Hit the jump to read the answers from Denise Kaigler, Nintendo of America’s vice president of Corporate Affairs; John Koller, director of hardware marketing, SCEA; and XNA General Manager Boyd Multerer.

Do you think educational games are a good fit for your console either via a standard disc title or downloadable title?
Kaigler
The response of consumers to games like Brain Age for Nintendo DS demonstrated to the entire industry that games with an educational theme were viable. Brain Age remains a top seller, which tells us people are hungry for different kinds of entertainment, including those that stimulate your brain. We have already seen Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree for the Wii console. Wii is a good fit for educational games because the pointing and motion-sensing abilities of the Wii Remote controller allow for more dynamic inputs than simply pressing a button.

Koller
Consoles and handhelds can be a great platform for educational games because they leverage advanced technology while providing an interface that’s intuitive to users. Teens and younger children in particular are familiar with how to interact with games on these systems, so whether it’s for entertainment or education, consoles and handhelds are a natural fit. As far as the medium, both disc and downloadable titles would be appropriate.

Multerer
As part of the XNA team, I don’t want to speculate as to the overall strategy of the console. What I can tell you is that with Xbox LIVE Community Games, we’re opening the floodgates to the community to create any type of game they want to see on Xbox 360, including educational games. What we’ve seen through programs like Imagine Cup, Dream-Build-Play, Games for Change and the Community Games beta is that developers are interested in making games that are educational and socially responsible, and we’re now giving them a forum to do that and reach millions for the first time on any console.

When Xbox LIVE Community Games launches as part of the new Xbox Experience this holiday, we fully expect to see fun titles that span the entire spectrum of gaming. That means we’ll see games that intentionally have an educational focus like “City Rain,” “Future Flow” and “Clean Up” which were all created by teams of university students to teach concepts of environmental sustainability.

Why do you think educational games haven’t really found their way onto the current generation of consoles?

Kaigler
I’m not sure about the overall reason, however, educational software on our portable Nintendo DS has gained a foothold. Games like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy demonstrate that the public enjoys video games with educational themes. You also see a variety of third-party software with brain-training themes.

Koller
We’re still in the relatively early days of the current generation of consoles, and when you consider that PS3 will have a 10-year lifecycle, it takes time before secondary applications start to take shape. With the PSP, now in its fourth year of its lifecycle, there are educational games. We work with PLATO Learning, which develops educational software for children as part of its PLATO Achieve Now on PSP program. PLATO provides the software and PSP units to grammar schools that are interested in adding an interactive component to their curriculum.

But it’s not just about math and science. Our first-party PlayStation 2 title, Eye Toy: Kinetic, provides fitness education, while our Buzz franchise has an educational component delivered through the more entertaining format of a quiz show.

Multerer
Up until recently, with the release of free development tools like XNA Game Studio, console games have been extremely expensive to make. They’re expensive for developers and publishers alike, sometimes costing upwards of tens of millions of dollars, which means that everyone is less likely to take risks with new or unproven concepts. With Xbox LIVE Community Games, we’re able to give those sometimes risky, experimental and innovative titles an opportunity to make their way to consumers at little cost to the developer. For the first time ever, Microsoft is opening the floodgates for those developers to prove that an educational game can be a blockbuster.

Is your company currently developing any educational games for your platform?

Kaigler
It depends on how you’re defining educational games. Games like Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for Nintendo DS require a close attention to detail, while the upcoming Wii Music teaches about different musical instruments and can lead to a greater appreciation for music. Many other games require skills like problem solving or teamwork. And then you have software like the “Coach” series from Ubisoft that is designed to teach users something new, such as a language or vocabulary. They have My Spanish Coach, My French Coach, My Japanese Coach, My Word Coach and even My Weight Loss Coach. Nintendo’s upcoming Personal Trainer: Cooking for Nintendo DS helps people out in the kitchen and can even teach you to make new dishes. The “educational” label can apply to all kinds of games.

Koller
Yes, see above.

