Play Designs

Casual game developers can look forward to earning some more bucks from Microsoft as the Big M has decided to share in-game advertising profits with the developers. This two-tier revenue program is rolled out for developers of MSN Games.

“Now, by sharing in-game advertising revenue, we’re allowing a more diversified business model that gives our partners more resources to create new, innovative titles for the 13 million people we see every month on MSN Games.”

Better money means better games.

Casual Money via DailyTech

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Current video games are getting more complex and flashier but are today’s game programmers up to the task of creating real FUN games? Doolwind shed some light on current game programming trend. Here are some points from his article:

Game programming is tough.
C++ is still a useful language.
Creativity is important!
Good game programmers are hard to come by.
If you are one of the elite programmers, please be humble.
Big Bucks are waiting for game programmers.
Game companies have to treasure talent.

No doubt that many youngsters are aspiring to be game programmers but the path to become a good programmer is definitely not easy.

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Today, a lot of (all?) sports games contain a horrendous amount of in-game advertising. Games such as Xbox 360 Fight Night Round 3 even features “Burger King” as your trainer (WTF?). But does that mean ads in sports titles work?
A behavioural research firm in UK called Bunnyfoot (I like this cute name) has proven that in-game ads don’t score in sports games.
Results showed a failure to capture the attention of the player in sports game which followed a real-world model of advertising, with the firm noting that, “current methods are not optimising consumer engagement and are failing to influence the …read more

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Tim Partlett, a game developer at Crytek which is the mastermind behind the FPS game, Crysis, revealed the naked truth of German game development in Quarter To Three forums.
When I tell people in Germany what I do for a living, they usually react with a mixture of pity and disgust, like I had admitted to them I was a male prostitute.
They (riot police) even raided the nearby private residences, with one of our programmers forced to lay down naked on the floor with a gun to his head after he discovered armed police in his room after finishing his shower.
With …read more

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Former Chief Creative Officer for Star Wars Galaxies of Sony Online Entertainment, Raph Koster (Raphael Koster), has set up a new studio called Areae that is dedicated to virtual worlds where anyone can join in the fun.
Areae, Inc. is a company dedicated to taking the tired old virtual world and making it into something fresh and new. Something anyone can jump into. Something where anyone can find something fun to do or a game to play. Something where anyone can build their own place on the virtual frontier.
The other guy in the company’s team is John Donham, VP of Production, …read more

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Game developers and home brewers who have the XNA development tool can check out the Looking at XNA series by Channel 9. The history, the story and a debugging demo of XNA are all packed in this 2-part series.

Folllow the links and check them out:
Looking at XNA Part One
Looking at XNA Part Two
XNA via Gamedev.net

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Mickey Mouse Disney new game development studio in Salt Lake City will be geared to develop Disney exclusive titles for Nintendo Wii and DS. I can imagine Donald Duck playing tennis with Zelda now…

Buena Vista Games group, a Walt Disney Company, is set to open a new software division called ‘Fall Line Studio’ to make exclusive Disney titles for the Nintendo Wii and both portable DS models.
Distendo via GameSHOUT

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AGDS or Asian Game Developers Summit 2006 will be held in sunny Singapore this December.

AGDS provides education, networking and business opportunities and serves as a forum for programmers, artist, producers, game designers, audio professionals and others involved in the development of games to gather to exchange ideas, network and shape the future of the industry.
AGDS 2006 features lectures, round-table discussions on game development topics such as design, technology, arts and animation, business, production and mobile presented by industry professionals around the region and internationally. Our regional speakers come from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
Even if you are not a …read more

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Nvidia and The Game Creators come together to give you a chance to land a game publishing deal. The FPS creator champion will be able to ink a publishing deal with Mastertronic and fufil his or her dream of creating a full blown [insert the number of levels here]-level First Person Shooting game that will hit the stores worldwide.
If you are not into shooting and throwing grenades like mad, the other way is to use DarkBASIC Professional to create the dream game of yours (with the exception of adult-themed games I suppose). You won’t get a deal in this category …read more

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This 72 hour competition is really not a competition…
The 72 Hour Game Development competition is an event to inspire rapid game development with an emphasis on design and fun. The general premise is this: At the start of the 72 hour period, a pre-determined theme is revealed. Teams collaborate to make the best game they can following that theme with only 72 hours to release something.
If you were game, the next 72-hour competition will be held in November.
Check the official website for details.

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