News by Matt S. The law is a complex beast. Lawyers spend years of study in learning their craft, and yet while the skill set required in understanding the law is highly specialised, everyone is bound by it. This basic reality makes it hard for small independent game developers, who…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Of all the next gen games I’m looking forward to, the one I’m most keen to experience is The Witcher 3. It’s not just because the developer is part of our games as art Kickstarter project; The Witcher 2 was one of the most brilliant games…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. Here’s a rather unfortunate example of just how little respect the games industry has in the eyes of Australian politicians; the South Australian Government has decided to run a series of ads that equate video games as a ‘gateway drug’ to gambling. This is despite the…
Read MoreInterview by Matt S. One of the first game developers to jump on the Kickstarter opportunity when it launched in Australia was Brisbane-based Defiant Development, and its game, Hand of Fate, is currently over halfway there, having earned $27,605 at time of writing out of a total goal of $50,000.…
Read MoreArticle by Matt S. The most interesting difference between Sony (and Nintendo) and Microsoft’s approach to the games industry over the years has been the fact that while Sony and Nintendo have been focused on producing or publishing content in-house, Microsoft instead has an active partnering business; and not just…
Read MoreInterview by Matt S. A month or so ago at the EB Games Expo in Sydney, one game really caught out attention, and it wasn’t from one of the triple-A developer or publishers; it was home-grown digital card game, Infinity Wars. Here was a PC game with real ambition, and…
Read MoreFeature by Matt S. Newtown, Sydney; there couldn’t be a more appropriate place to talk about an art game and a broader games industry that has just recently opened up in a meaningful fashion to innovative game developers. Newtown is in many ways the centre of alternative arts and cultures…
Read MoreInterview by Matt S. Of all the third party developers working on the Nintendo Wii U, there is one that stands out as going out of its way to take the unique features of the console; the Australian porting house, Straight Right. When the Wii U launched Straight Right gave…
Read MoreUPDATE: Games industry legal professional, Josh Cavaleri, has confirmed for me over Twitter that the publishers will not need to front the cost of the re-review. No, the Australian taxpayers will foot the bill. What a way to use our money, folks. Twelve MA15+ rated games are going to go…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Some impressive data has come from the New Zealand Game Developer’s Association (NZGDA); the development community has seen a massive increase in revenue over the past year. For the 2012 year through to March 31, 2013, the NZ industry grew 86 per cent, to $36.3 million.…
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