ScottishGames.biz

These Guys Sound GREAT!

The next piece from Keith Stuart's whistlestop tour of Dundee has just gone live.  Today's piece covers Denki and the mysterious new projects they have underway:

Very few game developers have a philosophy about design, a philosophy that's clearly and completely applied in everything they do. You get companies like Ubisoft, which have rigid and rigorous approvals processes, ensuring a certain amount of innovation, but you really have to look to Japanese veterans like Nintendo or Treasure, to see a truly over-arching creative theory at work.

Or you can look to Denki, the small Dundee-based studio that's spent the last couple of years firing out brilliant casual games for Sky's interactive TV service. By the end of 2008, the team - all 20 of them - had released 180 titles, most in the last two years. Sure, these aren't PS3 first-person shooters, they're usually cute puzzlers with cool ideas and solid interfaces. But 180. 20 people. The mind boggles.

It's both amazing and great.

Check it out.

[Disclaimer: ur ed. now worx 4 denki]

Dave IS Denki

The folks at Denki have been making quite a splash recently.  From their pre-Christmas 'Top 100 Games', through to their DenkiOrNot online game and calculated seduction of The Guardian's Keith Stuart, the company has shifted up a gear - with their own very special aims in mind.

The first results of their DenkiOrNot campaign have now been revealed, with the appointment of David Thomson as the company's Number One Fan.

Number One Fan is, we believe, what most companies would refer to as marketing in some sort of form...

DenkiOrNot has certainly sparked imagination across wide areas of the Internet.  Offworld, Boing Boing's game site has posted a story about the game (toy?) and Brandon, the editor is proud of scoring 10/10.

Hell, we're even asking readers to submit their scores in our latest online poll (which was posted last week, but for some reason appeared way, way down the page in ancient history terms...)

Congratulations Dave and congratulations Denki.  What with Denki recruiting, Ruffian officially existing and releases galore, it would seem that the games sector in Dundee is actually doing quite well.

Hurrah to that and coffees all round.

I am. He Is. She Is. They Are - How About You?

Thanks to the Internet, it's now easier than ever to evaluate your complete psychometric profile.  Unlike the FBI version, which is used to track down criminals and serial killers, the online tests, checks and quizzes tend to let you identify which Smurf / Friends character / musical / Quality Street you are.

Pointless tosh in other words.

However, the boffins at Denki's new fun labs have put their mighty brains to the task of helping the population of the world to discover something genuinely useful...

How Denki Are You?

Now, for the first time ever, without having to submit to blood tests and attend a week-long course at a 2-star town-centre hotel, you can find out just HOW Denki you are.

Everyone, from seasoned game developers, design geniuses, games legends, mums, dads, grandparents, kids, pets and online avatars can now tell - SCIENTIFICALLY - just how fun, funky, groovy, joyful, creative and swish* they are.

Created and fully-endorsed by Denki's in-house games legend, Gary Penn.  AmIDenkiOrNot offers everyone who's ever been interested in, or used the word 'fun', a chance to assess their true and honest worth.

Visit.  Play.  Enjoy.  Ponder...

* percentage of swish-ness calculated logarithmically.

Golden Balls For Gamers

No, it's not another makeover show or crazy overclocking idea.  It's a new release from Denki.  Based on the TV show of the same name, Golden Balls is now live on Sky games.

Created by Denki's External Development Team, the game features all of the aspects of the television programme.  In fact, short of Jasper Carrot popping around to explain the rules (only slightly more complex than craps, bridge or neurosurgery), it's as close as you can get to the real game...

Denki's Richard Ralfe (Head of the EDT), said,

“We're very pleased with the way Golden Balls turned out,” says Richard Ralfe, the head of Denki's EDD.  “Capturing the essence of a very popular show and recreating it within the confines of a set-top box was something of a challenge, but which we were more than capable of meeting.  Anyone who's watched Golden Balls will be able to pick up and enjoy the game.  It's as close to being on the real show as we could possibly make it.  The only way we could make it any more realistic is to send the presenter round people's houses to press the buttons for them...”

Sky subscribers in the UK (and there are coming up for 9 million of them) can play the game with their remote controls.  In the US, DIRECTV, who make Denki's games available through their Games Lounge service, has a combined subscriber base of over 17 million, across North and South America.

Talent On TV - Denki Does Dallas (OK, Baltimore)

Denki are almost wantonly prolific.  In a good way of course.  The company has released over 170 titles over the last eight years (we may have mentioned this in the past...)

However since the vast majority of their games are on Sky TV in the UK and DIRECTV in the USA, unless you're a subscriber - or regular visitor to the Denki website - you may not have seen any of their titles LIVE in action.

This can be remedied however.  WJZ-13 a CBS affiliate in Baltimore recently ran an interview with Pat Sajack.

If, like us, you're not familiar with the gentleman, he's the genial host of Wheel Of Fortune in the USA and erstwhile game designer (he says), who does a lot of good work for charity - but he doesn't like to talk about that...

Pat's on WJZ plugging DIRECTV's Games Lounge service, which is by and large a showcase for delightful Denki gaming goodness.

Click here to watch the interview.  There is a terribly convincing local bank advert before the actual piece, but it's worth watching, if only for the smiling reassurance that not every bank is having problems...

