During Monday Night Football the very first PlayStation 4 advert was shown.
The trailer is beautiful and to me reminds you of the beautiful escapism that games can bring.
You can enjoy the advert below
Monthly Archives: October 2013
Train2Game News: Marmalde SDK helping Windows 8 developers
Marmalade, in partnership with Microsoft is giving you the opportunity to get a free 3-month Marmalade license extension and a Free Windows Phone 8 Device when you get apps approved on the Windows Developer Center.
When you sign up for this program you will receive a free Windows Developer Center token. You’ll need this token to submit your beta app and get your free Windows Phone and activate a free one-year membership for the Windows Developer Center.
After registering at the Windows Developer Center, you can submit your beta WP8 app and then tell Marmalade.
You have 30 days to submit your app in beta mode to the Windows Developer Center. Beta apps are reviewed to ensure that they are suitable for listing on the App Store (once complete) and that they are made with Marmalade. It doesn’t matter if it is not 100% complete, just as long as it shows how your app works. If you are porting an existing app, make sure to mention that.
Once your beta app is submitted on the store, letting Marmalade know can flag it for priority review by Microsoft.
When you’re ready, submit your final working app to the Windows Developer Center and inform Marmalade of the live URL, so they can issue your free Marmalade license or extension, and you can keep your Windows Phone 8 device.
The offer closes on the 31st December 2013 so make sure your app is approved on the Windows Developer Center by then!
To get in contact with Marmalade and start this great opportunity you can visit http://www.madewithmarmalade.com/wp8-hub
Train2Game News: Microsoft Executive comments on Cross-platform gaming
Phil Spencer, executive of Microsoft, has recently commented that cross-platform between Xbox One and PC makes a lot of sense.
Spencer was asked in an interview with AusGamer, whether Windows 8 and Xbox One could host cross-platform play between their respective platforms.
“I’m not allowed to leak things,” Spencer replied, “but I think what you’re talking about makes a lot of sense.”
Mr Spencer then went on to mention past attempts at cross-platform and how it was received.
“If you go back to Shadow Run on Xbox 360, something I worked on, we had PC players playing against Xbox 360 customers. We didn’t have tremendous success with that, but we learnt a lot from it.
“Then earlier this year we released Skulls of the Shogun, which was a game we launched on all three platforms on the same day, and you could start on one platform and then save the game to the Cloud and play across any of the screens and progress. And then Halo: Spartan Assault has some links between Halo 4 and Spartan Assault, even though they’re very different games.”
The executive went on to comment on how important Xbox Live will be in developing for cross-platform.
“This connected ecosystem across all the different devices is definitely where I think the future of gaming is going; you don’t have to do it as a developer, but you have the capability and I think a system like Xbox Live across all those screens where you know who someone is and who their friends are, what their Achievements are and their progression is really critical to that.”
The Xbox One releases next month so it won’t be long before we can start seeing how this next generation console will evolve over the coming years.
Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 14.10.13
After two weeks at the top after over taking GTA V, Fifa 14 has been dethroned by… GTA V! This may go on for a while until the next big game is released. Pokemon X and Pokemon Y entered the charts at numbers three and four respectively just ahead of Beyond Two Souls which has debuted at number five. The only other new entry this week is Dragon’s Crown which just reached the top twenty at number nineteen.
