Tiga, the UK trade association for game developers, today called on Members of the Scottish Parliament to support a tax break for games development. Tiga made the call in advance of today’s debate in the Scottish Parliament about the Scottish games development sector.
Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, said:
“The game development sector is one of the pearls of the Scottish economy. Scotland has some excellent games developers, including Realtime Worlds, Denki, Dynamo Games and Tag Games in Dundee, Firebrand Games in Glasgow and Rockstar North and Outerlight in Edinburgh. The Scottish games industry also provides a model of industry-academia collaboration. Abertay University at Dundee provides some of the finest higher education games courses in the world and has excellent links with games development businesses.
“Yet Scottish game developers are competing on an uneven playing field. Our principal competitors in Australia, Canada, China, France, South Korea, Singapore and the USA all receive national or regional/state tax breaks for games production. No tax breaks for games production exist in the UK.
“If we want the Scottish games industry in particular and the UK games industry in general to stay ahead of the pack then we must introduce a tax break for games production similar to the European Union approved French tax credit. Industry research indicates that if a 20% production tax credit was introduced, investment would increase by £220 million over five years, generating a further 1,600 graduate jobs over the same period. This tax break would cost HM Treasury £150 million over five years.
“A tax break for game production would enable the UK games development sector to remain one of the top five countries for games development in the world. It would also safeguard the games industry’s substantial contribution to the economy, which in 2008 represented £1 billion in Gross Domestic Product, £419 million in tax revenues to HM Treasury and 28,000 jobs (10,000 in games development). Conversely, if a tax break for games production is not introduced, the resulting decline in economic activity in the games development sector is anticipated to lead to a fall of £145 million to HM Treasury revenues in 2013 alone.
“Video game development is an industry of the future. It is export oriented, research intensive, inherently creative and the UK is a world leader. Now is the time for the Scottish Parliament to send a powerful message to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget on April 22nd: claim this future industry for the UK by investing in a tax break for games development.”
Final Fantasy maker - and soon to be Tomb Raider publisher - Square Enix has signed a licensing deal with Emergent Game Technologies for its Gamebryo engine. So? Well, the deal is very specific to a single "yet-to-be-announced project". Says Square, "This project is part of Square Enix’s efforts to grow its business further in all major global markets."
Says Emergent, "Are you building a world-class RPG or a First-Person Shooter? A small casual game or an MMO? A visual simulation or a training application? And are you targeting the PC, PlayStation 3, Wii or Xbox 360– or a combination of platforms? In any and all cases, Emergent can help"...
What major global market has it not managed to extract much cash from thus far? Well, Xbox 360 is building for the company with Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia and, of course, Final Fantasy on the 360.
Sure, the Gamebryo engine has been used to develop Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as well as Civilization Revolution, and it was also used on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. But you'd have to ask yourself why Square would need additional help with MMOs, RPGs or RTSs?
What of the Wii and DS? Well, we already have Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time with its Wii/DS "cross-platform multiplayer" action using the Pollux Engine. There's also Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy Fables for Wii.
The fact that the deal relates to an un-announced project would appear to discount any relationship to the "carelessness" in debugging of FFXIII that has delayed the game.
So, what of the PlayStation 3?
According to the information to hand, "Gamebryo will allow Square Enix’s creators to dedicate their time to innovative design, and immersive gameplay, rather than on technical issues. Designed to provide developers with the framework they need to quickly bring high-quality games to the market, Gamebryo’s flexible architecture will make it possible for Square Enix to easily add their internally-developed technology to the engine’s pipeline."
Still nothing outstanding as to platform or game-type there.
John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix is equally guarded, saying, "Gamebryo offers a flexible framework, allowing us to develop effectively and efficiently for any target platforms."
Niall Ferguson collaborates with Muzzy Lane to deliver WWII game
Muzzy Lane Software, an innovative developer of 3D single and multiplayer games has announced today the next game in its acclaimed MAKING HISTORY Series: MAKING HISTORY II: "The War of the World", created in partnership with renowned economic historian and policy icon Niall Ferguson. MAKING HISTORY II (MHII) lets grand strategy players experience the role of a WWII era national leader embroiled in the toxic mix of waning empires, economic crisis, and ethnic "fault lines" that famously resulted in a global war that transformed the world. Now armchair generals and grand strategy masters can attempt to write their own history, and choose to either defend the world from tyranny or embark on a quest for global conquest.
