Ahaaaaa. Dudes! It’s been a while! How’s everyone doin’?
So, umm, yeah. I’ve pretty much been in non-gaming(small)ville (somebody saaaaave me? lol.) these days. Too busy with them darn school work. Well, enough about me. I’ve been noticing a pretty disturbing trend lately. Not disturbing as in disturbing. Disturbing as in disturbingly interesting. Whatever may it be?
Culture. Gaming Culture. In Singapore.
If many of you out there have not been living under that rock for the past few weeks (and I’ll give you guys the benefit of the doubt, hehe), most of you should have noticed an interesting trend; Video gaming is going more mainstream in Singapore. Let me list my observations:
-Local videogame developers have been given extra attention in the media these past few weeks;
-Video game reviews have been given the centrestage;
-Microsoft Singapore’s Domination Plan over Singapore. Apparently also part of Bill Gate’s ‘Lose the Money; Gain the Fanbase’ World Domination Plan;
-A Gaming Lab (?!) is going to be setup in the Nanyang Technological University;
-The Economic Development Board (EDB) has begun to;
a) Attract foreign game developing companies to Singapore;
b) Linking up with Japanese game developers to train up local talents in the art of game making (Sega, Koei);
c) Along with the Media Development Authority and the Infocom Development Authority; all 3 organizations have been setting up the basic infrastructure (i.e. regulations, etc), co-funding with foreign/local investors and basically giving local developers the support needed for their games to get out into the world market.
-The Singapore chapter of the International Game Developers Association have been given quite a lot of attention in the media in these recent months.
Please note that this isn’t an exhaustive list. And thank god it isn’t. The digital entertainment industry is worth billions, only second to the movie industry in North America, and Singapore wants a large slice of that pie. Lets hope Singapore gets that large slice. Along with seconds.
Tachi signin’ out.
P.S. Hey Kheldar, your sister’s pretty cute man. Intro? LOL!