Con il comunicato che potete leggere qui sotto, il team Simbin annuncia i propri piani di sviluppo futuri, che prevedono anche la creazione di titoli per il mercato console.

SimBin Takes a Giant Leap Towards the Future Expansion seems to be the key word for SimBin right now. With the opening of a new top of the line studio in central Gothenburg, hosting some of Europe’s best game developers, and further expansion waiting down the road – SimBin seriously wants a piece of the next generation game console action.

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SimBin Development Team has gone through an intense period of development, wrapping up phase one in an extensive expansion plan. Initializing this development has been the foundation of a new state of the art studio in Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. Located in the very heart of the city, only 300 metres from the central station, with an area of 235 square meters of bright and modern premises, the studio is now inhabited by SimBin’s masterminds of games development. We have collected some of Europe’s most talented game developers under one roof, mainly due to security reasons. This way we secure source code, content and productions within the company. From here, our new Head of Studio and COO, Tomas Karlsson, controls and leads the developers we have in Gothenburg, Vara and the distributed team all over the world, says CEO Henrik Roos. The masterminds of the Gothenburg Studio are spearheaded by Technical Director Peter Björklund, Producer Mikael Emtinger, Lead Programmer Jens Agby, Lead Artist Henrik “Tudor� Andersson, and Lead Game Designer Anders Hejdenberg. The complete team consists of a further 20 world class developers - all of them well known names in the business, coming from front running companies like Digital Illusions and Unique Development Studios, and all of them with very successful game titles in their résumé. (see CV’s at http://www.simbin.se/article/index.php?articleid=17). The Gothenburg and Vara studios work together with the talented developers from the original distributed team. SimBin is also expanding with additional, carefully selected, distributed developers. In the future, the development team will work even closer – accommodating the high demands of quality, security and on time deliveries of today’s gaming market. SimBin is, after having released the highly successful and critically acclaimed racing games GTR and GT-Legends, still focusing on the motor sports genre, and is now preparing for phase two in this very exciting period of development and expansion: As a strategic move to prepare for the next-gen games, the Gothenburg studio will be expanded with an additional 235 square meters of studio area with the same high standards - and unmistakeable SimBin atmosphere. The new premise is estimated to be up and running, filled with newly hired games development veterans, by the beginning of next year. And there is even more to come – keep an eye on our website!

Il portale di Total Videogames ha pubblicato una interessante intervista a Rod Chong, producer del nuovo GT Legends, da ieri disponibile anche in Italia in tutti i negozi.

How pleased were you with GTR – FIA GT Racing Game which was released by Atari and do you see GT Legends as a follow up?
GTR did very well for a game in the simulation genre, and Atari did a great job with the distribution of GTR. With GTL, we won’t have a repeat of the delayed release issue we had with GTR. Atari will be releasing the game simultaneously in all western European territories shortly.

La Eden Games ha deciso di porre particolare cura nella realizzazione degli interni delle vetture del prossimo Test Drive Unlimited, come potete vedere dalle nuove immagini di anteprima pubblicate qui sotto.

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Dopo qualche tempo di silenzio, ecco arrivare nuovi screenshots di anteprima, che trovate qui sotto, per l'atteso Toca Race Driver 3 della Codemasters, titolo che sarà disponibile a febbraio 2006.

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Ancora una manciata di screenshots di preview per il prossimo Test Drive Unlimited della Eden Games: per ammirare le 6 nuove immagini fate click su #CONTINUE#

Sembra proprio che un piccolo terremoto abbia colpito il team Simbin: è infatti di queste ore l'annuncio della nascita della nuova software house denominata Blimey Games, che detiene attualmente i diritti per il GTR e il nuovo GT Legends. Una scissione del team originario o un semplice cambio di nome? Per commenti correte qui.

Utilizing a unique, fully distributed development model, Blimey! Games was born to be competitive in the global videogame market.  Facing the exciting reality of developing for next-generation platforms, and to capitalize on the existing strengths of this award winning development team, key management and developers behind the critically acclaimed titles GTR and GT Legends have formed a lean, streamlined ‘virtual studio’ dedicated to game development.

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“This move allows our superb artists and programmers to be more focused than ever.  We watched ourselves expand to handle various new roles including the traditional publisher tasks of marketing and promotion, and now we want to concentrate on what is most important for a game developer – making great games,â€? said Ian Bell, CEO of Blimey! Games.  “And that’s exactly what we’re doing.â€?

The benefits of globally distributed development for Blimey! Games include an increased quality of life for employees, reduced overheads, and a continuous "assembly line" working method, where tasks are shared between individual developers seamlessly, 24 hours a day, across time zones.  This distributed development also provides excellent personal benefits for the employees, including working from home, and the ability to set their own hourly schedules.

“Think of it like peer to peer business,â€? said Eric Boosman, Art Director of Blimey! Games.  “Our brand of distributed development is extremely enjoyable, efficient and encourages high quality through peer review.  Excellent communication and project management are the keys.â€?

With their streamlined processes and fantastically experienced skills base, the team at Blimey! Games is geared up for the big next-gen title race and on track for a lead position in this highly competitive market.