The idea that true grand strategy is as much about economic strength as well as military power is one of the reasons Professor Ferguson chose to collaborate with Muzzy Lane. "Economic instability is one of the primary reasons a nation can turn to an extreme ideology. That’s exactly what happened in the 1930s,” says Ferguson. "And of course economic resources were decisive in the outcome of the war. By giving equal measure to economic as well as military components, MAKING HISTORY II presents a more complete model of the driving forces behind WWII."
Challenging decisions and interesting choices are the heart of any good strategy game, and MHII delivers by putting the ultimate control in the hands of each player. There are diplomatic decisions about everything from alliances to colonization, such as whether you grant full independence or create a puppet state. Cities are customizable via a series of constructible add-on buildings, allowing you to build a giant shipyard in New York or a munitions factory in Stuttgart. Military forces can be upgraded, repaired and reinforced and veteran units develop experience over time. Every nation in the world is playable, but the choices and strategy can be vastly different. The choice is up to each player to determine how they wish to develop their nation, thereby creating their own winning strategy.
MHII offers a completely redesigned interface, with a brand new 3D world map. "We wanted our players to have a more immersive experience without sacrificing the depth of play that strategy gamers have come to expect,” says Chris Parsons, Muzzy Lane Product Manager. "To do so we've created a dynamic map that conveys important information to the player without large blocks of text. Terrain, icons, units, cities, and other objects are all designed to deliver information in a visual and intuitive way."
The accompanying MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website adds much more to the player experience by offering free content and updates, access to user-created mods, and a dramatic new multiplayer service that launches from the web browser. It will find games, match players, track scores and player ranking, and connect to email or players' favorite social network site to notify them to take their turn. To visit the website, go to www.making-history.com.
From the home front to the battlefront, in MAKING HISTORY II: "The War of the World" history is not inevitable. Once the game starts, history is yours to make.
MAKING HISTORY II: "The War of the World" will be released in the fall of 2009.
Axis is an award winning animation studio, based in Glasgow, Scotland, dedicated to creating the best in animation and visual effects for commercials, broadcast, film and interactive entertainment. Recent credits include BAFTA winning Colin and Cumberland for the BBC, D&AD nominated Codehunters short film for MTV Asia and video game trailers for Colin McRae DiRT, Heavenly Sword, Crysis, Motorstorm Pacific Rift and Killzone.
Watch the trailer...
Axis back in the Killzone
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Guerrilla Games called on Axis yet again to deliver a breathtaking sequence for the next installment of the epic Killzone game franchise. Killzone 2 is set two years after the Helghast assault on Vekta and the ISA are now taking the fight to the enemy’s home world of Helghan.
Directed at Axis by Stuart Aitken this cinematic intro saw Aitken and the Axis team execute one of their most ambitious projects to date. Sony’s Creative Services Group, who had been developing the creative idea and script alongside the team at Guerrilla, initially approached Axis with their ideas. It was then that Aitken became involved with further development being done between the three companies.
The sequence starts with the familiar tones of Brian Cox reprising his role as the Helghan leader Scolar Visari. Echoing the cinematic intro to the first Killzone game, also created by the Axis team, Visari's impassioned speech to the Helghan people provides an emotional backdrop to the entire sequence.
The opening camera pullback soon reveals that Visari is in fact being televised via an ISA news report within ISA command, watched intently by Killzone 2's principle character, Sev. From this initial shot the camera continues in one three minute long unbroken cut, taking the viewer on an epic journey as we follow the ISA invasion fleet departing from their base on Vekta, out into interplanetary space and down into the hostile atmosphere of the planet Helghan.
‘When we were offered the opportunity to work with Sony and Guerrilla again on Killzone we jumped at the chance’ says Axis Executive Producer Richard Scott. ‘We spent a lot of time during the pitch phase exploring different styles and look development for the intro and it was clear to Sony that we were passionate about the project’.
Following the pitch phase and with the decisions made as to the look of the intro, Aitken and his team launched into the pre-production stages working on storyboards and 2d animatics. This process allowed them to plan how the single camera move would work.
‘The storyboarding and development of the 2d animatic was just the start of a long road to getting the camera move to work’ says Aitken. ‘After we had the 2d animatic working in terms of overall framing and timing we moved over to 3d layout where we had to work very hard to get the camera motion to work across the vast distances and changes of scale involved. In one shot we go from a scale where one persons eye fills the entire frame to sweeping past planets alongside tumbling mile long spaceships and back again – this was definitely the most challenging camera move we had ever attempted!’ he continued.
