A game in development at Michigan State University was designed to teach Cambodian kids, and others around the world, how to avoid landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) that might be scattered about their countries.

Undercover UXO is funded principally by a $78,000 grant from the U.S. State Department and via a partnership with the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation. The game is intended to run on the One Laptop Per Child $100 computer.

The State News offers a description of the game:

Players use directional buttons to guide a character, accompanied by a pet, through a series of Cambodian landscape pictures in search of food. Players must avoid land mines and other artillery, called unexploded ordnances, or UXOs, by following warnings…

Autodesk, creators of software such as the popular 3D modeling software Maya, has announced a free “Vehicle for Games” web-based curriculum that will teach post-secondary students the ins and outs of game development.

Created in conjunction with game developers NCSoft and Double Helix, the curriculum was developed to “mirror the requirements of real-world game development,” and is currently in testing at California’s Laguna College of Art & Design.

The curriculum provides “an art director's point of view for various steps of game development.” An additional description offered:

Left Behind Games, which recently merged with fellow Christian game publisher Digital Praise, will see its titles now sold in Berean Christian Stores.

The agreement came about as a result of a recent trial marketing program that took place last year, which saw four “Family Video Game Night” events take place at Chick-fil-A restaurants in California.  The events allowed attendees to try out games for free and receive a 20.0 percent off coupon to be used at a neighboring Berean store. The promotions resulted in 30 games per week sold and $2,500 in monthly sales at a single store, prompting the expansion of the promotion to the remaining Berean locations.

Police responding to a report of a burglary inadvertently went to the wrong door and handcuffed a group of game developers.

Denver-based IllFonic was the recipient of the unwarranted armed visit, which GamePron details on their website. The developer’s studio is right next to a medical marijuana dispensary, which was where the alarm was triggered from (probably not the first time or the last either). GamePron also has an embedded YouTube video of the whole incident as captured by a surveillance camera. The developers were cuffed, but quickly released once their identities were verified.

Our man Dan Rosenthal is at the Game Developers Conference and filed this report from a lecture he attended last night:

The Serious Games Summit at GDC closed out its first day with a sobering presentation from Allan McCullough and Parry Aftab entitled "Violence Prevention -- Playing A Video Game Can Make A Difference." Sponsored by the Child Safety Research and Innovation Center, the session explained that while games often get criticized as being too violent, the games industry can actually work to lessen the real-world effects of violence and abuse against children through serious games.

The Virginia Production Alliance (VPA) is a key factor behind two bills passing through the state’s legislature that would see tax credits for movie productions filmed in the state.

While the measures started out as incentives solely for motion picture development, it appears the videogame industry made its way into the talks in a bid to get some backing in the state for game developers. A note on the VPA’s Facebook page stated that the film incentive bills “have been essentially co-opted by the videogaming industry.”

The VPA continued:

Unless your domicile is under a rock you are probably aware that Activision has sacked the two heads of Call of Duty maker Infinity Ward, over what it termed insubordination.

Following their dismissal, President Jason West and CEO Vince Zampella filed a lawsuit against Activision Publishing, alleging that the pair’s contracts were terminated “weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2.” The suit claims “breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, wrong termination in violation of public policy, and declaratory relief.” 

The duo’s lawyer, Robert Schwartz of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, stated:

Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public, last month Activision hired lawyers to conduct a pretextual 'investigation' into unstated and unsubstantiated charges of 'insubordination' and 'breach of fiduciary duty,' which then became the grounds for their termination on Monday, March 1st.”

Additionally, a press release announcing the lawsuit stated:

Modern Warfare 2 is arguably one of the most successful games in history and together with Call of Duty, has generated more than $3 billion in sales for Activision.  In addition, Activision seized control of the Infinity Ward studio, to which Activision had previously granted creative control over all Modern Warfare-branded games.  The suit was filed to vindicate the rights of West and Zampella to be paid the compensation they have earned, as well as the contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games.

In response to the lawsuit, Activision stated that it “was disappointed” and believes that the claims are “meritless.” G4 managed to get their hands on internal legal documents from Activision which indicated that the company is looking for documents to possibly use against West and Zampella.

