When your industry has the financial support of the Federal Government behind it, I'm sure it's easy as hell to throw around snarky comments about other industries seeking similar compensation. Well, if this wasn't the case, it's been proven to be now after iTWire attributed the following prose to a film industry "insider", talking about the game industry's desire for film industry-like tax breaks:

The insider's dismissal of this goal was somewhat cold. "The problem with the games industry in this country," the insider said "is that it is full of many small studios that should be left on their own to see who survives".

Obviously, GDAA prez and Tantalus CEO Tom Crago wasn't going to have any of it:

"I'm a big fan of Australian films, and absolutely believe that our film industry should be supported by the Australian Government. It's important to understand, though, that without that support, the industry would not exist in anything like the form that it exists today. To that end, it's a bit rich for the film industry to say that games should go it alone.

I could quote a load of other insightful morsels, but you're better off reading the original piece... if you can stomach the the view of the film "insider".

Film Industry to Games Industry; "Stop whinging" [iTWire, via Tsumea]

What makes a game "Australian"? Is this even quantifiable? On the surface, a game made by an Aussie developer should qualify. But what if the game has no Australian themes, characters, environments or accents? Take Bioshock or Puzzle Quest. Is there anything about them, other than their developer, that makes them Aussie?

Not really. So how's our country going to make its mark on the industry at large if we don't burn in the message with our games? PALGN spoke to David Hewitt and Tom Crago of Tantalus to find out.

From Hewitt's perspective:

"I actually feel as if the contribution of Australian game developers is largely under-credited. It's not an industry that generates celebrities and recognisable faces, and games developed here don't necessarily have Australian accents in them, or Australian scenery in the background. Most players would be surprised at the number of high-quality, high-profile titles that are developed here".

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I was just browsing the various Australian game developer websites - as you do - when I spotted this gem in the recruitment section of Tantalus' website:

We are expanding into an exciting new phase of growth and development, aggressively recruiting for a brand new title. The title is an entirely unique Tantalus-originated IP for Next Generation Platforms, funded by a top tier publisher for worldwide release at Christmas 2008.

I got in contact with CEO Tom Crago, who was able to confirm the statement as accurate. The only addition was that the title has slipped to 2009 (the site's being amended as we speak). Otherwise, he wasn't able to say any more, at least for now.

Tantalus recently made the Develop 100 list for 2007 - the only wholly-Australian company to do so - so I can see why a big publisher would be more than happy to trust the company with an important project.

Tantalus [Official site]

Check out Develop 100. Have a look for Tantalus. Cool, isn't it? I'm not sure about you, but it's nice to see an Australian studio ranked with the best in the world, besides the local branch of 2K Boston/2K Australia (which is marked as US anyway).

True, it's placed 96th on the list, but still worthy of a hearty pat on the back, considering the likes of Relic and Altus aren't far ahead.

There's a short statement from the developer about the news, after the jump.

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With the iPhone SDK out and about, quite a few developers and publishers are seriously considering Apple's mobile phone/happy-fun-gizmo as a gaming platform. I mean, why wouldn't you when it can make all those pretty, pretty colours?

Rainbow-like appeal aside, we've read what EA, id Software and Sega think about gaming on the iPhone. But what about our local guys? Sumea threw a few mobile and iPhone-related questions at Tantalus, Firemint, Infinite Interactive and Sidhe to get their opinions.

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If the crazy and unnecessary alliteration failed to inform, Tantalus is looking for people to test its games. As usual, no experience is required, but a love of electronic entertainment is definitely a plus.

According to the job description, positions are for three months only, so if you're not already in Melbourne, it may be out of your reach. Unless you're related to Inspector Gadget, in which case you can probably just go-go-Gadget there and back.

Have I gone slightly mad? Maybe!

If you'd like to help the developer iron out the bugs in its latest titles, or even get taste of how games are made, be sure to check this opportunity out. Oh, and don't forget that Tantalus is looking to fill a couple of more senior roles as well.

Welcome to Tantalus Interactive [Official site, via Sumea]

Melbourne-based developer Tantalus has two positions to fill, one for executive producer and the other for a business development manager. CEO Tom Crago thought Kotaku Australia would be a great place to publicise the roles. Not only did I agree with him, I jumped at the opportunity to help.

Tom says you shouldn't feel intimidated or discouraged from applying just because you have no experience in the industry. There are plenty of jobs that equip you with the skills necessary to make it in games development. Says Crago:

I think people in film and television could look at the video game industry as a potential source of employment, along with anyone presently working in more traditional software development. Skilled project managers are always in demand, and of course there is a serious shortage of C++ programmers.

Want some specifics about the roles and a bit of background on Tantalus? Read on!

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Over at InvestorTV there's an extremely eye-opening talk with some of Australia's most prominent game developers. Included in the all-local mix are Tony Hilliam, CEO of Auran; Tom Crago, CEO of Tantalus and Krome Studios' CEO Robert Walsh. While Hilliam gets stuck explaining the downfall of Auran, Tom and Robert go over the positives of games development in Oz.

The first part of the interview sees Hilliam deconstruct the failure of Fury, citing poor sales in the US and Europe and the sheer size of World of Warcraft as contributing factors:

"Ultimately, sales of Fury were worse than our low case projections. We did OK in Australia, we were top 10 in Australia, but Europe was a complete write-off. In the US – again the Australian sales have nearly outstripped the US market altogether. When Australia is almost your biggest market, you have a problem."

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Update: Tantalus CEO Tom Crago has replied to Malcolm King, adding some much needed clarification and accuracy to the original article.

Yesterday, journalist Malcolm King posted a rather scathing opinion piece on the state of the Australian games industry over at the Courier Mail. Many of the statements made in the piece went against what I know to be true.

If the Internet were an online forum, King's editorial would be considered an excellent attempt at trolling. So it pains me to write a reply, but to have a piece such as this in the open, without rebuttal, would be a disservice.

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Angry Gamer is reporting that Brisbane-based developer Auran will be making a number of staff redundant tomorrow, as the company faces financial difficulties - no doubt a result of the lacklustre reception its MMO Fury received.

From the Angry Gamer story:

"Fury was a financial disaster, it lost Auran a lot of money", one anonymous source told Angry Gamer.

I've sent an email off to Auran and Tantalus seeking more info. If true, it's a sad development, regardless of how you may feel about Fury.

Personally, I wish Auran all the best. Let's hope it doesn't become Australia's Interplay.

Auran out of steam [Angry Gamer]