Category Archives: Developer

Train2Game News: Game music on Classic FM

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Aerith's ThemeEver since I became your Train2Game blogger I have been contacted by a PR Guy for some of the biggest games developers. He has been leading his own personal campaign.

The guy I am talking about is a man called Mark Robins. Mark is a 13-year games industry veteran who used to work as a journalist at Computec and Future Publishing before moving into PR. The firm he works at, Lunch PR, is an agency whose clients include Bethesda Softworks.

The campaign he has been leading is to get some of the orchestral game music more well known. Robins’ campaign made amazing headway last year and recorded amazing success. Thanks to his efforts, he and his followers not only propelled Aerith’s Theme from Final Fantasy 7 and the theme from Skyrim into the Classic FM Hall of Fame, but Classic FM produced a pair of two-hour shows featuring nothing but video game music.

Mark has been using his contacts he gets through his job to ask for there help in spreading the word about his cause.

He firstly stresses “This campaign has nothing, nor has it ever had, anything to do with any of the clients I represent”

He goes on to say “This is a purely personal crusade. Skyrim made the Hall of Fame thanks to community motivation by Bethesda’s social media team. It’s no secret that I run the campaign, but I don’t actively tell people who I am via the social media channels and I’m actually really keen to keep this as distant from my work as possible.

“One of the interesting things I found when I started this was just how accepting the people at Classic FM were of the music. To them the revelation was, ‘Oh, we thought game music was all beeps and bloops, but actually this stuff is great. If Mozart or Beethoven were alive today then who’s to say this isn’t the stuff they’d be composing. It absolutely sits alongside movie and traditional classical music.'”

This year Robins is encouraging people to vote for Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack to Final Fantasy 7 again. He points out that thanks to last year’s voting effort there is now loads of video game music in Classic FM’s voting database, making it easy for people to highlight particular favourites. He also encourages fans of classical game music to join the Facebook group – not just to rock the vote, but also to share their enthusiasm.

This is great news for the games industry as it further cements the games industry as a main stream art form. I think it would be a good idea to further spread the news of this around to as many people as we can.

Train2Game News: The Dark Knight Returns

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Arkham CityYou may or may not know that your Train2Game blogger is a massive fan of the Dark Knight so hearing the news that there is going to be a third Arkham game made me very happy.

The next entry in the Batman: Arkham series will be released this year, Time Warner quietly revealed in a financial meeting last week. A transcript of the company’s Q4 2012 earnings call, quotes CFO John K. Martin as saying:

“We expect [digital home video revenue] to grow close to 20% in 2013. And we also have a strong games release this year, which will include the next release in the Batman Arkham franchise.”

Batman: Arkham City, the previous game in the franchise, was released in 2011 and was a huge success thanks, in part, to the story being written by the Batman animated series writer, Paul Dini. The game play was also incredible and as you were battling with the thugs of Gotham you did feel like Batman. The game was then retooled for Nintendo’s Wii U and re-published last November.

Last year it was rumoured that the next game in the series would take the form of a prequel, with developer, Rocksteady drawing inspiration from the Silver Age of comics. However, VG247 claims the UK studio is not developing the next game in the series.

In addition, in August of last year Paul Dini, announced he also will not be working with Warner Interactive on a Batman: Arkham 3 and Mark Hamill said that he would never voice The Joker again after Arkham City. A few months after the games release however, in an interview with film director Kevin Smith, Hamill said that he wouldn’t be opposed to playing the insane villain again if the part was right.

Train2Game News: SpecialEffect helps young Arlo

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SpecialEffect Train2Game’s friends at SpecialEffect have helped a give a young boy named Arlo the chance to play in a world where he is not impaired by his illness and giving him a chance to dream.

When Arlo’s friends came round, they’d end up playing outside with his brother but Arlo was not able to. He’s now overcoming his disabilities to take on his mates – and he’s winning!