Here’s what Activision is looking for specifically:

• "Documents regarding past, current or future IW projects, including but not limited to any and all businesses analyses of future projects (e.g. Modern Warfare 3)"
• "Documents regarding any potential 'spin out' of IW, including but not limited to any communications with IW employees, West or Zampella regarding forming a new studio independent of Activision"
• "Documents regarding West and Zampella's communications with Activision's competitors, including but not limited to Electronic Arts"

So, it appears Activision’s actions against the IW pair may have been in reaction to a fear that they were going to jump ship to another publisher or form their own new studio.  Note that when Infinity Ward was formed in 2002, it was made up of a group of former developers from 2015, Inc., who developed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which was in turn published by Electronic Arts.

Those that need to catch up on the drama should head over to G4, which has been all over the “Fall of Duty” story.

Backed by a group of proven independent game developers, a new organization has launched with an aim to buck the traditional game publisher funding model by providing financing to up and coming game creators.

Indie Fund is comprised of Ron Carmel (pictured) and Kyle Gabler from 2D Boy (World of Goo), Jonathan Blow of Number One (Braid), Kelle Santiago from thatgamecompany (fl0wer), Nathan Vella of Capy (Critter Crunch), Matthew Wegner from Flashbang Studios (Off-Road Velociraptor Safari) and Aaron Isaksen of AppAbove Games (Armadillo Gold Rush).

The company’s goal is to, “is to support the growth of games as a medium by helping indie developers get financially independent and stay financially independent.”

Gamasutra has a Q&A on its site with Carmel, who offered some additional insight into the new venture. He indicated that funding discussions are already underway with several indie developers and that Indie Fund is equipped to back “a few games a year for two to three years.”

Carmel added:

Most developers today fund their games by bootstrapping or by signing a publishing deal. In many cases, those indies that sign a publishing deal don't really need a publisher; they just need funding and can easily handle everything else themselves.

Carmel will disclose more information on the project in a lecture at next week’s Game Developers Conference.

|Image from Flickr|

If you were to propose a multi-million dollar, 46-acre development project, which included a new mass transit system and hydrogen energy plant, you probably wouldn’t use an image from Sim City for illustration purposes in your master plan, would you?

That’s exactly what Duane Faust, of ESNA Corporate Realty, did however, according to MLive.com.  The would-be developer used a Sim City image to illustrate a planned hydrogen energy plant in his 27-page proposal (PDF), which is part of a sweeping redevelopment plan for Grand Rapids, Michigan.

MLive.com also notes that Faust’s plan lifted an image used to illustrate a proposed hydrogen-powered subway system from hydrail.org, a “program designed to promote hydrogen-powered rail systems created by Appalachian State University.”

City Planning Director Suzanne Schulz called the project “a long shot,” adding, “It could be anything from an April Fool's joke to testing the waters to see if it's a legitimate project.”

Mayor George Heartwell labeled the proposed subway system “absurd.”

Members of the UrbanPlanet community have been picking the project apart, even going so far as to compare Faust with Simpsons character Lyle Lanly, who duped Springfield residents into paying for their own monorail system.

It was also reported that, "Faust could not be reached for comment. Telephone numbers connected to him and his firms in Atlanta and California have been disconnected."

A story on GameSpot features the opinions of Electronic Arts and Aliens vs. Predator developer Rebellion as related to the R18+ videogame rating discussion ongoing in Australia.

The Aliens vs. Predator game was originally Refused Classification by The Classification Board before successfully winning an appeal and an MA15+ rating. Rebellion producer Paul Mackman spoke to GameSpot about Rebellion’s position that it would not modify the game to appease censors:

This was important to us and something Sega agreed with, and I think they handled the appeal process very well. It reached a successful result and you guys get to play the game and that's the important thing. The politics aside, [it’s] really not for me to comment on.

Mackman indicated that keeping the game true to the film source was Rebellion’s top priority, “…it's fair to say these are fiendish monsters from outer space and they do commit violent acts. Those are all represented in the films, so I don't think we would be true to the licence if we didn't portray that.”

