Round Up: Dissecta, Iwatani Leaves, Blue Fang Stays

Today's round-up includes news of a new Australian development event by Dissecta, the creator of Pac-Man leaving Namco Bandai, and Blue Fang Games renewing its Zoo Tycoon development contract with Microsoft Game Studios, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, product news, Serious Games Source news, and Gamasutra job postings. - Event organizer Dissecta announced a new event entitled 'Game Development Funding and Finance Issues,' which will take place on July 18 in Melbourne, Australia. The event will be sponsored by the law firm Media Arts Lawyers. Tom Parkinson, Chair of the new Electronic Games Investment Fund and proprietor of Avoca Media Holdings, and Melanie Wheeler, who was an investment banker for five years in London and specialised in mergers and acquisitions in the video games industry, will discuss issues involved in game development funding and finance. The event will be held in the Atari Building in Melbourne, and will be followed by a networking opportunity. - According to an interview in the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu, as partially translated by consumer website GameSpot, Toru Iwatani, best known as the originator of Pac-Man, confirmed that he is going to leave Namco Bandai after 30 years of working of the developer. According to the report, the industry veteran has decided to accept a position at the Tokyo Polytechnic University, where he will become a full-time lecturer on game design and career training. "I thought it more important to pass on the know-how that I've accumulated over the last 30 years to the next generation," he said. "Right now, the state of career training in the Japanese games industry is on the verge of crisis." - Independent game developer Blue Fang Games (Zoo Tycoon) announced that it has extended its partnership with Microsoft Game Studios. The new contract includes multiple development projects extending through 2009. Blue Fang has worked with Microsoft Game Studios for six years, starting with Zoo Tycoon in 2001. “Blue Fang is proud to continue our six-year partnership with Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to future successful development projects,” said Hank Howie, President, Blue Fang Games. “From day one, Microsoft has been a terrific publishing partner and they continue to provide the highest quality development and marketing support for the Zoo Tycoon franchise.” - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include an interview with the 'Mario In MySpace' parody team, an exclusive GSW interview with Barrie Ellis of OneSwitch, and the Tetris Company cracking down on a Mac shareware version of Tetris. - Also updated today: A new Serious Games Source feature from the 2006 Games For Change Annual Conference concerning the viewpoints of funding organizations and advice on how to interact with them, plus Gamasutra product news on the release of the latest version Of SCM from Perforce, as well as the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Demiurge Studios, Pandemic Studios, Rainbow Studios, Rhythm & Hues Studios, and Superscape.