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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Nintendo Wii Game Deal with Speedracer

A Kiwi company is elbow deep in the global gaming industry, but as Breakfast Business found out it is not all fun and games.

Sidhe Interactive are making multi-million dollar games for Playstation, X-Box, PSP, Nintendo Wii and pc's.

They are responsible for games such as Stacey Jones Rugby League, GripShift and the game based on MTV's mega-hit show Jackass.

"Kids playing in Kansas or the midwest of America they won't have any idea that the game was made in Wellington," Jos Ruffell of Sidhe's Business Development department says about Jackass.

This year Sidhe signed their biggest deal yet with Warner Brothers to create a game for the Nintendo Wii console based on the popular cartoon Speed Racer.

The contract coincides with the release in May, of the Speed Racer movie - directed by the Wachowski brothers of The Matrix fame.

Although details and pictures are top secret the deal is worth millions

The Sidhe team says success has come from New Zealand's reputation and talent for creative film and animation

Since they started 10 years ago the business has grown nearly ten-fold - staff numbers alone have increased from six to 80.

Making games isn't cheap business. Some games have budgets in the tens of millions, require hundreds of people and take many years to create.

Film studios, like Warners, are making big investments in the games industry.

Disney has recently announced it will increase annual spending on gaming by $300 million, with Warner Brothers adding an additional $500 million.

Gaming boundaries are being blurred, more non-traditional audiences are downloading and with the new demand, creativity is being pushed.

That means big opportunities for Sidhe.

"Games are becoming a more accepted part of different cultures and its not quite the valueless throw-away experience that it's been associated with in the past," says Sidhe founder and MD Mario Wynands.

N.B. In case you were wondering where the name Sidhe comes from... Pronounced "she" it is a mound or hill that is home to fairies and magical creatures, or in some case refers to the fairies themselves.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1320238/1458717

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