Once you've checked out the games and enjoyed seeing what it is Denki actually does, then click through the rest of the wjz website and enjoy the slideshow of pets dressed for the holidays, or the story about the man who read a dictionary...

Denki Restructures - Gives Penn Power Over Original IP

We love them, you love them - all god's children love Denki.  They're perky and nice and make lovely games.  They're also a design and development power house, with nearly 180 titles under their belts since the company formed in 2000.

That's coming up for two hundred games.  We've been racking our brains and we still can't think of any other developer that can come even close to that amount. 

Anyway, Denki have not been resting on their laurels, throwing ideas for new Cartoon Network games back and forth and enjoying the occasional 'bon mot'.  No, they have just announced a fairly major restructure which will put the company firmly at the forefront of all that is interesting in the mainstream games sector.

Denki's External Development Team (EDD) will carry on doing games for Sky and DIRECTV and working on some of the biggest licenses in the world.  They'll be headed by Richard Ralfe.

The newly created Internal Development Team (IDD) will focus on creating new and original concepts, which can roll out into all of the interesting new channels for gaming such as the virtual consoles, PC's, online, mobile and the next generation of gadgets which can play games. 

This team is headed by official games legend and well known design advocate - the sophisticated and deeply fascinating Gary Penn.

That in itself is cause for joy and celebration.  All of the Denki goodness, but coming to new platforms and based on their own concepts and ideas.

However, it is better even than that, since the recent visits to our fair shores from various journalist types means that we've seen some of the new games in action and they are - quite simply - astonishing.  Lovely, simple, fun, clever and generally super in every way.

We'll be badgering Denki for details and information on all of their new titles - plus their ongoing work in the digital TV sector - on an ongoing basis and as soon as we're allowed to show or tell anything - you dear readers - will be the first to know.

The full press release can be found after the link...

DENKI AWARD VERIFIED

It's all true.  We've just received this picture from our man on the spot showing Denki's MD Colin Anderson receiving a trophy from TIGA's new MD Richard Wilson...

 

UPDATE: Here's the official press release...

DENKI - (Possibly) Scoops TIGA Award

WORLD EXCLUSIVE!  Maybe.  We're scrambling to try and verify this, since everyone involved seems to be hung-over, still in bed or just missing, but it seems that Denki WON the TIGA Award - BEST DEVELOPER no less - at last night's glittering (etc.) ceremony.

Dynamo sadly lost the mobile game award after winning it for the last two years.  We understand Finblade's Tomb Raider Anniversary walked off with the gong instead.

Apologies in advance if this all turns out to be flim-flam and untrue, but you try calling the people in charge to find out the FACTS!

Confirmation will follow as soon as we can rouse the people responsible.

Shrek & Denki - Together Again...

Denki are still hard at work, carving out some their own niche in the digital interactive TV games sector.  The company has just launched a game based upon Shrek The Third through Sky Games.  Maintaining their furious output, the game is noted as the company's 56th title overall.  That's a pretty impressive catalogue (we refuse to use the term 'softography', it's not a real word...)

Shrek The Third sees everyone's favourite ogre fighting evil fairytale characters.  No word on whether the big bad wolf is on the side of the angels in the game (he was with the good guys in the film and rightly so).

From the press release:

“Ogres are like onions,” said Colin Anderson, Denki's Managing Director. “They have many layers. In our past games we've tried to show that Shrek is more than a ferocious, apparently Scottish ogre. He's a hero with a heart too. Shrek The Third carries on this proud tradition and gives players the chance to get even with the fairy tale villains of their childhood, with a well aimed handful of mud.”

Sky subscribers can find the game by pressing their interactive button (which used to be called the 'Red Button' until marketing decided 'Interactive Button' sounded more 'interactive' - it's still red though)  Virgin Media types cannot yet enjoy Denki games.  Which certainly shows poor judgement on Mr Branson's part.

You can read the rest of the press release after the jump.

Denki Launches Digital TV Games In USA

For the past five years Denki has been creating some charming, fun and downright lovely games for digital interactive television (or DiTV to those in the know).

The company has been supplying these to Sky Television in the UK, putting them in front of approximately 9,000,000 viewers, who can access the games direct through their set-top box and play using their Sky remote controls.

The rest of the world is not quite as advanced as the UK in terms of digital TV services, so Denki has been confined to the UK - until now.

The company is providing a selection of its games - both original and branded - to DIRECTV.  This is the biggest digital TV provider in the US (we believe) with 16,000,000 viewers in the US - and another 1,500,000 in Latin America.

This is a fantastic expansion for Denki and puts them in the forefront of an entirely new gaming channel in the US market.

While digital TV gaming is still viewed with suspicion by many of the UK media (especially those who don't have or can't get Sky TV), it's picking up a large following in the casual gaming market.

The official press release points out that more titles will be released in the near future, so there's a good chance more of Denki's original titles will be released in the US - putting them in front of a whole new audience that even the online/PC casual games market has yet to reach.

Despite the technical constraints of creating games for DiTV, it has many advantages.  Not least of which are a familiar and convenient control system (the remote) and a couple of simple low-cost payment options (pay-per-play or pay-per-day), which should encourage a use.

You can find the entire press release after the link...