Scotland's Games Ecosystem Cluster
Scotland Tonight, STV's flagship news programme featured a brief discussion on the future of Scotland's games industry last night. Featuring Interactive Scotland's Alisdair Gunn, industry commentator, writer, comedian and gamer, Robert Florence and your editor (Brian Baglow, me...), the discussion covered the current state of the games industry, the issues it faces and how it …
Continue reading "The Future Of Games In Scotland – Live on TV"
The issue of diversity and the role of women in games and technology is something which has been much in the news over the last few weeks. Â From highs and lows of GDC, to the wider issue of women's role in technology, it's an issue which has been gaining momentum in the recent past. So …
Continue reading "Scottish Parliament Asks Questions About Diversity Within The Games Industry"
The cross-party group on videogames technology was started in early 2012 by MSP Joe Fitzpatrick.  The group met in March that same year - while GDC was on - yet still attracted a standing room only crowd, to hear from speakers including Denki's Colin Anderson, Scottish Enterprise  and TIGA. The group's initial meeting was more …
The government's tax breaks for the creative sector (including video games, television and animation) comes into effect in April 2013 The tax relief should make it simpler for game development studios to lessen the risk of producing new games and enable them invest more in staff, it should also help graduates and independent game developers …
Continue reading "…Are You Ready For The New Videogames Tax Breaks?"
Dare to be Digital is BACK for 2013. Â If you're a regular visitor to the Scottish Games Network, then you'll know we're big fans of the competition (disclaimer: the good people at Dare regularly ask your editor to get involved in some way(s) - speaking, presenting, mentoring or hosting the awards. Â We're very proud...) Dare …
How was your 2012? Â Good? Â Bad? Â Indifferent? Â Inexplicably awesome? Â We may never know (unless you kept your friendly neighbourhood Scottish Games Network up to date with the latest, greatest news, releases and updates). The Scottish Games Network did quite well, thank you. Â Lots of new views, lots of new friends, lots of great interest. Â The …
A mere six weeks after the Scottish Games Network set the world afire with a detailed dissection of the Economic Contribution Study, PR company Media House has sprung into action and written a letter expressing concern to cabinet secretary for culture and external affairs, Fiona Hyslop, according to The Drum. Ms Hyslop replied that the …
Continue reading "Culture Secretary Admits Games Companies May Be Hiding"
It's been a tumultuous and busy 24 hours. Â News of the research into Scotland's creative industries has spread throughout the global games sector and into the mainstream media... Now, the Scottish government has been in touch to tell us that they know it's wrong and they're working on better figures and more reliable information. Here's …
Continue reading "Scottish Government Responds To Creative Industries Report"
The government's proposed tax breaks system for the interactive industry has generally been considered a good thing. Â The devil, however, is in the details. Â Many developers are at least partially suspicious that the government will grant tax relief only to meda corporations, or make the process so hideously complex and tied into a spurious sense …
Continue reading "Governments Tax Breaks Consultancy – Get Involved"
Did you know that Scottishgames was originally started in 2005 as a Yahoo Group? Â That didn't work. Â It required people to get involved and contribute. Â So in 2006, your editor took the decision to start a blog. Â At that time, TypePad was a decent choice and allowed sophisticated content like words and pictures to be …
Continue reading "Time Capsule Tuesday – THE Definitive History Of Games In Scotland"