Today's round-up includes news on the official launch of Sony Online's Station Exchange, more information of the UK-based Women in Games Conference to be held next month, and apparent information on an first-person shooter Xbox 360 version of the classic
Shadowrun in development, as well as the latest product news and Gamasutra job postings.
- Sony Online Entertainment has launched its
Station Exchange MMO item selling website to the general
EverQuest II-playing public, and in the process revealed a few statistics about the initial test period prior to its official launch. The average trial user of the service spent $14 on auctions, the most popular of which were auctions for large-capacity storage items. Almost 25% of the auctions ended in a sale, some of which fetched significant sums of money: a pile of in-game cash went for $315, while the average platinum piece fetched $20.14 and the average player character went for $65.92.
- The 2005 Women in Games Conference will be held from August 8-10 at the University of Abertay Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. Attendees will be able to sit in on panels such as "Winging It in the Games Industry," and "Presenting Yourself!" The Student Forum, meant for current students looking to get into the industry fulltime after graduation, hosts keynote speaker Aphra Kerr, who will talk in "Gameplay -- A Chilly Place for Women?" Inga Paterson, organizer of the conference, describes the panel as "an essential part of the Women in Games Conference, because it provides a unique opportunity for young people trying to get into the games and new media industry.”
- In discussing his current projects with website RPG Vault, developer Theron Bernson at FASA Studios revealed that his company, an internal part of Microsoft Game Studios, is developing a
Shadowrun first-person shooter for the Xbox 360. No release information or gameplay details were disclosed, but the game should draw from the postapocalyptic setting of the pen-and-paper RPG, which mixes fantasy spellcasting with cyberpunk technology.
- Also updated today: product news including the
release of Seapine Software's SCM 4.0 for software change management, as well as the
latest Gamasutra job postings from companies including Big Huge Games, BottleRocket Entertainment, Digital Anvil, iBase Game Studios, KingsIsle Entertainment, Microsoft, MTV Networks, and Pandemic Studios.
