Sam Houston’s list of game industry types who use Twitter got a lot of exposure last week. So much that he’s launched a site, updated with even more devs, journalists, community managers and the like.

Yes, yours truly is on there, but so are many others we quote around these parts too. The list is broken up into four categories — game companies, game press, PR professionals, and communities/fansites.

There’s a love/hate mood on Twitter — some do it obsessively, some are too cool for school about it — but there is always the possibility you catch some interesting scuttlebutt or revealing thoughts from those in the business or associated with it. This past week I spied a couple of things that ended up on this blog. And sometimes I talk about things that maybe aren’t hefty enough for a blog post. Others have too. Ask Crecente about his Legos this weekend.

So for those interested, consider this, and not the previous post nor the page it linked to, as your bottom line clearing house. Sam’s been pretty fanatical about updating this, and I’m sure he’ll continue to do so as more begin using Twitter, or make their addresses known.

Game Industry Tweet: A Complete List of Video Game Professionals on Twitter

“We’re honoured to be recognised by the NCTA as an industry leader in technology,” said Dr. Michael Capps, president of Epic Games. “The other nominees are trailblazers in their respective fields — for a game company like Epic to be singled out as the award winner is very flattering.” Indeed.

Epic Games Wins 2008 NCTA Award [GamersHell]

Atari Secures $10 Million For Continued Operations [Gamasutra]

Okay, it’s so-so news. There’s no guarantee that anything will happen under a Labor Government – a committee is something you form before a war, not during. However, we know conclusively that nothing will happen if the Coalition is re-elected, and for those hunting desperately for even a foal’s chance of a rebate, this is as good as it’s going to get.

You can read the full release after the jump.

MELBOURNE – Monday 22 October, 2007 – Senator Conroy, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, announced this morning that he would establish a high level committee to review the GDAA’s call for a 40% tax rebate for the games industry in Australia if Labor is elected to government.

Senator Conroy met with representatives from the Game Developers’ Association of Australia and CEOs from some of Australia’s major game development companies to discuss the GDAA’s plea for the 40% rebate recently announced for Australia’s film and television industries to be extended to local video game developers.

CEO of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia (GDAA) Greg Bondar said of the Senator’s announcement, “We have been trying for years to get the Australian government to listen to us and recognise the significant contribution that our industry makes to the Australian economy and the potential we have for substantial growth in our industry if we were to benefit from the same sort of rebate as is offered to the Australian film industry.”

“We are thrilled that Senator Conroy is prepared, should Labor be elected to government, to take the time to assess our industry and give sound consideration to our call for a rebate. This is a positive step forward for our industry.”

GDAA President Tom Crago called for the Australian government to reconsider their refusal to extend the rebate to the video game industry. “We want the Government to take another look. This is exactly the type of industry they should be supporting in that it is high growth, highly skilled and almost entirely export focused. We also think it’s about time they recognised the contribution that video games makes to the broader cultural landscape in Australia.”

Senator Conroy met with Gregory Bondar, CEO of the GDAA, Tom Crago, GDAA President and CEO of Tantalus Interactive, Chris Moseley, GDAA Treasurer and CEO of Redtribe and a number of other CEOs including Mike Fegan of IRGurus and Steve Fawkner of Infinite Interactive. The meeting also included a live demonstration for the Senator of some of the latest games being developed in Australia.

“It really is time for our current government to ‘get with it’ and accept just how big this industry is globally,” said Bondar. “We have a chance to make a name for ourselves on the world stage and win significant business if they back our industry in the same way that governments in China, Canada, France and South Korea are doing. It’s time for them to get in the game.”

My biggest concern is that it’s a phenomenally powerful brand in North America, but it is very North America-centric. It’s red, white and blue. It’s “in the game” [utters in deep, American-accented baritone]. It’s an American voice. It is for better or worse seen as a United States brand that exports its products to Europe or to Asia or to South America.

Think he might be onto something:

…I think the products that we sell need to be more globalized. I talked a lot this evening about cricket, tennis, mixed martial arts, open-wheel racing–all of the things we’ve discussed here this evening, all of which can make a difference in the way people perceive us. Right now if I talk EA Sports in Europe, people see it as a holding company for FIFA.

We’re going to have a bunch of games that have different experiences here in North America. We don’t have that…. We don’t have that depth and penetration into the psyche of the European sports consumer. We need to change that, and we need to change that quickly.

Everything he just said sounds good. Europe, Australia, Asia, there are a lot of places on Earth that don’t really dig American Football or NASCAR, so the more local sports they can see turned into games, the better EA will do. And the better those regions will feel about EA Sports. Doesn’t it just make you feel all warm and gooey inside? I bet Pete’s feeling warm. Perhaps even a little gooey, especially at the prospect of a decent EA cricket game.

