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Was there ever an Irish gaming scene?

  • 15-02-2017 5:53pm
    #1
    briany
    Registered Users Posts: 13,488 ✭✭✭✭


    Let me define what I mean by 'scene', here, because obviously gaming has been enjoyed in Ireland almost as long as it has anywhere else, I suppose...

    You know how in those British gaming retrospectives, they go on about games, machines or magazines that were only popular, or most popular, in Britain? Basically wondering if there was ever anything like that in Ireland. Mostly, I have thought that the Irish gaming scene was entirely informed by the UK one and for all intents and purposes was part of it, really, but was wondering if there was ever anything at all in terms of games and games magazines that had a primarily Irish origin, circulation, sensibility and/or appeal, or if the numbers of people involved at the time simply didn't support anything being produced. Even in more modern times the only thing I can think of is those GAA games on the PS2...


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Comments

  • #2
    Kenjataimu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,429 ✭✭✭Kenjataimu


    Speed Freaks for the PS1 was made in Ireland.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Freaks


  • #3
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    The Havok physics engine, which is used in almost everything, including games platforms since the PS2/Xbox and GC, is Irish, born of a lab in Trinity College, Dublin
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havok_(company)

    There was also an Official Playstation Magazine Ireland edition, it was put together by a team who worked in the basement of Gamesworld (now Gamestop) on Liffey St.
    I used to work there and it was previously the store room, but at some point the lads rented it out to the OPM people.
    Bit chilly there, and if the Liffey rose too high it would develop into an indoor swimmingpool!

    The GAA games weren't developed here though, it was an Australian team called Transmission Games who made some well received AFL titles for their home market, and then had the engine modified to work in gaelic football and, later, hurling as well as a football sequel.


  • #4
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Kenjataimu wrote: »
    Speed Freaks for the PS1 was made in Ireland.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Freaks

    I was in a public art exhibition around Stephen's Green a number of years ago and the guy exhibiting next to me was one of the leaders on that team.
    They got shafted by Sony, arriving at the E3 that year with a great product, only to get shoved down into some poor area while the surprise of the show was Crash Team Racing, a poorer game and but got pride of place.
    Crash Team Racing even resulted in Speed Freaks being delayed in the US so it wouldn't clash.
    The Speed Freaks team were gutted.


  • #5
    Retr0gamer
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 50,765 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    Kim Justice video on gremlin recently was talking about an Irish gremlin studio.
    Untitled Image




  • #6
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    There was a short lived digital computer magazine back in the early 00's, based up near Glasnevin.
    I went up there to do an interview on gaming at the time, nominated by the bosses in Gamesworld, as well as lend my new imported GC for review.
    They did not "get" the GC, preferring the US stylings on the Xbox instead... uncultured swine!


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  • #7
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,351 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    atari_pinball_plant4.jpg

    Atari plant in Ireland.

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057379666


  • #8
    Dr Bob
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 3,180 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dr Bob


    Retr0gamer wrote: »
    Kim Justice video on gremlin recently was talking about an Irish gremlin studio.

    Remember talking to a lad who worked there as a coder...this was early 90s ( it was in the games shop around the corner from the top of o'connell st and they were demoing a cd32 ;) )


  • #9
    Tchoin
    Registered Users Posts: 111 ✭✭Tchoin


    Demonware is another Irish company that although it does not make games, its networking technology is used in many. They have been around since 2003, and recently been bought by Activision Blizzard.


  • #10
    Gunmonkey
    Registered Users Posts: 4,067 ✭✭✭Gunmonkey


    There was a Irish gaming magazine called G4 Ireland, came out around the later half of the PS1 time.

    Amazed I still have them. Also added a pic of the people who wrote it in case anyone knows them.

    http://i.imgur.com/TdYgbdC.jpg

    http://i.imgur.com/iEOL95n.jpg


  • #11
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    I had the all black "vader" Atari 2600, long since sold on, with the lovely "made in Ireland" emblazoned on the bottom.

    Also, the awesomeness that is Super Hexagon is from the legend that is Terry Kavanagh, of this parish.
    Here is in action, playing his magnum opus in it's most difficult mode
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ96olZr8DE


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  • #12
    BGOllie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,592 ✭✭✭BGOllie


    my neighbour's uncle worked at the atari factory. Near the end he was specialized in fixing outun cabs and pcb after sega contracted atari to build their machines

    I'm trying to organise a meeting with him and maybe do an interview as I have toooons of questions for him :)


  • #13
    K.O.Kiki
    Registered Users Posts: 18,694 ✭✭✭✭K.O.Kiki


    John Romero has set up shop in Galway now BTW


  • #14
    Mr.Saturn
    Registered Users Posts: 3,910 ✭✭✭Mr.Saturn


    There's been a couple studios that have been snapped up by EA and are now dead. Activision still do all their European localization/QC at their Parnell Street office.


  • #15
    Retr0gamer
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 50,765 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    Gunmonkey wrote: »
    There was a Irish gaming magazine called G4 Ireland, came out around the later half of the PS1 time.

    Amazed I still have them. Also added a pic of the people who wrote it in case anyone knows them.

    http://i.imgur.com/TdYgbdC.jpg

    http://i.imgur.com/iEOL95n.jpg

    The original games forum mod wrote for them before moving to bigger things at eurogamer and beyond. Never once banned me despite deserving it multiple times.

    Apparently he was on the Den promoting it and Dustin just spent the segment ripping into him for being a nerd.
    Untitled Image




  • #16
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Isn't the guy who plays Dustin filling bags in Penney's now?
    Who's laughing now? Who's laughing now!!


