Dr Stephen Baysted has recently completed work on the latest iteration of Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed series of video racing games

Dr Stephen Baysted has recently completed work on the latest iteration of Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed series of video racing games – Need for Speed: Shift. As well as being a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Chichester, Dr Baysted is also Director of Sound and Music for Slightly Mad Studios Ltd. who have spent the last 2 years creating and developing Shift for Electronic Arts. With worldwide sales totalling 100 million copies, the Need for Speed series is seen as Electronic Arts’ best selling franchise; and Electronic Arts is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company.

Released worldwide this week on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Shift represents a new direction for the Need for Speed series and features a highly immersive and unique race driving experience. Sophisticated and ultra-realistic vehicle audio modelling techniques, for which Stephen and fellow sound designer Greg Hill have won international acclaim in previous projects, form a central part of this experience. Where the innovative music soundtrack is concerned, Stephen worked with a team of leading video games and film industry specialists to shape a radically dramatic sonic backdrop to the game.

Need for Speed: Shift has already received glowing reviews from the industry press and video games channel IGN (ranked among the top 200 most visited websites in the world) has just awarded the game 9 out of 10, and audio specifically 9.5 out of 10. The reviewer enthuses that the sound ‘… is awesome … and brilliantly executed. A lot of other racers have great engine samples, nice crashing effects and so forth, but very, very few actually get the mix of all of this correct. It's a raw sound … and pretty much no racing game on the market conveys this correctly. Need for Speed Shift actually does, and it's music to the ears … This is how it should be done.’

Stephen describes the engine modelling process as one that is extremely complex and technically demanding. ‘It’s a protracted task which starts with recording the actual racing car on location with specialist microphones. Once the recordings have been carefully edited and mastered, the modelling and the ‘fun’ can start! Every single sonic characteristic of the vehicle is modelled including the engine, the transmission, the exhaust, the gears, turbochargers, superchargers, tyre noise, wind noise, chassis resonance and suspension noise.’ Stephen continues, ‘Slightly Mad Studios as a company is renowned for its fanatical attention to detail, its dedication to realism and accuracy, and the audio team is no exception.’ There are over 80 different cars modelled in Shift.

‘One of the most exciting aspects of working in the industry’, Stephen comments, ‘is being able to bring this industry experience and expertise back to the University environment and to the students in the classroom. Because we’re working at the cutting edge of video game development and media production, the teaching can be shaped by it and module content already reflects this.’

Stephen, and Slightly Mad Studios, are currently working on future video game projects.

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Isabel Ashdown launches her debut novel on 28th September 2009

Isabel Ashdown, fiction writer and MA Creative Writing student at the University of Chichester will be launching her debut novel on 28th September 2009.

Glasshopper, published by Myriad Editions, is the story of a family breakdown in the 1980s as seen through the eyes of 13-year-old Jake. An extract won the Mail on Sunday Novel Competition and was described by judges John Mortimer and Fay Weldon as ‘magnificent’.

Isabel finished writing the novel in December 2008 and will celebrate the official launch of the book on 28th September at the Mitre Theatre, Bishop Otter Campus, University of Chichester at 5.30pm. She commented: “My friends, family and tutors have shown me great support and enthusiasm during the writing of the Glasshopper, for which I am sincerely grateful.”

So what tips can Isabel give to aspiring writers? She said: “Carry a notebook at all times, read widely and with a writer’s eye, join or form a workshop group and submit your work to competitions and publications.”

Isabel is now working on her second novel. “I’m most interested in discovering the characters, in understanding their dilemmas and choices, and in watching the subsequent repercussions of those choices unfold before me. Whilst my second novel will have a very different theme to that of Glasshopper, it will appeal to a similar readership.”

Come and listen to Isabel in conversation with University English Lecturer Dave Swann, as she reads extracts from the book, and signs copies of Glasshopper. Copies will be available to purchase on the day.

University of Chichester Celebrates Gaining Fairtrade Status

The University of Chichester is delighted to announce that it has been officially awarded Fairtrade status.

Becoming a Fairtrade University was the joint achievement of staff and the students’ union and demonstrates that the University is doing great things to make sure its campus is more ethical by promoting and raising awareness and availability of products with the FAIRTRADE Mark.

The approved application showed that the University made a commitment to supporting and using Fairtrade products such as food, drinks and clothing are making sure they are available in as many outlets as possible on its campuses(such as the student dining halls, cafés, students’ union bar and shop). The University will continue to expand its product range, to raise awareness of Fairtrade and highlight the benefits it brings to producers in developing countries with students and staff. Dr Robin Baker, Vice Chancellor of the University of Chichester: "As one of the largest institutions in West Sussex, and as a university with a Christian foundation, we are committed to supporting a fair deal for producers in the developing world. This commitment is shared by staff and students alike. Thousands of people pass through the doors of our University every year and each one can make a positive difference. We are delighted that we are now a part of the Fairtrade movement.”

Casper Beade, the Students’ Union President, said: "Our Students' Union has been dealing in the supply of Fairtrade products for a number of years now, from foodstuffs to a range of University clothing. As the Students' voice we are very happy to work with the University to campaign to raise awareness and to increase the availability of Fairtrade products in order to support farmers in countries in need of development."