Electronic Arts, who most recently clashed with the rating board over Left 4 Dead 2, provided a statement on their backing of an R18+ rating category:

Government policies that refuse to rate mature content effectively censor the content that adult players want to play. This shows a poor understanding of exactly who plays interactive games in Australia. The spectrum of gamers is as wide as the viewership of television, movies, theatre, and the readers of books.

A government policy that keeps our games out of stores and forces developers to rewrite code is censorship. Age rating systems are designed to help people make appropriate content choices for the right age groups.

In a related article, GameSpot notes that both the Australian Sex Party and the Pirate Party Australia have thrown their weight behind the introduction of an R18+ videogame rating category, while more traditional parties, such as the Greens and The Federal Coalition, have adopted a wait and see attitude.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam did offer his take on South Australian Attorney general Michael Atkinson however:

I think the position he took to block the rest of the country from moving forward was really unhelpful, and I don’t think he necessarily provided the arguments to back up the position he took.

Thanks Ryan!

The Emergent Media Center of Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont is working on a unique game to educate boys on the effects of violence against women.

What makes the in-development game different is that it involves soccer, which should make the game more palatable to youngsters. As users play a soccer match, the on-field action will be broken up with narrative sections which pose social decisions, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education.

A team of 50 students is working on the game, which was funded by a grant from the United Nations Population Fund. Aimed at boys between the ages of 9 and 13 years of age, the game is scheduled for an online release in March.

Ann DeMarle, Director of the Emergent Media Center, hopes that the game will have international appeal. She commented on why the game targets boys, saying “We need education of women, and we need to help victims, but at the same time, you can only go so far if you can't change the culture of the men.”

Left Behind Games and Digital Praise have announced the merger of the two companies into a single Christian game producing powerhouse.

Digital Praise has over 30 titles in its repertoire, including Adventures in Odyssey, Guitar Praise, Dance Praise, Light Rangers, and aMazing Bible. The company was established in 2003 and publishes for the PC, Mac and iPhone, in addition to producing online Flash games.

Left Behind Games should be familiar to readers of this site, as we’ve covered their recent entry into the Xbox and Wii markets, in addition to the pilot release of their games in Texas Wal-Mart stores.

Left Behind CEO Troy Lyndon cited four key elements Digital Praise brings to the merger:

(1) strong brands and products, (2) multi-channeled distribution, (3) a solid management team and (4) a history of generating millions of dollars in the emerging Christian video game market, a feat no company has matched.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (pictured) has proposed new tax policies designed to make city more attractive to tech firms, including videogame developers.

Nutter unveiled the plan last week in a speech to the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, reports Philly.com. The Mayor suggested that tech firms pay taxes only on goods and services sold within the city, which would provide some respite from the current system, in which “a company with headquarters and employees in the city pays more taxes than a company in the suburbs with the same sales figures in the city.”

The altered tax structure does not require City Council approval and will reportedly be introduced in the spring.

Game developer Mike Worth, of Space Whale Studios, located just outside of Philadelphia in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, told Metro International that the current state of tax affairs in Philly is what caused him to locate his company in the suburbs.  Worth, who is also an organizer for the Videogame Growth Initiative, a grass roots organization that has been lobbying for tax breaks in the city, estimates that the city has been losing 40 game graduates a year to other more attractive locales.

Worth is also a candidate for the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) board of directors.

In advance of the (now) ongoing London-based Global Investment Conference, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured) gave a shout out to UK game developers.

In a podcast (MP3 here, thanks Edge), Brown highlighted the UK as a “great place to invest,” and then heaped praise on the UK games industry, saying, “We’re leading the way in creative industries… by far the biggest producer of videogames in Europe.”

Brown promised that the conference would not just about “talking shop,” saying, “there will be new commitments of investment off the back of this conference.”

UK trade organization TIGA backed Brown’s comments, with TIGA CEO Richard Wilson adding, “We warmly welcome Prime Minster Gordon Brown’s comments and urge him to act quickly to introduce a Games Tax Relief as outlined by TIGA, for the UK games development industry in the coming Budget.”

