Dave Perry has been feeling a twinge of seller's remorse since washing his hands of former platforming icon, Earthworm Jim. More than that, actually, as the Shiny Entertainment founder admits in a recent interview that, in hindsight, selling off the rights to annelid-made-superhero was probably the "dumbest move ever."

The outspoken Wii detractor lays the blame for the miscue largely on the industry's transition away from 2D and into the third dimension in the 90s, his animators at the time unwilling to lay down their pencils in favor of the almighty polygon. Of course, the team eventually went on to create the fabulously tongue-in-cheek action epic, MDK. Now, like Perry, we're left to sit and wonder what might have been as we wait for Interplay to push Jim up from the soil once more.

Dave Perry believes Microsoft may have made the wrong choice in canceling Cryptic Studio's Marvel Universe MMO. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, the Shiny Entertainment founder expresses his surprise at the decision to halt the game's development, saying it was "absolutely stunning."

According to Perry, the Marvel license easily eclipses the mass-market popularity of World of Warcraft, and for that reason could be an actual competitor to Blizzard's behemoth. Though he is disappointed by Microsoft's decision, he understands that the cancellation was likely due to financial concerns, as it's difficult for large companies to ascertain whether sizable investments in MMOs will ever see any return.

Dave Perry is currently developing free-to-play MMOs at Acclaim, as well as tackling a number of side projects, including the direction of a entirely user-generated racing game. We like your ambition, Mr. Perry, but we do recommend picking a less intense photo for your "about" page (as seen above). It scares us a little.

Outspoken developer and former Shiny founder Dave Perry has found himself on the receiving end of an honorary degree by the UK's Queen's University Belfast, to be awarded as part of the school's centenary year celebration this July.

While the degree would be equally served for recognizing Perry's unceremonious commentary on the Wii's questionable longevity when compared to the competition, the architect behind MDK and others has instead received a diploma in science engineering for distinction in computer game development and design. Perry shares the honorary spotlight with some distinguished company as well, with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Taioseach Bertie Ahern, actors Joanna Lumley and James Ellis and others filling out the university's honorary graduate list, though we doubt any of those can boast having breathed live into a gun-toting earthworm.

Pour one out today for Shiny, which will soon be merged with another dev team, The Collective. Gamasutra's reporting that the developer collective that controls the two teams, Foundation 9, will be fusing them into one as-of-now-unnamed entity. ... May we suggest Shillective?

Spearheaded by Dave Perry, Shiny was once a bastion of creativity in the industry, with titles like MDK, Earthworm Jim and Wild 9. The Collective is no slouch themselves, currently helming Silent Hill V, making them the first American company to develop a game in that series. While Shiny has lost some of its luster in recent years, and this new developer's going to be packing a lot of talent, it's hard for us not to be a little sad at the prospect of the house that Jim built finally being dismantled.

Much ado has been made of recent comments spat by Shiny founder David Perry regarding the Wii's longterm success and ability to draw players away from the crisp graphics and high-defness of Xbox 360 and PS3. Now the always outspoken development veteran has called out Nintendo fans themselves in an interview, stating that while he is himself a Wii owner, Perry still believes that "there's just many issues with the Wii, and the fans just don't want to hear it."

He does offer the Wii kudos for its accomplishments so far, but adds that he finds it "interesting to see how people turn a blind eye to its flaws." What flaws exactly? Perry specifically takes issue with the Wii's 'sloppy' waggle control, and he's "surprised" that players are willing to accept this level of inaccuracy in their games.

While we agree that the Wii experience is definitely a mixed bag, it seems unfair to lay the burden of imprecise controls at the console's feet when games like Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime 3 make such strides to validate a full range of motion controls. Still, he does have a sliver of a point when it comes to what players are willing to accept in the face of innovation.

[Note: source is in PDF format.]

