Ooh.. Slashdot has a discussion going on, bringing forth the question "Can a small start up group compete with the big name publishers for the Multi-Player money?".. It makes for some very interesting reading, so head on over there! The article that inspired the slashdot discussion is an interview with the creators of Imperial Wars, a small independantly made web based MMPOG
Make sure you pick up a copy of Digital Media World this month, as there is a double page spread on the talks that Steve Burke (Nvidia), and David King (Microforte) did at the Australian Games Developer Conference 2002. There's some opinions bounced around on modelling and texture mapping, and also some tips as well.
Gamenation has a new review of Grand Prix Challenge on the PS2, by Infogrames Melbourne House.
"GP Challenge is one of the most exciting Formula One games to date. GP Challenge is instantly accessible for casual gamers as well as being deep enough for hardcore F1 fans. I have played a few F1 games in my time, and I believe that GP challenge has enough to satisfy even the most diehard F1 fan, yet at the same time, will appeal to just the normal gamer."
It's a highly praising review, and…
A small percentage of Sumea visitors are New Zealanders, so for those who live there that are interested in finding out more of the local industry..
"A gathering of people interested in game development is planned in Christchurch for Tuesday 21 January at 8pm. Caleb Salisbury, formerly of South African game development house Twilyt Productions, will be the host for the event. The gathering is intended to promote discussion around game development and opportunities in the Christchurch region."…
Discreet has announced that it is now shipping Character Studio 4. This latest version contains:
Quaternion-based function curves
Support for 3ds max native bones
Forearm segmentation for more realistic twisting
Integrates with 3ds max controllers
The Visual Clipboard enables more intuitive pose & track editing
Motion property analysis & visualization
A Non-linear Animation Mixer
Lock any animation down with the Animation Mixdown
Prop Retargeting (up to 3 systemic prop objects)
Sounds…
Thanks to Redwyre for letting me know of a Queensland games developer that wasn't on our list!
"Established in February 2001, Halfbrick Studios is one of Australia's newest game development studios. Halfbrick Studios is dedicated to combining the latest technology, proven gameplay and stream lined development processes in order to produce unrivaled gaming experiences on time and under budget. Our vision is to become one of Australia's leading game development studios."
Click here to jump over…
The awards keep coming for Irrational Games. They have just snapped up another one for Freedom Force, at the 2002 RPG Vault Awards.
Outstanding Achievement in Writing
Freedom Force
Irrational Games
Set in the 1960s during the so-called Silver Age of comics, Freedom Force successfully captured the spirit and the feel of those publications, creating a variety of superhero characters with diverse, interesting backgrounds and personal motivations, then placed them within a suitably heroic storyline…
There will be a competition for the best demo developed using the V1.20b version of Catapult when it is released. See http://nocturnal.proboards4.com/ or http://nocturnal-central.com for more details.
There will be a cash prize for the winner and runner-up.
Additionally, Nocturnal is pleased to announce they have licensed NEiM0D's NMod player for use in Catapult. It is expected V1.30b will be the first version to fully support NMod. NMod allows simultaneous playing of a 4 channel mod file and 2…
Gamespy has an article detailing the ten finalists, chosen from seventy three entries, to compete for the Seumas McNally Award at the The Independent Games Festival.
I know there are a few local independant game developers about on this site, so to find out what kind of games and ideas other indy devs have created, check out the gamespy article!
"GameCube sales in Australia "glaringly underperformed" during the holiday season, according to key retailers, taking just 3 percent of the games hardware market. Figures showed that 5846 GameCube units were sold in the three weeks to December 31, compared with 84,477 Sony PlayStation 2 and 45,939 Xbox units. Local retailers and distributors are getting increasingly frustrated with Nintendo's marketing efforts."
Only *3%* of the games hardware market sales!!!! Not good at all. Sourced from…