Wilson continued:

TIGA has made repeated representations to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and to HM Treasury, setting out the case for Games Tax Relief. We hope that the support of the Prime Minister will ensure a commitment by the Government to the introduction of Games Tax Relief and so guarantee that the UK video games industry remains world leading.

Brown has also found himself a target of Apple Daily, a Hong Kong publication that has demonstrated a growing propensity for serving up reenacted news stories rendered in 3D computer animations. A new book by Andrew Rawnsley alleges that Brown acted the part of a bully on Downing Street, with contentions that Brown threw a slow-moving secretary out of a chair so he could finish her work himself. It was also alleged that Brown had a penchant for striking the headrest in his Jaguar when angry, which frightened aides.

Apple Daily used just these allegations for its latest immersive news piece.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is in the midst of electing new members to its Board of Directors.

The election features 23 candidates in the running for five seats. Terms are three years long. The election is now open and will run through February 28.

So, IGDA members, who should you vote for? Macguffin Games founder Scott Macmillan may be able to help you further shape your opinion.

While the IGDA website features position statements and answers to a series of common questions from each candidate, Macmillan feels that members of the IGDA should take it a step further and “read these statements, come up with questions, and get the candidates to answer them.”

So, this is exactly what he did; Macmillan’s blog offers his personal opinion on each of the candidates. He writes:

I realize that my assessments could be considered tough on the candidates, but I think that we simply must have a conversation about this stuff, and that we need to set a high bar.  I apologize for any personal discomfort it might cause to the candidates.

Additionally, some candidates have responded to Macmillan’s personalized questions with their own answers.

Macmillan notes that the IGDA has “had its share of wounds in the last two years.”  As a game developer himself—and IGDA member—he is obviously interested in the proceedings and hopes that his contribution will result in the election of “non-asshats.”

Women in Games International (WIGI), formerly a part of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), has gone off on its own and will now operate as an independent organization.

The group was formed in 2005 to support the “the inclusion and advancement of women in the game industry.” Belinda Van Sickle has been named the organization’s President and CEO. Additionally, Noelle Hunt-Bennett will act as Secretary while Krissie Franco will act as Treasurer and CFO.

Van Sickle offered:

Our focus for 2010 is on rejuvenating the organization, offering immediate and tangible value to members seeking jobs, career development and networking opportunities. Our Los Angeles and San Francisco chapters have already lined up some wonderful partnerships to get WIGI off to a great start in 2010 and we hope that they will serve as models for other chapters in this pivotal year of our new mission.

WIGI will sponsor an industry mixer at this year’s Game Developer Conference. The event takes place on March 10.

A Kotaku reader in Long Beach, California happened by his local animal shelter and noticed that a section of it was sponsored by a videogame developer.

Uncharted, Jax & Daxter and Crash Bandicoot developer Naughty Dog apparently donated funds for the upkeep of one kennel in the facility. We agree with the Kotaku author’s take on the lack of pomp and circumstance surrounding the do-gooding:

Know what I like most about this? This is the first I've heard of it. There wasn't a press release issued with pictures of it being built, or a Spike TV segment showing some guy dressed up as Nathan Drake cuddling lost dogs. It's just...something that's been done.

A picture of the Kennel accompanies the Kotaku post.

Good Naughty Dog.

Perhaps inspired by the likes of Ubisoft’s Jade Raymond (pictured), the Guildhall at SMU has reported that 20.0 percent of its January 2010 incoming class is female.

Compared to the percentage of women who currently work in game development, which the Guildhall puts at between 4.0 and 6.0 percent, this statistical anomaly has the school very excited, as Founder and Executive Director Peter Raad noted, “There has been a disparity between the number of men versus women in the video game industry far too long and we believe this increase represents a growing trend of more women seeking a career in game development.”

The Guildhall also shared that among the new students (cohort 14 is how the school refers to this latest class) are a pair of twin sisters studying software programming, a veteran of the Iraq War, a former NASA intern and students from Malaysia and Israel.

