Monday Newsround Up…

It's the triumphant return of the newsround up, friends.  A daily capsule of newsy goodness, designed to highlight the stories, issues and topics within the interactive world which are interesting, relevant or simply full of win. Here are today's headlines... Sony admits to having a 'new product' in development, won't confirm it's the PSP phone …

Realtime Worlds Administrator Continues To Distress

With nearly 200 employees losing their jobs, serious debt and a live game to sell, the liquidation of Realtime Worlds was never going to be pretty.  However, the actions of the company appointed as administrator, Edinburgh-based Begbies Traynor, since the company folded have been widely viewed as having little or no concern for those affected. …

First Reviews Hit For Cohort’s ‘The Shoot’

Cohort's first title for the PlayStation Move 'The Shoot' was released over the last few days.  It's starting to pick up some critical attention.  The first review, from Digital Chumps said it "may very well be the first must have game for the Move." The game is an 'on rails' shooter, in which the player …

Government Unveils ‘A Digital Ambition For Scotland’ – TIGA Approves

The Scottish government has unveiled a new paper, outlining its plans for digital infrastructure in Scotland.  While the digital media and interactive sectors are not mentioned specifically, the paper provides high level details of plans for the digital economy, including the highest levels of broadband penetration and pick-up in the UK.  More detailed strategy is …

Dynamo Scoops Herald Digital GAMES Award

This week saw the conclusion of the 2010 Scottish Herald Digital Business Awards, with Dynamo Games walking off with the Games trophy for their first Facebook title, Soccer Tycoon, with Cohort Studios commended for their PlayStation Move title The Shoot. Other categories also saw interactive companies picking up awards.  VEEMEE, the company which specialises in …

YoYo Games Launches First iPhone App – Skydiver Mach II

YoYo Games has announced its first commercially available game for the iPhone.  Skydiver Mach II is a brand new title, out now on the Apple App Store. The launch marks YoYo's first steps into the publishing sector.  The company is the creator of the hugely successful GameMaker app, which boasts over 1,000,000 users globally who …

100,000 People Working In Scottish Games Industry

The Telegraph has posted the latest part of it's 'tech map of Britain' today, looking at the digital media and technology sectors here in Scotland.  It specifically mentions the games sector, speaking to Specialmove's Andy Campbell, as well as a spokesman from Rockstar North. While the article is positive overall and looks at a number …

Canadian Developers Receive Multi-Million Dollar Boost

Following significant activity within the Scottish government at Holyrood and the UK government in Westminster, regarding the issue of tax breaks for game developers, new has emerged that the Canadian government has made a multi-million dollar investment to the country's development community. According to Develop: The Canada Media Fund this month granted CA$12.9 million (£8m) …

Famous For The Loch Ness Monster & Digital Expertise

This baffling headline is part of Scottish Development International's current advertising campaign on e-mail updates from GamesIndustry.biz. If you sign up, not only can you download selected sector-specific reports on business in Scotland, but also win a bottle of whisky.  Which is apparently not as famous as our digital expertise... What else would YOU say …

So Long, And Thanks For All The Pish…

More bad news for the games business in Scotland.  Leith-based Outerlight, the creator of the online title The Ship, is 'all but dissolved' according to company founder Chris Peck. An interview given to BigDownload, which was subsequently picked up by GamesIndustry.biz, reveals some of the problems and frustrations the company and Peck went through during …