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Creative Industries News
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May 18, 2012 |  |
 Black Market Games are pleased to announce the launch of Dead Hungry Diner on Steam, Oberon Media, iWin and Wild Tangent which commenced May 16th 2012.
“These agreements add momentum to our game’s successful launch earlier this month on the Big Fish platform. We are delighted to have launched the PC version of Dead Hungry Diner across five leading game distribution platforms. |
May 04, 2012 | |
 Today Black Market Games announced the signing of their distribution deal with Seattle-based Big Fish Games, leading online marketplace for premium casual games. The deal will see Black Market Games’ Dead Hungry Diner, a fast-paced puzzle and strategy game, released in over 150 countries and territories.
“With Dead Hungry Diner, our goal was to create a charming, fun game that could be enjoyed by all the family,” said Sean McCafferty, Lead Designer at Black Market Games. |
May 02, 2012 |  |
 Still a long way to go on the chalk progress bar just after the start of SpringUp – our 28-hour non-stop startup challenge. Hopefully it’s not big-headed to say that we’re chuffed with the outcome of our very first open event last month. One of our founding members Matt Campbell brought in a 28-hour non-stop startup hackathon called SpringUp and, to put it simply, five new web businesses were launched overnight. |
April 30, 2012 |  |
 Filmtrip Ltd, a boutique production company specializing in film and TV cross-platform productions, mobile app development, and online media, has officially launched Sensum—an emotional response entertainment platform that enables both your conscious and emotional choices to personalize any entertainment experience.
While in New York for the Tribeca Film Festival this week, Filmtrip hosted film industry professionals, digital agencies, broadcasters, and brand managers for a day of events that focused on how to use human physiology and collective emotional responses in the entertainment and media industries.
Filmtrip held the screenings for TV, film, and short form content at the Norwood Club, using Sensum and sensor hardware provided by its partner, Shimmer Research. |
April 27, 2012 | |
 Last weekend, in one room in Belfast, five new companies sprung up overnight. Five teams competed in SpringUp, the first event of its kind in Northern Ireland. SpringUp is a 28-hour non-stop challenge to build a startup and pitch it to a panel of judges posing as potential investors. |
Northern Ireland could have thriving cultural quarters that could rival Covent Garden and Temple Bar if the right support is given to the creative industries, University of Ulster academics told a Stormont Committee today.
A delegation from the University urged the Northern Ireland Assembly's Culture, Arts and Leisure to push the Stormont Executive to develop an economic strategy for the creative industries that identified global as well as local market opportunities.
Professor Ian Montgomery, Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and the Built Environment told MLAs: "The creative industries generate £0. |
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As part of the run up to the Derry-Londonderry’s term as UK City of Culture in 2013, the city today announced that it will host a major new festival of digital culture this summer.
Culture Tech is billed as a four-day festival of digital culture and technologies and will take place from August 29th to September 1st within Derry’s historic walled city centre.
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April 24, 2012 | |
 Derry/Londonderry -based Games Studio, Black Market Games announced the launch of their video game Dead Hungry Diner, a fast-paced puzzle and strategy game that features a fresh approach to the time management gaming genre.
“With Dead Hungry Diner, our goal was to create a fun game that could be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible,” said Sean 'MooTV' McCafferty, Design Lead at Black Market Games. “Accessibility is a key design principle for us. |
April 19, 2012 | |
 Drawing together a wide range of participants from across the creative industries sector, Creative Camp - now in its second year - once again proved a valuable opportunity for creatives to network and share their experiences. Combining a morning unconference session, in which creatives presented on a wide range of topics, with an afternoon of workshop activities the day attracted an audience of over one hundred local creatives.
The theme of Creative Camp 2012 was 'Serendipity' and Ben Bland introduced the day by providing an overview of some of the factors that can lead to chance occurrences with fortunate outcomes. |
Another symbol of progress and an important asset to our cultural infrastructure is ready to open its doors to the public.
When the state of the art MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre) officially opens this evening (19 April 2012), local people will be treated to a world class programme ranging from blockbuster events and exhibitions to challenging, experimental new works as well as the very best in home-grown arts and culture.
The Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, Carál Ní Chuilín, the Minister for Social Development, Nelson McCausland and the Chairman of the Arts Council, Bob Collins will attend the official opening. |
 Sync NI talks to Dugong Games, a small Independent Games Company based in Belfast
So, how did 4 3rd year Students start up their own company?
We needed to find somewhere to do work placement for our course at University, but it’s difficult to find placement in the Games Industry in general, let alone in Northern Ireland, so we decided that the best option was to start up our own company. After some meetings with lectures and members of the Enterprise Unit in the SU, four months later here we are close to finishing our first project.
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 Students on the Games Development degree at Queen’s University Belfast have swept the boards at Ireland’s leading games development competition. Competing against 18 other teams from across Ireland, Belfast students Michael O’Kane and Mark Storey from the ‘Core Duo’ Team came away with the overall prize, the XNA Game Studio Ireland Challenge 2012, with their ‘Chopper Command Tactical War’ game. Other teams from Queen’s Games degree also triumphed in three other categories, including Best in Game Design, Best in Gameplay and Best Original Innovation in Gaming. |
April 03, 2012 |  |
 Sync NI met up with Billy goat Entertainments creator, 3D Animator, William Barr for a quick chat.
Hi Guys, for those that don’t know, who are Billy Goat Entertainment?