Raad believes that such diversity could lead, eventually, to better games being developed, “To create games that are compelling and games that appeal to an ever-expanding market of gamers, diversity must be cultivated within the development community, as well as within the individual teams that develop a single game.”

A new project co-founded by a Carnegie Mellon University graduate student is creating educational games for extremely affordable computers that are gaining popularity in developing nations.

PlayPower grew from an idea Derek Lomas had while attending a conference in India, where he noticed that families were snatching up $12 computer systems right and left. The 8-bit computers are not very powerful, but the processor that powers the PC (the MOS 6502, which powered the Apple II and Nintendo NES) is in the public domain, meaning that development is relatively easy and inexpensive.

Lomas told the Post Gazette, “It doesn't require a $50 million development budget to make a great game.”

The PlayPower team is currently at work on three games, two of which feature the Hindu deity Hanuman. One Hanuman-starring title will teach users how to type, with the hopes that such a skill could translate into better job opportunities, while the second is a multiple-choice quiz-type game. The third title in development will try to raise awareness of malaria.

Lomas added, “I think that many of the more powerful educational effects of the system can be in the way it changes a kid's interest and ambitions.”

Lomas anticipates that all three games can be finished this year. He also hopes to build a relationship with those selling the computers so that PlayPower’s software can be bundled in.

Over 1,000 volunteers from around the world are already on-board to assist in game development. PlayPower also hopes to harness the growing 8-bit retro community for assistance in future releases.

Conor O’Kane (pictured) is the developer of Ban This Game, which mocks the ongoing censorship in Australia, and in a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald he expressed some of his personal views on the state of gaming in Australia.

O’Kane is originally from Ireland, but has resided in Australia for eight years. In addition to creating his own games he teaches game development at RMIT University in Melbourne. O’Kane said he created Ban This Game to spread awareness of censorship in Australia and hoped that the humorous aspect of the game would make its players “more receptive to a serious message.”

O’Kane on the release of the Discussion Paper meant to stimulate conversation over the possibility of adding an R18+ videogame rating category in Australia:

…I'm not optimistic that it will lead to significant change. In order to introduce a change to the censorship legislation all Attorneys-General must be in agreement, and at present the South Australian Attorney-General, Michael Atkinson, is opposed to the change.
 

No amount of evidence or reason is going to change his mind, and so I believe the only solution to this problem is to remove him from office…

O’Kane was asked whether he thought Australian publishers and distributors were doing enough to campaign for change in the Classification system:

Until now I think campaigning has been largely pointless, as campaigning or media coverage is not going to change the mind of Mr Atkinson. However now that we have the Gamers4Croydon party running against Mr Atkinson, I think the Australian game developers and publishers should get behind this party and announce their support for them publicly.

O’Kane’s next game will be squarely aimed at a newly implemented law in homeland of Ireland, which states that anyone who “utters blasphemous matter” can be fined up to 100,000 Euros. He said, “If I can get fined for blasphemy for making the game then I think it will have been a success.”

O’Kane is not a stranger to activism; an older game of his called Harpooned, took on Japanese whaling “research.”

Thanks Ryan!

The government of British Columbia, Canada has revealed sweeping new tax credits that it hopes will aid the growth of digital media production within its boundaries.

The BC Interactive Digital Media tax credit for game developers proposes a credit for 17.5 percent of qualifying B.C. labor costs. If approved, the tax credit would go into effect for game development projects beginning after August 31, 2010.

Other planned tax breaks include an increase on an existing tax credit for labor costs of foreign film productions within B.C., from 25.0 percent to 33.0 percent, and an increase in tax credits for digital animation or visual effects from 15.0 percent to 17.0 percent.

Kevin Krueger, Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister, said about the tax credits, “They will serve to help keep B.C. at the forefront of the North American film and television industry, while providing a significant boost for video game production in our province.”