Multerer
Again, I don’t want to speak to the overall console strategy, but what I can say is that with Community Games we are leaving it open so that the community can create any type of game they want to see on Xbox 360, including educational games. We’ve already seen the beginnings of this, through programs like Imagine Cup, Games for Change, Dream-Build-Play and the Community Games beta. These programs have proven that developers are interested in making games that are educational and socially responsible, and we are excited to bring them a forum to do more of this and reach millions for the first time on a console.

When Xbox LIVE Community Games launches as part of the new Xbox Experience this holiday, we fully expect to see fun titles that span the entire spectrum of gaming. That means we’ll see games that intentionally have an educational focus like “City Rain,” “Future Flow” and “Clean Up” which were all created teams of university students to teach concepts of environmental sustainability.

The concept of corporate social responsibility argues that a company should consider the interests of society in their business decisions, to go beyond basic obligations and on occasion do something for the greater good. Do you think that concept pertains to the gaming industry as well?

Kaigler
Absolutely. Nintendo works regularly with a number of charities, most notably the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, which works to place video game consoles in children’s hospitals. Having video games on hand for kids helps reduce anxiety and boredom during hospital stays.

Koller
Corporate social responsibility absolutely applies to the gaming industry. One great example of how SCEA is contributing to society is our partnership with Folding@home, which enables PS3 owners to offer the computing power of their system to support research into fighting diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.

Multerer
Whether we have a responsibility to consider the greater good or not, Microsoft has been a leader in this space by working with game creators to provide the resources and tools necessary to create games that positively impact society. What we’ve seen through programs like the Imagine Cup, Dream-Build-Play, Games for Change and the Community Games beta is that developers are interested in making games that are educational and socially responsible, and with Xbox LIVE Community Games, we’re giving them a forum to do that for the first time on a console and reach millions. When the Community Games channel launches as part of the new Xbox Experience this holiday, we fully expect to see fun titles that span the entire spectrum of gaming. That means we’ll see games that intentionally have an educational focus like “City Rain,” “Future Flow” and “Clean Up” which were all created teams of uni
versity students to teach concepts of environmental sustainability.

Beyond that, Microsoft has always been a major proponent of working with academic institutions globally to help train the next generation of game developers. Our schools are having a harder and harder time recruiting students who want to major in the computer sciences. A study by UCLA found that between 2000 and 2005, the percentage of incoming undergrads who indicated they would major in Computer Science dropped by 70 percent. Numerous other studies and stories show that the US IT industry will not be able to find the talent needed to continue to grow the industry – resulting in additional pressure for outsourcing. We have been working with universities to help reverse this trend by incorporating game development into their curricula with XNA Game Studio, and universities are responding very positively. What better way to excite the programmers of tomorrow than the opportunity to make their own games?

I don’t mean to say that these major efforts by Microsoft are entirely altruistic, this is a business, but we’ve been able to reach out in ways that open doors to aspiring developers and create opportunities for more socially responsible game creation, while ensuring that the best games continue to be made for Xbox 360.

As the industry tries to grow by widening its user base and extend its reach past traditional hard-core gamers to parents and children, should companies invest in developing educational games for their console and sell them for little or even give them away?

Kaigler
That’s an interesting proposition. Our focus has always been on entertainment. Our WiiWare downloadable game service offers a great opportunity for companies large and small to create all kinds of games – educational games included – and offer them at a fraction of the cost of a disc-based game. We’ve already seen dozens of new WiiWare games from developers that have big ideas but smaller budgets.

Koller
If it fits a publisher’s business model, educational games can be a tremendous opportunity to both expand the traditional user base, while contributing to the greater good. Price is less of a concern than distribution, as retailers are more apt to give space to better selling genres. This is why digital distribution is such an exciting avenue for educational titles.

Multerer
We’re already seeing that happen in many ways. Over the past year Microsoft has been supporting the development of educational games through programs like Imagine Cup and with organizations like Games for Change. We’ve also seen through Dream-Build-Play and the Community Games beta that developers are interested in making games that appeal to a whole new range of gamers, like parents and children, and we’re now giving them a forum to reach those consumers in their living rooms.

When Xbox LIVE Community Games launches as part of the new Xbox Experience this holiday, we fully expect to see fun titles that span the entire spectrum of gaming. That means we’ll see games that intentionally have an educational focus like “City Rain,” “Future Flow” and “Clean Up” which were all created teams of university students to teach concepts of environmental sustainability.

