Category Archives: Developer

Train2Game News: Games Industry News – 26.04.13

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THQ logoIt is the end of the week which means it is time for the Train2Game industry news round up!

Nordic Games announced earlier this week that it was one of the successful bidders in THQ´s auction process, which ended on April 15. Nordic Games will acquire more than 150 intellectual properties for a purchasing price of USD 4.9 million spanned across PC, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony platforms. The company has acquired the rights to Darksiders, Red Faction, MX vs. ATV, Titan Quest, Supreme Commander, Frontlines, Stuntman, Juiced, Full Spectrum Warrior, Destroy All Humans and much more. I look forward to seeing what the developer does with their new products.

Annelid aficionados Mastertronic announced Worms Revolution Collection, the latest in anarchic action, will explode into stores on May 3rd for Xbox 360. Worms Revolution Collection, contains the latest OTT outing in the best-selling turn-based series, plus all three DLC packs and, as an added bonus, Worms 2 Armageddon and all five DLC packs all wrapped up in a mystery crate and sealed with a loving poke! You can enjoy the trailer, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPNMoUFw3_0&feature=youtu.be

Another game collection. You will be able to experience the complete Skyrim collection with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition, arriving in retail stores throughout Europe and Australia on June 7, 2013. The Legendary Edition will be available on Xbox 360 and PS3 for £39.99. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition includes the original critically-acclaimed game, official add-ons – Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn – and added features like combat cameras, mounted combat, Legendary difficulty mode for hardcore players, and Legendary skills – enabling you to master every perk and level up your skills infinitely.

Independent developer Wired Productions has confirmed plans to bring popular music creation software eJay to the touchscreen generation – despite not reaching its initial Kickstarter campaign target. As the campaign closed this morning, over £50,000 had been pledged – short of the hoped £150,000, but enough support to make Wired Productions more determined than ever to revive the program which inspired a generation of DJs. “It has been a hell of a ride,” explains Leo Zullo, managing director, Wired Productions, “but ultimately we fell short of our initial target. That said, it’s been an invaluable process. We’ve learnt loads about what the community wants and feel able to continue our journey towards a revived eJay with renewed confidence.

Finally, a bit of news for you Bat-fans, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games announced the release of LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, available now on the App Store. Delivering action-adventure gameplay to touchscreen devices, this latest caper is based on LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, the game which released to critical acclaim in June 2012 and was one of the best-selling videogames of the year.

Train2Game News: Major Xbox Announcement

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Xbox announcementThe rumours of the announcement for the Next Generation Xbox have been confirmed as true by Larry Hryb.

Larry Hryb, also known as Major Nelson, confirmed on his twitter account that Microsoft will be revealing the next Xbox on May 21. Mr Hryb directed his twitter followers attention to his blog which had a big green banner across the top with a countdown under the words “Xbox Reveal”. You can’t get much clearer than that.

“On Tuesday May 21st, we’ll mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment,” the post says. “On that day, we’ll be holding a special press event on the Xbox campus and we invite you to join us via the live global stream that will be available on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE and broadcast on Spike TV if you are in the US or Canada.”

The worldwide stream will land at 1pm ET, 10am Pacific and 5pm GMT, although presumably that should be 6pm. This will allow all people around the world to watch the stream live with out having to stay up until the early hours of the morning.

The post goes on to announce further info at E3 a few weeks later, including an extensive software reveal. “We’ll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future,” it says. “Then, 19-days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we’ll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games.”

The post is finished of by saying “We are thrilled to pull back the curtain and reveal what we’ve been working on.” A comment like this shows how much passion has been put into this project.

I am greatly looking forward to this announcement.

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio interview with Icey Monty

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Icey MontyI got the pleasure of interviewing the Train2Game Student Studio Icey Monty earlier this week. They are really going from strength to strength in this industry and you can read about or listen to their company adventures below.

You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1350533-train2game-student-studio-icey-monty-talks-to-t2g-radio

Or read the following transcript:

John: Hi, my name’s John, I’m on the Developer course and I’m from Scotland but now live in Newcastle.

Nick: Hi I’m Nick, I’m also on the Train2Game course and I’m from Newmarket, Suffolk.

Hi guys, how you doing?

John: I’m good, how about you?

Nick: I’m good, really good.

I’m good cheers guys, so tell me who you guys are and what you have been up to?

John: We’re Icey Monty, we started our own company two weeks ago and we are now officially working on a couple of clients games.

Very nice. So what clients, what games? If you can say of course

John: Nick is working for a professor in California at the minute, he specialises in eye to brain coordination. He’s asked for a thing to be created that will measure reflexes, how quick the eye can send a message to the brain. So Nick’s been working on that for the past two or three weeks now and I’m working on a racing game for a client in the Ukraine. He’s got a website that currently gets about three hundred thousand hits a day so that’s pretty cool!

