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Esprit Project 29592 -European Electronics Leisure Industry Working Group

Objectives

This project helps the "European Electronics Leisure Industry" to remain competitive by assisting the industry to identify and solve common problems particularly those arising from the impending networked digital entertainment. The project will establish a "Working Group", which will set up a "European Trade Association" to look after the industry's interest and will identify major problems and will propose solutions.

Among the subjects to be investigated: Communications between suppliers of content; network infrastructure; interactive broadcasting and hardware. Enabling technologies in hardware, software, design tools and protocols. Education, training and business procedures.

Background:

At present, the electronic leisure industry is primarily based on video games whose sales alone are 13 billion $ annually. However the industry is on the verge of dramatic enlargement with the use of the Internet and embedded applications such as interactive TV, CDV and set top boxes. The European market for electronic leisure products will undoubtedly grow to match those of North America and the Asia/Pacific region.
European developers are numerous and small and provide about half of the global content available, but are lacking unfortunately on publishing and the provision of design tools.
The platforms are almost exclusively non-European. The European industry is fragmented and its competitive position is precarious, as the investment commitment is becoming too large for small enterprises. As a result many of Europe's successful businesses are being taken over by larger non-European competitors.

The United States is pioneering market development of leisure networks and is creating standards that European companies will have to follow. However, Europe has many centres of expertise and with support could compete with US initiatives. The European industry has to find ways of combining its resources to overcome the disadvantages of fragmentation and exploit the innovative strength of European firms.

Target groups:

The work and results of the project are aimed primarily at the "Electronic Leisure Industry" but it should attract interest from other parts of industry such as electronics manufacturers, software companies and publishing houses who could contribute ideas and concepts, marketing expertise and technology access. The project will help the European Commission to formulate policy in this area for framework V.

 

Keywords

 

Multimedia;Games; Leisure.

 

Partners

 

Greetham Associates (B)
Ogalala (UK)
Cheshire Henbury (UK)

In this project Cheshire Henbury acted as a subcontractor

OLGA Results

OLGA and the European Electronic Games industry

 

A study was undertaken to discover the research activities that would best help Electronic Games development. Europe's Games Industry was asked to identify obstacles in the way of progress so that the European Commission could encourage the Industry to solve its problems by funding joint research projects.

 

Comments and views were sought through two consultative workshops and several white papers. An Industry Working Group was formed to act as an electronic sounding board for the planning and the final recommendations.

 

The produced a background document suggesting the areas considered most suitable for research proposals. The ultimate aim being research results that would help the European electronic games industry to be more competitive in world markets.

 

Two free consultative workshops were held inBrussels and London. The first on enabling technologies took place on 26 and 27 May 1999 and the second, looking at Business procedures, was held on 19 and 20 October 1999. Among the topics tackled by the second workshop were legal issues, marketing and training. OLGA also looked at the desirability of an industry trade association to encourage a concerted voice and collaborative actions.

 

The OLGA Electronic Games Industry Working Group

Marco Bergometti, Giunti Multimedia, Italy;

Franz Buchenburger, Blaxxun, Germany;

Peter Champ, 3D Scanners, United Kingdom;

Sven Chistensen, Interactivision, Denmark;

Christophe Comparin, Infogrames, France;

Christian Dutilleux, Art & Magic, Belgium;

Antonio Farina, Milestone, Italy;

Juan Ramon Lopez Gay, Eptron, Spain;

Christian Gloe, Virgin, Germany;

Gaute Godager, Funcom Oslo; Norway,

Thomas Hertzler, Bluebyte Software, Germany;

Foo Katan, Bits Studios, United Kingdom;

Ilari Kuittinan, Housemarque Games, Finland;

Jean Martial LeFranc, Cryo, France;

Alexandra Lybaert, Barco, Belgium;

Gerard Mitel, Medialab, France;

Juan Montes, Sony Computer Interactive, United Kingdom;

Philippe van Nedervelde, E-spaces, Belgium;

Hubert Stijns, Cymax, Belgium.

 

 
 

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