Apple found great success by targeting schools in the 1980s with affordable or even donated computers for classrooms. Do you see a time when consoles could also find their way into classrooms as a valid educational tool?

Kaigler
Wii and Nintendo DS are focused on entertainment, but they also have plenty of software that people are using to enrich their lives in other ways, such as Brain Age and Wii Fit. Recently we also have seen a trend of libraries incorporating Wii into their programming.

Koller
They already have through PLATO’s work with the PSP and previously with the PSone and PlayStation 2.

Multerer
Absolutely. We have always believed that reaching out to universities and schools to integrate XNA development tools into the curriculum is fundamental to ensuring that great games continue to be created for Xbox 360. In 2005 we released XNA Game Studio, a set of development tools offering an approachable and affordable way for students and hobbyists to develop video games for Windows-based PCs and Xbox 360, and last year we announced that we would offer a free trial Creators Club membership for students and educational institutions, which we hope will help spark additional interest in game development and programming. The beauty of this program is that universities aren’t required to have special hardware on hand that could potentially cost tens of thousands of dollars, but games created with XNA Game Studio will run on any retail Xbox 360 console.

XNA Game Studio has seen a surge of momentum this past year with more than 1,000,000 downloads, adoption by nearly 700 academic institutions globally and the creation of more than nine books on the tools in development since its release in 2005. The programs are still extremely new, but the excitement we’ve seen from both the development and academic communities has been overwhelming and we only expect to build on that momentum with the launch of Xbox LIVE Community Games as part of the New Xbox Experience this holiday.

We are heads and shoulders above our competitors in this space. We were the first to offer a free development toolset with XNA Game Studio, we are the first to pioneer full academic access to our next-gen console and development toolset, and we are pioneers in the space of community game development and user-generated content. More than either of our closest competitors we are providing the best, most accessible tools and the open game distribution channel over Xbox LIVE to ensure that the best games continue to be built for the Xbox 360 platform.

Do you think that the industry’s console holders have a responsibility to create the sort of games that can be held up as an example of the positive influence games can have on children?

Kaigler
I think our vast library of games promotes a positive influence with kids. This library includes games that go beyond teaching the alphabet or multiplication tables. Wii and Nintendo DS have been at the forefront of the social gaming phenomenon. Friends play together and have fun. And the intuitive controls for our systems make them easy for anyone to pick up and play, which means different generations can play together. Games can open up the imagination, just like a good book or movie can.

Koller
LittleBigPlanet is exactly the type of game with the potential to be held up as providing a positive influence. The ability for gamers to create and share their own levels delivers a whole new level of interactivity in gaming that’s never been seen before. Children will be able to express their creativity in LittleBigPlanet, and perhaps we’ll see the game will drive some children to pursue a career in the videogame industry.

Multerer
Whether we have a responsibility or not, Microsoft has been a leader in this space by working with game creators to provide the tools necessary to create games for children that inspire learning and healthfulness. Not only have we supported programs like the Imagine Cup and Games for Change, worked with universities to incorporate XNA tools into the curriculum to help spark interest in design and programming for the next-generation of developers, and offered affordable tools and an accessible pipeline to anyone who wants to reach children and families with educational game content, Microsoft Research recently partnered with New York University (NYU) and a consortium of universities to launch the Games for Learning Institute (G4LI).

The G4L Institute will study how educators can harness student predisposition toward technology to engage students and boost interest in math and science. The goal
of this partnership is to identify, through scientific research, the key elements that make games fun and effective and translate those findings into the design and development of games as learning tools. The research will complement and extend existing research programs at NYU and Microsoft Research and will be shared broadly with researchers, game developers and educators in the hopes of pointing the way to a new era of using games for educational purposes.

Thanks to Daniel Silk, who pointed me in the direction of the clip. Daniel also went to the trouble of putting together a letter to complain about the panel, which I’ve included after the jump.