You seem to get a lot of international work. Where do you source your work from?

John: I’ll let you answer that one Nick.

Nick: Sure. Well we started off by just posting in the Unity commercial forums just saying we are a small start up and we are available for work. After that, we had about two or three jobs leading from that and from there we had the funds to start a website and since then we haven’t had to contact anyone really. We’ve had people contact us for the last few weeks.

So, is it just the two of you working then?

Nick: It is, yeah.

Are you happy working in a small team?

Nick: Oh absolutely yeah!

John: Most Definitely.

Nick: So much better than with the pressure you get with a large team.

John: Especially from a management side of things.

Nick: Oh definitely yeah. Things are a lot more flexible for us now. Things are a lot more laid back. Some days it doesn’t even feel like working really. A bit of a cliché but we really enjoy it so it’s nice.

Excellent. So you’ve had quite a lot of success so what advice would you give to students who are looking to start making games professionally?

John: Oh, be prepared to work, a lot. That’s how we done ours. When we got a clients job we literally wouldn’t rest because the way we thought about it was, this is our dream and they’ve given us the opportunity to where we want to be with our careers and our lives, so really we are indebted to these people.

Nick: You give them everything you can offer them. Don’t think of it as a job, you’re giving them your expertise. You’re showing them that you can do these kind of things, your proving yourself in the market, in the work you do.

So work hard and you will be noticed, kind of thing?

John: Yeah. The other thing we do is, if we know we are ahead of our schedule, we will actually contact the client because we’ve had an idea, literally me and Nick will talk all day – obviously we still get our work done, we don’t sit down and have a nanny chat, but if we come up with a cool idea we will contact the client and say “Look, we are a bit ahead of schedule, would you like this added to your game?” at no extra cost, it won’t cost you anything, we are just really enjoying what we are working on at the minute.

Perfect, so always go that extra mile for them?

Nick: Yeah, it pays back ten-fold.

John: It does, insanely.

So finally then lads, where can people find out more about Icey Monty?

John: If you just go to www.iceymonty.com which is our professional website or you can go to www.iceymontyblog.com and there are things we are working on personally for our clients projects, obviously with permission, some of the systems we create or just some general ideas and some doodles we do through the day.

Perfect well thank you very much guys!

John: No problem, thanks very much!

Nick: Cheers!

Train2Game News: Windows 8.1 bringing back Start button

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Windows 8Reports have emerged that with the update of Windows 8, the missed Start Button will make its return.

Since Windows 8 launched many have complained that there is no Start button for the system, with Windows 8.1 this will be rectified. Microsoft and Windows have heard the complaints and changed their system for you. The revived Start button still won’t open a Start menu, however, just offer a way to access the Start Screen.

Microsoft will also include the option to boot any Windows 8 device to its classic PC desktop and allow this to once again become the default view.

These features aren’t in the current Windows 8.1 beta but are expected to be included in its final release, due later this year.

These details were revealed by The Verge and are backed up by an identical report from ZDNet, posted earlier this month.

The decision to backtrack on these features shows Microsoft do listen to their customers and are trying to get the best system out for everyone. Windows 8 has, so far, had mixed reviews from Developers and Train2Game students a like.

Time will tell if this back track of features will increase the popularity of the operating system.

Train2Game News: Word slinging game Spellirium

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SpelliriumUntold Entertainment introduces Spellirium, a trashpunk comedy adventure with monsters, mystics, and linguistic spellslingers.

In a future when reading and writing have been outlawed, Brother Todd of the Runekeepers and a motley crew of characters must journey across the devastated landscape, bringing peace and order to a ruined civilization. But outlandish legends thrive on oral tradition, and Todd uncovers a painful truth written in the margins of his life’s story.

Untold is setting its sights on older players with Spellirium’s darkly comic approach to themes of betrayal, individualism, and privilege. The company hopes Spellirium will please venerable adventure fans who remember a time before pointing and clicking, when entire worlds were explored through text parser commands. Puzzlers who delight in crosswords, Scrabble, Boggle, and logic challenges will find something to love in Spellirium.

Using word-based spellcasting to battle monsters and shadowy overlords, Spellirium is an adventure for clever players. More than just manipulating letters to form words, players must utilize palindromes, synonyms, color combos, rhymes, and more. One monster, for example, can only be defeated through onomatopoeia (CRASH, BANG, BOOM). A certain achievement sees players building semordnilaps – words that spell valid, entirely different words when read backwards (ROOM <-> MOOR). A mindless word-search this most definitely is not.

Pre-order customers immediately receive an alpha download of the game, which includes the prologue and two of three acts. The “kickENDER campaign,” as called by Untold Entertainment founder, Ryan Henson Crieghton, will be used to fund further development, including the implementation of the final act, voice-overs, and sound effects.