All formats
Week ending 12 October 2013
| POS. | TITLE | PUBLISHER | LAST WEEK |
|
| 1 |  |
GRAND THEFT AUTO V | ROCKSTAR | 2 |
| 2 |  |
FIFA 14 | EA SPORTS | 1 |
| 3 | POKEMON X | NINTENDO | – | |
| 4 | POKEMON Y | NINTENDO | – | |
| 5 | BEYOND TWO SOULS | SONY COMPUTER ENT. | – | |
| 6 | |
F1 2013 | CODEMASTERS | 3 |
| 7 | |
JUST DANCE 2014 | UBISOFT | 9 |
| 8 | |
MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION | MICROSOFT | 5 |
| 9 | |
DISNEY INFINITY | DISNEY INFINITY | 6 |
| 10 | |
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER | NINTENDO | 4 |
| 11 | – | SAINTS ROW IV | DEEP SILVER | 11 |
| 12 | |
LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES | WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE | 13 |
| 13 | |
NBA 2K14 | 2K SPORTS | 7 |
| 14 | – | MAX PAYNE 3 | ROCKSTAR | 14 |
| 15 | |
PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2014 | KONAMI | 10 |
| 16 | |
TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST | UBISOFT | 8 |
| 17 | |
TOMB RAIDER | SQUARE ENIX | 19 |
| 18 | – | ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF | NINTENDO | 18 |
| 19 | DRAGON’S CROWN | NIS AMERICA | – | |
| 20 | |
THE LAST OF US | SONY COMPUTER ENT. | 12 |
| < previous week |
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd
These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.
Train2Game News: Affordable eye tracking technology
A new affordable myGaze eye tracking technology offers developers a robust platform to make video games more accessible and exciting for disabled and non-disabled gamers.
The new myGaze eye tracker is a mainstream product that offers high performance at a low cost. It was used at EuroGamer Expo 2013 and illustrated the potential of the new myGaze eye tracking technology to enhance the enjoyment of many disabled as well as non-disabled gamers.
Many people with a range of disabilities find themselves unable to use their hands to control technology as well as they would like to, due to conditions such as multiple sclerosis, spinal injury and muscular dystrophy and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), with 30,000 people estimated as having the latter condition in America alone. According to professionals in the assistive field, a long-time challenge for using gaze interaction for many potential beneficiaries has been its cost.
The German company Visual Interaction has now offered a solution to this problem: It makes its myGaze eye tracker, which can be used with various 3rd party applications, including video games, available in its online store for as low as €499.
Recently, SpecialEffect, acquired the myGaze Developer Edition in order to consider the feasibility of using this gaze interaction system with videogames such as DiRT3, Peggle and Fruit Ninja for people with disabilities. The myGaze system was one of the gaze interaction systems available for the public to try for themselves on the SpecialEffect stand at the EuroGamer Expo 2013 in London.
Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, an independent charity, talks about his experience:
“…While the myGaze isn’t designed to offer the range of features available on systems specially designed for the assistive market, it can nonetheless offer a level of performance that can enhance the enjoyment of people with a wide range of abilities, if it is used with carefully selected and modified games.”
The big question however remains – will eye tracking become a mass-market product with wide variety of applications available?
“Game changers like Google or Amazon have now accelerated the patenting and integration of eye trackers into their upcoming products,” says Daniel Trifonov, Head of Business Development & Partnerships at Visual Interaction, “With our state of the art technology made affordable and the growing popularity of our online application store, 3rd party developers have in myGaze a robust platform to build a variety of applications for the future of gaze interaction in gaming, the assistive market and other application fields.”
Visual Interaction (VI) has taken on the mission to provide easy to use and affordable gaze tracking and gaze based interaction solutions for broad professional, educational and consumer audiences and developers. VI collaborates with leaders around the world to create best in class solutions. For its superior performance VI myGaze trackers rely on eye tracking technology by SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) from Germany, for more than 20 years a leader in eye tracking solutions.
Train2Game News: Help for Heroes mobile game
Help for Heroes launched a new game on mobile devices to help aid their charity featuring the voices of Jeremy Clarkson and Lorraine Kelly.
The game, Hero Bears was launched today and Help for Heroes is aiming to break the record for the fastest downloaded charity game app to help raise money so it can provide support for Service personnel and veterans who have suffered life-changing injuries and illnesses. The previous record holder, Comic Relief in 2013 had 75,000 downloads in three months.
Players of the game will guide two Help for Heroes bear mascots as they hold a stretcher carrying a third bear across an obstacle course. With the nostalgic military tune The Colonel Bogey March playing in the background, the aim of the app is to collect as many tokens along the route while jumping over gaps, changing levels and squeezing through gaps.
