Monthly Archives: September 2016

Train2Game News National Videogame Foundation

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​A pioneering new not-for-profit organisation has today been launched in Nottingham, UK.

The National Videogame Foundation exists to celebrate, preserve and interpret videogames for everyone. Through its pioneering work in curation, exhibition and public engagement, it rediscovers the past and creates a valuable legacy for the future.  The Foundation aims to inspire new people to make videogames, start new conversations about them, and find new ways in which they can contribute to culture, society and education.

Based at the acclaimed National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter, the Foundation will work across four key areas : events, heritage, education and policy-making.

As well as delivering the annual  GameCity festival and operating the National Videogame Arcade, the new Foundation will also be concentrating on education and public advocacy work.

Later this year, in collaboration with the Times Educational Supplement, the Foundation is staging the first in a series of ‘subject summits’, bringing together educators with experts to explore ways in which videogames can be used to enhance  learning. These unique events will result in the creation of new teaching and learning resources to apply videogames to other curriculum areas in addition to the more expected STEM subjects.

In collaboration with Arts Council England, the foundation will be delivering further on the ‘Continue’ conference and network, launched earlier this year. This project brings together national arts and culture organisations with videogame creators, closing the gap of understanding between them.

“We’re tremendously excited to be able to finally announce the National Videogame Foundation to the World. It’s something we’re very passionate about, but we couldn’t have imagined being able to launch it with a stronger set of partners and activities,” said  Director, Iain Simons.

Iain continued, “We’ve got some of the most experienced names in the industry working with us right alongside some of the most exciting new ones. We’re going to ensure that the work we produce is truly reflective of the growing diversity of videogames, in terms of players, makers and content.”

Carl Cavers, CEO of Sumo Digital is a key investor in the new Foundation. He said, “One of the main reasons Sumo were attracted to Nottingham was the NVA and GameCity. It’s great to be able to play a part not just in securing its position as a unique destination in the City, but also to be helping to build its future plans and make it useful for the cultural future of games. It’s a great moment for the industry.”

The foundation launches with a stellar set of founding patrons already attached, helping the foundation to realise its ambitions.  Sumo Digital, Epic Games, Playground Games, Kevin Patterson, Boneloaf, William Pugh, Chucklefish and  Vlambeer have all invested at this founding stage.

Ian Livingstone CBE, games industry legend, Foundation investor and member of the non-executive board said, “I am tremendously excited to be involved in the creation of the National Videogame Foundation. Having watched videogames grow and flourish as an industry – and as an art form – this is a vital moment for videogames’ cultural confidence.

Nottingham has already shown itself to be the cultural capital of videogames with the GameCity festival and our very own ‘National Gallery’ in the form of the National Videogame Arcade. Given these achievements, it is only fitting that this new, not-for-profit organisation should grow out of the same soil and continue to spread this pioneering message to as many people as possible.  

What excites me most about the National Videogame Foundation is its commitment to taking its work out into the real world. Through its education programmes, gallery interpretation and cultural policy development, Iain Simons and his team will continue to work tirelessly to engage everyone in the value of this most vital of contemporary art forms. We’ve got an amazing set of founder-patrons on board already and I urge all my colleagues in the games industry, and frankly anyone who cares about the past, present and future of videogames, to support this landmark initiative.”

Rami Ismail of famed developer Vlambeer said, “Having been a regular attendee of the GameCity festival over the years, it was an easy decision to invest and become a patron of the new foundation. The festival is a phenomenally inclusive event, and brings creators from around the world together to showcase and experience pioneering cultural work. Vlambeer is excited to be part of the future of the event.”

You can find out more details about becoming a patron of the National Videogame Foundation along with many other opportunities to support or get involved, at www.thenationalvideogamefoundation.org

Train2Game News Games on Atari Flashback and Genesis Classic Game Console

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AtGames® Digital Media Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment products, today revealed the official game lists for the Atari Flashback 7 and Genesis Classic Game Console.  
Each console includes an extensive selection of classic Atari and Sega games, respectively, as well as new favorites.  The latest versions of these popular TV-based systems will be available from top retailers starting in October 2016.

“We are delighted to announce the official game lists for the latest releases of our popular Atari Flashback and Genesis Classic Game Console hardware series,” said Dr. Ping-Kang Hsiung, CEO of AtGames.

