Round Up: Aspyr Promotions, Game Audio @ Oz, NFS Carbon

Today's round-up includes news Aspyr Media's new vice president of sales, a Dissecta-organized Australian event entitled 'Game Audio: Access All Areas', and a new agreement between Electronic Arts and street fashion company 55DSL for the upcoming release of Need for Speed Carbon, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, product news, Serious Games Source news, and Gamasutra job postings. - Game developer Aspyr Media (Stubbs The Zombie, Dreamfall) announced that it has promoted Karim Farghaly to the position of vice president of sales, as well as the hiring of Eric Wills as business development manager. Wills in particular will focus on the implementation of the company’s mobile strategy, as well as digital distribution deals, alternate channel sales and OEM bundle relationships for catalog and future products. Previously as the director of sales and business development at Aspyr, Farghaly led all of the company’s sales efforts and built and managed alternative distribution channels for products through licensing to companies worldwide. - Event organizer Dissecta announced a new event entitled 'Game Audio: Access All Areas,' which will take place on August 25 in Melbourne, Australia at the Australian Games Innovation Centre (the Academy of Interactive Entertainment's Presentation Room). The subject for the event will be introduced by Christopher Coe, game designer and independent recording artist (under the name Digital Primate), who will provide an introduction to game audio focusing on the creative and experimental opportunities the video game format provides. Dissecta also has an exclusive pre-recorded interview with accomplished US based game composer/sound designer Tim Larkin, audio director for Cyan Worlds, for playback at the event. Mick Gordon of Lava Injection Studios in Brisbane will also provide insight into core aspects of game audio from getting the soundtrack right for your game, to the merits of outsourcing versus keeping audio in-house. - Electronic Arts announced that it has entered into an agreement with fashion street wear brand 55DSL to include exclusively designed items from the company in the upcoming release of the multiplatform racing title, Need for Speed Carbon. The game will also feature a selection of garments from 55DSL's ‘Zurka and the 55 Vagabonds’ winter collection, which EA notes will feature prominently on several in-game characters in the game. Need for Speed Carbon ship this November for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, as well as the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, PSP, PC, and mobile platforms. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a report on obscure Japanese freeware games such as Fura-Fura Neko and 3D shooter Rayspline, addictive arcades in Japan, and the debut of a new 'revolutionary' review system for games, showcased by its ranking of Quadrun for the Atari 2600 VCS. - Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on new sessions added to the upcoming Serious Games Summit DC 2006, Gamasutra product news on the release of the August 2006 DirectX SDK, plus the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Amaze Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, Eurocom Developments Limited, Pandemic Studios, and Slingo, Inc.