There were other major challenges to be faced by the Axis team. The sequence features some of the studios best character work, especially visible on the Scolar Visari character that bookends the intro at the start and in a final reprise at the end. The fact that he is seen in extreme close up with all the focus on his performance that this entails, meant that the team had to pay a lot of attention, to wrinkles, blemishes, skin shaders and facial deformation to ensure a suitably impressive result.
In addition the sequence features a huge range of complex visual effects including dramatic ship explosions, dense planetary atmospheres filled with storm clouds, battlefield smoke, slow motion ground explosions and gruesome blood splatters. ‘Working in the Killzone world is always a challenge and a pleasure.’ says Axis Producer Debbie Ross. ‘It is so rich in terms of back story and detail. Guerilla always work very hard to establish a distinct look and style that it is important for us to follow – its always clear which direction the look should take.’
The Axis team was supplied with some game assets to work from, which were converted for use within the studios pipeline, including converting the game engine normal maps into true detailed displacements to increase the levels of detail. Axis also had to pay a lot of attention to recreating the visual look of the game, as the player would experience it on the PlayStation 3 platform. However not all the assets required for the intro existed at the time of production so it was down to the Axis modeling team to create models for various characters, locations and vehicles including Visari, the ISA Command base and various the spacecraft.
‘Killzone 2 was being described as one of the best games visually on a console and it was important that we delivered all of that quality and more’ Ross continued.
Axis worked with their motion capture partners Audiomotion to deliver all the character animation and then created additional keyframe animation where required.
This additional animation was accomplished via Axis' in-house rigging setup that allows additive manual edits to be seamlessly layered on top of the underlying motion captured data. All of the facial animation, including that of Scolar Visari, was keyframed and needed complex muscle setup to get a full range of facial movement. The Axis pipeline, which had to deliver to the highest level on all fronts for this project, combines several off the shelf 3d tools with proprietary plug-in additions and scripted stages to transfer data from one package to another.
Assets were processed and created in Modo, Z-brush and Maya, exported to Maya, where they were rigged and animated, then exported to Houdini which was used as the primary 3d application for all the final stages in the project including shading, lighting, rendering and visual effects. All layers where rendered using Mantra, Houdini's own renderer before being composited in Digital Fusion.
Grading and finishing was done on Flame at Scramble in London and the very talented team in-house at Guerrilla Games completed all sound design and music.
‘We have been blown away by the amazing reaction from both the client and the game buying public to this piece of work,’ says Richard Scott. ‘We always look forward to a huge challenge and this project definitely threw a lot of those our way!’
Best Overall Game of 2008 Introduces New Content Update for Subscribers
Codemasters Online and Turbine announced the details of the latest major update for subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (LOTRO). Book 7: Leaves of Lórien is the latest of Turbine’s frequent and substantial updates to the Best MMORPG of 2008**. Book 7 delivers the next installment to the epic story for Volume II of LOTRO including a new 12-player raid, major gameplay enhancements, the Spring Festival and access to the full region of Lothlórien. Book 7: Leaves of Lórien will be available to subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online on March 17, 2009 in North America and shortly after this date in Europe.
“The launch of our first expansion, Mines of Moria, has been a huge success and has firmly established the game as one of the premier MMOs in the world,” said Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “For nearly two years LOTRO has been one of the fastest growing games in the industry and with Book 7 we continue to expand the world with the expansion of Lothlórien, the legendary home of Galadriel and the elves and the introduction of new tools and improvements based on player feedback including a new Quest Guide and an enhanced new player experience.”
New Features In Book 7: Leaves Of Lórien:
• The Epic Journey Continues – The first update to Volume II, Book 7 will take LOTRO’s unique storytelling to a new level as it introduces a new reputation faction, the reclusive elves of Lothlórien. Players will need to gain their trust in order to continue their adventure. After earning their favour, players are reunited with the Fellowship and begin a series of quests to root out the Orc influence within Moria ending with a climactic battle against the forces of Mazog and an audience with Celeborn and the Lady Galadriel back in their kingdom of Lothlórien. • New 12-player Raid – Book 7 introduces Strange Happenings, a new quest arc that begins deep within the Waterworks of Moria. Players will need to team up to unravel a mystery surrounding a newly revealed source corruption in Moria, engaging in a fierce battle with another monstrous threat to Middle-earth. • New Gameplay Enhancements – LOTRO continues to augment its award-winning experience for players with major improvements such as new daily solo quests for crafters that are very useful and fun and a significantly revamped new player experience for the Dwarves, Elves and Man races. Book 7 also introduces the new Quest Guide, a new set of features designed to make navigating through Middle-earth easier and more fun including display of quest locations on both the mini-map and main map. The Quest Guide will launch with the introduction of Book 7. • Celebrate the Spring Festival! – The Spring Festival will return to Middle-earth at the end of March. The world will explode in celebration as the free people of Middle-earth ring in the season with special decorations, festive costumes and special quests including a challenging new hedge maze.
