Round-Up: GTA: LCS Custom Sounds, AISB 06 Papers, Sega Rally Bonus Disc

Author: by Nich Maragos, Simon Carless

Today's round-up includes news on Rockstar's custom CD converter for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, a call for papers for an English game AI symposium, and a pleasing bonus for the Japanese release of Sega Rally 2006, as well as today's product news and Gamasutra job listings. - Rockstar has released a PC utility which allows players to convert CDs into a format that can be imported into the newly released PSP game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories as part of a custom soundtrack. The converter is freely downloadable from the Rockstar Games website, and the readme for the 'Rockstar Custom Tracks' app explains: "RCT is designed not to work with personally created CDs or CDs containing music encoded via MP3, WMA or other compression techniques. By using RCT, you acknowledge and agree that all conversions created through RCT are solely for your private use to enhance your enjoyment of the gameplay of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and may not be reproduced or distributed to others." - The organizers of the 2006 AISB symposium on narrative AI and games, to be held April 5th-6th 2006 at the University Of Bristol in England, have put out a call for papers, which can be found at the AISB 2006 website. Those submitting must limit the papers to 8 pages or fewer in length, and follow formatting guidelines soon to be released through the symposium site. The papers must be submitted by December 21, 2005; those selected to present their papers at the symposium will be notified by February 3, 2006. Papers will be judged anonymously by a minimum of two referees. - According to Japanese reports, the upcoming release of Sega Rally 2006 will include a bonus disc in Japan, containing a port of the original Sega Rally, the arcade and Sega Saturn hit. The bonus disc release of the game, which was an early creation of Lumines and Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, will be carefully based on the arcade Model 2 CRX edition. Sega Rally 2006 will be released in January 2006 in Japan on PlayStation 2, and a precise Western release date is yet to be confirmed for the game. - Also updated today: product news including Vicious Cycle's sign-up to the Sony middleware program for its PSP engine, Codemasters' partnering with Alchemic Dream for MMO-related services, and today's Gamasutra job listings, including positions from Full Sail Real World Education, Liquid Entertainment, LucasArts / Lucasfilm, NaturalMotion, Rockstar San Diego, Rockstar Vienna, Sony Online Entertainment and Tilted Mill Entertainment.