Trivial Pursuit [GameTap]

According to Bungie, the developer will become an independent company, but will retain a long-term publishing agreement with Microsoft Game Studios for future Halo titles.

Bungie has long been built on creativity, originality and the freedom to pursue ideas. Microsoft agreed, and rather than stifle our imagination, they decided it was in both our best interests to unleash it. We’ll continue to make Xbox 360 games, and we’ll continue to make amazing games for MGS. In that regard, nothing has changed. All that has changed is that now Bungie Studios is once again, the property of the folks of Bungie Studios. Microsoft is and will continue to be, a brilliant, inventive and creatively collaborative publishing partner. Practically speaking, nothing has changed and you guys won’t see much, if any difference, for a while unless you come to work for us, that is – we’re hiring at http://www.bungie.net/inside/jobs.aspx.

Microsoft goes on to say equally innocuous stuff.

“Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in ‘Halo’ becoming an enduring mainstream hit,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our ‘Halo’ entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the ‘Halo’ universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through ‘Halo’-related titles and new IP created by Bungie.”

But what no one touches on or even looks in the direction of is why this is happening. What exactly happened that convinced Microsoft to “unleash” Bungie. I do find it interesting that Bungie uses the whole leash analogy and I suspect that perhaps the key to the whole story is wrapped up in that single word.

Hit the jump for the Msoft press release and stick around for more details when I can scrape them up.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 5, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a plan for Bungie Studios, the developers of the “Halo®” franchise, to embark on a path to become an independent company. Microsoft will retain an equity interest in Bungie, at the same time continuing its long-standing publishing agreement between Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie for the Microsoft-owned “Halo” intellectual property as well as other future properties developed by Bungie.

The critically acclaimed Xbox 360®-exclusive “Halo 3″ achieved $300 million in global sales in its first week. Released on Tuesday, Sept. 25, “Halo 3″ is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

“Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in ‘Halo’ becoming an enduring mainstream hit,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our ‘Halo’ entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the ‘Halo’ universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through ‘Halo’-related titles and new IP created by Bungie.”

“This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft® platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios; and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

Bungie Studios will remain in its current location in Kirkland, Wash.

About Bungie Studios

Bungie Studios was founded in 1991 with two goals: to develop games that combine brilliant technology, beautiful art, intelligent stories and deep gameplay, and then sell enough of those games to achieve its real goal of total world domination. Over the past 10 years it has produced games such as the “Marathon” trilogy and the first two “Myth” games, hailed as classics by critics and gamers around the world. Bungie’s “Halo” franchise is an international award-winning action title that has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.8 million units worldwide, logging nearly 1 billion hours of multiplayer action on Xbox LIVE®, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel and more. Bungie released “Halo 3″ on Sept. 25, 2007 to universal critical acclaim, and first day US sales of over $170 million, making it the biggest opening day in entertainment history. More information on Bungie can be found at http://www.bungie.net.

About Microsoft Game Studios

Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game systems, the Windows® operating system and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse games for Windows (http://www.microsoft.com/games), including such franchises as “Age of Empires®,” “Flight Simulator” and “Zoo Tycoon®”; Xbox and Xbox 360 (http://www.xbox.com), including such games as “Gears of War” and franchises such as “Halo,” “Fable®,” “Project Gotham Racing®” and “Forza Motorsport®”; and MSN® Games (http://www.games.msn.com), the official games channel for the MSN network and home to such hits as “Bejeweled” and “Hexic®

Soul Calibur IV lead programmer Masaaki Hoshino

In order to succeed in Japan, [Microsoft] needs Japan-created content, not just a lot of foreign games that have been >> localised

Anonymous Ace Combat 6 developer

Japanese players don’t want challenging, stressful, difficult games. Japanese players would rather have role-playing games with a slow tempo, where they are led and shown what to do. So, maybe games like Blue Dragon will start to change things. When more of those kind of games come on to the market, then I think more Japanese players will accept the 360.

Anonymous designer

People think [foreign games] are difficult and there’s no guidance on how to clear the objectives. Now that has changed, and they are much easier to play, but this bias remains among Japanese gamers.

Infinite Undiscovery director Hiroshi Ogawa

I think in the previous generation that when it was the Xbox versus the PlayStation 2, Microsoft was unable to put out many RPGs. They weren’t able to put out the type of games Japanese players really play. And the resistance to 360 may be some holdover from that.

My 2 cents follows: We heard Ryan Payton talking about how Metal Gear Solid 4, one of the biggest titles coming out of Japan, had been completely “westernised”. And not just a regular old localisation, everything from its cameras to its controls had taken the Western market into consideration. How many Western titles return the favour?
Spot On: Japanese devs sound off on 360 [GameSpot]