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MCV 11/06/10 69 15 FIRMS RESHAPING GAMES Game changers
Anyone can write a list of the best or most powerful companies in games. But sales figures, success and heritage only tell part of the story for interactive entertainment’s constant evolution. In this special feature, MCV sister magazine Develop provides a run down of 15 key companies you need to know. Some you will know, some you won’t. But all of them, without doubt, are trying to reshape the games business…
CHANNEL 4
Not only has Channel 4’s Education department given learning software credence as creative works, it has championed the potential of innovative UK indies, courting the approval of organisations like BAFTA for its efforts. Recognising
games as a worthy rival to television in terms of curricular potential, the broadcaster has commissioned daring, hilarious projects from energetic UK studios like LittleLoud, Six To Start, and most recently Zombie Cow, which is behind STI- themed sex education shooter Privates. And as it is not afraid to address sensitive issues including mental wellbeing and religion, Channel 4 Education has proved to the games industry there’s a lot more to the media firm than Hollyoaksand Big Brother. Channel 4 doesn’t just have idealistic aspirations – it has the right games in the works to show it means serious business.
ALLEGORITHMIC
Games may be getting bigger all the time, but French outfit Allegorthmic is finding ways to make them smaller and more nimble. Most renowned for its Substance procedural
texture rendering middleware, Allegorithmic has proved that highly specialised tech and tools can have a significant effect on the entire ecosystem of online game development. Its ProFX and Substance tools allow game makers to work with texture files between 500 and 1,000 times smaller in memory size than usual, freeing up resources and bandwidth. Newer tool Substance Redux bolstered the tech house’s offering, allowing online game developers reduce the size of gamers’ downloads during beta or even post-release. Allegorithmic impresses, but don’t just take our
word for it. Partnerships with the likes of Intel, nVidia, Sony and Microsoft show it has the ear of those in the know.
GOOGLE
Google is making its way, slowly but surely, into the games industry. The recent opening of its Google App store, which
links both proprietary elements like its Chrome browser with fellow ‘Game Changer’ Unity (right) was the latest step. The move was effectively the full stop in a sentence that has seen the web leader begin a range of experiments from the launch of mobile OS Android through to customisable game themes for users’ iGoogle homepages. But it’s actually not these games efforts that show Google continuing to facilitate changes in our industry. It’s the more basic services like Google Docs (and even the still unproven likes of Google Wave) that are key. These are encouraging collaboration and sharing, but best of all they are free – a real boon for smaller teams and distributed developers.
UNITY TECHNOLOGIES
If there is one tech company that helps define how games development has changed in the last two years years, it is Unity. In just a decade the engine company has
established itself as a firm favourite for developers large and small, and arguably it plays the poster boy of technology in the iPhone/microstudio revolution. In courting the affection of over 130,000
registered users (the firm even runs its own conference, Unite, for them every year), Unity strives to democratise game development without sacrificing quality. To that end, the company – which tripled in size last year – recently released a free version of its main engine. Currently poised to release the third version of
Unity, the firm is well respected, and continues to work with everybody from EA and NASA to students and hobbyists.
EPIC
Unreal Engine 3 is an industry goliath. It seems like it is licenced more than liquor. It’s everywhere and anywhere. Just think about what
we would have had to go without had UE3 not been around. Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Mass Effect franchise, APB, the Gears of Warfranchise, Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 & 2… The list goes on – it’s a who’s who of some of the major studios and their titles in recent years, and that’s no accident. It doesn’t end there, either. UE3 has also become
a major product in the film idustry, with some of the licensees for CG animation including Warner Bros., Buena Vista, Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment. What wraps all that up into direction-changing
momentum today is the UDK, which makes the engine’s power accessible to anyone with the inclination, from bedroom coders upwards. If Epic gets its way, the indie scene could be just as influenced by UE3 as the triple-A one. The gaming industry wouldn’t crumble without Epic, but it certainly wouldn’t be the same.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH Amiqus Games is a leading provider of specialist talent to the video games Industry. The company recruits for some of the world’s premier studios for artists, animators, producers, programmers, designers and executives, such as studio heads and director level.
LIGHTNING FISH GAMES
Founded in 2008 by industry veterans Simon Prytherch, Mike Montgomery and David Hunt, Lightning Fish specialises in creating titles aimed at the ever-expanding fitness and family gaming demographic. What makes the Oxfordshire, UK studio interesting
is its impressive use of video content – a formula already mimicked by Ubisoft’s Just Dance. Lightning Fish’s first game, NewU Fitness First, was a statement of intent in what has fast become a crowded genre – but the upcoming sequel (which will no doubt make use of Natal and Move) will help cement its position as one of the UK’s brightest independent studios. And in championing the fitness and wellbeing
genre, Lightning Fish has proven that a true indie can play rival to Nintendo and its hugely popular Wii FitIP.
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