  • #17
    SoaringPanda
    Registered Users Posts: 71 ✭✭SoaringPanda


    Gunmonkey wrote: »
    There was a Irish gaming magazine called G4 Ireland, came out around the later half of the PS1 time.

    Amazed I still have them. Also added a pic of the people who wrote it in case anyone knows them.

    http://i.imgur.com/TdYgbdC.jpg

    http://i.imgur.com/iEOL95n.jpg

    G4 was a fantastic magazine.


  • #18
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,351 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    I remember that alright, had every issue. Threw them all out recently if I remember correctly :(

    Were there any other Irish gaming magazines over the years or was that the only one?


  • #19
    Retr0gamer
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 50,765 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    There's was the official Irish PlayStation magazine but that was the same quality as used toilet paper.
    Untitled Image




  • #20
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Retr0gamer wrote: »
    There's was the official Irish PlayStation magazine but that was the same quality as used toilet paper.

    It'd be rubbish, the paper is too shiny to be functional as toilet paper, plus it was filled with sh1te already!

    Published from the basement of Gamesworld on Liffey St, basically the magazine was a printed form of those news collating websites, it just collected press releases from Sony and those publishing games on PS formats and printed them with minimal changes.


  • #21
    brianregan09
    Registered Users Posts: 8,474 ✭✭✭brianregan09


    One my best mates was running Open Emotion studios which had a few vita and psp releases a few years back and a gaming review website called Gamepinion which he's planning on relaunching in the coming weeks and I'm coming on board as a reviewer


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  • #22
    Shapey Fiend
    Registered Users Posts: 1,994 ✭✭✭Shapey Fiend


    Anybody remember a PC FPS being developed in somewhere like Sligo or Donegal in the early aughts? It's a pretty vague memory but I think the screenshots were quite spiffy for the time. Never came out presumably.


  • #23
    McLoughlin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,901 ✭✭✭McLoughlin


    Wasn't their a Waterford game developer ? I think Michael Jackson Moonwalker was made by them.


  • #24
    Retr0gamer
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 50,765 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    Pretty sure moonwalked was Segas Shinobi team, one of the am divisions.
    Untitled Image




  • #25
    Shapey Fiend
    Registered Users Posts: 1,994 ✭✭✭Shapey Fiend


    Some of the home computer ports were done by Emerald Software in Waterford. There are videos on YouTube about it.

    Arcade versions by Sega AM1.


  • #26
    Chris_Heilong
    Registered Users Posts: 4,973 ✭✭✭Chris_Heilong


    Sega Saturn game used to be printed in Ireland, the song at the end of Metal Gear Solid was recorded in Dublin and something to do with Mass Effect having something Irish that I remember seeing when I finished it but have forgotten. Inst Dsave Perry who made the Earth Worm Jim games Irish?


  • #27
    YourSuperior
    Closed Accounts Posts: 65 ✭✭YourSuperior


    Gunmonkey wrote: »
    There was a Irish gaming magazine called G4 Ireland, came out around the later half of the PS1 time.

    Amazed I still have them. Also added a pic of the people who wrote it in case anyone knows them.

    http://i.imgur.com/TdYgbdC.jpg

    http://i.imgur.com/iEOL95n.jpg

    I had the issue with Duke Nukem on the cover, or was it DN? Either my memory is faulty or I'm just losing it.

    The market for gaming magazines was tough in the late 90's. UK magazines that is. Did G4 last long?

    Total Control and Arcade finished up within two years.


  • #28
    Linoud
    Registered Users Posts: 429 ✭✭Linoud


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havok_(software)

    Pretty sure this counts, seeing as it's in most games. :-]


  • #29
    Retr0gamer
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 50,765 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    I used to work in the Havok offices.....

    Doing security and Havok was the one company whose offices we were never allowed to go into
    Untitled Image




  • #30
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    YourSuperior wrote: »
    I had the issue with Duke Nukem on the cover, or was it DN? Either my memory is faulty or I'm just losing it.

    The market for gaming magazines was tough in the late 90's. UK magazines that is. Did G4 last long?

    Total Control and Arcade finished up within two years.


    I think the coming of the internet meant that, never mind online gaming, the consumption of news in the scene shifted from the month late realm of the printed page to the instant nature of online publishing.
    Personally, a bit of a golden area, just before YouTube and clickbait took hold.

    Another good metric is looking at the likes of Edge and their E3 coverage, once upon a time it was a big deal in that issue, but in latter years it is still a multipage article but it's no longer front page news, given that most will have already been aware of it all from the aforementioned internet.


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  • #31
    YourSuperior
    Closed Accounts Posts: 65 ✭✭YourSuperior


    CiDeRmAn wrote: »
    I think the coming of the internet meant that, never mind online gaming, the consumption of news in the scene shifted from the month late realm of the printed page to the instant nature of online publishing.
    Personally, a bit of a golden area, just before YouTube and clickbait took hold.

    Another good metric is looking at the likes of Edge and their E3 coverage, once upon a time it was a big deal in that issue, but in latter years it is still a multipage article but it's no longer front page news, given that most will have already been aware of it all from the aforementioned internet.

    Oh for sure, web 2.0, the end of dial-up etc., around the middle of the 00's. The newsagents had plenty of gaming mags up to then. Some consumers must prefer hard-copy, the prices are steep enough -- €8 - €9. I haven't bought a magazine in ten years.


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