If you’d like to read more information about games classification, I urge you to check these out:
Michael Atkinson, No R18+ For Games In Australia: Why It Hurts Children
R18 Classification & Video Games: What You Can Do
Why Michael Atkinson’s Opposal Of An R18+ Rating For Games Does Bugger All To Protect Kids, Promotes Crime

Q&A episode 10 [ABC TV]

To whom it may concern,

I watched you show for the first time last night (24/7/08) as I was informed that the question of “Why Australia doesn’t have an R rating for video games”. I must say that I am thoroughly disappointed at how misinformed most of you panel was on the subject and how quickly the original question was side tracked from.

To start off, the host had a completely wrong idea about the game “Fallout 3″ which was used to start the question. This game was only refuse classification (not banned mind you) because of the use of the drug morphine as a pain killer.
Why this ONE game was pick up for its use is beyond me, as there have been countless others that have been classified fine with use of the drug in the game (Half life 1 and 2, Fallout 1 and 2 just to name a couple of popular games).

Also the description your host used to describe Fallout 3 was a bit incorrect, yes there is violence in the game – but the “main purpose” is not to kill everything. The game takes place in a post apocalyptic world – as was stated – but the player is then given the choice of how to interact in this now war torn, almost primitive new world. The player CAN just kill everyone, but that will have ramification on how the rest of the game will play out. Or he could be diplomatic and talk to everyone – be friendly and help them out, and be rewarded for his actions.

This seems to be the idea that most of the older generations (I’m 25 myself and have been gaming since the age of 8) have stuck in their heads – that all these games are just full of violence for violence sake. Most ‘adult’ games have violent themes for the same reason that ‘mature/restricted’ movies have violent themes – to move the story and add suspense/tension.

Now to move on, as the first lady to answer the question decided to take it from a personal position of “I don’t want my kids to play it – so nobody can!”. This does nothing but hurt the Australian economy, but also stabs every parent by saying “You don’t know how to look after you kids, so we’ll let the government do it for you”. I agree totally that minors should not be allowed to play violent games, and that we should have a solid, PUBLISIZED rating system in place (which I’ll get to shortly) to stop minors from purchasing these games. But by refusing classification on games of a mature nature will not stop the minors from getting hold of them anymore than if there was an R rating. But if there was such a rating, at least the Australian economy can be injected with otherwise missing cash, and parents will be more informed about the games that their children are playing.

But like I said, they can still get hold of these games by other means, downloading from the internet (which is not only illegal, but hurts the economy) or importing them from other countries. Well to start, parents can monitor (and should try to monitor) their child’s internet usage as much as possible – and in this day in age is surprisingly easy with numerous programs that allow parent to control what sites can and can’t be accessed. And as far as importing the games goes (which apparently customs would seize all copies of ‘banned’ games) most of the new consoles have parent controls – which stops ANYONE from playing any game deemed so by the user (parent in this case) to a certain rating level.

Now about the rating system, which most of you panel were convinced doesn’t exist in this country. We currently have in place a rating system to a maximum of M15+ which most of these controversial games must get released into in this country if they wish to be sold. This causes confusion in parents as they think “Well little Bobby watches M rated movies he should be fine with this” without realising how broad of a rating that is. If we were to have an R rating it would decrease some confusion, and to properly inform the public about the rating system (like we currently do with television rating) would decrease it even more. I have been in game stores behind a parent who, after being informed about a game by the clerk, says “It’s only rated M so it can’t be that bad”.

How is it that Australia is the only country in the western world not to have an R rating? New Zealand has one and it isn’t over run by people stealing cars and running over pedestrians, and the UK seems to be dealing with one fine. Heck, even in Japan – where they have some really controversial games – they have a Z rating which is illegal to be displayed and must be asked from specifically before showing ID to be purchased. There are many ways to combat any of the misconceptions that are brought up when talking about an R rating, and all of them are valid and proven to work.

