Imre Jele News Today

The game has made over $30bn in its 20-year lifespan, and its publisher Activision was recently taken over by Microsoft for $69bn. So how has the game, and gaming itself changed over two decades?

The deal is done. Activision Blizzard is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft after two years of regulatory inves…

The 2022 winners of the Lyttle Lytton Contest (to write the worst first sentence of the worst imaginary novel) has been announced. And they are splendid. https://t.co/WLAqes0aDN pic.twitter.com/fTLlAgYYGT Imre Jele (@imrejele) June 30, 2022 Every year, the Lyttle Llytton contest asks…

The works of George Orwell enter the public domain this month Credit: Getty George Orwell died from tuberculosis in January 1950, aged 46. Writers who can combine such originality of thought with such clarity of expression are rare enough that even now it’s difficult not to be grief-struck by his lamentably premature demise. But taking consolation where we can, we can celebrate the fact that in the month of the anniversary of his death comes the expiry of the copyright on his books – someth...

It’s hard to believe, but 2020 is almost behind us. It’s certainly been a uniquely challenging year, one that has seen the MCV/DEVELOP team out of our lovely central London office since March now, and having to work without the big-ticket events that used to dominate our calendars. However, while we may have lost the experience of physically attending E3, GDC and Gamescom this year, areas of our industry have still done very well indeed. It has become a tired talking point now to discuss ho...

Orwell’s Animal Farm Is Terrifying in Ways Most Horror Games Wish They Could Be Orwell’s Animal Farm is one of the most affecting games I’ve ever played. As I think back over my time with it, I’m reminded inexorably of Stephen King’s assertion that there are three levels of terror: gross-out, horror, and terror. It’s that last one — that King described as “when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute” — that the gam...

The book is an undisputed literary classic. It is “a fairy story,” retelling the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of Stalin through an inoffensive animal fable, while at the same time exploring Orwell’s recurring themes of doublethink, disinformation, and propaganda. Not everyone likes it or respects it, but everyone knows Animal Farm, a staple of school curricula even today. “It’s a 75-year-old, historically important book and you mess that up… Like, come on,” said Jele. “So,...

Nothing happens before its time, as they say. And if there was ever a need for a video game adaptation of George Orwells Animal Farm, now is surely the moment. Orwells celebrated fiction is an allegory on the rise of dictators, and its examination of inequality, power and manipulation is frighteningly relevant today. This is something that creative director Imre Jele, and his indie development collective at The Dairymen and Nerial, are well aware of, and theyre determined to use the medium of v...

Orwells Animal Farm is a gorgeous adventure game that explores power and corruption, out now 2020/08/17 2020/12/11 Animal Farm is a satirical book from George Orwell that draws many parallels to society and its governments by focusing on the threat of a political dystopia on an animal farm, and the developer behind the well-received Reigns card game series is working in partnership with The Dairymen in order to bring a new game based on the book to mobile and PC. This game is appropriately ...

The Orwell Youth Prize, a charity that typically recognises young writers, will now also reward young game designers with a new gaming category. The new category is thanks to a partnership between the Orwell Foundation and Imre Jele, project founder of PC and mobile title Animal Farm, which released today. The Orwell Youth Prize, which usually takes writing from 12 to 18 year olds inspired by the works of George Orwell, will now expand this scope to include video games inspired by the classic a...