PALGN: Can you tell us a little bit about how IR Gurus established themselves as a developer in Victoria? What were some of the first games that the company developed?
Mike Fegan:IRG was established in 1996 in Melbourne, Victoria with the 1st title released being Mary King’s Riding Star on PC, an equestrian game which continues to sell to this day! Back then it was then followed up with Equestraid, Saddle Club on PC and AFL Live 2003 on PS2 & PC. IRG are pleased to announce that we are going back to our roots by internationally releasing Equestrian Challenge this Xmas on PS2 and PC through Red Mile Entertainment.
PALGN: How many staff are there at IR Gurus?
MF: We currently have a staff of 102 people and plan to grow to 150 people in 2007 which we believe is the optimum size for a game development studio. We have already begun to outsource work to other local developers including Halfbrick Studios in Brisbane and Acheron Design here in Melbourne.
PALGN: Do you find that as an Australian developer it is harder to promote your products overseas because of your location?
MF: No, not really if the games that you produce are up to scratch internationally, you can be anywhere in the World.
PALGN: With regards to the AFL games, how much involvement from the AFL is given when making these games?
MF: We work on an annual basis with the AFL on the new player listings, drafts, new rules implementation, AFL Umpires and statisticians. We also work very closely with Sony Computer Entertainment Australia to ensure the best possible game within the production ad time frame applicable.
AFL Premiership 2006.
PALGN: Do you ever look at other American sport video games and look for ideas for future installments for your AFL games
MF: Yes, our AFL development team pretty much profiles all the major US sports games, as well as leading games from Europe including FIFA and Pro-Evolution Football.
PALGN: Do you often take onboard the complaints from gamers when trying to improve on future AFL games? How do you monitor these suggestions?
MF: We do take onboard both negative and positive feedback/suggestions we get mainly through the various forums on the internet. We also conduct an internal post mortem with every iteration released to see what went right and what went wrong and what we need to improve on for the next version. We also answer all emails sent through to our web site to ensure the gamers know we are listening.
PALGN: Has development on the next AFL title begun?
MF: Yes, We have begun AFL Premiership 2007 exclusively for the PS2 but I’ll leave it up to Sony to make the next big announcement!
PALGN: What platforms can we expect to the next AFL title on?
MF: Once again it will be exclusive to the PS2 as we have a close working relationship with Sony who are a major sponsor for the AFL who to their credit strongly believe in the brand in Australia.
PALGN: Have you considered taking the AFL series to regions outside of Australia? Would you ever consider bringing Gaelic Games Football to Australia or incorporating it as a mini game for the next AFL title?
MF: In the past the AFL game has been shipped to the UK for the large ex-pat community over there and we have even airfreight copies of the PC version to the USA as the AFL game has a good cable audience that are fascinated by the fearless play and sheer speed of the game compared to their local sports. We have also considered this and in the future we haven’t rules out an International Series version where Australia could play in Ireland and vice versa. We are currently working on the sequel to the successful “Gaelic Games Football” title which has now become the biggest selling PS2 game in Ireland. However, publishing the Gaelic games here in Australia is really a decision for Sony Australia as they hold the publishing rights.
Heatseeker, the next title from IR Gurus.
PALGN: One of the recently announced IR Gurus titles is Heatseeker, which is coming to the PlayStation 2, PSP and the Wii, can you tell us a little bit about the game?
MF: Heatseeker is a modern day jet arcade fight simulation game but think “Burnout in the air” as the game play is fast and furious all times but forget about “over the horizon” missiles this is about close in dog fighting with spectacular graphics, lots of licensed jets and a vast array of awesome weapons and a multitude of missions to complete. Now I am showing my age but it reminds me of one of my favorite games Afterburner but on steroids and way cooler!
PALGN: The screenshots that have been released so far indicate that the Wii version will look different to the PlayStation 2 version, is this true and can we expect to see any Wii specific features?
MF: IRG can’t really talk about it as this is really a question for our publisher Codemasters who did such a great job for us on last years Heroes of the Pacific. I can say the Heatseeker Wii version is already looking very smooth and the new Wii controller system adds a whole new dimension to the game play.
PALGN: Will there be any sort of multiplayer modes included with Heatseeker?
MF: Not on the PS2 or Wii as we are saving than for the next version but the PSP will have multiplayer mode.
PALGN: Is there a chance we’ll be seeing a successor to Heroes of the Pacific in the near future?
MF: Hmmm, well we are keeping it under wraps at present but rest assured there will be a major announcement on the sequel, Heroes Over Europe in the very near future!
Heroes of the Pacific: One of the best locally developed titles ever.
PALGN: Can you tell us a little bit about where you see IR Gurus going in the next few years? Will development be moved over to the next generation of consoles?
MF: IRG is currently a Top 100 game developer. In the next three years we plan to become a Top 30 developer but we also believe we are only as good as the last game title we produce so we have a number of challengers ahead of us to get there. We have a number of great internal teams and are confident that we can achieve this goal. We are also well underway on next generation consoles with several game titles in development on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii console platforms.
PALGN: Thanks Mike
MF: Pleasure and thanks for your valued support.
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We'd like to extend our thanks to Mike Fegan, the CEO of IR Gurus for his time. It seems IR Gurus has lot in the works, so we look forward to keeping you up to date with any new developments in the coming months.
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