Shiny founder Dave Perry has been very vocal about consoles as of late. After estimating Wii's death clock, the Earthworm Jim designer has set his sights on Sony's PSP.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Perry refers to redesign as a "head in the sand" move while saying that Sony should "restart the PSP program" and specifically calls for the removal of UMD in favor of digital download.

Perry also suggests that the transition to an UMD-less PSP would be relatively painless, asserting that it would be easy to create software to authenticate and re-download for free titles you already own.

While we agree that digital distribution is on the rise, we're not sure if there's financial benefit for the consumer. A 1.0 GB memory stick can cost over $30, and then you still have the buy the titles (which may not drop in price should they go download). If you want to carry more than a few games around, you're going to need multiple memory sticks. If Sony does heed Perry's advice (and we see no evidence as to why they would), maybe they could replace the UMD slot with a decent hard drive, instead.

The concept might be a tad ambitious, but Acclaim's Top Secret -- a large-scale competition to build the world's first community-created MMO -- is probably doing more good than evil, with lucrative job positions for the top developers, as well as innumerable job opportunities for all of those involved in the project.

The project, which was first announced back in February, challenges coders, designers, writers, and artists to collaboratively develop an MMO racing game. Members of the development project -- which number over 30,000 -- communicate on forums, wikis, and Acclaim's website to create milestones and deliver assets on a regular basis. As incentive, Acclaim is offering lucrative prizes to top competitors: jobs. One development team from the competition will be hired based on their performance to develop the title for Acclaim, and the grand prize will give one individual the title of director on a future Acclaim MMO. And yes, those positions do include royalties.

In addition to the official prizes, the forum community for Top Secret is also under close observation by Acclaim, with several of its skilled contributors going to work full-time for the publisher and other companies based on their contributions to the project. Acclaim states that this is an intended effect of the competition, hoping to see a large number of contributors break into the industry via Top Secret.

The most recent version of the design document describes Top Secret as a massively multiplayer racing game, where avatars ride beasts of a variety of species, while also engaging in trading, betting, and breeding (of the beasts, not the riders). At first glance, the project seems a bit top-heavy, with a features list that reads more like a "best of" from the industry's greatest franchises. However, game designer Dave Perry, who's overseeing the project as its director, promises to keep a close eye on things, and keep the project on track. Whether the final game will be good or not, the Top Secret project definitely has its heart in the right place. Those interested in future careers in the game industry should definitely check it out.

[Via IGN]

While the Wii surfs the waves of success, Shiny founder Dave Perry says the party won't last. Why? "Gamers are attracted to beautiful looking games. When a game comes out - a game like a Halo or something, something they haven't seen before - they'll drop everything and they'll drop their Wii controllers when it does.". And while waggle control is a step in the right direction, Perry notes that he doesn't feel it's the "final solution" to user interfaces.

We can see Perry's point, but a gorgeous game doesn't need a Cell processor to exist. You can, in fact, create a beautiful game on a weak system, or craft a butt-ugly title on a PS3. The Wii may not dish out the horsepower that makes it easier to push the graphics wagon further, but what makes games gorgeous is the artistic direction, not tech specs.

Following the news that Atari is looking to unload their internal development studios, the Orange County Register (reg. req'd... try Bugmenot) is reporting that Dave Perry, head of Atari's Shiny Studios, will step down to help facilitate the impending sale. Perry explains:

"Atari can go ahead and sell Shiny, but I think I can help, too, because I'm on the board of a lot of things. I can bring a lot of parties to the table, and I can do that faster if I hit the streets myself... If I'm an employee of Atari, then I'd be stepping all over them. This way, I'm representing a buyer. I can act swiftly and get buyers on the table. I pitched Shiny last time and got $47 million."

Dave's not abandoning his baby, he's trying to save it! Sure, Shiny's last couple games (Enter the Matrix anyone?) have been stinkers, but they're currently working on a sequel to the seminal Earthworm Jim. Someone better buy these guys, cause if they cancel Earthworm Jim...

[Via Next Generation]