| Former type | Video game developer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
| Key people | 1996-2007 Craig Laughton, Andrew Niere, Ian Cunliffe, Nathan Murphy, 2007-2009 Mike Fegan, Ben Palmer, Anthony Reed |
Transmission Games (originally known as IR Gurus) was an Australian game development company, specialising in sports and action games. Originally, Transmission Games was established as IR Gurus Pty Ltd in 1996 by Craig Laughton, Andrew Niere, and Ian Cunliffe with the motto "Game Play is Everything". The company name was changed in February 2008 to Transmission Games and was later sold to a unrelated third party in June 2008. On 21st October 2009 news sites started reporting that the company had gone into liquidation, causing the company to be closed down. The Transmission Games staff were made redundant and the company later placed into voluntary administration) by the new owners.
Transmission Games had developed many games, including: Ashes Cricket 2009 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, Heatseeker for the PlayStation 2, Wii, and PSP, Heroes of the Pacific for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, the AFL Premiership series of games for the PlayStation 2, and The Saddle Club - Willowbrook Stables.
The company was based in Melbourne, Australia and its last games released were Ashes Cricket 2009 (which was published by Codemasters), Heatseeker, AFL Premiership 2007 and Brian Lara Pressure Play.
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Transmission Games released fifteen games between 1996 and 2009, including Australia's No.1 selling PC game in 2003 The Saddle Club - Willowbrook Stables based on the successful TV show The Saddle Club. Transmission Games's AFL games, including Kevin Sheedy AFL Coach 2002, AFL Live 2003, AFL Live 2004, AFL Live Premiership Edition, AFL Premiership 2005, AFL Premiership 2006 and AFL Premiership 2007 all debuted at No.1 on the Australian sales charts, with AFL Premiership 2006 staying at the top of the all-formats charts for six weeks.
In 2005, Transmission Games released the award-winning Heroes of the Pacific, an arcade style flight simulation game for the PC, PS2 and Xbox formats. Heroes of the Pacific was published in PAL territories by Codemasters and in NTSC territories by Ubisoft. Heroes of the Pacific garnered favourable reviews (averaging 76%-78% across all platforms), and received a number of awards, including Australian Game of the Year and PC Game of the Year from the Game Developer's Association of Australia in 2005.
Following Heroes of the Pacific, Transmission Games co-developed Heatseeker, a modern flight combat game, with Codemasters. Heatseeker was released in Europe on the 30th of March, 2007. Heroes Over Europe, the sequel to Heroes of the Pacific, was released in September 2009.
In 2001, IR Gurus began development of stadium-based sports titles. They released AFL Live 2003 in October 2002, followed by AFL Live 2004 in September 2003 which was published by Acclaim Entertainment. IR Gurus continued to develop AFL games, including AFL Live Premiership Edition released in April 2004, AFL Premiership 2005 released in September 2005, AFL Premiership 2006 released in July 2006, and finally AFL Premiership 2007 released in June 2007.
In addition, Transmission Games developed the officially licensed GAA Gaelic Football game Gaelic Games: Football exclusively for the PlayStation 2 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment of Ireland on November 11, 2005. Following its release, Gaelic Games: Football was the highest selling PlayStation 2 game of all time in Ireland.
Transmission Games followed Gaelic Games: Football with Gaelic Games: Hurling, and Gaelic Games: Football 2 in November 2007. Both of these games were developed exclusively for the PlayStation 2 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment of Ireland.
In 2007 Transmission Games worked with fellow Melbourne company Acheron Design to develop Brian Lara Pressure Play, a PSP version of Codemasters's Brian Lara series of Cricket games. The game debuted at No.1 on the UK sales charts when it was released in mid-2007.
Transmission Games' last sports game release was Ashes Cricket 2009, the latest in the Codemasters' series of cricket games, formerly known as Brian Lara International Cricket. The game was released in August 2009 in England and Australia. The game debuted at number 1 in the All Formats UK charts[1].
Transmission Games was also known for development and publishing of equestrian-related computer and console game titles. From 1996 to early 2000, Transmission Games developed its own equestrian computer games Mary King's Riding Star and Equestriad in conjunction with Melbourne software companies Blue Tongue Entertainment and Tantalus Interactive. Both Mary King's Riding Star and Equestriad continue to have worldwide appeal and have been sold on the PC and PlayStation formats in seven different languages. In 2002 Transmission Games released The Saddle Club - Willowbrook Stables, featuring the license from The Saddle Club television show.
In 2007, Transmission Games released Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge on PlayStation 2 and PC. Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge is an equestrian game based on the sport of 3-day horse eventing. The game features Show Jumping, Dressage and Cross Country events.