The Annual Develop Industry Excellence Awards takes place every July, bringing over 500 game developers from all around the world to celebrate success of themselves and others in the industry. The awards honor particularly European developers, and is now in its sixth year, the ceremony this year will be held at the Hilton Metropole, Brighton on Wednesday 30th July. Earlier this week the team behind the awards revealed a list of who is in the running for awards this year. Rockstar North, NaturalMotion and Image Metrics are all in the running for several awards from their work on Grand Theft Auto IV with Rockstar London nominated for the best new UK games studio.
Visual Arts
Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV)
Crytek (Crysis)
London Studio (SingStar PS3 UI)
Frontier Developments (Lost Winds)
Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword)Audio Accomplishment
London Studio (SingStar PS3)
Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword)
Sumo Digital (Sega Superstars Tennis)
Codemasters Studios (Race Driver GRID)
Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise)Tools Provider
Hansoft
Epic Games
Sony & SN Systems
Havok
NaturalMotion
IDV
Technical Innovation
Rockstar North/NaturalMotion/Image Metrics (Grand Theft Auto IV)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword)
Ideaworks3D (Airplay)
SCEE R&D Team (PhyreEngine)
Geomerics (Enlighten)Best New UK/European Studio
Finblade
Konami Paris
Oxygen Studios
Rockstar London
DoublesixBusiness Development
Zoë Mode
Rebellion
Realtime Worlds
Team 17
NaturalMotionBest In-house Developer
Rockstar North
Codemasters Studios
Criterion Games
Sports Interactive
London Studio
Bizarre Creations
You can read more on the Develop Awards on DevelopMag.com. Best of luck to Rockstar North, Rockstar London and the two Technology Innovation Companies -- NaturalMotion and Image Metrics.
The distributor for Rockstar Games in the UAE has come out and confirmed that the UAE's National Media Council (NMC), in other words, the UAE equivalent of OFLC or ESRB, has banned the game due...
...to the game's controversial content, which features strong violence and drug use and is therefore not in keeping with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.
Although if your dying to get the game, and you're a traveler to the region, then you can still pick it up in any Duty Free stores. This is as these stores are not under the NMC which governs the inner UAE.
It's a very rare honor to have the chance to talk to this man, Sam Houser, the brains behind 'Grand Theft Auto' and many other very successful gaming series' developed by Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto IV is obviously his latest and undoubtably his most popular creation yet. Recently he has been talking to the media about himself and his games, something he very rarely does. The Houser Brothers, Sam and Dan, don't like having the spotlight put onto them, they rather people discuss their games rather then them themselves; very nobal really.
The Wall Street Journal has been lucky enough to speak with Sam Houser about Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar, the EA vs. Take-Two takeover and himself as a whole. The article is a must read for anybody who enjoy's hearing about the behind-the-scenes happenings of Rockstar Games, you can see the full article here. Below are some snippets we felt you might link to read, however we do insist you read the full article, it's well worth the read...
On Sam Houser:
Mr. Houser, 36 years old, sports a scruffy beard that stretches to the top of his chest. In a rare interview, he joked that associates have described him as a "lunatic" -- a reference to his creative intensity. Last year his studio hired a spiritual healer to exorcise bad vibes after the deaths of two fellow employees. He makes a habit of walking the streets of New York to study a hidden underworld of ex-cons, vagrants and other Diane Arbus-worthy subjects. Some of them have inspired characters in his games.
He's also a man of contradictions. "I'm about the most conservative guy you'll ever meet," says Mr. Houser, who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two young children. "I have a panic attack if I get a parking ticket."
On Rockstar:
The "talent" at Rockstar, as they're called internally, make star-caliber money and might find EA's more traditional pay structure jarring. In 2005, a particularly strong year, Take-Two paid royalties of $84 million, according to company filings. The bulk of funds, say people familiar with the matter, went to Mr. Houser and other Rockstar executives. If EA succeeds in acquiring Take-Two, some analysts believe EA's star developers might demand a bigger share of game proceeds.
