From bedroom game development to multi-media Bar and club. Andrew Davidson’s life has been anything but boring....?

Worms. A creature many wouldn’t associate with success but one that has become completely synonymous with one mans career. Andrew Davidson’s life has not followed convention. From creating video games at school to releasing one of the most successful British born games ever, to finally opening his I Bar. Andrew is a person not short of groundbreaking ideas.

I’m talking to Andrew in his latest brainchild. The I Bar located in Bournemouth his hometown. Opened this summer, the bar can boast many technical feats from web browsing to allowing customers to connect their phones to the bar via Bluetooth. Andrew himself is part of a new breed; he is the quintessential of ‘geek chic.’ Tall, well kept, he has the air of the IT crowd. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt with an artistically styled wolf, he is unassuming in the crowd of regulars which drink and occasionally play on their I macs around us.

At 34 Andrew’s career has already taken in unimaginable heights. Catching the tail end of the home-grown bedroom developers scene in the 1980’s, Andrew spent much of his youth reverse engineering computers. “I used to take apart calculators to see what I could make them do.” Worms was game he developed very much for himself and his friends. As a premise, the idea behind Worms is where worm shaped characters attempt to eliminate each other in time-based attacks, using an assortment of amusing weapons on randomly created 2-D maps. Working and playing it at school was often frowned upon, “My teacher banned us from playing it!”

Shunning university, for a lack of creative courses, Andrew started work. “I got a job working in a game shop for £50 a week, cash in hand.” Using the customers to further refine Worms, “I saw a kid playing my game and then his Dad came over and also played, so I knew it had mass market appeal,” he was able tighten the gameplay to chess levels of complexity. When finally confident he showed the game at a convention to British game developers. “I closed the shop for one day. I put up a sign ‘Sick!’ I showed it to Team 17 and within 5 minuets they said they wanted to distribute it!”

In 1994, Worms was finally released and became a huge commercial success. It’s a game, which has appeared, on every machine produced since, and its timeless gameplay and humour has been a hit with young and old.

Having had such a huge achievement at an early age has not dampened Andrews’s appetite for success. In a world where technology moves at lightning fast speeds consumers are demanding more from their town centres, coffee houses and bars. Andrew spied a gap in the market. The I Bar specialises with the sort of multi-media interaction that would seem more at home on a web site. Whilst providing all the drinks you would expect from a trendy bar, the I Bar also provides you with Internet access and WiFi for web browsing.

The I Bar’s atmosphere is relaxed and clean, the tables and chairs inoffensive in their simplicity. Downstairs sports an impressive screen behind a modest stage, providing an excellent platform for bands, DJ’s and VJ’s (Visual Jockeys) to perform. The bar itself contains a lot of technology which required Andrew to prepare before attempting to install it. “We had it all wired up in my flat. We didn’t know it was going to work!”

Music, a key factor in any night out, is completely under control of the customers. Andrew points out the flat screen TV. It provides a touch screen input to a dedicated duke box and LCD screens around bar display the track information. “How many times that I’ve been out and wondered what song is playing.” The bar is quickly becoming the technophile’s perfect choice.

Andrew is pleased with the success he has had, both making games and with the I Bar. “We’re already planning ‘Phase Two.” For a person such as Andrew, Worms and now the I Bar are examples of creativity with an edge. Not bad for a kid who played games in school.

You can find the I bar on Holdenhurst Road. For more information check out www.myspace.com/ibar

X360 Games Editor Simon Miller speaks........

Walking into Imagine Publishing house in Bournemouth, I’m greeted with a life size replica of Lara Croft and a huge hulking Big Daddy that looms menacingly over the waiting room couch. Based in the heart of Bournemouth in a seemingly bland looking building, IP release a number of specialist magazines, ranging from photography to computers. Along the walls are references to Star Wars, the manager’s office affectionately referred to as the Death Star. I’m here today to talk to one of the magazines which covers a niche, but increasingly popular market.

Simon Miller smiles holding out his hand to me. He is dressed causally, as are many of the people walking around the offices, and would not look out of place among many of Bournemouth’s student population. Simon works as a Games Editor for X360 magazine and is keen to point out how much he actually enjoys his job.
“I’ve been this year alone; Canada, Italy and Holland……your coming to work everyday and its fun. I don’t want to use the word perfect. There’s joys and there’s frustrations and everything, but it’s ten times better than working in HSBC.”
Simon is in the very fortunate situation of working in a field that also happens to one of his personal interests. Working on a Video Game magazine has become the dream for many a young man.
“I get my hobby done during the day, and get paid for doing it! And then I can go and do something else.”

At 23 Simon is reporting on one of Britain’s biggest and fastest growing industries. The government has recently commissioned an independent review into video games and the internet, by Dr Tanya Byron. Simon is quick to come to their defence.
“…they’re not this terrifying new wave of technology…..it’s the same thing with the way people thought of film in the 60’s…..”
One area in particular in which the government’s review wishes to look, is the conduct of people socially in virtual domains. Xbox Live, the virtual community Simon spends the majority of his time is notoriously homophobic and racist.
“You can never regulate that. The only thing you can do is hope the developers implement a function where you can mute people.” Something already in place, but rarely utilised. “That’s more of a window into what the world is like rather than Xbox Live.”

The virtual domain is one where Simon is very active. In an industry as fast moving and forward looking as video games, online communities are vital links in communication and one where X360 and Simon are very active.
“My big thing about all magazines is that the staff writer or writers and the readers should be as close as possible….we’re all opinionated guys, but at the same time its all about making it fun.” Find a job you love, and never work a day in your life.

