Shady O'Grady's Rising Star Simulates the Ups and Downs of the Music Business

Build Your Band, Write the Songs, and Score That Elusive Recording Contract

Gilligames, an independent developer and publisher of PC games, today announced their upcoming musical simulation/role-playing game, “Shady O’Grady’sTM Rising Star” for Windows PC’s. Rising Star captures the struggles and successes of up and coming musicians, as they work to recruit band members, gain popularity locally and throughout America, and ultimately, get the lucrative recording contract of their dreams. Shady O’Grady’sTM Rising Star will be available in early March 2007 for $29 (download) or $36 (CD-ROM). A downloadable demo will be available in February 2007 at www.gilligames.com.



Once you’ve created and practiced enough songs, you’ll need to visit all the small bars in the area to see if you can find a gig. Whether you are opening for a better known band, or competing against other up and comers in a battle of the bands, you’ll have to prove it all night as you build your performance to a satisfying conclusion and leave your audience feelin’ alright and partying like its 1999. Give your fans a reason to believe and they’ll keep coming back to see you all day and all of the night. But if you end up getting out of control during your performance, you might over do it during your symphony of destruction and end up in the local hospital – alive, but dazed and confused.



Other Rising Star features include:
RPG-style experience/leveling system, with six assignable skills: Songwriting, Playing, Stage Presence, Production, Repair, and Business.

Make band decisions based on your musicians' Inspiration, Health, Happiness, and Ego levels.

Dynamic musician attitude system - recruit compatible musicians, and kick out egotistical musicians living in their own private Idaho that no longer get along. Unhappy and uninspired musicians may quit on their own.

Over 800 different types of equipment, including real brands with images supplied by American Musical Supply (www.americanmusical.com) to let your band rock on.

Over 120 cities to roam and conquer each randomly generated and presented in 3D for exploring.

Thousands of locations: Homes, bars, theaters, stadiums, clothing stores, music stores, studios, hotels & motels, manager offices, parks, cemeteries, and hospitals are all useful aspects of the game, providing lots of things to do.

Customize your band's appearance with thousands of combinations of hairstyles, hats, glasses, shirts, pants, pants, and wrist/hand wear. Live out your rock and roll fantasy.

Earn money doing odd-jobs to survive while trying to earn a reputation for your new band.

Customize your van's appearance with over 50 different paint jobs.

Success depends on decision making, not twitch skills.

Trash hotels & motels with the advanced physics engine. Go ahead and throw that lamp at the TV and see what happens.

A living world of working bands, spread over the continental USA

Built-in tutorial to help beginners understand the wealth of information and options.

Soundtrack of original music from real independent bands.

Map editor, allowing you to add, delete, or modify existing cities.

Equipment editor, allowing you to add, delete or modify existing equipment & supplies.

Easy to add your own content, or share content with other players.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (PC)

A packshot and contents pic for the 'Radiation Pack' special edition.

Phil Harrison on developing Game third Age Games

Sony Executive Phil Harrison on the Possibilities Of Connected Communities In 2007 Game Developers Conference.

Phil Harrison, President, Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), will return to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) to present the keynote, “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the Third Age of Video Games.” Complementing the “Take Control” theme of GDC 2007, Harrison’s talk aims to enable developers to make the most of the countless opportunities made available by the new era of connectivity. GDC, CMP Technology’s annual conference dedicated to the art, science and business of games, takes place March 5-9, 2007 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

In his talk, Harrison will explore the seemingly infinite entertainment, creative, and commercial opportunities presented by the massively connected communities of players and developers. He will enlighten attendees as to what “always on” can mean for both the game development industry and consumer, as well as what some of the innovative products and services are that will help content developers define and shape the meaning of Game 3.0. The SCE Worldwide Studios head will also demonstrate some exclusive insights into the company’s development of products and services that will help define future growth in the video game market.

“Each console cycle gives platforms the chance to reinvent the experiences they enable developers to provide to gamers,” said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference. “Phil Harrison is uniquely positioned to apply both his prescient creative abilities and his command of a globe-spanning network of leading development teams — to bring the entire developer community in on the giant leap forward of the PLAYSTATION®3.”

Phil Harrison has been immersed in the creativity, technology and business of game development for over 20 years. In September 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment unified its regional product development operations under a global structure, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, and appointed Harrison to serve as President of the new organization. Working closely with the talented studios in Japan, Europe, North America and Polyphony Digital, Inc., Harrison is responsible for setting the global product strategy and managing development operations of 14 studios in 5 countries. He is a corporate executive and representative director of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, and Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Since joining Sony in 1992, Harrison has held executive management positions in Europe and North America — where he served as Vice President, 3rd Party Relations and Research and Development for SCEA from 1996 to 2000. He has been a core member of the teams that successfully launched all of the PlayStation family of hardware formats and innovative software that have helped expand the market for interactive entertainment worldwide.

Phil Harrison’s keynote, “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the Third Age of Video Games,” will take place from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. in the Esplanade Room of the Moscone Center’s South Hall on Wednesday, March 7.

More than 12,500 game industry professionals will convene during GDC, the world’s largest games industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of resources, tools and technologies used to create interactive entertainment. The GDC features more than 300 lectures, panels, tutorials and round-table discussions on a comprehensive selection of game development topics taught by leading industry experts.

New from Xing Interactive: Dragon-X - Gold Quest for PC

Dutch publishers Xing Interactive are pleased to announce a new PC game called "Dragon-X: Gold Quest". This is a frantic platform game featuring a little Dragon who is out to gather as much gold as possible. Why? Well that's what Dragons do... They gather gold and guard it against greedy knights in shining armour. 7 different worlds and many bonus levels will make this game a great family friendly challenge for all ages. Initially the game is available in Dutch and English languages but it is designed for easy localisation.