Billy Goat Entertainment is a small, yet perfectly formed 3D animation studio based in sunny Belfast. |
 As part of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s Creativity Month, Belfast Metropolitan College hosted a live video link with Academy Award winner Terry George at its Titanic Quarter Campus.
The Oscar winner joined students from Belfast Metropolitan College, University of Ulster, Queen’s University and Southern Regional College via video link from New York to discuss his film career to date and his recent success winning the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Shore having previously received nominations for Hotel Rwanda and In the Name of the Father. Alison Fleming from UTV interviewed Terry George and fielded questions from students keen to get advice on making it in the industry. |
 As part of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s Creativity Month 12, Craft Northern Ireland and Belfast Metropolitan College hosted a free lunchtime presentation on The Internet of Things by Clare Reddington, Director of Persuasive Media Studio, Bristol at the College’s Titanic Quarter Campus.
The event looked at the future of the internet and how it could creatively influence daily life and spark future collaborative business opportunities. Local businesses, artists and Belfast Met students studying higher education programmes in Software Engineering, Moving Image and Computing heard about pioneering projects and the importance of collaboration using digital technology. |
March 14, 2012 |  |
 Newry and Dundalk based TV production company, Big Mountain won the ‘Outstanding Small Business category at the Small Firms Association annual awards held at Trinity College Dublin last Thursday.
Jane Kelly & Philip McGovern on the Genealogy Roadshow set, a Big Mountain original tv format made for RTE1.
The presentation of the award was made by Irish Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Richard Bruton, TD at the Awards Ceremony in Trinity College on Thursday, 8th March.
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 Hot off the back of his Oscar® win for The Shore it has been announced that Terry George's Whole Lotta Sole will have its world premiere at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival in April. Whole Lotta Sole, which filmed on location in Northern Ireland last year, will feature in the Spotlight section of the Festival.
In a rowdy little corner of Belfast, hapless young father Jimbo tries to protect his family from the gangster he’s in debt to by robbing the local fish market… which turns out to be a front for the same gangster! |
March 08, 2012 |  |
 Eight of Northern Ireland’s leading companies have collectively raised an impressive £130,000 for The Prince’s Trust through its Million Makers Challenge to help turn around the lives of disadvantaged young people in Northern Ireland.
With initial seed funding from The Prince’s Trust, the eight finalists competed against each other to run the most profitable mini enterprise over the past six months.
Allstate, BNI, Hewlett Packard, Marks and Spencer, Northgate Managed Services, Parker Green International, Shredbank and Tughans undertook a wide range of activities including sales from a calendar featuring the Ulster Rugby Team, a white collar boxing event, sales of specially commissioned fine art and movie premieres to maximise profits to donate to the charity. |
March 08, 2012 | |
Filmtrip Ltd has announced today the launch of the beta version of Sensum, its emotional response platform, at two top USA Film and interactive media festivals in March and April this year.
“We are delighted to be back at SXSW after the interest and support our emotional response entertainment event generated last year at the festival” said Gawain Morrison, CEO of Filmtrip; “we can’t wait to update folks on the latest developments with Sensum and the exciting directions it is moving towards.”
Two years in development, Sensum is a mobile platform that enables users’ conscious and emotional choices to personalise standard entertainment experiences in real time, opening them up to new layers of exploration, enjoyment and play.
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March 02, 2012 |  |
 Welcome to the world of Jellyflug - the latest computer game about to hit the mobile gaming world with a splash! Play as Grash the microbe, as he traverses the vast world of microorganisms. Everyday human actions change everything in this world of Jellyflug. |
A major announcement about EU funding for creative industries in the North West region, will be made at this year’s Enterprise & Innovation Week at IT Sligo which runs from March 20th to 23rd.
Designed to enhance the links between the Institute and industry, IT Sligo’s third Enterprise & Innovation Week will highlight the cultural and economic potential of the creativity sector which accounts for an estimated combined workforce of 60,000 throughout the country.
The flagship event of the week, which takes place in the Knocknarea Arena on Thursday March 22nd, has been organised by the Institute in collaboration with “Creative State Northwest”. |
 The Halo Business Angel Network, Northern Ireland’s very own Dragon’s Den has welcomed news of the Oscar success for Terry George’s short film ‘The Shore’.
It was following a pitch made to the Halo Business Angel Network in 2010 that a number of private funders came forward to support the film. It represents one of the more unusual projects that have received funding to date through the Halo Network, a joint initiative of Invest Northern Ireland and InterTradeIreland, which has helped companies here to secure more than £3m worth of private sector investment so far. |
 A group of LYIT students directed and produced a number of music videos of local music talent as part of their creative communications module on the Creative Digital Media degree course recently.
The third year students were asked to film the band or performer using 3 high definition cameras and then had to edit the footage to produce an impactful studio based music video. It’s the stuff of dreams for many students. |
 THE SHORE, written, directed and produced by Belfast native and double Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Terry George, last night won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 84th Annual Academy Awards® ceremony, held in LA. THE SHORE was among five nominees in a category.
The film, part-funded by Lough Shore Investments, was, in January, named among 5 short films that would advance for final judging by Academy Branch members. |
Sesame Tree, Belfast based Sixteen South’s co-production with Sesame Workshop is a finalist at the prestigious 25th Prix Jeunesse International.
Taking place in June in Munich, the Prix Jeunesse International is a biennial festival which celebrates children’s television from around the world. Sesame Tree is a finalist in the pre-school fiction category. |
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