Rewards for financial backers at various tiers include voicing a character in the game, designing a creature, and branding a word in the Spellirium Dictionary; a collectible list of 50,000 words that can be used to buy items and craft power-ups. The Reserve-A-Word tier is already proving popular with players, who have reserved a bizarre list of words including SLUG, LIZARD, MOIST, BARF, MOMMY, SAMURAI and SAUSAGE.

In one of the support tiers you also get access to the UGAGS game logic and a “God Panel” so you can tweak and play around with the game as much as you want or just see the coding that went in to how the game works. This should be very helpful to any Train2Game developers.

This sounds like an interesting new take on an old system that was used in the likes of the text based adventure, ZORK.

You can watch the trailer below

You can pre-order Spellirium, support them and find out more at www.spellirium.com

Train2Game News: Mobile Talisman board game

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TalismanMobile games publisher, Thumbstar Games, is excited to announce the release of Games Workshop’s fantastic Talsiman Prologue from Nomad Games scheduled for 25th April for iOS and Android.

Enter the Mythical World of Talisman’s Dragons and Sorcery!

Talisman Prologue is the first in a series of games based on the seminal Talisman board game.

For those unfamiliar with this classic world of fantasy adventure, Talisman is a game like no other – indeed, it is no ordinary game but a fantastic quest in a world of magic and monsters.

As you play, a story unfolds from turn to turn: a heroic epic of brave deeds, daring encounters, treasures and magic, of battles won and lost, but always a tale that enthrals!

In Talisman Prologue, you take the role of 10 characters on a series of epic quests. Fight your way through hordes of monstrous creatures and cast powerful magic spells along the way.

Using the rules of the board game, Talisman Prologue is a single-player strategy role-playing game.

The key features of the game include:

· 10 classic characters from the board game
· 50 quests to play through
· Original sountrack
· Endless replayability

You can enjoy the trailer below:

To keep up on the latest news from Thumbstar Game and Talisman, you can using the links below:

Website: http://www.thumbstar.com/games/TALISMAN

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thumbstargames

Twitter: @thumbstar

 

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 22.04.13

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AquamanThis week in the games charts BioShock has been knocked off of the number one spot! The game that punched it down to second place is the DC Comics fighter, Injustice: Gods Among Us. The new Fire Emblem game on Nintendo 3DS is the other new entry this week coming in at number three.

All formats

Week ending 20 April 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE –
2 BIOSHOCK INFINITE 2K GAMES 1
3 FIRE EMBLEM: AWAKENING NINTENDO –
4 TOMB RAIDER SQUARE ENIX 2
5 DEFIANCE TRION WORLDS 4
6 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 3
7 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 6
8 LUIGI’S MANSION 2 NINTENDO 5
9 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 14 EA SPORTS 12
10 – FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 10
11 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM XBOX 360 CLASSICS 14
12 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 9
13 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 7
14 SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 15
15 GEARS OF WAR: JUDGMENT MICROSOFT 8
16 SNIPER: GHOST WARRIOR 2 CITY INTERACTIVE 20
17 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 11
18 GOD OF WAR: ASCENSION SONY COMPUTER ENT. –
19 SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED SEGA 17
20 SLEEPING DOGS XBOX 360 CLASSICS –
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: A visit to Special Effect

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Kirsty Payne from SpecialEffectI had the great pleasure of going to visit SpecialEffect at its headquarters in Oxford on Wednesday. The charity held a get together to thank supporters for their work during the Art Charity Auction back in December.

As I arrived at the building I was struck by how incredible it looked. I drove up a long road, flanked by trees all the way up to a Manor building where SpecialEffect is housed. I parked around the back and entered the easily accessible building where I was met by Hannah Whittaker, who works at SpeciaEffect.

As I entered the office I was greeted by Gavin Tan, who is a developer for the charity. I chatted with Gavin for a bit about games, that is the reason we are in this industry, and he then showed me some of the controllers they use to help disabled people to be able to play games.

The first controller I tried was the “EyeGaze”. This is a device which tracks your eye movements and lets you do all the things you want on a computer using nothing but your eye movement. Following a quick calibration I got to play racing game, Dirt. To control the vehicle you moved your eyes to the top of the screen to go faster, to the bottom of the screen to brake and reverse and direct your eyes left or right to turn. I am normally terrible at racing games but using the EyeGaze I managed an average time which pleased me!

Following on from the EyeGaze I got to experience voice activated controls in Street Fighter. A control was set up which is used for movement and can be controlled by your chin with a sensitive microphone for the voice commands. The commands were simple like “Punch” for an uppercut, “Kick” for a spinning kick and “Move” to do a Hadouken.

Seeing and experiencing these controllers for myself really showed me how helpful these can be for people trying to get back in to gaming and back playing games on a level playing field. It truly is an amazing thing that the people at SpecialEffect do.

