GOD execs launch Gamecock News

Brilliantly named independent publisher Gamecock Media Group announced its existence today, promising to take its lead from the independent film movement with methods that aim to tackle industry stagnation.

Gamecock (as in, rooster) has been set up by Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, whose names you might remember from the days of Gathering of Developers (G.O.D.), and it's already signed up a range of console, PC and handheld games including one from former Bungie man Alex Seropian.

That game is called Hail To The Chimp, and is due out from Seropian's Wideload Games next spring on next-gen consoles. It's an "impossible-to-classify party game based on politics in the animal kingdom". Seropian reckons that Wilson and Miller's publishing abilities will put Gamecock (and Wideload, obviously) in good stead.

Joining HTTC are Fury (by Auran), a massively multiplayer PvP game due out on PC this Christmas; Insecticide (Crackpot Entertainment), a film noir action-adventure set in a world run by bugs, due out this Christmas on an unconfirmed handheld and PC; Mushroom Men (Red Fly Studios), which is about a civil war between, well, guess, and is due out next spring on a next-gen console and handheld; and Hero (Firefly Studios), which is a "brutal but comical romp through the 'real' world of medieval dungeons, and is due out on a next-gen console and PC in spring 2009.

Wilson and Miller are adamant that their approach will be a "well-funded, independent, artist-driven game publishing company" the likes of which is seldom found in the "bloated and originality-starved industry". Says Wilson: "The major publishers have been focusing on safe bets - large budget games often attached to major licenses or sequels. This insufficient emphasis on the creation of original game properties has created major dissatisfaction among the industry's most talented game designers and has made the current system unpalatable. In other words, things are getting stale. We aim to change that." It'll be interesting to see how they do.