This still doesn’t lessen the disappointment I feel after watching your show, funnily called “Questions and Answers” to see the person who asked the question spend about 10 minutes with a raise hand to try (I can only guess) and correct your panel on the gross half truths they were saying. Also I must ask, why was the topic switch from talking about bringing in a new rating to compliment they current rating system, to how this would suddenly allow snuff films and excessive pokies to be brought into this country? I have never heard such useless propaganda spread in all my life! Snuff films and video games would still be illegal, even with an R rating, as they will always be deemed inappropriate and unnecessary; just like we can’t have them now. How the topic swung to this I don’t know, but to try and push this as fact is disappointing to hear from people in government. And the guy in the audience with his question about how this would allow more pokies to open? I think he must have confused gaming and Gaming. I can understand how that could happen, as they are both used to describe a similar experience, but they are not related in any way. One is to do with gambling, which as your panel successfully said is bad and does affect others, the other describes a pastime that many people are actively participative in. Neither affects the other.
Another point I would like to bring to light is the passing of information about studies linking violent video games and violent acts. These studies are inconclusive at best and there are also studies that state the opposite, that the playing of violent games actually DECREASES violent outbursts in some people. Trying to state these studies as actual facts when the verdict is still out is just plain wrong and I’m shocked that no-one on the panel tried to debate this. Yes, there are some people who are drawn to violent media – be it games, books or movies; but you don’t see us banning the latter two do you? To say that video games glorify violence is to say that Saving Private Ryan glorified the violence of World War II, or that America Beauty glorifies having sex with minors. If you are going to ban one, ban them all; don’t just ban things based on how you are feeling at the time.

So in conclusion, I am disappointed that your show seemed more like a platform to spout inconclusive propaganda and misinformation; and when your original question asker had a point he was obviously wanted to raise, was turned down and not allowed to speak out. Australia needs an R rating for its video games to bring it in line with the rest of the world, and to allow a more uniformed rating on games that should never be allowed in minor’s hands. The rating systems in Australia need to be publicized more as the public at large seems to be grossly misinformed and needs to be set straight. And seeing that there is only ONE MAN that is holding this country back in the ’stone age of ratings’ shows that they way that these things are brought into this country need to be looked at as soon as possible.

While I’m not really fussed that I probably won’t get a reply to this letter, I do hope that you will bring these facts to light on your next show – as I feel bad for anyone who was watching to get the wrong idea about this new media type that has now shadowed the Movie and Television industries.

Sincerely,

A concerned citizen.

It sounds amazing and looks rather lovely for a game with a scalable engine, allowing it to run on computers old and new, which is why every time I write about the game I’m surprised more people aren’t aware of it. Hell, when I sat in with Codemasters’ Lilit Baron last week at E3, he almost seemed pleasantly surprised that I had been keeping up with the game. Codemasters is gearing up to cure the rampant ignorance over Jumpgate Evolution, and the Q&A, which you’ll find after the jump, is just the beginning.

Jumpgate Evolution

How long has Jumpgate Evolution been in development?

NetDevil, the experienced US based MMO developer have been working in MMOs for a number of years, and have recently turned to Jumpgate Evolution in the last two years. This is an ongoing process and the game will continue to be developed for many years to come post release.

What makes Jumpgate unique?

Jumpgate brings together popular elements from all time classics such as Elite, X-wing Vs Tie-fighter and Privateer and combines them in a living, breathing persistent world. Gone are the days of point and click combat, Jumpgate puts the action at your fingertips with fully responsive twitch based controls like never seen in any previous massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO).

Beyond this Jumpgate is being developed as being an accessible / intuitive game experience providing the soft comfortable learning curve of a new game along with the depth needed for hardcore gamers. Much like World of Warcraft which made fantasy MMO gaming accessible for the masses it is the expectation of Jumpgate to replicate this within the space sci-fi MMO genre.

Can you give us some information on the background lore of the game?

The lore surrounding Jumpgate is something that is constantly being worked on and evolved, as all good stories should. Without going into to much detail and ruining some of the surprises that will come up as you play the game, and a few juicy bits that will be revealed by our community team, I can tell you this much.

There are 3 nations in Jumpgate, all of whom are human and used to live in the Milky Way as one. These were war ravaged times for humanity as they fought a constant battle with the mysterious conflux who were hell bent on destruction of all life and nothing else…there was no reasoning to be had…just a unquenchable blood lust.

With humanity on the verge of annihilation the future looked bleak until there was a massive ’shift’ and the majority of humanity were flung to the other side of the universe. Away from the Conflux they set about rebuilding themselves and fragmented into 3 differing factions adhering to their own ideals.

