Games Toaster

GameStop for Tullamore, Midleton, Mullingar

GameStop Ireland continues to expand their network of computer games stores across the country.

The Irish division of the multinational retail giant plans to open outlets in Tullamore, Co Offaly; Midleton, Co Cork; and Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

After the openings, the Dublin operation will control 42 stores, including nine in Co Dublin, five in Co Cork, four in Northern Ireland, and shops in Birmingham and Stockport in England.

Set up in 1994 by Kevin Neary and Michael Finucane the company started in the back of a Dublin bookstore and first traded as GamesWorld before GameStop Inc bought a controlling share in 2003. At that point, the retailer re-branded its 11 outlets, and started the current expansion.

The parent company owns shops across Europe, North America, Australia, and Puerto Rico - it reported $1.7 billion in sales for the last nine weeks of 2006, a 29% jump on the same period the year before.

Derry computer games studio launches

Dark Water Studios, a start-up independent games developer, launched this week in Derry.

Dark Water are already working on an unnamed PC multi-player game which is partly funded by Northern Ireland’s Department of Enterprise. The company also says it is in the early stages of prototyping a next generation console and PC title.

The venture is headed by Mike Brown, with technology manager Paul Houbart and lead animator Rory Fellowes – together they bring over 50 years of experience to Dark Water. Currently employing ten people their aim is to expand to 25 by the end of the year.

The company is understood to be an unofficial spin-off from Instinct Technology, a Derry-based games middleware firm previously called Torc Interactive. 

"Our aim is to bring together the cream of available game-creation talent; by drawing from Northern Ireland's existing talent pool by using the quality of life offered by this unique location to attract the cream of overseas talent and by making good use of the opportunities for outsourcing and remote working which modern technology allows" commented Brown.

Irish games swapping site set up

A new game-swapping website has been set up at gameswapireland.com, the site is free and is intended for people interested in an alternative method for exchanging new or old games.

Havok update from Dublin games firm

Dublin-based Havok have released an update to their physics and animation tools for PlayStation 3, Xbox360, and Nintendo Wii.

‘Havok 4.5’ has been optimized for the PlayStation 3, Sony’s new console soon to be launched in Ireland.

“We made sure that we met our customers’ demand for a PS3 optimized version of Havok as soon as possible” commented David O’Meara, Havok CEO. “Havok 4.5’s ability to allow developers to massively scale game content will make it possible to develop ever more compelling, realistic and complex worlds that harness the full power of new generation architectures”.

After an agreement with Sony in 2005, Havok Physics middleware comes with PS3 ‘Software Development Kit’ for games developers working on the console.

The Dublin company’s software was used on last year’s high profile games such as Oblivion, F.E.A.R., Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent, and Superman Returns, and PS3 titles such as MotorStorm (pictured above), Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, and Tony Hawk's Project 8.

PS3 price for Ireland was expected

- Irish launch price confirmed
- 60GB version only at launch

Sony has now confirmed that, at €629.99, the PlayStation 3 will be €30 more expensive in Ireland then mainland Europe, and that the 20GB version will not be available at launch.

A statement on the Irish PS3 portal reads "€60GB PlayStation 3 will be available at launch in Ireland for €629.99. The 20GB (€529.99) will not be available at launch in Ireland"€.

Games Toaster readers will remember that we were the first to report and confirm uncertainty over the PlayStation 3 price point in Ireland.

Last May, at the E3 trade show in Los Angeles, when the general European price was released we stated that it is "currently unknown"€ if the Irish pricing will be higher.

Weeks later we contacted Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland who confirmed that the Irish price point was not announced. At the point they could not confirm the price or whether Ireland would only get the 60GB version at launch.

Then in June, we then noted that there was no "€œofficially announced"€ price, and said that rumoured price was €629.99. The PlayStation 3 launches in March.