 |
|
|
 |
|
 
Giving Back Is
Moving Forward!
How many of you remember fondly -- or at least gratefully -- the person who gave you your first break into the videogames business?
Mine was Johnny Wilson, former editor-in-chief of “Computer Gaming World,” one of the first major gaming magazines from the early days of the industry. Johnny took a chance on me, and I didn't let him down.
Now, more than two decades later, I have had the good fortune to return the favor for a fair number of folks, and have gotten a lot of satisfaction watching their respective careers grow and flourish. It is one of the ways that those of us who have been around a while give back -- guiding, mentoring, and growing the next generation of leaders. The older I get, the more I think about this and, last year, I realized that since many of us are already doing this individually, there was probably a way that we could all do it collectively that was even more effective.
So I began quietly discussing my ideas with three groups of folks: industry professionals, universities, and the students themselves who were putting a lot of time, effort, and money into building their skills in order to break into gaming. Today, I am going to share some of those findings and introduce to you a new portal that we will be launching at the GC Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. It's called Getin2Games.com, hereafter to be known as "G2G" for simplicity's sake.
G2G is designed to directly connect the games industry to all of the feeder institutions and prospective internship and job candidates around the world, providing everyone with not only a forum to very inexpensively post their needs and opportunities, but also an optional personalized matchmaking service that augments the limited resources of most university guidance departments, and small company and independent developer-level HR departments.
The second layer -- that of personalized service and support -- is something our research identified as a critical need. We surveyed hundreds of companies and universities and the results were overwhelmingly clear, as you will see if you keep reading …
Click here to read the full article
»
Archive of previous columns.
|
|
| |
 |
| |
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Focus: Publisher of Cogno-branded IP.
Facts: Products include 3 Cogno board games, a Cogno series of novels, 2 Cogno casual games, and syndicated puzzlers that reach 400,000 school-age kids weekly in the U.S. and abroad.
So you're floating in space with an elephant and you give the elephant a good shove. Which of you would float away faster from the starting point?
If you don't know, perhaps that's because you're unfamiliar with brainy Cogno and his 15 galactic friends who fascinate 400,000 school-age kids each week with the wonders of science via syndicated “puzzlers.”
Award-winning Cogno Products is the brainchild of president/CEO Stuart Montaldo who, four years ago, came up with the idea of the Cogno characters.
 “We wanted to urge kids to become curious about how the universe really works and inspire them to figure things out,” he recalls. “The plan was to create and license various kinds of multimedia products -- games, books, and so on -- around the Cogno brand platform.”
Cogno just launched a new Web site, its first entry into the interactive space, where kids can meet the wacky characters, become a Cogno secret agent, visit locations from the novels, and play two simple casual games -- a low-gravity basketball shooter and the world's first solar sailing game.
Meanwhile, Montaldo has signed with FOG Studios to attract a developer to create the first Cogno videogame (most likely for Nintendo Wii and DS, and mobile). And he just started pitching production studios on the concept of an animated Cogno TV series for a target audience of 7-12-year-olds.
“There's a huge need to get kids more engaged in science and technology at an early age,” explains Montaldo. “So many kids in the 4th-8th grades get turned off for a variety of reasons. Cogno is a great platform to get them jazzed up about it, with a multimedia approach that is not overtly educational, but rather focuses on fun and exploration.”
He's hoping to spread the word … and suggests that anyone with a video-game-related opportunity should contact FOG's Ed Dille. Others interested in non-gaming opportunities should contact Montaldo himself.
And, oh, by the way, you would move away faster than the elephant because you presumably have less mass -- which means you would accelerate faster. Who knew?
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
Nibris shows off new screenshots of “Sadness.”
Krakow, Poland-based developer Nibris has pulled the wraps off of its brand new Web site which features
screens from its upcoming horror title for the Nintendo Wii, “Sadness.”
