When Saudi Arabia gets into games news here, it’s usually for banning a game (which its citizens can readily obtain by other means), although it does have developers, who recently published an Uncharted clone. This weekend saw the nation’s first gaming exposition, too, although a visit to its main page advises “Attendance for males only.”
newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=17357696&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1","customParams":[] ,"width":500,"height":281.25,"ratio":0.5625,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"vimeo","wrap":true,"agegate":false} ); Though the country earlier this year published a sci-fi MMO, Garshasp – a monster hunter of folklore – is billed is Iran’s first AAA-quality video game. It’s being made for the PC because trade sanctions prohibit selling dev kits there.
The sounds of guns echoed throughout Al-Assad Library Book Exhibition in Damascus, Syria. The guns weren’t tangible but virtual. The conflict, however, was from real life.
With help from a national foundation for games development, Iran has published the country’s first online game, an MMO called Asmandez.
Electronic Arts has elected not to offer Dante’s Inferno for sale in the Middle East, for reasons that should probably be obvious. That makes three of the first four big action games for 2010 officially unavailable in that region.
Perhaps some of the strife in the Middle East can be attributed to the fact that they don’t have any massively-multiplayer online role-playing games localised in Arabic and Farsi. New publisher Game Power 7 is looking to rectify that unfortunate oversight. They’ve just launched themselves as the first online game publisher in the Middle East and North Africa, established to help game developers publish localised versions of their online games in the region. Think of them as the Arabic version of China’s The9. Game Power 7 plans on revealing the first Arabic MMO title in the fourth quarter of this year.
Game Power 7 [Official Website]
If Arab gamers want to play Western games, they’d have to play them in something other than their native Arabic. That’s unfortunate! Well, that’s going to change — THQ is localizing multiplatform based-on-the-movie WALL-E game for the Middle East. This is a first! According to THQ export sales manager Luke Keighran:
We are delighted to be part of this, launching an Arabic game is every Arab gamers’ wish. This is a great opportunity for us to grow further in promising territories like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and a solid demonstration of our commitment to the Middle East market…we hope it will be the first of a long line up for Arabic titles in the future… There are only few games that would suit the Middle East’s morals more than WALL.E. The game depicts family virtues in a fun adventurous story line immersing the players in a world of passionate pursuit for adventure.
SegaWorld’s dead, right? Don’t tell Sega! They’ve just signed a deal with Dubai-based property firm Emaar to open a whole load of “indoor theme parks” across…the Middle East and North Africa. The first, to be built in the Dubai Mall, will feature arcade cabinets, more complex/expensive simulators and a roller-coaster, and will be based heavily on Sega’s Japanese Joypolis centres. Sega CEO Hajime Satomi: Entertainment is about living dreams, it is about experiencing joy and culture. In joining with a company of Emaar’s stature and power, we hope to convey the pleasure and excitement inspired by great entertainment to people all over the world.
Hajime, I think most of the people you just excited live nowhere near Dubai. Sega and Emaar to open Middle East theme parks [GI.biz]
