A Strategic Plan for IDM
Singapore is tapping into the tremendous potential of Interactive Digital Media (IDM) to enhance its competitive edge. Overseeing the efforts in this area is the multi-agency IDM Research and Development Programme Office (IDMPO) hosted within MDA.
With support from the National Research Foundation, the IDMPO puts in place schemes that interlock the research & development (R&D) efforts of its four main target groups:
Two years into execution, a vibrant ecosystem is emerging. A recent study by Deloitte Consulting reveals healthy signs of growth for the IDM sector. According to the study, revenues for the IDM sector amounted to $1.3 billion as at end-2008.
Most of the IDM-supported companies operating in the social networking and virtual worlds space have made headway in the global marketplace and are today serving some 20 million users in more than 200 countries with various forms of IDM applications. Some examples include:
-
· Fresbo's Fresbo World: It is the top game application in Asia's top social networking site, Friendster
-
· Garena: The gaming platform was, as of 2009, the most-visited Singapore company website in the world according to Alexa, a web information company in the US.
Local companies spearheading the use of IDM have also been recognised for their innovation in R&D. For example, both Personal e-Motion and PGK Media won the e-Education and R&D categories of the Asia Pacific ICT Awards in 2008, representing two out of Singapore’s three winners.
For more information, please visit here
GAMBIT Game Lab
A pioneering collaboration between MDA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with support from the National Research Foundation, the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab is a five-year research initiative that addresses important challenges faced by the global digital game research community and industry. The core focus is to identify and solve research problems using a multi-disciplinary approach that can be applied by Singapore's digital game industry. It involves a 10-week Summer Internship Programme at MIT, Boston, where local tertiary students work with MIT researchers and students to create new innovative games based on research topics.
To date, GAMBIT has published over 42 research papers in international journals/publications (e.g. ACM, SIGGRAPH), developed 25 summer game prototypes and trained some 117 Singapore-based interns. Among those employable, 93% of the students have been successfully hired by games and media industries, such as Ubisoft, Boomzap, and Double Negative.
International accolades and achievements:
Some of the successes of GAMBIT include CarneyVale: Showtime(Xbox) which beat 350 entries from 10 countries to win the grand prize in Microsoft’s XNA Dream-Build-Play Challenge in 2008.It became the first Singapore game that was published on Microsoft’s Xbox Live XNA Community Games Channel (XBLCG). It was the top five most downloaded games on the channel with 48,000 downloads (as at June 2009) by gamers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy and Spain, and voted the No 1. XNA Community Game of 2008, by Gamasutra.
In 2009, CarneyVale: Showtime won the prestigious "Top 10 Independent Games Showcase Winners" at PAX 10 (Penny Arcade Expo 2009, in Seattle); nominated as a finalist (Seumas McNally Grand Prize) at the 2009 Independent Games Festival (IGF) held in conjunction with Games Developers' Conference 2009 (in San Francisco); and represented at Casual Connect 2009 (in Seattle).
Other noteworthy games include:
· Akrasia : An abstract game that was a finalist at the 2009 IndieCade Festival of Independent Games. Akrasia was also exhibited at SIGGRAPH 2009 and nominated for "Best Interactive Art or Puzzle" in JayIsGames at the "Best of Casual Gameplay 2008" awards
· Backflow : A mobile game that was a finalist in two categories ("Best Game" and "Innovation in Mobile Game Design") at the 2008 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Mobile competition
· Picopoke : A cross platform, Facebook and mobile game that was nominated for "Next Great Mobile Game" award at the 2009 IGF Mobile competition
· Phorm: A puzzle game that was exhibited at the 2009 IndieCade Independent Games Showcase at E3, Los Angeles
· Waker : An educational game that teaches math concepts like velocity and acceleration; The game won "Indie Game of the Week" on Bytejacker (Sep 09).
For more information, please visit GAMBIT website here.
Encouraging New Media
In an effort to encourage the growth of the Internet, IPTV and new media services, MDA has developed a business friendly and technology neutral licence framework to facilitate the introduction of such new media services. In regulating the Internet, MDA adopts a balanced and light-touch approach to ensure that minimum standards are set for the responsible use of the Internet while giving maximum flexibility to industry players to operate.