Arlo’s just one of the many people whose lives the charity are transforming. Enabling him to play computer games, SpecialEffect are giving him the precious gift of inclusion with his friends and for a boy of seven, that means everything.

You can join SpecialEffect in changing more lives like Arlo’s by running at the British 10k or simply donate a few pounds to the charity.

Here’s a short video that shows how they’re making it possible.

Train2Game News: Injustice: Gods Among Us choose your winner!

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Nightwing v Harley QuinnInjustice: Gods Among Us comes out in April and in the lead up to the game you get to vote for your favourite characters to win in game battles.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is an all-new game in development by award-winning NetherRealm Studios. The title debuts a bold new fighting game franchise that introduces a deep, original story featuring a large cast of favourite DC Comics icons such as Batman, Green Arrow, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and many others. Set in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred, players will experience heroes and villains engaging in epic battles on a massive scale.

In last weeks battles Batman faced the super strong Bane and Wonder Woman faced the insanity of Harley Quinn. You can view the results of those battles below:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment reveal the next round of challengers in this week’s Injustice Battle Arena.

In week 2 of competition, The Flash enters the ring against Shazam in a battle of velocity versus mystic powers. Rounding out this week’s competition, the brilliant but merciless Lex Luthor challenges The Joker, the most psychopathic of supervillains.

View the latest Injustice Battle Arena videos, analyzing each contender’s strengths, offering celebrity commentary on the matches, and posing the question – who would win?


To cast your vote, visit: http://ema.io/MzAz

The victors of these two legendary match ups will be announced this Friday, with two new gameplay videos featuring the winning contenders.

For participating in these show-downs, fans in the UK will be rewarded with an Injustice avatar item when they register on the site and an exciting piece of DLC content when they first vote. Voice your opinion via Facebook, YouTube or Twitter and join the debate!

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 11.02.13

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Dead Space 3Train2Game once again brings you the game charts with another new number 1! This week at number 1 is the latest game from the hit horror sci-fi series, Dead Space. The previous number 1, Ni No Kuni has slipped down to number 6. Forza 4 and Madden NFL 13 have both risen back up in to the top 20.

Week ending 9 February 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 DEAD SPACE 3 EA GAMES –
2 – FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 2
3 – CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 3
4 – FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 4
5 – HITMAN: HD TRILOGY SQUARE ENIX 5
6 NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH NAMCO BANDAI GAMES 1
7 – NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 7
8 – JUST DANCE 4 UBISOFT 8
9 – HITMAN ABSOLUTION SQUARE ENIX 9
10 SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED SEGA 18
11 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 10
12 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 6
13 – HALO 4 MICROSOFT 13
14 – FORZA HORIZON MICROSOFT 14
15 – SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 15
16 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 SEGA 12
17 – LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 17
18 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 16
19 MADDEN NFL 13 EA SPORTS –
20 FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 MICROSOFT –

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd

Train2Game News: Search for a Star, last chance to sign up!

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Aardvark Swift’s Search For A Star 2013 set to be the biggest year in the competition’s history

Students looking to showcase their work to the industry are joining Search For A Star competition in record numbers as registration closing date (the first of March) approaches.

Search For A Star the nationwide competition for student games developers and programmers will soon reach the final stages of its registration process. With 100 entries so far, this year will set the record for the most entries to the competition and is set to be the biggest year in the competition’s history. The final opportunity to register for the competition is the first of March.

Search for a Star is a nationwide competition designed to highlight and reward the UK’s most promising video games students. The competition spans the UK’s leading areas of higher education (universities, blended learning courses and colleges) and is an excellent chance to shine the spotlight on students studying video games related subjects (including computer science and computer games programming) and also highlight the UK’s leading courses.

The register and find out more about the competition go to www.aswift.com/searchforastar/

Daniel Collinson, last year’s Search For A Star Winner and now an employee at Sony Evolution, said: “I’m happy to hear that more and more people are interested in the Search for a Star competition. People who are passionate about getting into the industry MUST take part as it makes such a huge difference.

