Ah 2009, I remember it well. Actually I don’t because my brain is frazzled due to spending 4am til 2pm every Sunday for ten years in a basement night club in London reaching for the lasers. Thankfully TSA never throws anything away so one of my first articles, “What if the tories win?”, is still online and there is no need to fire up the TSA Time Machine to have a read. The Tories did indeed win – sort of – so let’s step back time and see if they have been true to their word. I shall now quote myself which is a little odd but hopefully will not rip a hole in the fabric of space and time.
“One of the best ideas from the Conservatives is to integrate video games in to the UK Film Council, a body that looks after the economic, cultural and educational aspects of the UK film industry both here and abroad.” said the stunningly handsome correspondent.
Ah. A couple of weeks ago the coalition government decided to get rid of the the UK Film Council altogether, not a good start. The media were all over this story but focused purely on the scrappage of the council. On the face it, it sounds like a bad thing but delve a little deeper in the story and you find otherwise. The Coalition are only scrapping the UK Film council, not the money given to help UK films.
Culture minister (and gaming champion) Ed Vaizey has written to the head of the Council, John Woodward, expressing his concerns that the Council spends millions of pounds promoting itself rather than UK Films. Mr Vaizey wrote in his letter that he is “very concerned about what has come to light,” and “it looks as though sources at the Film Council have been overzealously briefing in order to protect their interests.”
The plan is to get rid of the Film Council and replace it with a more efficient system. This will happen in the next 18 months and the ideal situation would be that when the new body is formed it integrates gaming into its new structure. A year and half is long wait to see if the government keeps its promises so we will let you know as and when any news occurs.
“What are the Conservatives going to do about to stimulate game development on these shores?” asked yours truly, and the response from Ed Vaizey was “When possible and when necessary, we will provide the right investment, business and fiscal environment to allow you to compete.”
Back in 2009 I highlighted the phrase ‘When possible’ and suggested that the economic climate Tax breaks for developers were unlikely. Sadly this turned out to be true with he Coalition scrapping any plans for UK developers to get tax breaks, citing the current economic climate as the reason for the scrappage.
“As you may know the UK is going to get an “ADSL Tax” – 50 pence or so slapped on your monthly phone bill to pay for network improvements.” our super model-esque correspondent typed.
This tax got scrapped before the election, originally part of the Digital Economy bill it was removed as there was just not enough time to debate the new tax before Parliament was dissolved for the election. The money was meant to be used to roll out 2 meg broadband to the entire country by 2012. Last month the effects of scrapping this tax were felt when Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt spoke about the proposed roll out.
“Last month, I announced that we were supporting a universal service level of 2 Mbps as the very minimum that should be available,” said Mr Hunt at an industry conference on 15 July. “I have looked at the provision the Government had made to achieve this by 2012. And I’m afraid that I am not convinced that there is sufficient funding in place. So, while we will keep working towards that date, we have set ourselves a more realistic target of achieving universal 2 Mbps access within the lifetime of this Parliament.”
That moves the proposed roll out completion date back until 2014. I’m sure you are all aware of how fast technology moves and it’s a pretty safe bet to say that by 2014, 2mb broadband will be considered terribly slow and archaic.
So how have the Conservatives done when it keeps to keeping their pre-election promises? Not great, it seems, but perhaps that is a bit harsh. We all know the economy is unwell so pledges such as tax breaks for games developers were unrealistic.
You also have to remember that the Conservatives were unaware just how bad the countries finances were in pre-election and once they got their hands on the books then it became obvious some projects had to be shelved or pushed back – in our case the broadband roll out. The abolishment of the UK Film council sounds bad but could turn out to be the best thing that has happened to the UK games industry in years.
Government moves slowly, the only thing we can do now is wait, let the Coalition have their four years to try and turn the economy round and deliver on their promises.
3shirts
2Mb is barely sufficient now to really make use of on demand services and game and movie downloads. I am on about 6.5Mb and by 2014 I expect my needs will have pushed close to that.
All in all, not spectacular news
brillerment
I only have 384kb/s :-(
minerwilly
Hang the bloody lot of them ! Make Mike Parry from Talksport the President and be done with it .
cc_star
2mbps may not be much but its a universal aim that we’re still pretty far from.
I believe there is an experiment taking place sending a file from a farm in Yorkshire to an address in Skegness and a carrier pigeon is going to be taking the same file via a USB stick. The carrier pigeon is expected to win!
This is the sort of experiment you hear about in the 3rd world but it is going to happen right here, in 21st century UK.
Investment is needed in the infrastructure but as money needs to borrowed and paid back with interest it’s not an easy investment – for it to happen cuts need to be made somewhere else, which will have a whole other bunch of people moaning.
Its very easy for us sitting on the sidelines remaining anonymous in comments sections around the web, taking pot-shots but money doesn’t magically appear (although at times the last Government must have thought it did)
Coming up with cuts to pay back debt, so you can make investments, to keep everyone happy, so you can get re-elected makes me glad I’m not a politician (although I wouldn’t mind their wage and expense account for essentially having meetings all day and talking horseshit)
simplebob
With the advent of Move and Kinnect, surely a dirge of whacka mole clone games featuring the virtual likenesses of key political ministers will help shift british designed games. Along with a additional DLC as and when another poilition lets us gamers down.
bunimomike
Great article, tc. What we learn is that the world rotated equally well without the internet and that, sadly, certain services/industries have to be patient sometimes. There are higher priorities right now but they’ll get to us when they can… hopefully.
Great Sackboy crest too.
Dany2Step
while the world did literally continue to spin in very much the same manner after the explosion of publically available internet, to say it hasn’t revolutionised almost every industry existing today, or considerabley increased the ease at which we access entertainment, worldwide news, and even things as simple as the weekly shopping, not to mention the massive cultural impact its had on this generation and will continue to have on every subsequent generation is absolutely ludacris.
so no the world didnt rotate equally well before the internet, in the strictly metaphorical sense of course (as im sure you intended it).
bunimomike
Firstly I didn’t mention that it was ludicrous. It’s a wonderful medium and method of communication, assisting business each and every day. However, because we have an infrastructure that’s currently working (albeit slowly) it simply will do when other things take a precedent.
Dany2Step
no i was stating that, to say that the inernet hasnt been already, and wont in the future be a pillar supporting the growth of social, business, entertainment, scientific, technological areas of humanity was ludacris. i wasnt accusing you of making any claims that anything was ludacris.
i accept that there is a tier of priority, and that giving the masses access to hardcore pornography on tap isnt at the very top. however the implications of an entire country being able to educate itself freely, or exchange ideas virtually anonymously, has the possibility to lead to greatness.
realistically it means grannies can stay in touch with their grand-children, and do thier banking online, but theoretically it means a primordial ooze for innovation to evolve from as the countrys most adaptable minds can finally merge.
its exciting stuff and i hope the delays are minimal.
ray_gillespie
Aside from a slight error in your grammar (“the countries finances” should be “the country’s finances”) that is one of the most well balanced and interesting articles that I’ve read on this subject. Good job!