E-games - the 'Fury' and the spin

It’s also true that employment in games development and design is up. There are about 1,200 people working fulltime in the games design area. If you’re a maths or computer programming whiz, you’re in. The demand for artists and animators though is limp, at best. If you don’t believe me, log on to some of the big Australian employers such as Tantalus and Infinite Interactive.

“There's never been a better time as a student to get into this industry - hopefully the graduate talent pool will be big enough to meet the demand because I anticipate seeing even more hiring from Australian studios in the next 12 months,” said Mr Crago at the Melbourne Games Development Conference last Christmas.

But strangely neither he nor any one else mention the crash of Fury, the most expensive on-line game developed in Australia - with a budget almost twice that of Crocodile Dundee - which went down, like the Titanic, in the icy cold waters of global competition and a high Australian dollar.

He also did not mention that there are approximately 1,000 Australian university and TAFE students enrolled across the credential spectrum all hoping to get jobs on the back of the spin being put out by the Game Developers Association of Australia, the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia and others.

There will be tears if this type of spin isn’t reeled in.