legal classification under the Video Recordings Act, which accounts for 90% of all titles according to ELSPA, are subject to a voluntary pan-European age ratings system operated since 2003 by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe, the video game publishing and distribution industry's European body. The voluntary system is known as Pan European Games Information (PEGI). ELSPA says "gaming is now a mainstream leisure activity in the UK. The average age of gamers is in the mid-twenties and it is estimated that over half of all males and one in four of all females play games regularly." Roger Bennett, director general of ELSPA sais "We believe that through the askaboutgames.com website parents will see that the games industry is as well regulated as all other entertainment mediums. Armed with the facts on game ratings, parents will be able to buy games for their children for Christmas and throughout the year with the assurance that their children are not being exposed to content unsuitable for their age." Askaboutgames.com also highlights ways in which consumers can work in the games industry and courses that are available to school leavers to get onto a gaming career path. For the website, click here. [08 December 2005] [top]

Next Gen
Microsoft Sued by Xbox 360 Buyer in Product Liability
Reuters.com reports "a Chicago man who bought Microsoft Corp.'s new Xbox 360 has sued the world's largest software maker, saying the new video game console has a design flaw that causes it to overheat and freeze up." It is apparently a class action suit, "filed on Friday in federal court in Illinois, [which[ seeks unspecified damages and litigation-related expenses, as well as the replacement or recall of Xbox 360 game consoles." For the article, click here. [07 December 2005] [top]

Industry
US: Call of Duty 2 Top Xbox 360 Game Rental
US Nasdaq listed Rentrak Corporation, which carries out real-time home video and video game tracking and analysis under the brand Home Video Essentials, has said "consumer spending on video game rentals surged during the week of Thanksgiving due in part to the release of Microsoft's hard drive-equipped Xbox 360." Xbox 360 rentals added 3% to weekly game rental revenue apparently. Rentrak adds "projected U.S. consumer spending on video game rentals rose (+) 44% during the week ending 11/27/05 from the previous week (week ending 11/20/05) from $17.0 million to $24.4 million." The top renting Xbox 360 games for the week ending 11/27/05 (USA) in order were: 1. Call Of Duty 2 (Activision), 2. Need For Speed Most Wanted (EA), 3. Madden NFL 06 (EA), 4. Perfect Dark Zero (MS), 5. Kameo: Elements Of Power (MS), 6. NBA Live 06 (EA), 7. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (EA), 8. GUN (Activision), 9. Project Gotham Racing 3 (MS), 10. Peter Jackson's King Kong (Ubisoft). For the company website, click here. [07 December 2005] [top]

Development
2008 Olympics Licenced to SEGA
SEGA has announced from Tokyo that it will publish the Official Video Game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, after doing a partnership deal with International Sports Multimedia, exclusive licensee of the International Olympic Committee. The agreement will allow SEGA to publish a range of interactive entertainment software titles based on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Hisao Oguchi, President and Chief Operating Officer of SEGA, said "SEGA is excited to become the publisher for the Official Video Game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and we are committed to creating innovative content for an unprecedented number of interactive entertainment platforms." "This project will enable SEGA to further enhance our global entertainment business and drive sales in critical Asian markets like China that offer an extremely high growth potential." For the Sega website, click here. [07 December 2005] [top]

Movies
Dungeon Siege Film Completes Shooting
The US Grand Forks Herald reports "German director Uwe Boll has just completed principle shooting on his new feature, "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale." The movie, based on Gas Powered Games' popular video game, "Dungeon Siege," should be in theaters next fall." The film reportedly will cost US$60 million, and has Jason Statham in the lead, with the cast including Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli from LOTR). Boll's BloodRayne film will hit cinemas in the US in January. "Boll has long been considered an outsider in the German and U.S. film industries. He said that's because Germans are more geared toward art-house films while in the U.S., he is considered a maverick because he raises his own money outside the studio system." For the article, click here. [06 December 2005] [top]

Events
Update: X|Media|Lab Singapore
Brendan Harkin of X|Media|Lab reports that their recent Singapore mentor workshop held during the World Cyber Games as part of the Asia Media Festival was a huge hit. "The mentors were even amazed at meeting each other!" says Brendan, adding that there were eight Singapore projects and two Australian projects assessed and articles on the Lab in the Singapore press, but also India and the Phillipines (see Update: X|Media|Lab Singapore, 31 October 2005). [05 December 2005] [top]

Government
State of Illinois Comes Unstuck
In the US, the Illinois parliament's attempts to ban the sale and rental of violent video games to people under the age of 18 years has been knocked back by the Courts as unconstitutional (see Illinois Banning Certain Game Sales; Developers Hit Battle Stations, 29 May 2005). The Illinois Governor has pledged to keep fighting: "Promising to "keep the pressure on," [Govenor] Blagojevich suggested he is planning to spearhead a grass-roots effort to hold stores accountable and "stigmatize" merchants who fail to police themselves" reports the Chicago Tribune here.