Screen Magazine: Vol. 28, Issue 18

Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 28, Issue 18 - Index

By Bob Hudgins
Director, Texas Film Commission
When we built Texas’ new financial incentive
program earlier this year, we made sure it wasn’t
just about film and television. As we hoped and
expected, commercials have become the most
active industry segment in the grant program.
It was also very important for us to include our
video game developers, which have long proven
their worth to the state’s economy. Presently,
there’s a $250,000 cap on grants to video games,
though I aim to see that amount increased in our
next legislative session; after all, some of these
games have production periods spanning several
years. Since the incentives opened for business in
June 2007, the breakdown of applicants has been:
• 35% from commercials.
• 24% from features.
• 19% from television programs.
• 19% from video games.
The past 12 months have seen the release of
award-winning Texas-made games, including the
mobile games “Orcs & Elves” (developed by
Dallas-based Fountainhead Entertainment) and
“3-D Tilt-A-World” (from Austin-based Super
Happy Fun Fun), along with two “Over the
Hedge” games (from Amaze Entertainment and
Edge of Reality, both based in Austin).
Before the end of this year, we’ll see the
release of a new crop of highly anticipated
games, including the massively multiplayer online
game, “Tabula Rasa,” from NCSoft (Austin)
and “Metroid Prime 3” from Retro Studios
(Nintendo’s Austin office).
About 10-15 percent of the game developers
working in Texas are creating serious games.
One prominent example comes from Texas A&M
University (Corpus Christi) and its collaboration
on “Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab.”
The medical training simulator, which received
$9.85 million worth of federal funding, allows
military and civilian healthcare providers to
learn appropriate responses to life-threatening
medical situations.
And here’s something very new. We’re
excited about the UT Videogame Archive at
the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for
American History (www.cah.utexas.edu). It’s a
great achievement to see the CAH’s recognition
of the game industry as an important part of
American culture and history.
The UT Videogame Archive will have its
first fundraiser September 4 as a kick-off to
the Austin Game Developers Conference
(www.austingdc.net). Now in its fifth year, the
conference attracts game professionals from
around the world to see what Texas has to offer.
As is so often the case in Texas, there’s a lot for
them to see.
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