The Lord of the Rings Online is the ultimate interactive adventure. This award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most beloved fantasy of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the most fearsome underground realm ever imagined, players will experience the world of Middle-earth as never before. The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition, which includes the original game, The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ (Volume I), all content updates released since launch, and Mines of Moria (Volume II) is now available for purchase at major retailers across Europe. For more information or to download a free trial, visit www.lotro-europe.com.
Who’s pilfering goods from the shopkeepers of Huntsville, sneaking counterfeit bank notes into circulation and setting off false fire alarms? Can you examine the crime scenes, collect vital evidence and apprehend the culprits before your time is up? Mystery Case Files: Huntsville joins Focus Multimedia’s best-selling range of PC casual games courtesy of a recent licensing deal with Big Fish Games, one of the world’s leading casual game developers and the leading online destination for games.
Huntsville is the ideal introduction to hidden object games, which are a fun test of your hand-eye coordination. It challenges you to leave your rookie detective status behind and rise through the ranks as you wipe out lawlessness in the town of Huntsville. You must unravel the crimes, locate the perpetrators and put an end to the chaos in this normally quiet town.
Visit over 20 locations throughout Huntsville, including Alice’s Diner, Rudy’s Barbershop and the Mausoleum. In each location you’re presented with a scene full of items and a list of what you must find – but remember, the clock is ticking! Then it’s off to the Crime Computer where you’ll solve a puzzle and catch the criminal red-handed!
Features:
• For fans of puzzle and adventure games • 15 complex cases to solve • More than 20 unique locations • Thousands of items to find • A new game each time you play
So go on, grab yourself a copy of the game that started the hidden object craze and prepare to be crime-fighting long into the night!
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville joins Focus Multimedia’s Revival range of games. Each Focus Revival title has the suggested retail price of just £4.89 including VAT.
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville can be purchased from all good retailers, or may be ordered direct from www.focusmm.co.uk.
A version of Konami's hit survival horror franchise, Silent Hill: The Escape uses the motion technology that employs your cellphone's camera to detect gestures.
In Muracle galaxy, a galaxy formed with 10 planets including O2 Planet, the music-loving residences were having happy moments. But as the unwelcomed neighbors from Zuracle galaxy started to spread the unknown organism called 'Ohm', an ominous atmosphere starts to prevail...
There is only one way to save the residences of the Muracle Galaxy who are suffering under languidness because of 'Ohm': Increasing oxygen level by performing passionately with the oxygen-creating robot from O2 planet, O2mo! Shall we start the performance of the musical warriors to save the Muracle Galaxy? Let's play!
Main features of the game
- O2jam is the world's first online rhythm action game, the first to embody the online music game. -O2jam is for Everyone, meaning anyone can enjoy. - O2jam is good for relieving stress, since the users can have fun by playing the music and feel the beat through tapping keyboard. - Gold-label includes the best songs, Blue-label is made up with popular songs, Black label lets the users to feel the strong beat, Silver label supports various genres including traditional classics- approximately 400 songs are currently under service, categorized based on individuals' preferences. - O2jam is the first online rhythm action game that supports 3-key mode (shift+enter+shift), which makes it to be the leader of popularization of rhythm action games.
Current status of O2jam's Oversea services
-A contract about export to Philippine has been made in 2009 January (Launching is planned for 2009 April).
Name of Game: O2jam Website: http://o2jam.nopp.co.kr Genre: Rhythm Action Game Supporting Platform: H/W - PC
Minimum Requirements CPU Pentium 3 (1.0 GHz or higher) VGA Geforce 4 MAX 440 or better RAM 128 Mb
Recommended Requirements CPU Pentium 4 (1.5GHZ or higher) VGA Geforce4 5700/Redeon 9000 RAM 512 Mb
Tiga, the UK trade association for game developers, today called on Members of the Scottish Parliament to support a tax break for games development. Tiga made the call in advance of today’s debate in the Scottish Parliament about the Scottish games development sector.
