E3 takes on a very international flavor

LOS ANGELES - The Atari first-person shooter "TimeShift" is the type of game that a hardcore gamer — or a hardcore economist — should love.

For the gamer, there are the guns, the explosions and a unique time-stopping mechanism. Or as "TimeShift's" E3 presenter explained it today: "See how you can stop time to see the bloody chunks!"

For the economist, there's an interesting pedigree. "TimeShift" was designed in the United States, financed by the French-American company Atari/Infogrames and co-developed by a 40-person gaming studio in St. Petersburg, Russia. Among the developers were several former Russian space scientists, a nuclear physicist from Kazakhstan and several over-qualified Russian programmers and artists, including a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and a former architect.

"I always find the talent in Russia better than just about anywhere," said Matthew Karch, a former New York-based immigration lawyer who began the St. Petersburg adventure after Russian immigrant (and computer graphics expert) Andrey Iones sought his help.

Thomas Friedman, eat your heart out.

Nor is "TimeShift" alone in its multinational pedigree. The impacts of globalization can be seen everywhere at E3.

Atari Screenshot from "TimeShift." People in three countries worked on the video game.

Japan, the country considered the spiritual birthplace of modern video gaming is of course well represented on the show floor. The exhibits erected by Sony and Nintendo resemble mini-cities.

But companies from Taiwan, Germany, Australia, China and other countries traditionally considered outside the periphery of digital entertainment are also flexing their muscle at E3 this year, showing off new game titles and promoting available development studios for hire.

Publishers and developers at E3 say the globalization of gaming is simply a fact of life.

Robert Walsh, CEO of Krome Studios, spends months in the air jetting between Krome's Australian headquarters and the United States. While Krome develops original games such as "Ty the Tasmanian Tiger," much of its income originates in developing games for U.S. publishers such as Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive and THQ.

Contracts from American publishers have helped Krome grow from five to 130 employees in six years.

"From a publisher's perspective, they look for talent anywhere in the world," said Walsh.

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