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Gamesblog vs Dundee

Why is the self-proclaimed 'City of Discovery' such a haven of game development? I'm here to find out...
River Tay
The view of the River Tay from my hotel bedroom. It's not as grim as it looks.

Admittedly, I write a lot of Gamesblog posts while ensconced comfortably in my home office - although by home office, I actually mean dangerously cluttered attic room. However, once in a while I escape, and last night I flew out to Dundee to visit several local developers and find out why this unassuming city has such a healthy concentration of videogame studios.

Of course, the presence of DMA Design has something to do with it. The GTA creator was here for years before its Rockstar North rebrand and move to Edinburgh, and along the way, lots of staff have left to set up their own ventures; one of the companies I'm seeing today, TAG games, was formed by two original Grand Theft Auto designers. Similar things have happened in Newcastle, where longstanding local studios Reflections and Eutechnyx, have spawned several smaller studios and start-ups, and in Leamington Spa, where ex-Codemasters staff have created their own Midlands-version of Silicon Valley.

Anyway, I'll find out later. And tomorrow, I'll be heading over to Denki, home of ex-Zzap 64! scribe and game design guru, Gary Penn. This is an interesting studio, which has ploughed its own rather unique furrow through the industry over the last few years. I have resisted the temptation to bring my pristine copy of ZZap! issue one along for an autograph. Just.

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