Laura Parker of gamespot.com.au chats to all the relevant people about the future of Australian Games Development in 2010.  To learn more, click here

As reported over at Screenplay: Australian games developers have long criticised the Federal Government for failing to support the local industry.

For many years the Games Developers’ Association of Australia has been campaigning to get the same tax breaks and government funding schemes as the local film and television industries, with little significant progress made.

But the GDAA is pleased about proposed changes to the Federal Government’s Research and Development Tax Concession Scheme which ironically have been criticised by groups such as the Australian Information Industry Association for “threatening innovation”.

To read more click here

Kotaku Australia reports that Melbourne’s Firemint took home the gong for Best Game at the GDAA”s Industry Awaards Night with their iPhone release Flight Control.

A full list of winners are at Kotaku AU here.

Tom Crago, the CEO of developer Tantalus and the president of the  the GDAA, tells gamesindustry.biz how Australia has fared in the last twelve months and looks ahead to the future.

 Read the full interview at gamesindustry.biz

Tom Crago is President of the Game Developers Association of Australia, as well as working in the game development field as CEO of Tantalus software.  He therefore is one of the frustrated when it comes to local laws of classification of his product, and is typically embarrassed when meeting international colleagues.  In the shadow of yet another game being banned (the RPG Risen) everything he has to say is still current.

Read the Full Story at iTWire

MELBOURNE, June 12, 2008 – The Games Development Association of Australia (GDAA) and the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) have today announced an alliance to urge the Australian Government to offer tax incentives for the local interactive entertainment industry. The GDAA and the IEAA have also aligned to support intellectual property protection and the introduction of an R18+ classification for video games. 

According to Tom Crago, President of the GDAA, the local games development community produce world-class games and have worked hard to create a community of innovation and excellence and deserved the support of the Australian government.

 The Australian games development community employs over 1400 people and in 2007 generated a total income of $136.9 million.

According to Crago, tax incentives have been deployed in Canada, France and elsewhere in the world, and have been shown to assist local industry to develop its potential.  “There are over 300 companies in the video game industry in Canada employing over 8000 people. The growth of the Canadian industry has been in no small part thanks to Government support,” he said.  

 “Australian game developers cannot be expected to be internationally competitive when global market conditions are ‘not level’. We owe it to the companies themselves to offer these incentives and we also need to make an investment into Australia’s ‘smart economy’.” 

Ron Curry, CEO of the IEAA says that the popularity of video games rivals, and in many cases surpasses, releases of popular books and film. “Interactive entertainment is a huge, mainstream business and like our home grown film and television industry, it’s vital that our local games developers are given the best chance to be competitive on the world stage.” 

GDAA and IEAA will be holding joint discussions and industry round tables to highlight the importance of government support of local innovation for interactive entertainment. 

 Greg Bondar, CEO of the GDAA said that “the joint GDAA and IEAA campaign will be called “Game-On’ to coincide with the GDAA’s Asia Pacific GCAP conference to be held in November in Brisbane.” 

The other industry issues the GDAA and the IEAA will work closely on include the need for an R18+ classification for video games and strategic reforms to address the problem of games piracy.