Games, made in...

Malte Behrmann (from Game Bundesverband in Germany) gave a brief presentation of the newly formed European Federation of Game Developers (members). The gathering of European game developers is crucial if they want to put game issues on the European Commission's agenda, to develop the sector's competitiveness, to create together educational games and share knowledge.

The panelist presented the characteristics of video game production in their own country.

Romain Poirot-Lellif (Ass. of Multimedia Producers, France) wants to solve the problem of the absence legal status of video games in France.

Fred Hasson (Tiga, GB) stressed the fact that game producers are located all over the UK, in Brighton, Manchester, Dundee, Liverpool... in contrast of other media organisation who are gathered in London. One of the problem that game developers have to face in the UK is the hostility of the press. They depict video games as violent whereas only 1% of the games sold in the UK are marked "Under 18."

Malene Rafn (Danish Producers' Association, DK) explained that in her small country film and game producers are grouped together in a big organisation.

Malte, who moderated the panel, asked if game was part of the media culture.

Hermen Hulst (Guerilla, NL) gave a big "yes, definitely."

Now more console games are bought than pc games and TV might pretty soon be overtaken by computer games. According to the speakers, culture can be expanded through video games. But at an increasing cost, so it is feared that one day all video games might come from Hollywood, just like movies. So Europe must try to find a way to garantee a cultural voice.

Romain talked about the economic side of VG and its cultural implications. 95% of games made in France are exported. Unlike French movies or music, games sell well. So far, the intrigues, the plots are quite basic because developers focus on the ever-changing technological developments, but he believes that this could change as soon as technology will be standardized. He also mentioned the Master in Management of Computer Games, recently created in Angoulème. The master should solve the problem of lack of leaders who can lead a team, ensure that a game is ready on time, respect the budget, etc.
74 universities in the UK are giving game-realted courses.

Games and kids:

Hasson said that the game industry in the UK doesn't cater for kids as much as it should.

Romain made everyone laugh with a game about the economics of the ponies, a game designed for girls. They can play and manage a ranch and become experts of ponies economics.

In general educational games stay longer on the shelves and cost less as technology here is not an issue, they don't have to be that cutting-edge. But they don't sell very well.