For a great overview of the state of play for the video game industry in Massachusetts, check out Scott Kirsner’s Aug. 14 article here.  Kirsner identifies several opportunities for growth, but notes that the Bay State faces many challenges and challengers for future development: 

The very first video game, Spacewar, was created at MIT in 1960, in part to demonstrate the capabilities of the PDP-1 minicomputer made by Digital Equipment Corp. In the 1980s, Massachusetts was home to game publishers like Infocom, which made text-based games like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Spinnaker Software, which focused on educational games. But more recently, the action has shifted to cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin.

Canada, meanwhile, has woven a lavish welcome mat for video game companies, including tax credits and no-strings-attached funding. Ontario’s Interactive Digital Media Fund, for instance, has supplied $7.7 million to 76 different projects in that province. (Incentives proposed in Massachusetts earlier this year seem to be stalled on Beacon Hill.)

For a good read, check out Hiawatha Bray’s profile of Cambridge’s darling developer, Harmonix, in this Globe article.  The kicker offers a glimmer of hope along with a dose of reality:

Harmonix is also at work on something entirely new, though nobody at the company will say what it is. Last month, the company trademarked the word Vidrhythm and confirmed it’s the name of an upcoming project, but has declined to offer details.

Harmonix’s comeback may never match its explosive success of just a few years ago. Then again, said Pidgeon, “just staying in business is a plus these days.’’

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