ScottishGames.biz

Christmas Roundup - YooStar / Genuine Games

YooStar is that rarest of gems - a publisher working in Scotland.  The company focuses on games for a very broad audience and has to date released titles for the female end of the market as well as a classic adventure title - Paradise (which we understand has just scored an 8/10 from Fortean Times...)  Gordon 'Gordie' Ross, the founder and MD of the company, took time from designing his Spring 2008 collection to send us his answers to the Christmas roundup...

1) What are your three highlights from 2007?

• The rise of video game culture for female and family audiences has delighted me. I've been ranting on about it for over a decade, and the industry mainly said I was a loony, but hurrah it's happened.
• Scotland's qualifying performances for EURO 2008.. except the game against Georgia.
• Working with other Development teams in Scotland has been a joy this year. I think that the dev community is getting nicer and nicer to each other every year in Scotland, I'm a big softy and I like that sort of thing. It also means when I do business, I feel like we are a much bigger organisation, it's good to know that there are people around to participate.

2) Three less pleasing moments/events from 2007?

• The first friend I ever had, Dave Shering, died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage in November aged 29. He was probably the nicest man on the planet.
• Once again I forgot to enter a game for the Scottish Bafta awards. - Ho Hum, maybe next year.
• Nobody at Atari Inc got back to me in an official capacity when I had some investors from Dubai, who were keen to take control of the business. The continued slump of the Atari Brand (again!) really, really bothers me.

3) Three things you're either looking forward to, or would like to see in 2008?

• YooStar just got its passwords so we can order DS and Wii development kits, so we're looking forward to giving some smaller Scottish dev teams a chance to get into console development.
• I want to see a massive improvement in the performance of Fort William FC.
• I'm hoping for some kind of announcement about Civilisation 5 and how Sid has decided to make it more simple this time!

4) What two gifts would you most like to see in your stocking come Christmas?

• Would like left of my two front teeth. I tried to stop a ill equipped young man from getting thrown out of a pub into a Highland Winter about 3 years ago. For my trouble he knocked my front left tooth out. The cap fell off about a month ago, so for my Christmas, all I really want is my two front teeth.
• Football Manager 2008 ought to be in my stocking for sure.

5)  What should we look forward to from Genuine/YooStar in the next 12 months?

• A few exciting things.
• Some DS and Wii games for a starter and we are also working on a very exciting hardware peripheral project just now which is going to set the heather alight.. hopefully it won't.. in fact scratch that, they will be made to the highest electrical engineering standards and will pose no fire risk whatsoever.. Not to Heather... not to anyone!!!!

YooStar Releases Benoit Sokal's 'Paradise for PC

YooStar, the female oriented publisher founded by Genuine Games, today announced it has released Paradise in the UK.  The point and click adventure title was written by Benoit Sokal, the man behind the classic Syberia and Amerzone titles.

The game is being distributed by Pinnacle through a number of indie stores across the country.  In addition, consumers can buy the game online through Amazon.

YooStar is focusing its marketing on the mainstream female interest press rather than the dedicated games magazines and websites.  As Gordon Ross notes in the press release:

"Paradise creates a world and offers an experience which we think will have a huge appeal for female players and anyone who is looking for  a new and engaging experience on their home computer."

The PC market in the UK is very tough when it comes to the media.  The big games are anticipated and previewed months in advance and in many ways the specialist media are very conservative.  Anything indie, casual or aimed at a mainstream audience can be viewed with deep suspicion. 

This is beginning to change.  PC Zone devotes space in the magazine and on it's cover disk to casual and indie titles, but the reviews and coverage are a very small part of the magazine.  YooStar are looking towards the dedicated female media and more mainstream media which now offers games coverage on an ongoing basis.

Paradise has scored pretty well in the US and European markets, where it's been available for some time (Ubisoft published it in the states) with PC Gamer giving it 79%.

YooStar's focus on the female half of the population is an interesting one and it will be interesting to see how the company continues to approach an area which is becoming one of the biggest opportunities for the games market worldwide.

YooStar Releases Fashion Salon

YooStar, the publishing label created by Genuine Games has released 'Fashion Salon' for the PC.

The game is aimed primarily at a female audience and challenges players to dress and give makeovers to a variety of rich and famous celebrity clients for occasions such as a high school prom, weddings, movie premieres and beach parties. 

According to the game's website, you can change everything from clothes, shoes and accessories through to hairstyles and make-up.

This is the first in a series of games aimed a predominantly female audience from YooStar.  While these titles are unlikely to win many fans in the hardcore gaming market (though the PC Zone review would be fun to read), it addresses a very large potential audience.  Online websites like StarDoll, which allow users to dress the favourite celebrities are incredibly popular, especially with a younger female audience.  The site offers a lot of parental advice and secure kids accounts, to ensure it reaches exactly that market. 

Fashion Salon takes this concept to a new level and introduces full 3D graphics and some fairly exotic people and locations (as opposed to, say, your gran going to a tea dance in Troon)

YooStar is also working on its next title 'Girlzz - Life Is A Party' which offers an entirely different take on gaming for a female audience.  Girlzz challenges players to become a leader in their community, using popularity or manipulation to achieve and maintain their status.  This sounds like it could be quite interesting.  An interactive version of 'Mean Girls' or Machiavelli, or a every high school in the country...

Many people have issues with the concept of gaming designed specifically for a female audience, arguing that slapping pink and purple over everything and adding unicorns is not really providing a genuinely interesting experience for female gamers.  However, the impact in the traditionally non-gaming audience is quite interesting.  Large number of players have picked up titles such as Nintendogs and The Sims or played casual games online, because they are not 'real' games.

The growth in Instant Messaging and online communities such as Bebo and Piczo are drawing in ever greater numbers of teen and tween users, creating a large audience of fairly technically adept girls, who are looking for something to extend and incorporate into their time online.  YooStar may be in the perfect place to hit this audience with something far enough away from mainstream games to really make an impact.

Fashion Salon is available now on Amazon for £19.99