“These new products showcase the best classic Atari and Sega Genesis games, while still offering superior expandability.”

The Atari Flashback 7 and Sega Genesis Classic Game Console are both part of the AtGames Flashback Zone (AFZ; Facebook:www.facebook.com/ATGFlashback/ and Twitter: twitter.com/atgflashback), the go-to hub for retro gaming. 

Other innovative products that are part of AFZ include Atari Flashback Portable, Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player, and Atari Flashback Classics Volume 1 and Volume 2, two console titles newly released in mid October.

The Atari Flashback 7 classic game console features 101 built-in favorites. These games include legends like Frogger and Space Invaders™, as well as all-time Atari 2600 classics like Asteroids®, Centipede™, Jungle Hunt, Missile Command®, and Pong. Two wireless controllers, styled after the Atari 2600 originals, are included, as well as two legacy controller ports for optional wired joysticks or paddles.

The Sega Genesis Classic Game Console features 80 built-in games and an integrated cartridge port to play almost all of your favorite Sega Genesis and Mega Drive classics. Celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th Anniversary, a selection of the era’s best Sonic games are included, along with all-time favorites like Mortal Kombat I, II, III and Golden Axe. New for 2016 is save game support for the included Phantasy Star series and Sword of Vermillion role-playing games. Again, two wireless controllers, styled after the Sega Genesis originals, are included, as well as two legacy controller ports for optional wired gamepads.

The official game list for the Atari Flashback 7 can be found here and the official game list for the Sega Genesis Classic Game Console can be found here.

Atari Flashback 7 and Sega Genesis Classic Game Console are available at all major retailers from October 2016.

Train2Game News Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection

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​Today, Ubisoft® announced that Assassin’s Creed® The Ezio Collection will be available on November 17th for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One. 
Fans of the series and new players alike can relive the adventures of legendary Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze as the franchise’s most celebrated games come to current generation consoles. 

Assassin’s Creed has become one of the most popular video game franchises of all time, with more than 100 million copies sold to date. The series’ compelling, innovative gameplay, rich narrative and detailed, historically-accurate open world environments have spawned a passionate, global fan following. As players’ interest in Assassin’s Creed has grown, Ubisoft has expanded into Assassin’s Creed-themed books, comics, and short films, and is now set to release a major motion picture on January 1st, 2017 in the UK.

“This is a huge milestone for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, but we believe the best is yet to come,” says Etienne Allonier, Brand Director for Assassin’s Creed. “Having seen what’s gone into the movie and into future Assassin’s Creed games, we think fans and newcomers alike will be excited by everything Assassin’s Creed has to offer.”

Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection includes the acclaimed single-player campaigns and single-player add-ons for Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Assassin’s Creed Revelations, with enhanced graphics for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Telling an epic three-part story of vengeance, intrigue, and romance, Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection lands on shelves this holiday for gamers who want to relive the Renaissance and experience the thrilling adventures of Ezio in Florence, Venice, Rome, and Constantinople, or newcomers stepping into the world of Assassins and Templars for the first time.

The Assassin’s Creed series tells the tale of the centuries-old battle between Assassins and Templars through rich storylines and captivating characters. Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure series set in fully realised open worlds throughout notable times in history such as the Third Crusade, the Golden Age of Pirates and the Industrial Revolution. Using the infamous hidden blade and other tools and weapons specific to the time period, players will fight for the greater good from the rooftops in Italy to the shores of Cuba through the core tenets the series is known for: combat, stealth, navigation and parkour.

In addition to the single-player content, Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection includes the complete Assassin’s Creed Lineage and Assassin’s Creed Embers short films, giving a clearer glimpse into the background of the dashing yet dangerous Ezio Auditore da Firenze, from beginning to end.

Additionally, Ubisoft announced the release of the Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection Collector’s Case. Exclusive to Uplay Shop the Collector’s Case brings back souvenirs from the Auditore Family crypt. Along with the game, players will discover a set of exclusive lithographies, the game’s official soundtrack, featuring a selection of 40 tracks from the three games, and an exclusive Black Edition collectible bust of Ezio Auditore.

