Today's round-up includes information on an important new hire at start-up Republik, more details on the games being shown at the IGN Live consumer game event, a forthcoming demo version of the latest
Final Fantasy title, and a New York appearance from the saintly Shigeru Miyamoto, as well as today's product news and Gamasutra job postings.
- Glennis McClellan, former art and design director for Disney's Buena Vista Games division, has left the company to join start-up Republik Games Inc. The company's already-announced first project will be a risqué 'female-centric' multiplayer online title titled
Spend the Night. "There's a myth that women aren't interested in erotic content, which is totally untrue," said McClellan. "Women are just as interested in sex as men are but there is little in the way of online content for this vast market. We plan to get women involved, put in features they care about, and make our game both entertaining and accessible."
- More details on IGN Entertainment's "IGN Live" consumer game event have emerged; a tentative game lineup for the festival has been set, with support confirmed from companies such as Electronic Arts, 2K Sports, Midway Games, NovaLogic, THQ, Ubisoft, and Vivendi Universal Games. The event will also feature tournaments based on
Halo 2,
Counter-Strike: Source, and
Battlefield 2, as well as a seminar on "How to Break Into the Game Industry" in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference. [The GDC, like Gamasutra, is a property of the CMP Game Group.] IGN Live will be held in the Anaheim Convention Center from October 22-23rd.
- Though Square Enix's long-awaited
Final Fantasy XII was not playable at either this year's E3 or the more recent Tokyo Game Show, U.S. gamers will have the chance to try out the latest build of the elusive game with a purchase of the upcoming
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. Square Enix has announced that the American release of the game will come with a playable demo of
FFXII, possibly the same code available at the Japanese Square Party 2005 event.
Dragon Quest VIII is scheduled for American release on November 22.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, venerable creator of the
Mario and
Zelda franchises for Nintendo, will make a public appearance at the Nintendo World Store on September 25th as part of a promotional event for
Nintendogs, the company's Nintendo DS hit. The developer will be signing autographs at the event, and the first 10 people in line with a DS and copy of
Nintendogs will also get a chance to participate in the game's "Bark Mode" to exchange puppies and items with Miyamoto. The event will last from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. at the Nintendo World Store in New York.
- Also updated today: product news including the
use of Kynapse AI in the latest Planet Moon game, and the
latest Gamasutra job postings, including positions from Cryptic Studios, FASA Studio, Rare, Retro Studios, and Rockstar San Diego.
