Start-up firm ready to test video game to the limit
Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2008
A Eureka Springs-based start-up video game development company wants volunteers to test its first product before it’s released in August.
Brainstem Games LLC was founded last year by Marty Roenigk and Patrick Wilkinson. Their first product, 14 months in development, is a multiplayer first-person-shooter set in space, Wilkinson said Wednesday.
A first-person-shooter is a style of game where the player manipulates a main character distinguished by a first-person perspective to destroy obstacles or enemies, according to gaming Web sites. A multiplayer game pits numerous players against one another over the Internet.
Brainstem’s game is scheduled for release in the fall. But before it can go out, the developers want a group of experienced game players to put the program through the wringer.
“We are looking for dedicated, mature individuals who can come in and play the game,” Wilkinson said.
The test group’s mission is to push the game to the limits, isolate and re-create problems with the program and communicate those problems to the developers for correction, Wilkinson said.
The game is offered for PC, Linux or Mac operating systems, he said, and the test group will need to provide its own hardware so the game can be tested on various systems.
Group members will need to dedicate six sessions of about seven hours each to the testing, Wilkinson said.
Getting in on a test group is a great way to break into the industry, he said.
“This is a rapidly expanding industry, revenuewise. This is a way to get your foot in the door to land a job later,” Wilkinson said.
U. S. computer and video game software sales grew 6 percent in 2007 to $ 9. 5 billion — more than tripling industry software sales since 1996, according to the Entertainment Software Association’s Web site.
First-person-shooter game Halo 3 broke records for firstday sales when it was released in September, pulling in $ 170 million, according to Information Week, a business technology publication.
Grand Theft Auto 4 sold 6 million units with estimated retail sales of more than $ 500 million in its first week of sales after debuting April 29, Thompson Reuters reported Wednesday. Most serious game players would jump at the chance to be among the first to play a new game, Fayetteville Game X Change salesclerk Erin Love said. “The serious crowd, they want to be the best. If they can be among the first, they will have more experience in the game and have an edge over others,” Love said. Brainstem Games can be contacted through its Web site, www. brainstemgames. com.
To contact this reporter: sroberts@arkansasonline. com
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