Scheduled for a fall 2009 release, “Sadness” is a black-and-white psychological terror title in which gamers control Maria, an aristocrat trying to protect her 8-year-old blind son from monsters. Action takes place in the woods of 19th century Russia.
The Nibris team plans to attend the GC Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany August 20-24. To schedule an appointment, e-mail Christi Freeman.
Capcom and Neopets partner to intro new multi-platform puzzle/adventure game.
Capcom Entertainment and Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group's Neopets -- “the most engaging tween virtual world on the Web” -- are partnering to create a new multi-platform puzzle/adventure game, “Neopets Puzzle Adventure” (working title), to be released on the PC and the Nintendo Wii and DS this holiday season. Co-developer is Infinite Interactive, known for its award-winning “Puzzle Quest.”
Based on the classic board game “Reversi,” “Neopets Puzzle Adventure” is a robust and fully integrated Neopets experience that includes 150 different quests across vast Neopian lands, a variety of the most popular customizable Neopets from which to choose, and several mini-games to add depth and fun to the gameplay.
Click here for the full story.
Robert Downey Jr. in talks to star in Platinum Studios' “Cowboys Vs. Aliens.”
Robert Downey Jr. is in negotiations to star in DreamWorks/Universal's “Cowboys & Aliens,” a pulpy mix of the sci-fi and Western genres that could serve as a potential 2010 tentpole, says “The Hollywood Reporter.”
Imagine Entertainment partners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are producing. Platinum Studios chairman and CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg also will produce, along with DreamWorks mainstays Steven Spielberg, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci. Ervin Rustemagic and Rich Marincic will co-produce.
“Cowboys & Aliens” derives from a graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley from an original idea by Platinum Studios' Rosenberg. The story centers on an Old West battle between the Apache and Western settlers, including a former Union Army gunslinger named Zeke Jackson (Downey), that is interrupted by a spaceship crashing into the prairie near Silver City, Arizona.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
Ping us by clicking on the
appropriate link. We are currently
looking for the following:
-
Wanted: Developers and publishers seeking non-interactive licensing and merchandising opportunities.
-
Wanted: iPhone porting opportunities and iPhone RFPs.
-
Wanted: Casual game developers looking for ongoing project flow.
-
Wanted: Developers or publishers with open internship positions for college students in game development programs.
-
Wanted: Industry veterans seeking to leave a legacy and share their experience with the next
generation.
|
|
 |
|
 |
FOG Studios, the leading agency for
interactive rights since 1979,
helps:
|
 |
Independent developers find
publishing partners and other
avenues to market. |
|
|
|
IP owners maximize their return
when licensing in the interactive
marketplace. |
|
|
|
Publishers develop relationships
with world-class brands and top
developers. |
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
A Friend Of FOG
Dublin, Ireland-based Keywords International is a leading globalization solutions company that provides a whole host of localization, testing, and QC services to videogame studios and publishers among others.
It specializes in such services as pre-production support, localization vendor selection, linguistic QA on all material (from scripts to manuals to packaging and marketing collaterals), age-rating assessment and advice, and certification assessment and advice. Keywords insures that all localization adaption of clients' games is not only linguistically but culturally correct as well.
And for that reason -- for Keywords International's ability to become the one company that can provide all of your localization needs across all platforms and languages -- they are now a Friend of FOG.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
| |
|
Nibris |
Unannounced Nintendo DS and Wii projects with Zoo Digital. |
|
Anino |
Unannounced Nintendo DS project with Phenomedia. |
|
Anino |
Unannounced Nintendo DS project with Anuman Interactive. |
|
DCWL |
Art outsourcing project with Heuristic Park. |
|
Matahari Studios |
Art outsourcing project with Forterra Systems. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
This is not a complete listing of the
opportunities available through FOG
Studios. To request more information on
any of the featured opportunities,
discuss other opportunities exclusively
represented by FOG Studios, or to
determine the availability of any of
our Developer or Service Provider
Clients for your upcoming projects,
please
click here.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
