Gamenews Weekly
Production Pages
14 June 2005 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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News
Pro Evolution Soccer 4 On Xbox Live
The fourth installment of Konami’s popular Pro Evolution Soccer franchise looks set to include full support for Xbox live online play. The rumours started after journalists attending the Game Stars Live consumer show reported seeing an Xbox Live button within the Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (PES4) build on display. While official confirmation has yet to come from Konami, unofficial sources claim that an announcement is on the way. Unfortunately it looks like the PS2 version will not include the same online functionality. ‘Pro Evolution Soccer’ is the name given to the European franchise based on the long-running Japanese ‘Word Soccer Winning Eleven’ series - PSE4 being developed from Winning Eleven 8 which managed to sell one million copies on it’s first day of release in Japan. For more on this story click here. John Curtin [09 September 2004]

Jobs
Pandemic Hiring for Destroy All Humans!
The studio behind Full Spectrum /Warrior, Pandemic, is currently seeking a senior programmer and a PS2 programmer for their Brisbane based Australian development team, to work on "Destroy All Humans!" being developed for THQ and due for release next year. pandemic, which also has a studio in Los Angeles, USA, would like to hear from candidates with the following skills/experience. For the Senior Programmer position: a published game credit, 2+ years of game programming experience, proficient in C++, good oral communication, a passion for games and creative problem solving, able to work productively with minimal supervision and be able to work in a team atmosphere with schedules and reliable milestone delivery. The ideal candidate would have proven technical expertise on either Xbox or PS2, experience with cross-platform development, low level assembly experience, (80x86, MIPs or VU code), avanced animation, processing, rendering or sequencing, and current DirectX or OpenGL experience. For the PS2 programmer position: strong PS2 and VU1 experience, a completed graphical/interactive title, a game demo, or a distinguished academic course list in relevant disciplines, proficient in MIPS and VU assembly, proficient in C/C++, good oral communication, able to work with minimal supervision and must be able to work in a team atmosphere with schedules and reliable milestone delivery. The ideal candidate would have a minimum of 1 completed game project, 2+ years of game programming experience, and experience with cross-platform development. Contact Pandemic through jobs@pandemicstudios.com.au. Links: www.pandemicstudios.com; www.destroyallhumansgame.com. Tim Richards [5 September 2004].

Consoles
Blu-Ray in the PS3
The next generation consoles could become an important new front in the upcoming format war over High-Definition digital disk formats. Sony has announced that it intends to include support for a read-only version of its Blu-Ray HD disk format in the Playstation 3. Blu-Ray is one of two competing HD disk formats about to hit the market (the other being the Toshiba supported HD-DVD). The single-layer, read-only version Sony has planned for the PS3 is said to store up to 23Gb of data, nearly 5 times that of existing single-layer DVDs. So far it's anyone's guess as to which HD format will become the new VHS and which will become the new Beta. You can read more about it here. John Curtin [11 August 2004]

News
Game Threatens To Destroy Society
Victorian Shadow Attorney-General Andrew McIntosh has called for the banning of recently released game 'Hitman Contracts' after the Office of Film & Literature Classification gave it an M15+ classification. The game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive involves carrying out a variety of contract killings using the mysterious hitman '47'. Those supporting the proposed ban are concerned that such a game not only glorifies the life of professional whackers, but may also result in younger players growing up to "sneak around and shoot people in the back of the head". 'Hitman Contacts' is the third installment in the Hitman franchise (also the third to be released in Australia) and has received fairly positive reviews. As yet no reports have surfaced of children flocking to careers as hired assassins. You can read more about it here. If you think you would like to decide for yourself, are over 15 years old, and have your local MP's permission you can buy the game here. John Curtin [19 July 2004]

News
Micro Forté Speaks On Citizen Zero
IGN has posted an interview with Paul McInnes, lead designer for the upcoming Citizen Zero game. Citizen Zero is a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) being developed by Sydney/Canberra based company Micro Forté. "Citizen Zero isn't just a great action game; it's also a deep RPG with over 700 hours of gameplay per class. This is a game where character progression matters, where the world holds mysteries and stories, where your character is a mystery waiting to be unlocked." Citizen Zero is currently planned for release on Xbox and PC. Read the full article here. John Curtin [19 July 2004]

News
Vivendi Universal Games Reorganises
Vivendi Universal Games, after announcing last month that 350 staff would be cut from its north American operations, has advised that Asia-Pacific and Europe will now operate as separate businesses with seperate presidents, and that the president of its international operations, Christophe Ramboz, will step down end of July. For the press release, click here. For Reuters coverage, click here. Tim Richards [13 July 2004].

Platforms
Financial Review Reports "New PlayStation ready by March 2005"
Today's Australian Financial Review reports that "Sony plans to unveil its next generation PlayStation video game console before the end of March 2005, according to a news report." For the full story, click here. Tim Richards [13 July 2004].

News
Old School Gamers Rejoice
Fans of SNK titles Metal Slug, Samurai Showdown, SNK vs. Capcom, and the perennial King of Fighters series have something to look forward to this holiday season. Ignition Entertainment has signed an agreement to publish PAL versions of the SNK 2D classics in Europe, starting in October with Metal Slug Advance for the GBA and Metal Slug 3 for PS2 and Xbox. Firm dates for the other franchises have yet to be announced, but we are told to expect their release sometime between Autumn 2004 and Spring 2005 (European seasons). Hopefully news of a local PAL release will not be far off. For more info check here. John Curtin [12 July 2004]

News
demonWare Releases Multiplayer Middleware
demonWare has released its BitDemon 1.0 netcode, a piece of middleware designed to help developers in the implemention of online play for PC, Playstation 2, and Xbox games. The company hopes that BitDemon 1.0 will relieve developers of the technical burden of creating online functionality for their titles, and will allow game-makers to focus on what's really important, the gameplay. You can read the full press release here. John Curtin [5 July 2004]

Downloads
lphpnl.com releases X-fire version 1.1
The guys at lphpnl.com have released version 1.1 of their game X-fire, a 3rd/1st person shooter with some limited multiplayer elements. X-fire was runner-up at the AGDC 2003 best independant unsigned game competition, and was also displayed at Freeplay (Independant Game Dev Conference) 2004 in Melbourne. Download X-fire here, or access the X-fire forum here. Tim Richards [5 July 2004].

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