Transmission Games
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | IR Gurus |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | Craig Laughton, Andrew Niere, Ian Cunliffe |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne , Australia |
| Products | Sports and action video games including Ashes Cricket 2009, Heatseeker, Heroes of the Pacific, AFL Premiership series, The Saddle Club – Willowbrook Stables |
Transmission Games—initially known as IR Gurus—was an Australian video game developer focused on creating sports and action games. Established in 1996 by Craig Laughton, Andrew Niere, and Ian Cunliffe under the guiding principle "Game Play is Everything," the company adopted the Transmission Games name in February 2008. Approximately a year and a half later, following acquisition by an investor, the studio ceased operations.
Situated in Melbourne, Transmission Games produced several prominent titles such as Ashes Cricket 2009 (available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC), Heatseeker (PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP), Heroes of the Pacific (PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC), the AFL Premiership series for PlayStation 2, and The Saddle Club – Willowbrook Stables. Their concluding releases comprised Ashes Cricket 2009 (published by Codemasters), Heatseeker, AFL Premiership 2007, and Brian Lara Pressure Play.
Development history
From its inception in 1996 until 2009, Transmission Games launched a total of fifteen titles, including The Saddle Club – Willowbrook Stables, which was Australia's best-selling PC game in 2003 and based on the television series. Their AFL franchise—featuring games like Kevin Sheedy AFL Coach 2002, AFL Live 2003, AFL Live 2004, AFL Live Premiership Edition, along with annual releases from 2005 through 2007—regularly secured the top position on Australian sales charts. Particularly, AFL Premiership 2006 dominated the all-format charts for six consecutive weeks.
Arcade flight games
In 2005, Transmission Games unveiled the acclaimed arcade-style flight simulator Heroes of the Pacific across PC, PS2, and Xbox platforms. This title originated from Thatgame, a startup that merged with IR Gurus prior to release. The game was published by Codemasters in PAL regions and Ubisoft in NTSC markets. Garnering favorable reviews with scores averaging between 76% and 78%, it also received accolades including Australian Game of the Year and PC Game of the Year from the Game Developer's Association of Australia.
Building on this achievement, Transmission co-developed the contemporary flight combat game Heatseeker alongside Codemasters, launching in Europe on March 30, 2007. Its follow-up installment, Heroes Over Europe, was released in September 2009.
Sports games
Starting in 2001, IR Gurus embarked on producing stadium-based sports titles. They released AFL Live 2003 in October 2002 and followed with AFL Live 2004 in September 2003; both were published by Acclaim Entertainment. The AFL series continued with titles including AFL Live Premiership Edition (April 2004), AFL Premiership 2005 (September 2005), AFL Premiership 2006 (July 2006), and AFL Premiership 2007 (June 2007).
Transmission Games developed the officially licensed Gaelic Athletic Association (Gaelic football) title Gaelic Games: Football for PlayStation 2, which Sony Computer Entertainment published in November 2005. Despite some criticism regarding performance and design aspects, it became the highest-selling PS2 game within Ireland. Subsequent sequels—Gaelic Games: Hurling and Gaelic Games: Football 2—were released in November 2007 with enhanced reception; both were exclusive to PlayStation 2 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment of Ireland.
In collaboration with Melbourne’s Acheron Design during 2007, Transmission produced Brian Lara Pressure Play, a PSP entry in Codemasters's Brian Lara cricket franchise that debuted at number one on UK sales charts. Their final sports title was Ashes Cricket 2009, part of Codemasters' cricket series formerly known as Brian Lara International Cricket. Released in August 2009 across England and Australia, it also debuted atop the UK All Formats chart.
Equestrian titles
Transmission Games developed a niche in equestrian-themed video games. From 1996 through the early 2000s, they collaborated with Melbourne-based studios Blue Tongue Entertainment and Tantalus Interactive to produce Mary King's Riding Star and Equestriad. These titles achieved international success, being available on both PC and PlayStation platforms and localized into seven different languages. In 2002, the company launched The Saddle Club – Willowbrook Stables, a game based on the popular television series.
In 2007, Transmission introduced Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge for PlayStation 2 and PC, spotlighting three-day eventing competitions such as Show Jumping, Dressage, and Cross Country.
Games
- Heroes Over Europe (2009)
- Ashes Cricket 2009 (2009)
- Gaelic Games: Hurling (2007)
- Gaelic Games: Football 2 (2007)
- Brian Lara Pressure Play (2007)
- AFL Premiership 2007 (2007)
- Heatseeker (2007)
- Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge (2006)
- AFL Premiership 2006 (2006)
- Heroes of the Pacific (2005)
- Gaelic Games: Football (2005)
- AFL Premiership 2005 (2005)
- AFL Live Premiership Edition (2004)
- AFL Live 2004 (2003)
- AFL Live 2003 (2002)
- Kevin Sheedy AFL Coach 2002 (2002)
- The Saddle Club – Willowbrook Stables (2002)
- Equestriad (2001)
- Mary King's Riding Star (1999)