Even just taking part looks good on your CV as you are keen to try other things outside of your University modules. Employers want people that not only study hard, but demonstrate that they really are passionate and keen to get into the industry, this is done by doing personal projects in their spare time, taking part in game jams and of course competitions such as Search for a Star.

The competition will teach candidates the type of interviewing processes that real studios do. I personally never had a real interview before so the skills I learnt from the competition helped me land my dream job working for Sony Evolution. I will be following this year’s competition and can’t wait to see the games from stage 2, good luck to all, it’s a very nerve wrecking and exciting process.”

Created by Aardvark Swift the competition is contributed to by some of the UK Games Industry’s most respected video games developers. Included in the judging panel are representatives from: The Blast Furnace, Headstrong Games, Rockstar Leeds, Microsoft, Sony Evolution and many more.

All entrants receive CV and Portfolio advice from Aardvark Swift, up for grabs for the winners will not only be physical prizes provided by Microsoft but also internships at some of the most prestigious games developers in the UK, including: Sony Evolution, Exient and Boss Alien.

The register for the competition and find out more about the competition go to www.aswift.com/searchforastar/

Train2Game News: SimCity Closed Beta

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SimCityFan excitement for the release of SimCity has been growing. In order to give even more fans a taste of the game before its March launch, Maxis is proud to announce that it will be holding a second SimCity Closed Beta.

The franchise that laid the foundations of the city building simulation genre is back, empowering players to create the world of their imagination! Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that SimCity is breaking new ground in 2013. SimCity for PC, a brand new entry in the franchise is currently in development at Maxis Emeryville, and was revealed at GDC early last year.

Lucy Bradshaw, Senior Vice President of EA’s Maxis Label said “We’d like to thank the millions of fans who have helped make SimCity synonymous with the city-building genre. This is a franchise that means the world to us at Maxis and we’re happy to be bringing it back home where we are re-imagining it for an entirely new generation of players. Using our proprietary GlassBox Engine, SimCity for PC will equip players with the tools to play the most sophisticated simulation of its kind. We are dedicated to making sure the experience – no matter the platform – has the fun, flavor and playability that has been intrinsic to the franchise since its birth.”

The second SimCity Closed Beta will be running from 1400GMT on February 16 to 1400GMT on February 17 and will feature an enhanced version of the one-hour slice of gameplay that delighted fans in January. Fans who haven’t already signed up for the beta can do so at www.SimCity.com/beta. Hurry, sign-ups end at 1400GMT on February 11.

To whet fan appetites even more, Maxis today unveiled a new trailer showing off the Limited Edition exclusive content, which can be seen below

SimCity has been rated PEGI 7. To stay up-to-date on the latest regarding SimCity, and to pre-order now, please visit www.SimCity.com.

For a full list of conditions, please visit www.SimCity.com/betadisclaimer

Train2Game News: End of week round up – 08.02.13

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Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3's does it look dated to you?Train2Game are this week bringing you an end of the week round up of news.

A new Call Of Duty has been confirmed for the fourth quarter of this year. “The Call of Duty franchise continues to set the bar for innovation and we expect a new Call of Duty game in development for 2013 to raise that bar even higher,” said CFO Dennis Durkin during a financials conference call today. Historical trends indicate this year’s title is likely to be a new entry in the ‘Modern Warfare’ line, developed by Infinity Ward. Expect an early November release.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told investors on Thursday that Ubisoft plans to publish a new Assassin’s Creed game during the 2014 financial year. The game, developed across several of Ubisoft’s global games development studios, will likely be introduced at E3 this year. Although Guillemot didn’t go into too much detail, it was confirmed the game will take place in a new time period and star a new character. In further Assassin’s Creed news, Assassin’s Creed 3 sales have reached 12 million across the globe.