Train2Game News Women in Games New Ambassadors

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Women in Games, the not for profit, games industry diversity organisation, today announced the names of the first companies to be appointed as Corporate Ambassadors.
Women in Games is recruiting a number of Corporate as well as individual Ambassadors to support the growth of the Women in Games organisation, to help the organisation increase the reach and scale of its programmes and help it achieve the strategic goal of doubling the number of women in games over 10 years.

The first 4, founding corporate Ambassadors are:

Io-Interactive from Copenhagen, Denmark

Paradox Interactive from Stockholm, Sweden

Techland from Wroclaw and Warsaw, Poland

Wooga from Berlin, Germany

Ambassadors will reach out to women in all cities and regions of the UK and Europe and grow the Women in Games network. They will reach out to young women at school and university to encourage them to consider the games industry as a career. They will also reach out to regional leaders and governments to form corporate partnerships and long term strategic relationships.

Corporate Ambassadors are leading games companies in Europe with a professional standing in their country and a commitment to engage and promote more diversity.

At last week’s European Women in Games Conference representative from the four companies were invited on stage to introduce their companies. Pictured with David Smith from Women in Games are Henriette Lønn Jenssen, Junior Sound Designer and Sidsel Marie Hermansen, Game Designer from IO Interactive, John Hargelid, CIO from Paradox Interactive and Marie-Blanche Stossinger from Wooga. Also present but not pictured was Paulina Basta, Head of HR from Techland.

“I am convinced that only the most diverse team can deliver the best possible product for our global audience”, commented Jens Begemann, founder & CEO, Wooga. “We’re honoured to serve as a corporate ambassador for Women in Games and are looking forward to supporting the many extremely talented women we already have in our industry as well as showcasing the games industry as an excellent career option for girls and young women.”

Nikola Nielsen, HR Manager at Io-Interactive commented: “We are delighted to be able to support Women in Games and help promote diversity in our wonderful industry to the next generation of game creators. This is a great initiative and one we are very passionate about.” 

Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive said “Our philosophy is that by bringing people with different backgrounds, competences, experiences and ideas together, we will continue to grow as a successful industry. An industry that today is present in every aspect of society.”

Paulina Basta, Head of HR at Techland commented: “Techland is very proud to be a part of this Women in Games initiative. Diversity and inclusion topics are very close to our hearts and we are eager to promote the idea in our company and our part of the world.”

David Smith, Founder of Women in Games, said: “Women in Games is delighted to partner with these 4 Founding Corporate Ambassadors. We look forward to working with these companies to further diversity across Europe in the months and years ahead.”

Train2Game News Descendent Studios open source UE4 plugins

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Descendent Studios, makers of Descent: Underground, announced the open-source release of several Unreal Engine 4 plugins they developed for the game.
The studio rolled out their GitHub repository on the heels of last week’s announcement that Descent: Underground won an Open-Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) Fund grant from Razer. Descent: Underground was the first high-end action title to natively support all of the major desktop VR headsets: OSVR, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift.

“We use open-source tools and libraries in the development of Descent: Underground,“ said Descendent Studios’ CTO, Jason “Stormwind” Spangler. “We wanted to give something back to the development community by making some of the code we’ve created available.”

Among the new open-source offerings for Unreal Engine 4 is “Blinken,” which adds support for color-changing peripherals like Razer’s Chroma line, AlienFX, Logitech G in both Blueprint and C++. Other plugins facilitate XMPP chat support, more robust configuration menus, and ping time displays. The repository also features contributions, additions, and fixes to a number of other open-source projects, such as the OSVR-Unreal plugin, nodervisor, discord-xmpp, and more. Descendent’s GitHub repository is available at https://github.com/DescendentStudios.

The Early Access version of Descent: Underground is available at http://www.descentunderground.com, Steam, and other online resellers. The game already features a number of multiplayer competitive and cooperative game modes, among them a horde-style “Survival” mode, and a tongue-in-cheek capture-the-flag mode called “Miner Mayhem”. Single-player “Survival” and “Vs. Bots” modes allow offline play in advance of the upcoming storyline campaign.

Descent: Underground is also bundled with the OSVR HDK2 VR headset now through Sept. 19, while stocks last at http://www.razerzone.com/store/hdk2.