Once established they started to reach out further into their new territory, encountering new life amongst the wreckage of long lost alien societies. This semi-peaceful exploration was soon shattered by the re-emergence of the Conflux! Using unstable wormhole technology they started appearing sporadically through out the sector. It is in this unstable time that we join the tale…

Can you give us an overview of NetDevil and their involvement with Jumpgate?

NetDevil are the developers responsible for the creation of the Jumpgate universe, as well as its ongoing development. They are the cornerstone of the project creating the game and server code that will allow players to live out their space fantasies. The team is made of very experienced programmers, artists, technical engineers and producers who will work closely with the team at Codemasters Online to bring the game to market.

NetDevil have great pedigree as one of the few companies that have successfully launched and run an MMO. In addition to Jumpgate they are also working on the Lego MMO.

Can you give us an overview of Codemasters Online and their involvement with Jumpgate?

Codemasters Online was established 3 years ago as part of the larger Codemasters organisation focusing specifically within the area of online games; with a number of titles under its belt; including the phenomenally popular The Lord of the Rings Online in Europe.

Codemasters Online will be responsible for the publishing of Jumpgate across N.America / Europe and will also be operating the game in Europe.

When is the BETA going Live?

Commencement dates for the Jumpgate BETA are yet to be announced with full details to be announced first on the games official global portal.

Where can I get more information on the game?

For more information on Jumpgate or to sign up for the BETA visit the games official global portal at www.jumpgateevolution.com

While this is precisely the news that all Rock Band fans have been waiting to hear, it raises a ton of new questions. Is $US 14.99 the new standard album price? And how often can we expect new albums? Luckily, we had the chance to discuss the announcement with Harmonix’s CEO Alex Rigopulos, who was more than happy to answer all of our fanboy questions. We posted an abridged, cleaned (sans-Mark’s-question-stuttering-and-boring-parts) Q&A after the jump.

What took you so long?
…a big reason that it’s taken us so long to get them to market is that the actual technical delivery of the assets required for any one song – they’re actually pretty complicated. You’re often dealing with masters for the older stuff that were recorded on analogue. Often it takes a long time to even locate those masters. The right takes and the right edits have to be found, and in some cases old gear that’s not in use anymore has to be resuscitated to transfer the stuff to digital. And so for any one song, the actual process of finding the right tape, resuscitating it and transferring it to the right digital format that we need and all that is an undertaking…

If you’re just going for a handful of tracks by a particular artist and they’re slow to locate one of them, well you just pick a different track and go on. Well when you’re looking for a dozen tracks ina a particular album, you cant really release the album until you’ve tracked every one of those assets.

What happened to The Who?
We will have a specific announcement about that coming up soon regarding some work that we have coming down the pike with The Who in general that I think people are gonna be pretty happy about…and in general what you’re gonna see sorta deep dives with particular artists, where with some artists…of the appropriate stature, you’ll see us doing more than whole albums, potentially even entire catalogs.

What kind of schedule will album release be on?
For album releases, in particular, there isn’t a set schedule like an album a month…we do want to release albums regularly…generally, the amount of content we release in a week you’ll see growing over the course of the year substantially.

Will albums ever represent the majority of your music releases?
I don’t think albums will be the dominant release. I don’t think we’re going to switch to primarily releasing albums, but I will say, in addition to these three we’ve just mentioned, we actually have MANY in the pike…suffice it to say, it will be a substantial portion of our content offering going forward.

So is $14.99 the new standard album price?
It’s not a standard. There’s not going to be a standard album pricing. It’s going to be a function of how many songs are included in the album…essentially there will be a volume discount applied.

Do you think a variable price rate on albums is disadvantage, especially when stores like iTunes sell albums for a flat rate?
Perhaps, but I think…consumers have demonstrated that they feel that the value they’re getting for a game level based at $2 is enormous…[and] there’s quite a lot of appetite for music at $2 a song…[so] volume discounts for more music represents quite a good value for the consumers.

Will you ever offer 3-Pack discounts for album tracks?
At this time we’re not…I’m not ruling that out as something we’re doing in the future. It’s just not something we’re doing right now.

