Industry partners,
Gamers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
1. Good evening and welcome to the inaugural Singapore GameFEST 2010. I am very excited to be at this high energy event where more than 10,000 gamers and game developers gather to celebrate and appreciate Made-by-Singapore games over the next four days.
2. Singapore GameFEST is an MDA initiative that aims to provide a platform for Singaporeans to support Singapore games. It is also for our Singapore game developers to share their expertise with like-minded industry players. We hope this will lead to more collaboration and growth for the games industry in Singapore.
3. As such, one of the activities in support of this initiative is the SG Game Box Inter-Tertiary Challenge which is organized by Singapore’s Cybersports and Online Gaming Association or SCOGA. We are launching this today with the support of the polytechnics and the Singapore Computer Society. Over the next five months, students from five polytechnics will be competing in five Made-by-Singapore games. Through this competition, we hope more Singaporeans, including supporters cheering you on, will be exposed to and enjoy locally made games, where amongst them are award–winning titles.
4. In line with our focus on local games, the Singapore GameFEST is also pleased to bring to you Singapore’s first 3D stereoscopic racing game, TQMotor. TQMotor was a star attraction at the Singapore Pavilion in the recent Shanghai World Expo, and attracted about 20,000 visitors daily. I understand that visitors braved the summer heat wave and queued an average of one hour for a chance to play the game for three minutes! Visitors have described it as their “most exciting experience at the World Expo”.
5. MDA will continue to work with the local games community as it grows. Last April, MDA launched the GAME+ Programme. GAME+ helps companies in concept development and commercialization. I am pleased to note that to date, the GAME+ programme has supported some 11 games projects on various platforms ranging from mobile (iPhone/ iPad) to web-based (Facebook).
6. We hope they will join the list of Made-by-Singapore games that have potential to go or have gone global. One such game is Dark Grounds, a multiplayer online game developed by Mikoishi. We are delighted to learn that Mikoishi has secured a publishing deal with IAHGames for the release of Dark Grounds in early 2011.
7. Another example is CarneyVale Showtime. This game comes out of GAMBIT, a joint research and development effort by MDA and the Massachusets Institute of Technology. CarneyVale Showtime won the 2008 Microsoft XNA Dream-Build-Play competition, and was launched on the Xbox LIVE Community Channel in 2009. It is now also available on Windows Phone 7 and Windows Live, and has become the 13th best selling Windows Phone 7 game in the US, a market worth close to US$20 billion.
8. Let me end by thanking Singapore’s Cybersports and Online Gaming Association for organising this inaugural event, as well as participating partners and gamers for supporting it. I wish all the gamers an exciting competition, and everyone an enjoyable time.
Thank you.
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