Douglas Tonsgard, CEO of Next Level Games in Vancouver, offered his take to the Vancouver Sun on what the credits would mean for his game development company:

It will do two things. It will stop job losses that have been happening now, and it will prepare us properly for future growth in Vancouver. Before the tax credit, it didn't make sense to grow your business in Vancouver. I know we will be adding people to our company now.

For those out there looking to create their own massively multiplayer online game, a Pillsbury Law Firm lawyer has some recommendations for you.

Pillsbury’s Jim Gatto, who specializes in intellectual property for the firm, passed along the pointers via a podcast and accompanying article on the Chroma Coders website. Pillsbury claims to represent “many leading companies in the space” [virtual worlds/online games], including Activision.

To begin, Gatto recommends having a “comprehensive IP strategy to protect what you’re doing.” He also recommends that developers keep abreast of evolving legislation, which some developers neglect until it’s too late. Of course for those that require assistance in this matter, Pillsbury can offer their expertise in order to minimize surprises.

Gatto on other surprises that might come up for fledgling developers:

…for example, terms of service, a lot of people, we’ve seen, will cut and paste from someone else’s site and say, if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for us.

The problem with that is that each business model is different. Second life terms of service doesn’t work for some other companies, and even then the first time that Linden went to enforce their terms of service in a lawsuit with Mark Bragg, that you may be familiar, one of the provisions was struck down. Even they’re not infallible, right?

He continued:

One of the other things that extends to virtual goods involved in a game or virtual world, there’s a lot of issues there in connection with virtual currency and, for example, taxation. China imposed a 20 percent tax on games from virtual goods. The U. S. is looking at imposing something similar.
 

Dealing with the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) might be another aspect that new developers pay little or no heed to:

One of the things – in fact, there’s a company we work with called Privo. I don’t know if you’re familiar with them, but they’re actually one of the few COPA safe harbor things. They’ll come in and do some of the compliance policies, but the companies really care about this, making sure that you have an effective strategy and policy and that you’re actually following it is going to put you in a good position.

With the safe harbor provision under the FCC, even if you intend to comply you take steps. If you’ve got the safe harbor even if you’re not in compliance. Typically, you’re going to get an opportunity to fix it, and you’re not going to put yourself in a situation of being in the headline of the company who is next to not comply with COPA.

Try your hand at being the Federal Reserve Chairman in a new iPhone/iPod Touch game featuring Pac-Man-style game play.

Developed by Marroni Electronic Entertainment and NightIrion, iBailout! decrees that “it’s time for you to get yours,” and has players racing around the screen in a bid to gobble up as many stacks of dirty, dirty bailout cash as possible. Instead of being chased by ghosts however, players will have to outmaneuver angry mobs of torch and pitchfork-bearing United States citizens.

Running over machine guns will also give players the ability to declare martial law and will render taxpayers harmless and able to be gobbled up. Scores are also tabulated in the trillions, because that’s how the Fed rolls.

Available for $1.99 in the iTunes store, iBailout! was also chosen as an entrant in the 2010 Independent Games Festival Mobile Competition.

Attorney Mona Ibrahim has published an analysis of the legal implications involved in reverse-engineering games.

The article follows a hypothetical game developer who is frustrated that her favorite game has poor server support, so she reverse-engineers the network protocols to create a private, lag-free server.  The concept isn't so far-fetched: guides on how to create a private World of Warcraft server abound and some reverse-engineered games, like SWGEmu have gained quite a bit of attention.

Ibrahim's article outlines the various laws and doctrines that come into play with reverse-engineering, from the Copyright Act to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and provides practical examples of where enterprising coders can go wrong.

For instance, regarding the DMCA, Ibrahim notes:

If Mallory's new server doesn't provide the same safeguards that control access to the original game servers (like a CD key or a version verification protocol), then her own server is circumventing access controls to the online component of the game. Therefore, by distributing the program, means (such as DIY instructions), or code to access servers that don't use the game's original access controls, she would be violating the anti-circumvention provision.

The article concludes that while reverse engineering itself is not illegal, it does run a gauntlet of legal issues and that "[t]his isn't the type of project you want to pursue if you're risk averse".


Dan Rosenthal is a legal analyst for the games industry.