Would you ever consider releasing “greatest hits” albums?
I don’t see any particular reason why we would rule them out…I think that for the right artist under the right circumstances, there’s no reason we wouldn’t consider doing a greatest hits album that either exists in the world already as a recorded compilation, or [as] in some cases, we’ve actually had artists come to us who are interested in kind of curating their own new greatest hits compilation for the purpose of Rock Band release. And so I think we’re really pretty versatile to ideas of that sort.

So basically, a Rock Band Greatest Hits album?
Exactly.
(Ed note: Rigopulos later explained that they kind of did this with Grateful Dead tracks already, unofficially.)

At the end of the interview, Rigopulos let me know that Rock Band had recently surpassed 8 million song downloads. That’s about 2 million just since their new store opened (and Still Alive became offered for free).

As a bonus, the two best questions will snag themselves signed copies of the game, so don’t dilly dally.

Ask Auran Anything You Want About Fury [Kotaku AU]

Come Monday afternoon, I’ll go through the questions we’ve received, pick the best, and send them off to Auran. Hopefully we’ll have a bunch of sexy answers by Friday.

I should also mention that Auran has two copies of Fury to give away, signed by the developers.

For all the details (and the original post, where you can submit your question), just follow the link below.

Ask Auran Anything You Want About Fury [Kotaku AU]

For those of you out of the loop, Auran is the Brisbane-based developer behind the RTS Dark Reign and more recently, the massively multiplayer hack’n’slash Fury.

All you have to do have your question considered is to submit it as a comment to this post. Once I’ve had a look, it’ll be published for the world to see. If it’s particularly good, it might even end up in the final Q&A. We’ll be accepting questions until Friday afternoon so get your thinking caps/shirts/fertility pants on and your mind cogs turning.

This is a great opportunity to chat candidly with a great Australian developer. So consider your questions carefully as only serious efforts will be accepted.

As a little something extra, Auran is offering two copies of Fury, signed by the developers, for the two best questions we receive. That’s a treat in anyone’s book.

If this goes well, I’d definitely look to organise further open Q&As with other developers.

Now, start commenting!

There’s a nasty trend in the industry right now, QA is not taken seriously enough. It’s not a career for people, it’s a step up for people coming out of AIE [Academy of Interactive Entertainment], coming out of Qantm, coming out of wherever. Their first taste of the games industry is a stint in QA for six months on 15 bucks an hour, [where they] knock out some bugs until they’ve been known and hopefully chat it up with a few of the other people and get a job.

According to Slater, QA needs to be taken seriously, not only as a crucial aspect of development, but a career as well. Currently, it’s perceived as a rung on the ladder to a “better” position – one that has nothing to do with QA.

More from Slater after the jump.

As an industry, we need to start promoting the idea of career QA development and that means increases wages and increasing the respect QA get. And that respect will come with the professionalism that actually comes with it being a career.

It’s sad to think QA is not considered a serious career choice. I can imagine testing for bugs all day, playing the same game over and over again, would quickly make you want to play Russian Roulette with a gun that has bullets in every chamber.

Slater wants to change this perception.

These people are there to save our arses … we shouldn’t be writing stuff that we expect to be failed in QA. They are there as the shit kickers at the back – they catch the crap. They can save your life if you treat them nicely.

Slater feels the solution is to provide those in QA with options – a light at the end of the tunnel, something to work towards.

And money.

It’s a big problem in the industry, and it’s just an underappreciated, undervalued and underfinanced area. We need that kind of people and a career path though QA so people stay there – we don’t just lose the experience … and have to get fresh people in again.

Martin Slater – telling us how it is. If only others developers were so honest and open about the real problems facing the industry.

Oh, and Martin: Where’s your developer profile dude? Inquiring minds want to know if you have a love of ye olde furniture too…

For now, here’s a shot of the official Assassin’s Creed faceplate for Xbox 360. Ubisoft handed them out today along with a quill and some pink ink, just in case I suddenly feel the need to scribe how hetero I am on the walls of my house. There’s also a close-up shot after the jump.

If you have any questions you’d like me to take to Patrice, be sure to leave a comment!

Your “Rock Band” Questions Answered (”Guitar Hero” Compatibility, Bundles, Etc) [mtvmultiplayer]