Eurogamer has an interview with Irrational Games' Level Designer, Dean Tate. You might know of Dean Tate as the recipient of the Australian Game Developers Conference 2004 Award for Best Level Design (Tribes: Vengeance). Dean talks to Eurogamer on the expansion pack for SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate...
Dean Tate: When planning a level I like to look at it from two distinct points of view, the game mechanics and the story.
The first thing we did when starting the expansion was to sit down and…
XboxCore.com have a rather recent "preview" of Micro Forte's Citizen Zero up at their site. While the article itself doesn't really contain any new information on the game for those who've been following it over the years, it's still a nice summary on the game, the BigWorld engine that's running the show, and the company behind it all. If you've never heard of Citizen Zero, this is a nice place to start...
"Citizen Zero takes players on a crash course in battling for your life, striving to grow…
CALLING ALL ARTISTS
ELECTRONIC GAMES AUSTRALIA
TRADEMARK LOGO CONTEST
Mission Statement
To build wealth and value in Australia?s independent game developers, broaden their international branding power, protect their intellectual property, and encourage collaboration among developers that leads to larger and more ambitious projects.
Deadline for submissions - 17th of March 2006
AWARD $500.00
Winner is announced 31st of March 2006
Open to the public. Register and review rules online at:
www.ega.…
I think you all know of 3D Realms, dont you? Of Duke Nukem Forever fame? Well, 3D Realms have been around forever, and in the early days, they were known as Apogee Software. On the 3D Realms website, they have a series of legacy interviews where they go back and interview some of the developers they worked with over the years. The latest interview is with none other than local industry veteran, John Passfield!
"Today our "Apogee Legacy" Interview series continues with the seventh edition, this…
Those naughty people at the Tiscali.games website have scanned and uploaded some magazine screenshots and concept art from Bioshock, the spiritual successor of System Shock 2. No word has been made public on whether Irrational Canberra is taking part in the development of this game, but the engine that is running the show here is the Vengeance engine. It's a highly modified version of the Unreal technology that was used for Tribes: Vengeance, a game which was developed mostly in the Canberra…
Urgrund has confirmed that U-235 Studios is no more. The Melbourne startup was previously working on Retribution, a nextgen FPS'er title using the Reality Engine...
"Yep, we're finished. After 15months of solid (insane amount of late nights!) work and appearances at international games conferences (GDC in LA and GameConnect in France), we got no interest from anyone.
It's a real shame. I felt the studio had a lot of potential."
Submitted by Rob
Short editorial on BigKid asking the question whether the success of WoW is having a negative impact on the game industry as a whole.
"Some might claim that World of Warcraft is growing the market by bringing in large numbers of new gamers that may not have otherwise bought video games previously. I contend that the only thing growing is Blizzard and Vivendi?s bank balances because these new gamers are under the same spell as the rest and are only playing World of Warcraft.…
Kotaku has an interesting news item on the ratings labels that are stamped on game box covers in Australia. There was a time when they were tiny black and white stickers in the corner of the box, which then became printed on the packaging itself as standard. When the new colour coded rating system came in just a while ago, they're now these huge monstrous logos that take over a healthy portion of the box.
Sure, it might not be an issue for many, but I'm certain there are those who value and…
After a disastrous fiscal quarter, Atari boss Bruno Bonnell is embarking on a major corporate rescue mission - with a sell-off of the publisher?s five development studios now a top priority.
Last week, the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 results, showing revenues of $101m and a net loss of $5m. The bad news was compounded by the departure of CFO Diane Baker plus confirmation that HSBC has cut off its credit line. Media reports of ?Game Over for Atari? swiftly followed.
But talking to…
NEXT EVENT: Developers, come to a BBQ Sunday Feb 26, and bring friends and family!
An invitation to game developers? pass it on:
We are pleased to announce a meeting for the Greater Brisbane IGDA chapter!
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Next event: What, who, when, where
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WHAT: A BBQ in the park with chat, food, drink, and the games we play off the screen. Bring something to eat or drink, toss it all on the barbie, and spend a sunny afternoon. We want this to be…