Train2Game News WoW Legion sells 3.3 million

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Blizzard’s new expansion for World of Warcraft matches launch-day record with 3.3 million sold.
Heroes of the Horde and the Alliance from around the globe unite as World of Warcraft achieves the highest launch-week player concurrency since Cataclysm®.

With Azeroth on the brink of destruction, heroes from around the world were summoned to drive back the Burning Legion’s armies last week with the launch of World of Warcraft®:  Legion™, the sixth expansion to Blizzard Entertainment’s acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. 

Today, Blizzard announced that players have forged a truly formidable defensive front—as of the expansion’s first full day of launch on August 30, more than 3.3 million copies of Legion had sold through, matching the all-time record achieved by previous expansions and making it one of the fastest-selling PC games ever. In addition, World of Warcraft’s launch-week player concurrency climbed to its highest point since the 2010 launch of the Cataclysm ® expansion, as champions from around the world united to strike a mighty first blow against the fel invaders. But the battle has only just begun.
“It’s been a thrill to see players hunting demons, powering up Artifacts, and freely exploring all the new zones in Legion,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We worked hard to make this the best World of Warcraft expansion yet, and we look forward to providing players with even more content as Legion’s epic story unfolds in the months ahead.”

While players are currently entrenched against the first wave of demonic invaders, Legion’s next exciting chapter is already in the works. Last weekend at PAX West, Blizzard unveiled new details on the expansion’s upcoming first major content update, Patch 7.1: Return to Karazhan, featuring a reimagined version of one of World of Warcraft’s most popular raids. Players will explore a sprawling five-player Mythic dungeon, facing familiar foes from Karazhan’s past—and encountering plenty of surprises and twists along the way. The update also features a new set of quests unfolding over multiple weeks in the fallen night elf city of Suramar, as well as a brand-new raid: the Trial of Valor, which sends players deep into the vrykul underworld of Helheim.

WoW Legion Companion App Now Available

On Tuesday, Blizzard released the free WoW Legion Companion app, a new way for players to stay connected to their adventures on the Broken Isles, even from outside of Azeroth. With the app, players can manage their Order Hall missions and track World Quest availability, making it easy to plan out their adventures from afar. Available free now on iOS and Android™ mobile devices, the WoW Legion Companion App can help heroes keep the Burning Legion’s fel fire at bay even while on the go.

Train2Game News Simplygon

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Simplygon, the leading provider of automatic 3D optimization solutions for digital content creation, and Uppercut Games announced that Submerged for iOS fully relied on Simplygon optimization. 
The Unreal® Engine 4 game is a third-person exploration, post-apocalyptic indie game, originally developed for PC and console. The initial manual optimization on the city buildings and landmarks left the team with thousands of individual objects to draw, and this was too taxing on the most mobile GPUs. Simplygon and the HLOD feature allowed the studio to easily add Level of Detail at a series of different aspects of the open world game.

“Without Simplygon’s tool we would never have been able to release Submerged on iOS” said Andrew James, co-Founder of Uppercut Games. “We were pleasantly surprised to see how seem-less the transitions to HLOD mesh looked on device, even when swapped out to the LOD at a close distance. The Simplygon HLOD optimization allowed us to keep most of the original PC / console high poly art for the detail areas of the game where the player explores, walks and climbs.”

“Mobile is becoming increasingly powerful and talented developers as Uppercut can deliver really high-fidelity graphics on these devices. Obviously though, there are restrictions and limitations so optimization is key to a good game experience. It feels great to be able to provide UE4 developers with a robust and easy-to-use integration and an efficient way of optimizing original content, making games both look great and run smoothly across platforms. We are thrilled that Uppercut chose Simplygon for Submerged and are happy with their results.”, explained Martin Ekdal, co-Founder of Simplygon.

Simplygon was used in different manners to maintain the art quality while reaching a good frame rate. The HLOD feature combines hundreds of small individual detail meshes and reduces them to single draw call LOD meshes. This had a dramatic improvement on the game’s frame rate on iOS devices. A meaningful example is the reduction percentage done in Submerged. HLOD reduced 4176 meshes (many with multiple materials) down to 30 LOD meshes (99% reduction), and 1.38 million polygons down to 183,000 polygons (87% reduction). Simplygon replaced an optimization task that would have taken months to do manually to only a week of work.

