Australia's has had it's fair share of whacky politicians who've used games as a scapegoat for all our criminal and social problems, so it comes as a nice change to hear that our cross tasman friends also have to deal with the same sort of nonsense. You have to feel for Kiwi gamers, they have to put up with our censored version of Grand Theft Auto IV (even though they do have an R rating for games), and now New Zealand Independent MP, Gordon Copeland, wants to throw the ban hammer on GTA IV…
All you folks importing Grand Theft Auto IV from places like Play-asia (which should be shipping today), the U.K, and the U.S should be a bit concerned, according to a report at Australian PC World. As it has become wildly known that many local gamers will be importing a higher rated copy of GTA IV from overseas to experience the uncensored version everyone's favourite murder simulator, the Australian Customs Service has put out a word of caution on the legalities of circumventing our game…
You've got to hand it to Tony Hilliam. He's damn resilient. If everyone had to go through what the Auran CEO did late last year, I'm sure most would have decided to move on from the games industry, but not Tony. AustralianGamer has returned to the slimmer Auran offices to conduct an interview with Tony on the new direction and game design that Fury has morphed to. After all the fiasco of the Auran lay-off's of last year, Tony comes off as determined and optimistic as ever, and if there's any…
Submitted by Destructoid
Destructoid have an interesting interview with Fuzzyeyes CEO Wei-Yao Lu about Edge of Twilight. The interview reveals a little about the story and the game's universe.
There are two expanding societies, both of which require Ether to survive. The industrial Atherns combust the Ether for fuel, the spiritual Lithern have a spiritual lifeline to it. The very nature of these two civilisations means they can’t coexist. The actions of one are seen as evil by the other and…
Anna has a feature up on AustralianGamer on the ever increasing numbers of females in both game development and in the games themselves. She's snagged an interview with Brooke Luder (Graphic Designer at Sega Creative Assembly), Hannah Crosby (Artist at THQ Studio Australia), and Sheridan Meulblok (Psychologist and Presenter for Good Game) on various aspects concerning females and games. If you're interested in how these women got into the industry, what challenges they've had working in a male…
Screenplay's Jason Hill followed up the news on Tantalus hitting Develop magazine's recent Top 100 games developers list (the only Australian developer to make it on there) with an interview with Tantalus CEO, Tom Crago. Up for discussion is Tantalus's million selling Pony Friends, licenses and developing on the Wii, the investment from Netus (a fund backed by Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd), the skills shortage in Australia, the great working conditions at Tantalus (little overtime, paid maternity/…
In conjunction with the Ballarat Innovations Festival, the City of Ballarat, with the support of the Victorian Government, University of Ballarat and the Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA) are running an electronic games focused event for the Ballarat Region.
The event is to highlight the potential career options within the gaming industry, and to expose and highlight the games industry as a legitimate and viable career option. The event will also highlight potential business…
When Peter Jackson announced Wingnut Interactive, the game development arm of his entertainment empire, a sense of excitement was felt in the games industry (both locally and abroad) on the potential of such a studio. With many anticpating what was in store, imaginations went rampant of a powerhouse studio helmed by the famed Lord of the Rings director, with the creative contributions and guidance from the amazing talents at Weta Digital. The Wikipedia entry had the entry below for the studio…
An article over at Courier Mail has Queensland up as the top earners of the local game development industry. From the findings of a recent Australian Bureau of Statistics report, Queensland game developers pulled in more than $55 million in the last financial year, accounting for a huge 40% of the total national amount. The report also revealed that Queensland held 48.5 percent of the game development workforce.
Krome Studio's Steve Stamatiadis was at hand to explain why the Queensland games…
Since it's a bit quiet on the news front around here, I thought I'd make a post about GTA IV. As with many Australian gamers, I've been following all the updates and information on the local release version of GTA IV, particularly on any problems that an imported PS3 version might have on online play, or from the recent letter that Kotaku AU received from a Rockstar employee indicated, if it would even work at all. However, online retailers like Play Asia have assured local gamers that it will…
