1UP checks out Harvest Moon for toy makers on DS.
"When their grandpa dies, a couple of go-get 'em teens -- siblings Mel and Mark -- inherit his toy store. The place is pretty run down (i.e. empty) and they only have three years to turn it around before it defaults back to town ownership. Basically, Toy Shop on DS, which will be available this April for $19.99, is Harvest Moon for those more interested in dolls and train sets than cows and corn. Arranging the furniture, stocking the shelves, gauging customer satisfaction, and crafting the toys -- it's all your responsibility."
BCG writes: "When you play a video game, what is your main objective? Usually to have fun, right? What else? Would you like to run a small business? Would you like to spend all your free time either greeting customers or building things? Would you like to turn that small shop into an empire? So would I. Unfortunately, you don't get to do any of these things in Majesco Entertainment's Toy Shop for the Nintendo DS."
From N-Europe.com:
"N-Europe: What do you think of the Portuguese game development scene right now and how do you see it in the near future?
Seed Studios: Compared to 7 or 8 years ago, things are better, there are more game companies and more professionals, which is certainly good. The future is looking bright for companies that stick to developing small and medium games, but unfortunately for those who want to tackle bigger projects, they'll need to hire people from abroad or train people within the company, which in both cases is very time consuming and expensive.
It's urgent that young people start getting education in specific areas; courses that "teach how to make games" won't solve anything, we need specialization in 3D modelling, AI, etc..."
Continental European countries are quickly ramping up game development - perhaps nowhere more surprisingly that in Portugal, where there was basically no game development at all a few years ago.
Thus - if you didn't know there's a Portuguese games industry, you'd better learn, says Paulo Gomes, founder and CEO of upstart Portuguese publisher GameInvest.
Recently publishing its first title in the US, Toy Shop, with the help of Majesco (and developer Seed Studios), Gomes discusses GameInvest's unique "clustering" approach to publisher-developer relations.
