Apart from Christmas just having passed, the entire VGV crew is working hard on some new projects for the coming year. So, yes, we are taking a break from blogging.

Don’t worry though, you’ll notice when we’re back with more!

Now where did I leave my copy of Mass Effect…

If you are one of those people that prefers spending Christmas at home, reading digital issues of magazines, you’re in for a real holiday treat thanks to Control Magazine! Check out their digital issue (in Dutch) right here.

Christmas came early for one of our readers. Lucky Tom received his NLGD prize pack yesterday at the VGVisionary Villa.
Have fun with your super duper bag o’ swag!

The editors of Control Magazine recently announced the upcoming third edition second official release of their magazine on game creation & development. According to multiple sources, the first issue caught on quite some praise from the industry. So it might not come as a surprise that the upcoming issue is digitized. With the happy holidays at our doorsteps, this is definitely a good strategic choice.

So all that’s left, is lurking on the Control site till the next issue is up. You with us?

We’d also like to apologize for our inactivity. The entire team had quite the to do list before they can let the Christmas spirit inside.

You might have visited MTV’s Multiplayer blog. It great! Something MTV Europe (and our own Holland) could really learn something from if it comes to covering game culture and such. Multiplayer’s recent interviews with ladies in the game industry caught my eye. It gave me a warm feeling inside, apart from all the interviewed women fitting into the ‘attractive’ category. Most recently Tali Fischer, public relations manager at SEGA America, got up on the soapbox.

We really feel connected with MTV because of this, so read up!

The visitors of Gamer.nl are known for having quite a very broad demography, which was easy to see during Games in Concert 2 last week. So it kind of surprised us (well, not quite) to see ads on the website referring to the Dutch Playboy.

Ofcourse, the ad might be explained by Gamer magazine’s publisher, Sanoma Men’s Magazines.

One way or another, I’m not quite sure if Gamer.nl actually wants to be associated with something like the Playboy. Looks like they weren’t the ones to pick advertisements.

Source: Gamer.nl

Next-Gen released their annual top 10 game design innovations list yesterday. About 8/10 has a high dosage of ‘duh’, but the article itself still deserves a read for the sake of its witty argumentation. It’s nice to see that 6/10 are next generation games, proving that we got more then just better graphics this year. And 4/10 are shooters, which seems a bit odd.

Source: Next-Gen.biz

We just finished having a great meeting here in the VGVisionary villa. Sadly enough, Sebastiaan and Patrick had to leave early, leaving my behind to get every contestant on a little ballot and draw a winner. Here’s a little clip I whipped together of drawing our lucky winner for the NLGD Prize Pack! And the winner is…

Congrats! We’ll be making sure that the prize gets to you as soon as possible!

Gameindustry.biz reports that the European Commission has just approved the French government’s request to apply film industry tax breaks to the games industry. What they didn’t confirm is if this had anything to do with the manifesto by European game developers mentioned earlier. Here’s an excerpt of the report:

“The move will allow for around a 20 per cent rebate on the cost of development for games that fall under qualifying criteria – and it is estimated that around half of all games developed this year would have qualified.”

Read the entire report here.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz

So have you ever thought how the future US president and future not-presidents think about videogames? Common Sense Media lined it up for us, nice and tidy:

“Common Sense reached out to a dozen prominent candidates seeking the Democratic and Republican nominations… to ask about the policies they’d imagine implementing in regard to children and the media. In addition to Senator Edwards, three others responded by the organization’s deadline… former Governor Romney, Governor Richardson and Senator Barack Obama.”

(And yes, that is a picture of Richard Nixon sweating his ass off during the first ever televised presidential debate)

Source: Common Sense Media (Via Gamepolitics.com)

I just did. Last weekend (when I was submerged in work) Next-Gen.org reported on several European game development trade associations who have written a ‘Video Game Manifesto’ “aimed at increasing awareness amongst EU politicians of the games industry’s cultural importance and garnering greater support for the European development sector.”

Check it out! You want to be part of the gang, right?

Source: Next-Gen.org 

Sebastiaan and I had a great time at Games in Concert 2 last night. Sold out, free drinks during the break and some really good surprises not mentioned on the legendary track list. But apart from the free booze and another location, they didn’t change last year’s formula. Good one.

One big exception though. One that emphasises the potential of an initiative like Games in Concert. It (literally) put several game music composers in the limelight, something those industry folks really deserve. I was blown away by the relatively large attention that these people received after the concert (picture).

Maybe that’s also thanks to Chris Velasco, who recently composed the music for Clive Barker’s Jericho and decided to hand out 500 free copies of the soundtrack after the concert. And sign them too!

This is what really made the evening a big success: bringing the audience and the composers together. Games in Concert 2 wasn’t just a concert, it was a platform to recognize the work of some of the most brilliant people in the industry.

Rumor has it Games in Concert will be touring the country soon. They’d better!

Yeah, we know. The Gameplay 2007 is already two weeks behind us now and the only thing we brought you was this (awesome!) booth babe report. So, instead of throwing bad excuses your way, Patrick took some time to make a brilliant Gameplay 2007 compilation! It also includes a sneak preview on what we’ve still got in store for you from that event.

‘T was a good weekend, indeed!

A few years ago, dark times had struck the Dutch game magazine world. Recently, it seems the empty void has given birth to a new breed of game magazines, popping up from different directions and taking back the territory of old legends such as PCZone and GamePro. Many speculated that their demise was caused by the increasing popularity of gaming sites such as Gamer.nl, Ownage.nl and Insidegamer. Content was online quicker, cheaper and extended with pictures, video’s and demo’s.

Yet strangely enough, Gamer.nl has begun to blow new live into the black hole they have been partially accused of creating themselves. Combining their offline and online activities, they have started a new breed of free game magazine, which is planned to be released twice a year.

In addition, we Dutchmen can rejoice with our very own magazine on game design and development: Control. A bold move for a magazine to appeal to such a niche market of people, but definitely one we can appreciate.

With both parties having chosen for their own distinct approaches and format, VGVisionary looked up the chief editors of both magazines to asked them for their own thoughts on this very positive development.

Just follow Demi .

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