Over the next half an hour several games industry people turned up to the office for the event. There were people there from Sega, Warner Bros, and Take-two. Once everyone had arrived it was time for the main event.

Everyone was welcomed to the event by Kirsty Payne, a Vice President of SpecialEffect, who can be seen in the picture above. She gave a quick run down of the event in December. The art auction featured games art from across the industry and was held at the London City Hall and was visited by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The auction managed to raise over £30,000!

The floor was then given over to Dr Mick Donegan, founder of SpecialEffect, who showed where the money will be going and who is being helped.

After the presentation SpecialEffect offered us drink and food. It was lovely just being able to talk with some of the games industry people who do so much for our industry and hearing their opinions on the games industry at the moment.

It was an incredible day and I will continue to do what I can for this amazing Charity! I will leave you with this amazing video of a young man called Alex who has been able to play games again and has used Special Effects help to be able to become a Train2Game student!

Enjoy!

Train2Game News: Games Industry News – 19.04.13

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Connor AdamsIt is the end of the week so it is time for the Train2Game end of week round up!

The first bit of news this weeks come with the release of Injustice: Gods Among Us, the new DC Universe fighting game. Train2Game student Connor Adams did some of the concept art for the game at the company he works at Atomhawk in Newcastle. Congratulations Connor! You can view some of his art work, which I highly suggest, in the following link: http://crayonmechanic.deviantart.com/

The Pokémon Company International recently revealed a mysterious new Pokémon that looks strangely familiar to Legendary Pokémon Mewtwo. Nintendo have now confirmed that this new Pokémon is connect to Mewtwo! How this connection will play out when Pokémon X and Pokémon Y launch in October is still to be confirmed. You can enjoy a short clip, that makes the connection clear, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tSVBVQzNMg&feature=player_embedded

Bethesda have recently uploaded a couple of six second long clips to the video sharing site, Vine. These little teaser clips had the internet buzzing about what could be coming. It has now been announced that it is the new game from Resident Evil creator, Shinji Mikami. Mikami’s studio Tango Gameworks will reveal ‘project Zwei’ via a debut trailer set for release at 5:00 a.m. Pacific / 8:00 a.m Eastern. Mikami has previously described Zwei as “a true survival horror” in which the player “confronts and overcomes fear”. Mikami has also said this will be his last game as director.

Activision social media manager Dan Amrich has said he expects 2013’s entry in the Call of Duty series, which is most likely going to be Modern Warfare 4, to be revealed no later than E3 in early June. Amrich noted that the last two Call of Duty games were revealed in May 2011 and May 2012. It has been rumoured that Microsoft are revealing their next Xbox on May 21 so it is likely the new COD will be announced around the same time.

Finally, Microsoft reports that Xbox Live now has around 46 million members worldwide. This, is according to the firm’s Earnings Release for FY13 Q3. It represents an 18 per cent increase from the prior year period. Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division posted revenue of $2.53 billion, an increase of 56 per cent from the prior year period. Microsoft sold 1.3 million Xbox 360s during the quarter, which is down 9 percent from the same period but it is still impressive that so many consoles are still being sold, even at the end of this generations cycle.

Train2Game News: FIFA 14 revealed

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FIFA 14EA has revealed details for FIFA 14, including new features and improvements which will allow us to play “just like real footballers”, according to a press release.

Players will now have the ability to adjust their stride before taking on a shot, therefore creating a better angle, with the new ‘Pure Shot’ feature. “Well-hit balls feel more exhilarating and rewarding,” apparently, according to the press release. It continues: “Real Ball Physics now determines the trajectories of balls, enabling players to kick the ball with force from distance, drill low rising shots with accuracy, and blast dipping or turbulent shots, just like real players.”

Teammate intelligence is set to improve, meaning defenders are better able to predict the movements of oncoming strikers. ‘Sprint Dribble Turns’ and ‘Variable Dribble Touches’ will allow for tighter ball control and deft touches, and the ‘Protect the Ball’ feature will  allow players the ability to fend off pressuring defenders whilst dribbling at a range of speeds.

The last, and probably most expanded upon feature is the Global Scouting Network – an improvement on the Youth Academy Scout Network from FIFA 13. “Players now develop and refine a scouting network and search for talent year-round. Scouts can evaluate players all over the world to uncover the attributes and traits of every player in the game, in preparation for the transfer windows,” the press release reads.

FIFA 14 will deliver engaging online features and live services that connect fans to the heartbeat of the sport, and to each other, through EA SPORTS Football Club, making FIFA 14 football’s social network, where fans connect, compete and share with millions of others around the world.

The FIFA games have had a gradual evolution and a steady, yet high, popularity amongst online players. The question is though is this game going to change enough to keep it above the ever increasing popularity of PES?

FIFA 14 is in development at EA Canada and will be available in stores world-wide this fall.