Well it is hard to keep up with rumours on the forums but here are more details on the Dare to be Digital Ireland winners. Doesn’t gd.ie pick its newbies well! Yes this year’s newbie, John Molloy, better known as nifty, is involved in the winning team. Well done to all!!

Another interesting thing to note in the press release is that the Digital Hub have even bigger plans for next year. Read on.

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A team made up from students of Ballyfermot Senior College and Trinity were selected yesterday (18.05.06) to represent Ireland at the ‘Dare to be Digital’ games development competition that will be hosted in Scotland over the summer months. Dare to be Digital is run by the University of Abertay in Dundee to encourage students from around the globe to develop new gaming prototypes.

Announcing the details of the successful team, Michael Hallissy, who heads up the learning initiatives at The Digital Hub, said he was confident that the Irish entry to the Dare to be Digital finals would feature very strongly this year. “Since The Digital Hub began facilitating the Irish ‘heats’ of this competition three years ago, the standard and quality of the entrants has radically improved. The winners of today’s heat presented a fantastic and innovative prototype ‘The Eventful After Life of Inspector Browning’ which is a supernatural crime thriller where the player is the ghost of a dead detective.”

[this year] four teams – made up of students from six different colleges and universities from around the county – presented their prototype game to a panel of judges.

The winning game is based on the story of the Ghost of Inspector Browning. The ghost, who is the player, must guide a young detective through investigations in the streets of 1900’s London. Each case under investigation has its own story, with clues towards the mystery of the main character’s death. The game is unique in that it features episodic content that is very much along the lines of investigative TV programmes viewed by millions each week.

The winning team will now travel to the University of Abertay in Scotland for ten weeks, where they will be given the support and facilities to enable them to build their prototype. At the end of the ten weeks, the game will be judged in a final alongside six others including ones from entries from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Canada.

According to Michael Hallissy, “As an expression of our commitment to promoting gaming as a career option among students, we are pleased to announced that we will be playing an even more active role in the delivery of Dare to be Digital in Ireland next year. “Rather than just sending one team to Scottish finals, we will be selecting six teams from the whole island of Ireland to be represented. Furthermore, the six teams will take part in a mentoring and support programme in Dublin during which they will build their game. Support will be provided by Irish and UK games companies. At the end of a nine-week support programme, they will then travel to the University of Abertay for the grand final.

More info: http://www.daretobedigital.com/ and http://www.thedigitalhub.com/article.php?id=52