Simplygon is the de facto standard optimization solution for large AAA PC and console games; mobile games; and MMOs, and is applicable to any medium where 3D art assets are created or utilized. By automating the optimization process required to make games run smooth, Simplygon helps digital content creators save important resources where artists would otherwise need to manually re-create large amounts of content.

Train2Game News RealTimeVFX

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VFX Luminaries have announced the launch of a brand new industry-driven community platform, RealTimeVFX.

Developed to open up the knowledge base, support, best practices and resources to a previously underserviced group, the VFX community will throw a spotlight of discussion and education for artists working with video games, VR, AR, mobile, hologram, theme park and upcoming technologies. 

RealTimeVFX.com is available and free to sign up for VFX professionals today.

With a focus of giving back to the community, the platform is spearheaded by some of the most acclaimed names in interactive VFX including Keith Guerrette (Uncharted Series, The Last of Us), Jason Keyser (League of Legends), Drew Skillman (Tiltbrush Creator, Google VR) and Seth Hall (Star Wars, Battlefield Hardline), all of whom are highly proactive and are breaking new ground within this space.  RealTimeVFX will also provide online and offline events, as well as partner with market-leading companies and products as part of the platform.  

RealTimeVFX co-Founder Keith Guerrette commented: “As VFX continues to be in high-demand across video games and VR/AR studios, each with their own bespoke technologies and challenges, there’s been a growing need to solidify our insights and efforts.  Our hope is that the platform will help unify our community long-term and facilitate a more positive and collaborative approach to support VFX artists and technology at both an indie and big studio level.”

Train2Game News Dishonored 2 at EGX

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EGX, the UK’s biggest games event, is delighted to announce that Bethesda Softworks’® Dishonored® 2, the highly-anticipated first-person action game from Arkane® Studios, will be playable for the public for the first time anywhere in the world at EGX 2016, taking place at the National Exhibition Centre on the 22nd to 25th September.
In addition, Sebastien Mitton, Art Director at Arkane Studios, will be hosting a developer session at EGX on 22nd September at 4pm BST. During his developer session, which will also be live streamed on the EGX Twitch channel, Mitton will discuss his artistic approach for Dishonored 2.

Dishonored 2, the latest blockbuster title to be unveiled for EGX 2016, is the follow up to Dishonored, which won over 100 ‘Game of The Year’ awards, including the 2012 BAFTA award for Best Game. Dishonored 2, is set for release worldwide on 11th November for the Xbox One, PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system and PC.

Play your way in a world where mysticism and industry collide. Will you choose to play as Empress Emily Kaldwin or the Royal Protector, Corvo Attano? Will you stalk your way through the game unseen, make full use of its brutal combat system, or use a blend of both? How will you combine your character’s unique set of powers, weapons and gadgets to eliminate your enemies? The story responds to your choices, leading to intriguing outcomes, as you play through each of the game’s hand-crafted missions.

“We’re thrilled that Bethesda has chosen EGX as the venue to bring Dishonored 2 to consumers for the very first time”, said David Lilley, EGX Managing Director. “It’s a further demonstration of the growing importance of EGX on the global stage”.

With Saturday day tickets now sold out, EGX 2016 is expected to be the biggest event in EGX history. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit – egx.net/egx/tickets

For more information about Dishonored 2 please visit https://dishonored.bethesda.net/

Train2Game News Facebook partner with Unity

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Recently Facebook have said that over 550 million people play games that are connected with Facebook every month on desktop, mobile and console, now it’s hoping to grow that number with a new partnership with Unity.
“Our mission is to give people the power to discover, play and share the games they love with the people they care about,” said Facebook’s Leo Olebe.

“Unity is the world’s leading game development platform. It’s great to be working with them to help developers find new audiences for the games they pour their hearts into.”

The alliance will include Facebook integration within Unity and a new PC gaming platform. Developers can apply now to be involved.

“Developers channel their talent and passion into creating amazing games, but development is only part of the challenge,” added Elliot Solomon, VP of Business Development at Unity.

“Integrating tools that provide effortless access to Facebook’s network is a key part of helping developers find the success they deserve.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz