Today's round-up includes information on Sega's new CG division, an Activision deal with the Military Channel, and the latest in retro arcade trackballs from Xgaming, as well as today's product news and Gamasutra job postings.
- Sega of Japan has announced the formation of an internal Japanese division specifically for creating computer animation, which will become active in April 2006. The computer graphics crew will create CG movies for the rest of the company's internal game projects, including home and arcade titles; due to the increased demand for manpower with the next generation of consoles' graphical capabilities, Sega thought that a special department to address the demand was required.
- Activision has partnered with U.S. cable TV network the Military Channel to create short video segments to be used in
Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One. The deal will also spawn a Military Channel documentary on the real-life Fighting First unit, nicknamed the Big Red One. The half-hour special will be called "The Big Red One: Behind the Game" as a promotional tie-in to this holiday season's WWII-themed Activision game, and air in North America on November 1 at 9:00 EST.
- Xgaming has announced the release of its X-Arcade Trackball, an industrial-quality gaming trackball intended for high-end PC and Mac retro gamers. The trackball is the latest in the company's products, which also include the X-Arcade arcade sticks. "We designed the X-Arcade Trackball to deliver the most authentic experience possible and we're confident that those who experienced it will be thrilled with the authenticity," said Xgaming VP of Product Development Dr. Kaijun Yang. The X-Arcade Trackball will retail for $99.95 when it's released this November.
- Also updated today: product news, including
Gearbox Software's deal with Epic regarding Unreal Engine 3, as well as
new job postings from companies including 3D Realms, Activision/Infinity Ward, Edge Of Reality, Pandemic Studios, Sixteen Tons Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Ternary Software, and TikGames.