Another possible kink: Rockstar's history of autonomy. If EA ends up with Take-Two, Mr. Houser says it's unlikely that he would go so far as to seek EA's approval for game content. Still, he calls Mr. Riccitiello "the real deal" and sees some appeal in an EA alliance, which he says would make Rockstar a "much smaller fish in much bigger pond."
"I'm not someone who has any kind of problem with that," says Mr. Houser, who says EA turned him down for a job in the late 1990s. [Ironic really isn't it? They turned him down for a job a mer 15 years ago (if not less...) now they would kill to have his million dollar studios under there belt.]
The journal also showed some visual data of Grand Theft Auto, one is of the profit from games, the other is from the sale of games:
Left: As we see here Grand Theft Auto pushes the profit through the roof each time one is released, take 2004 for example, this was the year San Andreas was released, the profit was $1 billion dollars approx. Followed only by 2005 which had the PC version of San Andreas released, which made Take-Two and Rockstar $1.2 billion, so the PC version of games must be very popular when it comes to PC. Could be a hint as to why we may have a PC release of GTA IV? Let's hope so!
Below: It's clear that GTA IV is doing fantastically all ready, in the first week it sold 6 million copies, GTA VCS sold 4.5 million in it's entire time, with GTA LCS selling only 2 million more than IV in it's entire time. So from this we can see that the Grand Theft Auto series has a huge affect on the profit of Take-Two and Rockstar.
For more, we highly recommend reading the article at The Wall Street Journal article.
We are inclined to agree with Dan Houser, Vice President of Rockstar Games and co-writer of a little game called GTA IV. Mr Houser stated in New York Magazine:
Yeah, f*ck all this stuff about casual gaming. I think people still want games that are groundbreaking...We're hopefully going to prove that there's also a very big audience for people who want entertainment in another form, who think of games as being a narrative device that can challenge movies.
Talk about speaking the truth. No offence to any casual only gamers out there but going that road gives me goose bumps. Yes, I own a Wii, but it is collecting dust in my cupboard. It doesn’t appeal to me at all, I would have rather gotten a 360 to stand beside my PS3 but my parents thought otherwise.
I’m not saying that casual gaming should disappear altogether, but just keep it too a minimum. Now, back to killing hookers in GTA IV.
Thanks to EuroGamer!
I returned home to a message stuck on my front door today, saying I had a package that was to be delivered to me, however seeing as I wasn't home it was sent to the local depot and could be picked up between 4 and 6 pm. Had no idea what it could have been, I don't usually receive packages, so I rushed down to the depot to pick it up. To my surprise, it was Hidden Package #5, courtesy of Rockstar.
I was amazed to see it sent all the way to be, nearly half way around the world. Took awhile to get to me according to the papers I signed, 25th April it was sent, thats mostly due to the distance and the fact Australia's transit for packages is slower than any other countries.
I don't know how many other fansites yet have the 5th Hidden Package, except GTAGaming. Here's what the fine guys at Rockstar sent me:
- A T-shirt of the Liberty City Police Department
- A very realistic replica of a grenade (it's heavy and made out of similar texture)
- plus 10 stickers related to GTA IV:
- Grand Theft Auto IV logo
- LC Police Department
- Swingers
- Burger Shot
- TW@ Internet Cafe
- Pißwasser
- Niko standing putting on a glove
- Lola sucking on a lollipop
- Man on a mobile holding a gun
- Man with Sniper rifle
Thanks Rockstar for the terrific swag of goodies!
RAGE is, quiet literally, the backbone to everything you will see in Grand Theft Auto IV and upcoming Midnight Club: Los Angeles. It's creating realistic and complete worlds that is making everyone just a little excited. So how exactly does it all work, and whats the advantage of it? Well 1UP has published a nice article today answering both those questions, and more!
We will leave you too read the article on 1UP, since it really can't be summarized. However, they also included 9 new screenshots showing just how powerful this technical masterpiece is:
Read: on 1UP
Only a few days after the news of Grand Theft Auto IV being edited and slightly censored in Australia, I contacted the OFLC via email to ask if they knew how it had been edited, and what the reasonings were. Obviously this was before we learned that Rockstar had not submitted a uncut version first, rather they submitted an edited game for rating rather then attempting to have the full-uncut game rated first.
