Kapooki Games feature on GD.ie
Kapooki
Games is the focus of the latest feature article on Gamedevelopers.ie.
The feature highlights the back-story of how the former Irish games
developer went into liquidation in 2005, with debts of over 700,000 euro…
How
a small start-up studio, located over a tattoo parlour in Dublin, went
from being one of Ireland’s brightest game development hopes to
another casualty of a ruthless industry. Pavel Barter reunites Dave
Stafford, Shane Whelan, Gearoid Coughlan, and Ger Lawlor, of Kapooki
Games. - gamedevelopers.ie
Mobile brain games - Upstart talks to Kotaku
Kotaku.com talks to Dublin-based Upstart Games (vie here)…
Earlier
this week, we reported on the slew of Brain Age knock-offs headed our
way. Barry O’Neill, CEO of the Dublin-based Upstart Games, emailed us
to let us know his company had been “sitting on” a cell phone brain
game that predates Brain Age by about two years. Originally called
Right Brain Paradise, the game was released by G-mode in Japan.
Upstart’s English version is titled IQ Academy and will be on in
major US and European carries this July. We sent questions to Mr.
O’Neill, regarding the upcoming title, the brain game craze and
skiing in Nintendo’s wake >>>
Irish games companies in the news
The Sunday Business Post reports the flock of some Irish games companies to California this week, for the Game Developers Conference 2006. A second article covers the Galway-based Nephin Games raising $1 million in funding.
‘Game on for Irish tech firms‘
centres on Demonware, as well as Havok, Torc Interactive, Upstart
Games, and Selatra, the article also lists off BitRabbit, Gmedia,
Eirplay Games, Meedja, and PopCap.
To make
itself seen among the big players, Demonware is hiring a San Francisco
cable car on wheels to transport people around San Jose. The company
hired a fleet of Hummer limousines for last year’s GDC, but it has
been prudent with its cash.It has raised just over
PopCap launches Dublin offices
In February, PopCap officially launched their Dublin offices. The Dublin base will on work on new games, localisation, and commercial support.
The studio had apparently being operational a number of months
before the announcement; it was registered in September 2005. PopCap
obtained TKO’s Dublin software team. Will Golby, the former head of
TKO Dublin, will manage the company at the Digital Depot in the Digital
Hub.Commenting, Golby said, “Becoming part of the biggest hit-maker in
the casual games space is truly an ideal situation for us — PopCap is
growing apace with the whole casual games sector, and we look forward
to spearheading that expansion on this side of the Atlantic”.Play.ie launched
Play.ie
was recently launched by Eirplay games. While the site is said to be a ‘media
entertainment portal’, with content such as ring tones, the company says it’s
aims is to “provide an opportunity for Irish digital media designers, game
developers and students to showcase their work”.BitRabbit’s Yukiko now in Ireland, the UK
At the beginning of the year, Games Toaster reported that ‘Yukiko’, the first game by Dublin based mobile developer BitRabbit, was finished and released, just not in Ireland.
For about a month now, Yukiko has been available for Series 60 mobile phones vie jamster.ie, or jamster.co.uk.
For the slightly hidden option of ’single purchase’, jamster.ie gave us
a price of 4 euro, while the UK site quoted £4.50 (UKP), both not
including operator charges.In addition, the two Jamster sites, which also sell the ‘Crazy Frog’
ring tone, offered the option of saving “up to 80% with the Jamster!