A House of Lords Communications Committee report on The British Film and Television Industries contains a section on videogames in which the committee endorses the idea of tax incentives for UK game development companies.

TIGA’s constant lobbying on behalf of the tax breaks appears to have made a dent, as it was noted by the committee that “videogames industry representatives told us that that they were under challenge from subsidised production overseas, and that this was evident in relative growth rates.”

The Committee stated in their report:

We recognise the claims of the videogames industry for support in the face of foreign government-subsidised competition, and recommend that the Government consider providing tax incentives for videogames production.

TIGA CEO Richard Wilson responded, “It is very encouraging that the cross-party, highly respected House of Lords Communications Committee has recommended that the Government should consider providing tax incentives for videogames production.”

Rebellion Studios CEO and Creative director Jason Kingsley, and also TIGA Chairman, added:

Today’s report by the House of Lords Communications Committee demonstrates that TIGA’s relentless campaign on behalf of the UK games industry is making an impact. Senior politicians from the key political parties now aspire to introduce TIGA’s Games Tax Relief.

A group of online game developers have penned a letter to The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlining some of the group’s areas of concern as related to Net Neutrality.

The letter (PDF) consists of notes taken from a meeting between four government officials and Dan Scherlis of Scherlis.com (formerly of Turbine), John Radoff of GamerDNA, Christopher Dyl of Turbine, Kent Quirk of Linden Labs, Matthew Bellows of Vivox and Darius Kazemi of the Independent Game Developers Association (IGDA).

Quirk and Dyl emphasized that a focus on latency, not bandwidth, was one of their main concerns, with Dyl also mentioning that interconnections between ISPs can still be a “huge problem” for game developers, though it was generally agreed that most developers have designed their games to operate adequately on the existing network.

Radoff worried that if the Internet was balkanized, or fragmented, developers would have to waste time negotiating separately with each ISP, which would eat away at development resources. Quirk agreed with this point, using mobile applications as an example:

Mr. Quirk asserted that this point is illustrated by the fact that it is relatively easy to develop a mobile application for one phone, like the iPhone, but extremely difficult to develop an application for all phones and mobile networks.

Arguing for more transparency from ISPs, Dyl noted that Turbine was routinely blocked by ISPs that detected high UDP traffic from the game developer. The ISPs “apparently decided to block the traffic and wait to see who complained. Mr. Scherlis noted that not all companies have the resources to identify blocks or to persuade ISPs to stop blocking.”

Dyl also reported on a problem with Chinese online games—the two major ISPs have poor interoperability, leading to problems when a gamer on one ISP tries to play on a server hosted on the other ISP.

Scherlis indicated that a pay-for-priority setup with ISPs would be “acceptable,” but only if “all developers could purchase prioritization on equal terms.” Bellows worried that such a setup would “restrict competition for development of QoS [Quality of Service]-dependent applications to well-financed companies or those already dominant in the sector.”


|Via ArsTechnica|

|Image from Wikipedia|

Atomicboy Software’s Brit Clousing takes the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to task in a post on the company’s blog.

Entitled “Why I Don’t Like the EFF,” Clousing’s post centers on The EFF’s support for net neutrality, which he views as that of a “pro-freeloader / anti-creator stance.”

Clousing's take on the topic comes from the view of a content creator and while he indicates that he does support net neutrality, he states that he does not support it when it involves copyright infringement:

To use a page from the EFF’s playbook, perhaps we could say that the EFF is attempting to hijack the Net Neutrality legislation to make the world safer for piracy.

Most of Clousing comments are in direct response to an action letter set up by The EFF for net neutrality backers to send to the Federal Communication Commission.

Clouosing continued:

The net-neutrality bill would allow ISPs to throttle the unlawful distribution of copyrighted works? Gee, it’s a good thing the EFF has stuck out their neck to fight against this. Based on the phrasing, it almost seems as if the EFF thinks that piracy should be permitted as a part of “free speech”. Personally, I actually find it “deeply problematic” that the EFF thinks throttling copyright-infringement is a problem.

