GDAA notes benefits of Aussie development
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jun 16th 2009 at 3:00AM }
Crago did acknowledge that it's not all sunshine in Australia, saying "You only have to look as far as the closure of Pandemic up in Brisbane to see that impact" of the current economic crisis. Of course, EA's Pandemic Brisbane was closed earlier this year after reportedly failing to deliver the long-rumored video game tie-in to The Dark Knight. However, Crago believes that Australia is in a "pretty reasonable position" – but that's his job to say that, isn't it? We'll play along if promises that Sydney-based Team Bondi's LA Noire is coming out soon. Promise us, Mr. Crago!
[Via Develop]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Foetoid @ Jun 16th 2009 4:12AM
"Games Developers Association Australia President Tom Crago feels that the country's development community is holding strong against the current economic storm".
It's not just the development community. Thanks to recent government cash hand-outs (i've got about $5000 in the last 7 months in bonus cash on top of my partners normal parenting payments, and it's not a loan) the entire country has avoided recession and is on the way up again quickly. God bless this country. The government gives out free money to all the unemployed and parents (my partner for example gets about $850 a fortnight tax-free), as well as government bonus payments to stimulate the economy, not to mention our weather or gorgeous, women are breathtaking (*cough* Miranda Kerr *cough*), our homless rate and general rate of racial discrimination are obscenely low, and even our Fords are much nicer: http://www.fpv.com.au/index.aspx
I'm not tooting our horn, we still lose out on 1 or 2 crappy games per year via censorship, plus our games and consoles cost more (we pay about US$79.95, after taxes, for a full priced new release Wii game that costs people in the US $50, tho im glad ALL our prices include all taxes, even if our Wiis are something like US$317 including all taxes). Otherwise it's pretty damn sweet here. Bring more dev studios down under!
Foetoid @ Jun 16th 2009 4:19AM
Yes thats right Tmac, i payed US$317 for a Wii and happily pay US$79 (at the most, some games come out cheaper, i'm getting The Conduit for example for US$51, and to us thats a BARGAIN) for each game and i am still very happy with the console itself and it's huge variety of excellent games.
Robert Maynard @ Jun 16th 2009 4:32AM
I put my $900 cash bonus from Rudd towards a business expense, double tax whammy! :D
Anywho, prepare for an avalanche of conservatives (ironically known as the Liberal Party here in Australia) parroting "Welfare state!" and "Socialism!" in 3...2...1
The_Doctor @ Jun 16th 2009 6:01AM
are there any articles regarding Australia where you dont tell everyone how much money the government gives you?
Foetoid @ Jun 16th 2009 7:23AM
Lol Doctor, probably not. I'm just grateful to live here. And i guess the jealous ones voted me down. I don't mean to say that all other countries suck, but i can't think of anywhere else i would rather live. I didn't even mention our totally free universal healthcare for every citizen!
Nigeria @ Jun 16th 2009 7:27AM
Nothing is free.
nighttime__ @ Jun 16th 2009 8:20AM
you're forgetting that super mario galaxy was reduced from $120 to 90 and was only reduced from 90 to $80 at JB's last week! :(
We shouldnt complain though, I remember seeing Virtual Racing on Mega drive for $200.
LaughingTarget @ Jun 16th 2009 9:00AM
Good Lord, you are one gullible dumbass. All you're getting is a part of what you pay in back and you're acting like your government is being generous. Get this straight. Your government gets far more than the $5,000 out of you. Don't argue, your simple brain doesn't understand that most of those taxes are hidden. You pay $5,000 or more if you so much as have a job.
Your government is just giving what was rightfully yours in the first place back and acting like heroes. Simple boobs like yourself are buying it hook, line and sinker.
P.S. - You avoided as bad a recession because Aussie interest rates weren't held at artificially low levels, not because of some retarded money circle .
Jesus (PSN: Luttdawg) @ Jun 16th 2009 9:04AM
@Foetoid
As a ps3 owner who likes the wii about as much as tmac, I pretty much hate everything you say. But as for "I can't think of anywhere else i would rather live," I could not agree with you more. Plus I've seen somewhere you dropped dark and stormies into a post so credit where credit is due.
Foetoid @ Jun 16th 2009 10:33AM
Laughing, they are being generous. This is on top of our normal yearly tax-refund, this is a cash bonus to help stimulate the economy. When it comes to tax-time (in about 2 week) i'll get back the usual amount of tax i paid. This extra money is on top of that. The government could have spent it on roads or something else, but instead gave cash-handouts back to everyone to help stimulate the economy. Plus most of that $5000 went to my partner, who doesn't pay any tax at all.
Hell yeah Luttdawg. I could LIVE off Dark 'n' Stormys!
nighttime__ @ Jun 16th 2009 5:38AM
fuck! does that mean a massive influx of wii games?
...carnival themed wii games?..................:(:(
Ihavepants @ Jun 16th 2009 6:04AM
Not really, most our studios were already mainly developing casual games, licensed games and ports(or game reconstructions for lower end consoles- see Force Unleashed Wii). Two of our biggest ones developing games for the core- Auran and Pandemic... well... you know what happened to them. But we still have Creative Assembly and 2K Australia!
Premature ejaculation man @ Jun 16th 2009 10:28AM
I hope more open up wanting to hire people such as myself.
Ihavepants @ Jun 16th 2009 10:40AM
Personally I think Indie is the way to go in Australia if you actually want to make games you'd care about working on.
enhans @ Jun 16th 2009 6:44AM
Thanks! joystiq for some Australian gaming news, even though most Americans would probalby find this article very dull. I love hearing about my country's attempts at cracking the video gaming market.
and we do love our government bribes down under.
pearl @ Jun 16th 2009 7:05AM
great, so we are known for shovelware
yay :(
LaughingTarget @ Jun 16th 2009 8:53AM
Translation: Without the R18+ rating, we have little choice but to make and buy family oriented games.
That about right?
MystileArmor @ Jun 16th 2009 9:35AM
Look at that recession! Isn't it Amaaazzzing mate?
I'm gonna sneak up to this recession, and stick my thumb up it's butthole!
Sidebuster @ Jun 16th 2009 9:40AM
Games cost too much in Australia. I would rather just start a band with my brother and mates and play in rouder bars. Singing about shaking all night long and being on some kind of road to hell or someplace.
edweird @ Jun 16th 2009 12:45PM
I'll feel a lot more comfortable about the Australian interactive media industries when we have a sensible approach to the rating and tolerance of art containing content not suitable for children.