(From the press release at the Multimedia Victoria website...)
A record number of Australian computer game companies will make the annual pilgrimage to the world?s biggest electronic game exhibition, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), in Los Angeles this week.
Information and Communication Technology Minister Marsha Thomson, said today said the record contingent of 42 Australian computer game companies including 19 based in Victoria, would reap the rewards of attending E3.
The 19 Victorian companies attending E3 2005, which runs from May 18 to 20, are: Atari Melbourne House, Blue Tongue Entertainment, IR Gurus Interactive, Bullant Studios, Firemint, Infinite Interactive, Iron Monkey Studios, Tantalus Interactive, That Game, Torus Games, Wicked Witch Software, Act 3 Animation, Magenta Box, NMG, Studio Moshi, Australian Knowledge Abroad, Pier 57, Third Wave Games and Primal Clarity.
Pfft, we all know the coolest stuff comes from Queensland :)
It's obvious. The Victorian industry has taken a beating over the last 3 years (there are only a handful of promising studios currently in Melbourne). If the studio isn't closing down it's being off loaded onto an overseas publisher. If you listen to the state government of Victoria it sounds like they have single handedly injected massive resources into the games scene. Unfortunately in reality they've watched as Queensland has slowly taken over. You only have to examine some of the state's project investments in multimedia and games to realise they don't have a clue what they are doing. At least there is something however.