The game also has videos featuring patrons of the charity Jeremy Clarkson and Lorraine Kelly. Clarkson gives scathing put-downs to players with low scores while Kelly offers positive encouragement to help spur them on. As fans of the charity, both Kelly and Clarkson thank the public for downloading the app.
The app is the brain-child of Bryn Parry, Co-Founder of Help for Heroes. A former professional cartoonist, Bryn drew the iconic hero bear characters which are used in the app. A rolling water-colour styled background creates a unique gameplay theme.
Hero Bears is available now on iOS and Android and costs £1.99 with £1 of every sale going to Help For Heroes
Train2Game News: Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition
2K and Gearbox Software announced that the Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition is now available on all platforms in North America, and will be available internationally on October 11, 2013.
Boasting over $100 of gameplay content for only $59.99, players have never had a better opportunity to get their hands on the critically acclaimed Borderlands 2, all of the Season Pass content, two additional character classes, plus more for such an outstanding value.
The Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition gives players the ability to take each of the six playable Vault Hunters to new levels, enjoy hundreds of hours of shoot-and-loot mayhem, and play each of the four highly popular add-on campaigns, all in one action-packed bundle. The Game of the Year Edition includes:
- Borderlands 2 main game;
- Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty;
- Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage;
- Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt;
- Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep;
- Creature Slaughter Dome;
- Premiere Club Content:
- Gaige, the Mechromancer Character Class;
- Gearbox Gun Pack;
- Golden Key;
- Vault Hunter’s Relic;
- Krieg, the Psycho Character Class;
- Collector’s Edition Heads and Skins;
- Contraband Sky Rocket Grenade;
- Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 1.
“The passionate support from Borderlands 2 fans continues to blow us away and allows us to offer the most value-packed Game of the Year Edition we have ever published,” said Christoph Hartman, president of 2K. “Our friends at Gearbox Software continue expanding the world of Pandora, and together we will continue bringing gamers the best shoot-and-loot mayhem possible.”
This is one of the most entertaining games I have played and if you liked the first one you will love this one, including all the DLC.
Train2Game News: Grand Theft Auto V breaks several world records
Grand Theft Auto V has managed to break a total of seven world record all with in a week of the game being launched.
Rockstar North’s epic crime adventure previously earned the Guinness World Record for ‘most viewed trailer for an action-adventure videogame’.
Now its massive first-day sales figures have earned the game a further six awards. The full list of awards now currently held by Grand Theft Auto V are as follows:
- Best-selling action-adventure videogame in 24 hours
- Best-selling videogame in 24 hours
- Fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion
- Fastest videogame to gross $1 billion
- Highest grossing videogame in 24 hours
- Highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours
- Most viewed trailer for an action-adventure videogame
According to official figures, GTA 5 sold 11.21 million units in its first 24 hours and generated revenue of $815.7 million (£511.8 million), eventually reaching $1 billion (£624.45 million) in sales after just three days.
Sales of the game in the UK led to a 45 per cent year-on-year increase in game sales for September, marking the first time the British games retail sector recorded an increase in spending since December 2008.
A week after its release, Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz stated that sales had likely exceeded 15 million worldwide and were predicted to surpass 25 million within the game’s first year of release.
After completing the main story line last night there is no doubt in my mind that it deserves all the attention and accolades it has been getting. I could not recommend this game more.
Train2Game News: Google Glass Gaming
Since Google’s Glass was unveiled in 2011, the impact it may have on gaming has been the subject of much imaginative speculation.
The public’s thirst for wearable gadgetry has been fuelled by concept videos showing a walk to work reimagined as a first-person shooter and commentators predicting bold new AR-based genres.
One studio that is closer than most to knowing the answer is AMA, the French developer of Glass game Escape, which enjoyed much attention at this year’s GDC Europe and Gamescom.
