ScottishGames.biz

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...

We Are SEVEN

Happy Birthday Denki.  Seven today. 

According to neighbours, thumping electro-pop, drunken cheers and the zips and pings of old school games could be heard throughout much of the afternoon.

Sounds like they're celebrating properly.  Check out the picture of their deliciously geeky cake.

(Yes, they sent us a *picture* of their cake.  Not a piece.  Future posts will report on the arrival of said cake and continuing good relations between Denki and SG.biz)

Denki Announces Carol Vorderman's Brain Aerobics

Denki have just announced a new title for Sky's Gamestar service in the UK.  It's a new 'brain' training game, endorsed by the UK's leading brain fatalle, Carol Vorderman.  The interesting thing here is that the inherently casual game is being released across multiple platforms, including digital TV, mobile and PC.

Sky are throwing their weight behind the game and marketing it to their very broad audience (approx 8M+ in the UK).

Denki's press release promises a blend of puzzles to determine and help increase your 'Brain Fitness Index' or BFI.  Regular use will help promote brain fitness and stop you sinking into a coma of lethargy and slack-jawed witless abandon.  Plus Carol's in it.

This is an interesting one, since it's one of the first times that a casual game has come out across multiple platforms and had any sort of marketing behind it from a major media company. 

We'll be keeping a sharp eye - and sharper wits - on the game (and Carol) in the near future.  Results reported as they occur...

In the meantime, you can enjoy the press release...

Dundee, UK, March 5th 2007.  Casual games specialist Denki today announced the creation of Carol Vorderman's Mind Aerobics, a unique new game for digital interactive television.  Other versions are also available to access on your PC and Mobile

The game has been created to give players a way to exercise and keep their brain in peak condition, no matter what their age, education or experience with videogames.

Carol Vorderman's Mind Aerobics will be launched in March on Sky television's Gamestar service. This is the first time this type of game has been made available through digital interactive television.

Denki Does Develop

Develop, the magazine for game developers, has just launched its new digital edition.  You can now sign up and download a PDF of the mag every month.

This in itself is excellent, as it saves resources and feeds our media addiction even more quickly.  Plus it's a fine magazine, covering areas which very few other publications even look at.  The standard of writing is high and the editorial team are pretty sharp in terms of the topics and issues facing developers in Europe.

In the first digital edition, Denki's MD, Colin Anderson has a piece on the difference between producers and architects and their roles within the games industry.

Sign up for digital Develop and read Colin's piece here.

Denki - The Dawning Of A New Age

Colin Anderson, the managing director of Denki in Dundee has an editorial article up on GamesIndustry.Biz.  The gist of it is that new distribution channels and platforms are slowly bringing the power back to developers, away from the publishers, where it has been centralised for the past few years.  It's well worth a read. You can find the whole piece here.  Or read it below...

The games development sector has had a bit of a tough time recently. If someone made a film of the last five years, it would be a disaster movie, with death and widescale destruction and our hero on his knees, crying "Why!" to the uncaring turbulent skies.

No wonder many people predicted the end of independent developers. At the low point, studios were closing down at the rate of around two per week. Even now, the statistics are not great for companies involved in creating videogames.

However, like all unstoppable waves of disaster, there have been survivors and we may yet see a sequel: Development Mk II.

The biggest factor is the rapidly evolving environment for playing games. Fast Internet connections, the ubiquity of broadband and the appearance of non-dedicated games-playing platforms such as mobile phones, set-top boxes and internet browsers are changing the business model for games - and game developers - in strange and eerie new ways. Even the new generation of games consoles promise to contribute to this sea change, with services like Xbox Live Arcade and online marketplaces available and allowing unorthodox and (gasp!) unusual new games to emerge.

The traditional or mainstream gaming market is stuffed with titles, jostling and competing for space within the same rigidly defined genres. Brands, licenses, franchises and sequels are the order of the day and the call for innovation and a fresh approach has been heard for so long that it's no longer even acknowledged.