Summer 2007: The summer of depreciating returns!

Well from the title of this article you can probably see where I’m going with this. I would like to start by saying that before this summer started I had looked ahead and saw, to my glee that this was to be THE summer for Hollywood blockbusters, more so than most. The number of big films heading are way seemed to almost spoil us for choice. The fact that the majority of these films were sequels didn’t enter my mind, actually continued storylines, epic character arcs are the norm now. It wasn’t long ago that we were all jumping for joy for the delights of Middle Earth. A fact obviously not missed by Hollywood execs.
I started the summer with Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 3. A solid first two films had led me to become a long standing supporter of Spidey and his movies. Well, I don’t know what went wrong but I think having too much money IS a bad thing. Raimi obviously didn’t know when to say no and continually kept shoe horning in storylines until one of his lead characters had to get amnesia to occupy his time.
With heart firmly broken over the creative demise of the Spiderman franchise I turned my gaze onto Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At Worlds End. Once again massive budgets and over-cooked Cgi has led to another disappointing third film outing. Peter Jackson has a lot to answer for. His Rings trilogy has sped film running times completely out of control. If you were to add all of this summers blockbuster movie running times together you would discover, to your horror, that nearly an entire day had been entirely wasted on sub par action and terrible action, dialogue, cg….the list goes on. And yet these films still manage to pull in the crowds. Hollywood knows how to attract us, get us embedded in the story line and we’ll just have to go and see how it ends! Soap operas have been pulling the same trick for years. With the summer nearly properly upon us and a glut of summer sequels to face, Die Hard, Shrek, Harry Potter, this is one cinema goer who isn’t going to be sucked in any longer. If it has a number after the title I’d give it a miss.

Video Games Live @ London Games Festival

Classical music and opera have always drawn in the crowds. Its potent mix of high emotion, drama, themes of betrayal and love have often proved a provocative draw to many. Some come for the scenery, others the performances but most, if asked, will say the music. Now, in the 21st century a new genre of music is on offer. That of the Video Game.
On the 25th November ‘06 at the Apollo Theatre London on a dark dreary evening, the birth of this new genre in the United Kingdom made its debut. I count myself as one of the lucky few who can proudly say “I was there at the first!” Although, admittedly, I would only say this to my very understanding friends. Everybody else seems to respond with a rather shallow smile and a pitying nod of their head, regardless of the inane grin that greats them from my face. But what is this embarrassment I feel? Should I be embarrassed at all? Surely of all this, ‘Video Games Live’ is vindictive of the growing nature of the industry. A celebration of what makes games great.
Video Games Live took place in conjunction with the London Games Festival ’06 (LGF). One of the most unconnected and disjointed festivals I’ve ever visited. In order to take part in this festival you would have to have an intimate knowledge of London and its woeful transport system. But less about the confused and strangles LGF, on to the concert.
Video Games Live at the Apollo Theatre was one of the jewels in the crown of the LGF and so garnered quite a bit more publicity than the majority of the other events. The producers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall appeared on the BBC morning news for an informal interview promoting the event. To their credit, the event was a virtual sell out! The premise of the concert is to celebrate all those memorable tunes found within video games. From the simple but catchy beeps of Mario’s first adventure, to the full blown orchestral score of Halo. Video Games Live should really be commended for bringing to the audience, not only the big names but classics such as Mario, Zelda and even the lamentable Frogger.
To sum up my worse fears and problems of the event, and this really is my own fault, was the scale seemed significantly smaller than those events appearing in the states. The general air around the America events was extremely grandiose and very, well, American. The British event took on some very interesting differences. For one, the orchestra performing was from the Royal Ballet (this is not confirmed), who performed amazingly well. There were however some instances of solo’s or certain areas of the music that was obviously pre-recorded. These moments although few and far between, when they did occur really brought down the experience. Also there were moments where some music and scores were missing. If you look in the programme it waxes lyrical over games such as Tron, God of War and EverQuest 2 which were notably absent from the event, even though they are still mentioned in the programme, evidently left over from the American event. Another notable absent was some of the actors appearing in the American event were no where to be seen. Although these changes were minor and did not affect the quality of the show, the fact that this is a celebration of all things video game and is slightly watered down for the British event is a shame. This of course is my own fault as prior to the show I researched the background and found the American promo and got my hopes up. I’ve only myself to blame.
I’m being particularly harsh on Video Games Lives, through no real fault of its own. The show itself is a very moving tribute to all things interactive. The show took on an informal air with the MC Tommy Tallarico controlling the evening with ease as well as showing an in depth knowledge of the source material and background culture. Video Games Live also helped celebrate the multitude of British designers and game makers present on our shores. Designers and musicians working today on next-gen projects were all brought on stage and applauded as they all should be. It was elements like this that made the event very exciting. The quality of the music and performances helped to lift the event beyond what many were expecting and the atmosphere was well received.
The night ended with the triumphant Halo music, including the new trailer for Halo 3, which to some surprise did not receive the thunderous applause the presenter was obviously expecting. The finishing words were of a return performance in the summer of 2007. If you get a chance or if you have any interest in video games or even music, this show is a fantastic experience. For so long gamers have not had an actual connected community, outside of the forums to meet and talk to others just as enthusiastic as themselves. This is an event to celebrate the continuing growth of this, the most interesting of all modern entertainment. Lets hope events like this go from strength to strength. Bravo