The game is by necessity a simple creation; something of a hybrid of arcade icon Frogger and tabletop classic peg solitaire. Escape is controlled through Glass’ touch sensitive side panel, and offers just a glimpse of what might be possible with hardware you can wear.
Escape’s status as the first Google Glass game is difficult to establish when the hardware is yet to enjoy a true consumer release; BrickSimple’s GlassBattle, for example, was shown before Escape, but ‘release date’ rarely means much on tech still in development.
What does matter is that AMA has made a Glass game, and that puts them in extremely limited company. Indeed, their unit is one of only a handful in Europe outside of Google’s laboratories. What’s more, along with Escape, they have another three Glass games and app prototypes underway.
“Wearable technology is by itself very exciting,” offers AMA’s head of production Guillaume Campion. “And this is just the beginning. Google Glass is a great platform to start with. Even if the design and the interface are very new and innovative, the hardware and the fact that it runs on Ice Cream Sandwich are pretty common.
“This is really a key point that allows us to focus on what is major, [for example], the user interface display. As a games developer, we love to brainstorm about new gameplay, new game mechanics, so working on such a new device is definitely the kind of challenge we look forward to when choosing to work in this industry.”
The future of Google Glass could revolutionise the gaming industry as we know it depending on how widely accepted it becomes.
Train2Game News: Dungeon Defenders 2
Trendy Entertainment, creators of the critically acclaimed tower defense title Dungeon Defenders, today announced it has hit the reset button in the development of its highly anticipated sequel, Dungeon Defenders II, removing the MOBA-elements and instead focusing on what fans really want to see-the evolution of the action tower defense genre.
Scheduled for soft launch this spring, Dungeon Defenders II is a roleplaying and tower defense title that vastly improves upon the foundations of the first game. A core pillar of Trendy’s new project is getting fans directly involved in how they evolve and develop the sequel. This recent shift in direction is just one example of how Trendy plans to incorporate their community’s feedback into Dungeon Defenders II.
“We’ve been listening very closely to our community, getting feedback from fans of the first game on what they want to see in a sequel, and we realized we needed a shift in our development focus,” said Philip Asher, Marketing Director at Trendy Entertainment. “We had strayed from making the kind of game fans wanted and the kind of game we wanted to develop. So, we’ve nixed the MOBA-style of gameplay and other ‘extra’ features we were talking about and instead are making the sequel we all want to play. We’re improving everything we loved about Dungeon Defenders, one step at a time. First we’re going through the core gameplay experience; injecting more meaningful decisions and moments into the minute to minute gameplay that you’ll want to share with your friends. Then, in late October we’re going to kick off our first major community initiative to get fans involved in the development of the game, and start working with them to make the roleplaying and item systems as satisfying as possible.”
In Dungeon Defenders II, the land of Etheria has been invaded by the Old Ones and players must rally, alone or with friends, against the invasion.. The game features brand new combat and tower placement systems that synchronize the roleplaying, action, and tower defense elements of the first game for more visceral and strategic gameplay. New defense and ability interactions make for exciting, emergent gameplay and new environmental traps increase variety and strategic planning throughout each level in the game. The team is also working on a completely new mission structure and content release strategy which will revolve around the way the community wants to play.
“Imagine dousing a crowd of enemies with oil and then the Apprentice’s flameburst tower hitting one of them with a flame bolt, lighting them all up! Or a trap launching an orc into the sky, only to be frozen and then shatter after crashing to the ground. We’re creating these synergistic systems as a way to allow players to discover and share new ways to play the game: whether it’s finding a new piece of gear that creates a whole new defensive strategy to a map or improving defenses in a way that makes you completely rethink your entire setup, we want the combat and roleplaying elements to shape how you defend Etheria.” said Daniel Haddad, Lead Content Designer.
Dungeon Defenders II is currently in development for PC, Mac & Linux, and scheduled for soft launch as a free-to-play title next Spring.
You can enjoy a teaser trailer below
For more information, visit www.dungeondefenders2.com
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