Yet another big game sequel that surfaced this week was that of Little Big Planet 3. The game is being developed by Sumo Digital who were the company behind the cross controller pack for Little Big Planet 2. Sony have yet to comment on this but VG247 was told that the independent, Sheffield-based studio has been working on the project for unknown platforms for “well over a year”.

The first trailer has been released for the up coming Activision Walking Dead game, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. The game features the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle. In addition, Activision announced that those who pre-order The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct on Xbox 360 or PS3 at GAME or GameStop Ireland will receive the Walker Herd Survival Pack, which contains Herd Mode where you stave off endless waves of the undead. The add-on will also grant new weapons in the story mode including a survival knife, sawtoothed machete, kukri, reinforced hatchet and advanced machete. If you do get the add-on, be sure to install it before starting the game as you won’t be able to access the new weapons in a game already in progress. You can watch the trailer here.

The developers of the OUYA android console have said that they want to release a new OUYA every year. Ouya company founder Julie Uhrman said “There will be a new Ouya every year. There will be an Ouya 2 and an Ouya 3. We’ll take advantage of faster, better processors, take advantage of prices falling. So if we can get more than 8GB of Flash in our box, we will.” By the end of last year, 1200 Ouya dev kits had been sent out. By the end of January, the software development package had been downloaded 22,000 times.

Train2Game News: J.J Abrams and Gabe Newell could collaborate

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Valve logoValve CEO, Gabe Newell and top film director, J.J Abrams hit the stage at the DICE summit in Las Vegas and announced they had been talking about working together.

After a back-and-forth about player agency and storytelling, Newell revealed that the duo had been “recapitulating a series of conversations going on,” and that they’re now ready to “do more than talk”: Newell suggested “either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie,” and Abrams said he’d like to make a game with Valve.

Valve are one of the top games developers with games such as Half Life and Portal under their belts which have incredible game play mechanics that make them fan favourites.

J.J Abrams on the other hand is one of the best directors at the moment, responsible for the reboot of the Star Trek films and is taking the helm on the new Star Wars films. Abrams has also worked on TV Series such as Lost and Fringe.

The two men working together could bring forth incredible games with the mechanics of Valve and storytelling of Abrams. In addition, in my opinion, there would be no man better to direct a Portal or Half Life movie than Mr Abrams.

In 2010, Newell said that if Valve were to make a Half-Life movie, it wouldn’t hand over control to any Hollywood studio, saying:

“There was a whole bunch of meetings with people from Hollywood. Directors down there wanted to make a Half-Life movie and stuff, so they’d bring in a writer or some talent agency would bring in writers, and they would pitch us on their story. And their stories were just so bad. I mean, brutally, the worst. Not understanding what made the game a good game, or what made the property an interesting thing for people to be a fan of.

“That’s when we started saying ‘Wow, the best thing we could ever do is to just not do this as a movie, or we’d have to make it ourselves.’”

There are no details on Newell and Abrams’ project—be it game, film, or both—outside of the tease that they’re talking. They are talking and I am sure that can only mean good things.

Train2Game News: New Facebook video channel for Developers

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Facebook Developers LiveFacebook have launched a new video channel which could be incredibly useful for Train2Game students.

Facebook has launched a video channel, known as Developers Live, to help developers stay up to date with the latest technology news and tutorials. The curated channel features live, recorded and interactive broadcasts.

Through this new channel, Facebook aims to give developers a central place to learn about the latest tools and to give them access to the product managers and engineers who created them.

Initially, Developers Live will cover:

• Mobile development – how to go deeper and grow your apps with Facebook

• Game development – how to build better games across web and mobile

• Websites and publishing – how to use Facebook to drive traffic

The first Developers Live event is schedule for February 19th and will feature Facebook’s director of product, Doug Purdy. Mr Purdy will discuss the top three things every mobile developer needs to know in 2013.

This could prove to be incredibly valuable for Train2Game students and give them insight in to what other Developers are thinking and working towards. I advice all Train2Game students to get involved with this new initiative.

If you would like to find out more you can visit Developers Live on Facebook