No sign of football computer game

News round-up: There remains confusion over the publication date of the GAA's video game, being developed in association with Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland. The collaboration, announced in Melbourne 15 months ago, was provisionally titled Gaelic Games 2004, but it never emerged last year.

Neither Croke Park nor Sony are willing to divulge details of the status of the project, but it is known the question of players' image rights has not been resolved.

The game is being developed by IR Gurus, an Australian company which is adapting the games engine devised for its successful AFL Live product, based on Australian Rules. According to the company's website yesterday, the Gaelic football version is due for launch in May.

But Niall O'Hanrahan of Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland didn't appear to be endorsing that optimistic timetable. "There won't be any announcement for the foreseeable future," he told The Irish Times.

Denying that there had been any delay in the project, he said: "I haven't an awful lot to say. There's no imminent announcement to make on it. Games development takes a while. We still don't have a name for it and don't even have a completion date.

"There is no typical timeframe for developing a game. It could be anything from 18 months to four years. Every game is different."

At the time of the launch there was uncertainty over the issue of image rights. A Sony spokesperson in Dublin said it was expected the images of real GAA stars would be used, whereas in Melbourne, GAA president Seán Kelly had said the question had yet to be clarified.

"It hasn't been decided yet what names to use," he said at the signing of the contracts at the MCG in October 2003, "but we will give players the opportunity to opt out if they wish. We haven't yet explored the legal aspect."

There was a collateral development at that time which saw former Longford player Frank McNamee pursuing his own computer game in conjunction with the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) but failing to get a licence from the GAA.

After the announcement that IR Gurus and Sony would be the GAA's partners, there were suggestion that McNamee's game might be signed up by Microsoft for that company's Xbox platform. Despite expressions of interest, nothing materialised.

It is believed reservations arose given the preponderance of PlayStation 2 compared to Xbox in Ireland, the primary market for any such game and given the need for the GAA's imprimatur were the idea to go ahead.

The GPA hold the image rights of all their members and, whatever identity, which is kept secret, it is likely that a considerable number of them would be involved were the computer game to follow the precedent of other sports and feature likenesses of individual players.

So far there has been no approach to the players' organisation, according to chief executive Dessie Farrell. "We've had no inquiries whatsoever relating to that particular project.

"There have in the past been attempts to do this without involving players' bodies or even the sporting organisation, but typically in these cases players' associations collaborate with sports organisations. It happens in soccer, in America in both baseball and American football and with the AFL in Australia.

"Image rights are asserted by the relevant parties, and that's a given if companies want to devise a product like this."

The whole question of image rights is due to come to a head in the coming months. A collectable sticker album, brought out last year, featured a number of GPA members without their permission, although it was licensed by the GAA. The GPA have brought a case on behalf of a sample of affected players and the case, when it is heard, will establish the first high-profile legal precedent in relation to this issue.

It may be that the GAA and Sony are waiting to see how the cards fall in this test case before deciding their next move. Being able to use the images of established players greatly enhances any computer game, and should the GPA win the case the GAA will have to proceed with the game and feature anonymous players, scrap the project - or do what they've strenuously avoided doing for years: enter into commercial negotiations with the GPA.