This was a smart move, as being rated "18" in the UK, there was no chance of the uncut version being released in Australia due to the OFLC not having an R rating for games (adults only rating). I today received an email back from the OFLC, the are rather busy so it did take awhile. They state that they did not rate the uncut version, and therefore can not speculate as to what has been edited, instead they told us to contact Rockstar directly, which obviously isn't necessarily now.
However an interesting point is that the OFLC alerted me to a future Public Discussion paper for the introduction of a R rating for games, making adult games, or anything that should not be played by persons under the age of 18, able to be released. Manhunt 2 for example. Australia has missed man terrific games and gaming series' due to not having an adults rating for games, and there could be a change in the wind. Best part; on the most part it seems Grand Theft Auto IV's editing has been the spark of this, which in itself shows just how powerful the game and the series is. Or maybe it's just that some of the Classification Ministers like the series?
I am aware of concerns that the content of this game has been modified for Australian release. The Classification Board will classify a computer game in the form in which the distributor submits it. The Classification Act does not provide the Board with the power to direct a distributor to modify a computer game. You may wish to contact the creator and/or distributor for further information about different versions of this game.
Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers with censorship responsibilities have agreed on an initiative to seek community views on the issue of an R 18+ classification for computer games. A discussion paper is being developed and will be released for public consultation. You may like to participate in the consultation when it is announced and make a submission.
The Attorney-General’s Department is aware of research into game-playing trends in Australia, including findings that the average age of Australian gamers is 28 years old. The Department is also aware of the wide range of views on the introduction of an R 18+ classification for computer games in the community.
The OFLC also make note that Grand Theft Auto IV was rated officially on the 12th of December, 2007. I'd like to thank the OFLC for the information, and urge any Australian's out their too submit their support and/or opinions when the Consultation becomes Public within the coming months.
Hasn't been much news regarding Manhunt 2 since it's announced release in the UK (very soon too we are hoping). However, MCV had an exclusive interview with BBFC director David Cooke yesterday, the interview's main focus was, you guessed it, Manhunt 2. Cooke says they are still a little disappointed that the game was passed for release after all the work they did examining the game to become familiar enough with it to make a valid decision. Considerably more time than the VAC who passed the game apparently.
MCV: Has the whole Manhunt 2 experience changed the way the BBFC works – in terms of culture or processes?
Cooke: Not fundamentally. The reason for that is obviously we thought it was the right decision, or we won’t have reached it. It hasn’t affected the fact that we still base our decisions on thorough gameplay. In the case of Manhunt 2, by the end of it all, we probably spent over 100 examiner hours on the game - including more than a few hours of mine.
We actually got a fairly substantial benefit from the Manhunt episode, We went to the High Court, and it clarified the harm test – actually a benefit that flies across a whole range of games and film.
It all gets quite technical, but for instance, it showed it was not necessary for us to show devastating effect, which was what the arguments had said previously.
MCV: Are you still disappointed with the decision?
Cooke: We absolutely accept that if you have an independent judicial tribunal, like we do with the Video Appeals Committee, you have to abide by its findings and there’s no point showing sour grapes. I guess we’re still disappointed because we put quantifiably more examining hours into getting familiar with the game than the VAC was able to do, so in effect, they were substituting their judgement for ours on the basis of familiarity of the game.
Read the full interview at MCV.
During the recent MI6 Game Marketing Conference, ESRB President Patricia Vance addressed the topic of rating downloadable content. It's only been i recent years that downloadable content has evolved, originally downloadable content was basically just modifications made by an enthusiast. Now however developers alike at extending gameplay beyond the box you purchase. Oblivion and Grand Theft Auto IV are huge games, and both have downloadable content coming soon, they have helped bring this 'downloadable content rating' problem back into the focus for the ESRB.
Simply, developers must "keep the content in the downloadable product consistent with the core rating." What does this mean? It means that the content put up for download must not contain content higher of that on the original rating. For example; you could not have a downloadable package with sexual content for an M rated game that only had violence and horror content according to the rating on the box. If the content is changed, then the ESRB would force a re-rating, which would cost the company money no doubt (for updated boxes I would presume).
