Australian developers are weathering the global economic slowdown better than those in the US or Europe, says Tom Crago, president of the Game Developers Association of Australia. More »
That’s the view of Tom Crago, president of the Game Developers Association of Australia. Crago says it makes us the butt of a lot of jokes within the industry. More »
Melbourne will be getting its own games development conference with the Game Connect: Asia Pacific 2009 Conference and Expo coming to the city in December. More »
We gave you the chance to ask questions of Tom Crago, head of the Game Developers Association of Australia. After the jump, Tom chats about getting a job in game development, how Australia compares to the rest of the world, and the diea of “Made in Australia” stickers on locally developed games. More »
Question Time is where YOU get to interview some of the games industry’s leading figures. This week, we put Game Developers’ Association of Australia president Tom Crago in the chair. What would you ask him? More »
Question Time is the post where you get to ask the questions. This week, we put Game Developers’ Association of Australia president Tom Crago in the chair. What would you ask him? More »
I know many of you have tried to forget it ever happened, but try to recall that horrible Q&A panel on the ABC. Not wanting to leave the issue without some expert comment from the other side, GDAA prez and Tantalus CEO Tom Crago has offered his opinion on the ABC News website. In it, he criticises not only the panel, but the classification system and Michael Atkinson.
While Crago covers ground we’ve talked about before, he still makes a compelling argument, and provides something most of us cannot – the point of view of a developer. From the piece:
As game developers, we are trying to make games that provide entertainment to players of all ages. Video games are not going to turn your children into criminals. They are, in fact, the modern face of the entertainment industry, and something that we in Australia are very good at producing.
The focus of this debate should be upon how the Australian classification system can best give adults the information they need to chose video game content for themselves and their children, without burdening our country with unjustified and draconian censorship to the amusement and pity of the rest of the world.
I think the world alternates between pitying and mocking, but any attention is good attention, right?
Unlike a specialist blog such as Kotaku AU, the ABC site attracts a range of personalities. Even so, most of the comments to the piece are positive, though I couldn’t help but notice this rather, well, insane post: More »
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”.
Hewitt goes on to say that this effect can be attributed to the fact that many local titles are designed with an international audience in mind. More »
Who’s the guy in the tiny picture on the left? It’s Tom Crago of course, president of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia and CEO of (the rather successful) Tantalus.
The GDAA has been very active of late, its most recent move an alliance with the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia on the issues of classification and tax consessions.
But that’s not all the organisation has been up to, so I threw a few questions Crago’s way. He was more than happy to fill in the blanks, and on a few occasions, colour the blanks with green and pink highlighter. More »
Upon hearing the news that Oz animation studio Animal Logic had opened a gaming studio, Animal Logic Interactive, in Los Angeles, I couldn’t help but be sad. To me it seemed the government’s lack of support for developers had finally manifested itself in a way we could all appreciate.
Jason Hill of Screenplay managed to get in contact with AL’s CEO Zareh Nalbandian to find out exactly what motivated the company to go with LA over Melbourne or Brisbane:
“We felt that there was a rich pool of talent … that we have more options in Los Angeles at this point of time than we have elsewhere.”
Options and talent? Sure, those are important factors, but I find it hard to believe that tax breaks had nothing to do with it. More »
