GameNews Headlines October 2007 Onwards

* Local Developers In the News [18 Oct 07]
* FURY Challenge Open Beta [18 Oct 07]
* Game Courses Continue to be Established in US [18 Oct 07]
* Halo 3: Estimate 2.34 Million Sold on Day One [18 Oct 07]
* Emulation Embraced by Console Makers [18 Oct 07]
* Jeremy Clarkson's Take on Video Games [18 Oct 07
* Retirement Village Buys Wii for Residents [18 Oct 07]

Development
Local Developers In the News
The Australian reports that "the Australian electronic games industry has despaired at the federal Government's failure to give it the same financial support granted to local film and television production." Link: Article. [18 Oct 07]

Online
FURY Challenge Open Beta
The European distributor of Auran's FURY, Codemasters, launched the FURY Challenge last month, held over two consecutive weekends (28th Sept - 30th Sept and 5th Oct - 7th Oct), with "$1 million of prizes up for grabs." Link: www.furychallenge.com [18 Oct 07]

Education
Game Courses Continue to be Established in US
Video game courses continue to be established in US Colleges. "Elmhurst College professors said there is a growing demand for skills involving game design and virtual reality. Job opportunities exist not only in computer game design but also the development of digital entertainment systems and digital multimedia components." reports the following article from Chicago Suburban News.com. Link: Article. And the following article, also from the Chicago area, talks up the increasing specialization and academic aspects involved in video game courses today. Link: Article. In Canada, video game courses have allowed the establishment of satellite campus for a private institution to serve the Montreal video game industry. Link: Article. [18 Oct 07]

Retail
Halo 3: Estimate that 2.34 Million Sold on Day One
GameDaily.com has estimated that Halo 3 sold "over 2.3 million units on day one." Link: Article. Meanwhile, a Colorado news site said "a new report [from the National Bureau of Economic Research] shows that freshmen with regular access to video game consoles studied, on average, 40 minutes less each day than their non-gaming peers. As a result, their GPA scores dropped by 6 percent…" The article adds " the study's release coincidentally comes at a time when university students nationwide have "Halo" hangovers." Link: Article. The LA Times covered the launch in the following article: "Microsoft Corp. claimed one of the biggest opening days in entertainment history Wednesday, saying its "Halo 3" video game rang up $170 million in U.S. retail sales in the first 24 hours." Link: Article. [18 Oct 07]

Industry
Emulation Embraced by Console Makers
An interesting article looks at the console makers' recent embrace of emulation: "It was low-hanging fruit… There was all this money sitting around. People want these games; you don't have to convince them that they're good games. It just makes economic sense to take this intellectual property and use it to try and eliminate the competition" the article reports researched James Conley, "professor with the Center for Research in Technology and Innovation at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management" saying. Link: Article. [18 Oct 07]

Society
Jeremy Clarkson's Take on Video Games
UK commentator and Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson takes a look at video games in the following opinion piece from the Sunday Times: "I would dearly love, at this point, to launch into a tirade against stupid video games, and how their graphic violence is poisoning the minds of our precious children. But I love them. I spend hours chasing my kids around nuclear power stations, laughing hysterically when their arms and legs are blown off by imaginary hand grenades." Link: Article. [18 Oct 07]

Society
Retirement Village Buys Wii for Residents
A brief article about a retirement centre in White Rock, British Columbia, US, reports that the centre has purchased a Wii for its residents' use: "New Wii enthusiast Ted Hooley says, "It's the enjoyment of doing something rather than just sitting around doing nothing and it's a new game here, so naturally everybody likes it." The residents say that even though they may heckle each other, it's all in good fun and a great way to spend their days together." Link: Article. [18 Oct 07]

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