The EFF really needs to straighten out their act and stop going out of their way to side with freeloaders.

Both the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and Rockstar Games have issued responses to an open letter posted on Gamasutra which claimed deteriorating working conditions at the Rockstar San Diego studio.

Rockstar’s response came in the way of a comment on the original Gamasutra story, where user "Justwanna makegames" posted what appears to be an internal email from Rockstar to employees.

A few selections:

We do not agree with the allegations in the Gamasutra post (e.g. there has been no reduction in health benefits or ancillary benefits and perks (such as free dinners and massages etc), wage increases across the studio have kept track with cost of living increases, and anyone who feels they have been overlooked for a bonus for a game they worked on please contact HR to discuss as soon as possible).

Nevertheless, we do know that the team is working very hard right now, and we care deeply about the physical health and mental well-being of every single person on our team. We are committed to working through any issues anyone at the studio may have, and to providing support wherever possible.

In a post on its website, the IGDA wrote:

In any studio, the IGDA finds the practice of undisclosed and constant overtime to be deceptive, exploitative, and ultimately harmful not only to developers but to their final product and the industry as a whole. While our research shows that many studios have found ways to preserve quality of life for their employees, unhealthy practices are still far too common in our industry.

More:

Events like these raise the awareness of quality of life issues in the industry and among the public.  The IGDA has made clear its stance on excessive uncompensated overtime, and this instance represents an opportunity for reflection across the industry.

Additionally, MTV reached out to a former Rockstar New York employee who verified the claims made by Rockstar San Diego staffers.

The unnamed ex-employee even went so far as to compare Rockstar New York to the “Eye of Sauron” when it comes to dealing with other Rockstar studios:

Basically you'd have a studio working without guidance or milestones for nearly two years and then Rockstar NYC would suddenly pay attention to the project, making major changes as if out of the blue.

While the majority of those queried wanted nothing to do with the subject, GameSpy did manage to corral a few brave game developers willing to discuss the topic of religion in videogames.

Lionhead Studios main man Peter Molyneux was one such game maker willing to talk about the subject, saying, “There cannot be a hotter potato than this hot potato.” 

He continued:

Religion is one of those things where -- if you're specific about it -- you're going to get yourself into a mountain of trouble.

 

You have to be very, very careful.

Assassin’s Creed creator Ubisoft was one company that declined to talk with GameSpy about the subject, referring the author instead to the disclaimer used in Assassin’s Creed 2, which states that the game was developed by a “multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs.”

Others who provided comment on the subject included Visceral Games’ (Dante’s Inferno) Jonathan Knight, 2K Boston’s Ken Levine and Wizards of the Coast’s James Wyatt, a former preacher.

Among Wyatt’s comments:

Games aren't a place where you are expected to cling to a belief in something that can't be seen or proven. It's a world where the power of gods is demonstrated daily.

 

[The Lord of the Rings'] Gandalf was -- almost literally -- Jesus walking around with the adventuring party.

Head over to GameSpy for more on the subject.

A report issued by the Washington Interactive Network portrays Seattle as one of the top three areas in the country for game development.

The firm’s Interactive Media Competiveness Study began by analyzing a dozen of the top U.S. locales for game development: Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and San Jose.

Additionally, six indicators of competiveness were used: number of firms, computer and engineering talent, multimedia and animation talent, educational institutions, cost of living and the cost of doing business.

While noting that “there’s no stand alone leader” across all categories when it comes to crowning the best U.S. city for game development, the report labels Seattle, San Francisco and San Jose as the top three overall, then uses the cost of doing business in California as reason for promoting the Seattle area further to the forefront.

The report cites 2007 data showing the Seattle area with over 150 companies or divisions making games, employing over 15,000 people, with growth of 8.0% from 2003 to 2006.

Washington Interactive Network Business Development Manager Kristina Hudson added:

Today, there is no stand-alone national leader in any particular category of competitiveness - which means this 'title" can still be claimed. If our region is mindful of our incentives and taxes - keeping it fiscally friendly to individuals and businesses - we have a good shot at being THE global center of game development.