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offtherecord@intentmedia.co.uk TAG-TEAM INTERVIEW This week, Square’s Justin Gaffney reminisces with 2K’s Neil Ralley
Justin Gaffney, Export Director, Square Enix Europe
Vs
Is it true that you nearly joined the police force? Indeed, back in 1992 I had my number, posting, uniform and was ready to go – they were the only people recruiting in Hull at the time. At the last minute, I had the opportunity to join a toy company and took that chance.
I’m sure our paths would have still crossed had I joined the police however – just under different circumstances.
You’re a Yorkshire lad. What makes a Yorkshireman good in business? Yorkshire folk are famous for being honest (some might say ‘blunt’) but fair and friendly:
whether or not that’s good for business is for others to judge. I have heard that Yorkshire people are famously prudent with money, too. I don’t know where that stereotype comes from, honestly.
You head up 2K Europe – what’s in store this year? We’ve got a great and diverse line-up. For the first half of the year we’ve already released Nick Fit,and coming up we have TopSpin 4, our top rated tennis game on March 18th. Then Carnival Games: In Actionfor Kinect arrives in April, closely followed by the return of the King when Duke Nukem Forever
FROM THE ARCHIVE... THREE YEARS AGO NEWS
MCV MARCH 14th 2008
New games publishing label Brash Entertainment announced plans to release 40 licensed titles based on blockbuster movies, thanks to strong ties with Warner Bros, Fox, Lionsgate, Universal and more... Microsoft tells us that its new price cut for all three Xbox 360 SKUs will give it the edge over Sony and Nintendo during the summer. The Arcade was available for as low as £159.99... MTV Networks says there is a ‘definite possibility’ of its entering the games publishing business...
the industry. The current members are...
Any challenges to working with a wife and sister-in- law in the same business? It’s mostly benefits, but I have to say that don’t I? With the wife it offers the chance to truly work 24-7, and with the sister-in-law, there’s never a dull moment at family dinners – especially as she works for the Mouse.
Where do you see the industry in five years? We are all seeing the move to digital gathering pace,
OFF THE RECORD
Neil Ralley,
General Manager, 2K Games
launches on May 6th. All fantastic titles, offering something for everyone with more to come later in the year.
which will no doubt continue with the growth of first and third-party distribution platforms and the increasing importance of DLC. For the foreseeable future, we still envision package goods to be the primary distribution channel for our content. We are well positioned to succeed by offering the highest quality content to consumers, whether it be delivered as a packaged good or digitally.
Any particularly memorable moments from those Codies parties of yesteryear that you’d care to share? Too many to recount – they were good parties.
Funnily enough a lot of the memorable moments feature you, Justin: like trying to wake you in Portugal thinking that you were dead, and finding your car totally submerged after a night on the beers one Easter. There are many hazier moments I cannot recall other than awaking with the sense that I’d been ‘Gaffnied’. Anyone who has experienced being ‘Gaffnied’ – and there’s a lot of you out there – will understand exactly what I am talking about.
Who will you be
interviewing next week? Mike Hayes from Sega.
CHARTS: ALL FORMATS 1. Army of Two
2. Mario & Sonic Olympics 3. Brain Training
AND FINALLY
Ian Livingstone writes a tribute to the late Gary Gygax, inventor of Dungeons & Dragons, declaring him to be the “godfather of role-playing games” who “released the power of the imagination of millions of people”. And Future’s French games mag Joypad chooses some very tasteful cover art to promote its preview of Midway’s now-dead This Is Vegas: a man grabbing his suspiciously large (read: stuffed) groinal area. Classy.
EA Sega Nintendo
4. Bully: Scholarship Edition Rockstar 5. COD4: Modern Warfare
PS3, 360 Wii, DS DS
Wii, 360 Activision 360, PS3, PC, DS
Azeem Sadiq, Comet
www.mcvuk.com
Graham Chambers, Amazon
Danielle Nicholls, DSGi
Igor Cipolletta, ShopTo
Anthony Stocker, Argos
Stephen Staley, Gameseek
Joanna Hunt, Tesco
Gurdeep Hunjan, Sainsbury’s
Phil Moore, Grainger Games
March 11th 2011 85
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