club”, however when the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs
joint the club recently their experience, like many consumers, wasn’t the best.The Yukiko is also available in the Carphone Warehouse preinstalled
on a 128Mb Multimedia Card (MMC) for £19.95, with two other games (by
other developers), Marble Revolution, and Sky Force.Gizmondo handheld gets Ireland street date - UK launch tomorrow
Gizmondo
makers, Tiger Telematics, have arranged a deal which sees Sigma
Wireless made “official distributor” of the handheld console,
so-far the device is to be stocked in Xtravision, Spectra, and 3G
stores.Until now, Tiger Telematics’s main business was using the Global
Positioning System satellite system for business applications.Priced at 349 euro in Ireland (app 242 UKP), and 229 pounds in the
UK, the handheld console features a camera, music player, film player,
and GPS. Although it is not a mobile phone, it has Mms capabilities,
such as text and photo messaging, and audio and video clip download.Gizmondo uses Microsoft’s Windows CE, their games Age of Empires,
MechAssault, and It’s Mr Pants will be published for the console. Games
such as Conflict: Vietnam, Worms, and Carmageddon, will be ported to
the format.The console publisher has bought games developer Warthog (Battlestar
Galactica, Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter), and incorporated it under their
‘Gizmondo Stuidos’ brand. Upcoming self-developed games include
‘Colors’, a action GPS gang warfare game where you control your “turf”,
and the RPG Fallen Kingdoms.“There’s been growing interest in Gizmondo since it created such a
stir in at the Toys for Big Boys show in Dublin. We’re thrilled to be
working with Gizmondo Europe in bringing such a feature-packed piece of
technology to consumers in Ireland” commented Tony Boyle of Sigma
Wireless.In other handheld news, Nintendo’s DS was released last week, Sony’s
PSP’s European release is on ice, and Nokia have once again dropped the
price of their phone-console N-Gage which has attracted disappointing
sales figures.Mobile games news roundup
First image WKN Kickboxing, images two and three Yukiko.DMAs Developer of the Year
Recently at Nephin Games won the ‘Digital Games Developer of the Year’ award at the Digital Media Awards 2005 in Dublin
The Galway based mobile games developer created a game for the World
Kickboxing Network, ‘WKN Kickboxing’. According to Nephin the award
shows that they can deliver ‘top quality fun’, as well as a good
branding tool.“The final results were a fair reflection of the talent and hard
work involved,” commented Tony Kelly, co-coordinator of the Irish
Chapter of the International Games Developer Association, “The
quality of WKN Kickboxing spoke for itself, and assured Nephin Games of
top prize on the night. Congrats to Alan Duggan and associates for a
job well done”.The kickboxing game can be found on fonearcade.com, it is supported by the Nokia 3650, 3660, Nokia 6600, 7610, 6620, 6630, 6260, 7650, and the N-Gage.
First bite
Meanwhile the Dublin based mobile games developer BitRabbit
has finished its first game, ‘Yukiko’. The developer has set it
self up to put GBA quality games on Series 60 mobile phones (Nokia
7650, 6600, 6260, 6630, 7610, Ngage, Siemens SX-1, etc).Yukiko is an arcade-like game where you control “a very cute
character” that travels the world fighting monsters, with bosses at
the end of each level. The game boosts ‘fifteen minutes of original
digital music’.Unfortunately, at this time, the game is only singed up with a French distributor.
DS in March…
The DS will
be on European retailers’ shelves on 11 March, it is now officially priced at 149
euro, or £99 for the North and the UK, with games going for 30 to 45 euro,
or £29 to £19.
A total of 15
games are to be out at launch, including Super Mario 64 DS, WarioWare Touched!,
Pokémon Dash, Tiger Woods, the URBZ, and Spider-Man (full list below). The first load of the handheld
will come with a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt.
A number of
the games use the touch screen for control, and others use the wireless
networking (including Mario Kart, which isn’t a launch title) for multiplayer
gaming.
Even
thought it was only launched late last year in the United States, and Japan, it had sold 2.8 million units
before the start of 2005.Launch games
Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo)
WarioWare Touched! (Nintendo)
Pokémon Dash (Nintendo)
Polarium (Nintendo)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR (EA)
The URBZ: Sims in the City (EA)
Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
Project Rub (SEGA)
Mr. DRILLER: Drill Spirits (Namco)
Rayman DS (Ubisoft)
Asphalt Urban GT (Gameloft/Ubisoft)
Sprung: The Dating Game* (Gameloft/Ubisoft)
Zoo Keeper (Ignition)Ping Pals (THQ) - Robots (Vivendi)
* only in the “UKhe Netherlands and Scandinavia” - Ireland is normally bunched in with the UK
Technical specs
The lithium
ion battery is said to last up to 10 hours, but this will vary depending on
things like sound volume and what type of game is in use (2d or 3d). When
closed the flip duel screen console is 148.7 millimetres (5.85 inches)
wide, 84.7mm (3.33″) long, and 28.9mm (1.13″) tall. Both screens are 3-inch backlit
colour LCD with 256 x 192 pixel resolution and .24 mm dot pitch, capable of
displaying 260,000 colours. The bottom screen is a touch screen, which can be
used as a controller.
DS European launch details expected today
Later today, the price, date, and other European release details of Nintendo’s latest handheld console, the DS, are set to be revealed at a press conference in Paris.
In Dublin,
‘Mr Calculator’ on Duke Street have for some time now being selling
imported Nintendo DSs, and PlayStation Portables, for 229, and 500
euro, respectfully — far above the current recommend retail prices of
the two consoles in the United States, and Japan. Many hardcore gamers in the state have already
imported the consoles using online retailers and auction sites, such as Ebay.Meanwhile, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment, Ken Kutaragi, has clamed
faults in a number in the PSP, mainly the button closest to the screen
being less responsive, were “according to specifications”. “I
didn’t want the PSP’s LCD screen to become any smaller than this, nor
did I want its machine body to become any larger,” he told a Japanese
newspaper Nikkei Business.
