AWN Headline News

Perky Pickle Studios has wrapped on the development and design for Vivendi-Universal Interactives CRASH BANDICOOT: TAG TEAM RACING. Due out Oct. 18, on Xbox, Game Cube, PlayStation 2 and PSP, this latest outing finds the bandicoot in a pedal to the metal racing brawl. Perky Pickle Studios previously worked on the hit game, CRASH: TWINSANITY. This time around, Perky Pickle partnered with Vancouver-based developer Radical Ent. to produce the expansion of the franchise.

B Wooding Media (BWM), acting as agent for Bardel Distribution, has sold three animated features, DRAGONS: FIRE & ICE, DRAGONS: THE METAL AGES and SILVERWING: THE MOVIE TRILOGY, to Toon Disney in the U.S. for a fall 2005 debut.

The DRAGONS movies will be featured in the popular Jetix block at 7:00 pm, and will be supported with cross promotions in fall 2005 and fall 2006 through retail partners Megabloks and Lions Gate Ent.

SAMURAI JACK and DEXTERS LABORATORY creator Genndy Tartakovsky has joined the newly formed Orphanage Animation Studios. He will help the new studios develop a slate of five feature projects each in the $50 million-$75 million budget range. The company launches with a multi-million dollar development fund raised through private equity and is actively developing a slate of soon-to-be-announced CG feature projects. Orphanage, best known for its visual effects work, hopes to have its first animated feature ready by late 2007 or early 2008.

The newest Acrobat edition of Animation World Magazine is now online and ready for you to download. For June, the mag put its focus on independent animation. Kicking off a three-part series, Joe Strike spoke with famed animation historian and filmmaker John Canemaker about his early career and how he got into animation. Marisa Materna peers into a reporters crystal ball to see if the future of animation lies in independent studios. Joe Strike also surveys the animation landscape in New York City to see how independent artists are building business in the Big Apple.

Renowned researcher and neuroscientist David Warner will discuss the complex relationship between humans and computers in a keynote address, slated for Nov. 1, 2005, at this year's Serious Games Summit D.C. in Washington D.C. The summit serves as a primary forum for experts within various fields to network, learn and share information about the growing demand for games designed for practical applications.