Category Archives: games

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

Train2Game News: Next Xbox could eliminate pre-owned games

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XBOX720One of the latest reports to come out in regards to the next Xbox suggests that you will need a constant internet connection to play games.

The report announces that Microsoft will move to make Xbox Live an integral rather than optional feature of the next Xbox, with retail games being made available for download. Physical boxed titles will remain on sale in shops via 50GB Blu-ray discs, but “activation codes” will require verification online, the report adds. Once verified, discs will have no function beyond the initial users – effectively eliminating the second-hand games market as it’s currently known.

The information is said to come from sources with first-hand experience of Microsoft’s next generation console.

“Given its experience with 70 million-plus 360 console stats, Microsoft has accumulated enough user data to make the decision to go online-only with its successive hardware one that adds up,” the report states.

“Microsoft’s hand has been guided by the PC gaming landscape, and viewed through a particular lens it makes sense, even if unbelievers will take some convincing.

“Ultimately, Microsoft has asked itself a simple question: who wants to play games on a next-generation Xbox and yet doesn’t have access to the internet? The answer: not enough to make a considerable difference.”

The next Xbox, codename Durango, is said to utilise an AMD eight-core x64 1.6GHz CPU, a D3D11.x 800MHz graphics solution and 8GB of DDR3 RAM but to date the consoles hard drive capacity is said to be undecided.

Both next-gen consoles are said to be set for release before this Christmas, although PS4 is unlikely to launch in Europe until “early 2014”.

Train2Game News: Games Industry Jobs – 06.02.13

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Train2Game news is bringing you more jobs to try and help you make that all important first step in to the gaming industry.

DEVELOPER

Job Title Programmer – Hello Games
Job Category Programming
Skills Required Gameplay, Graphics / Engine
Location Guildford, UK & Europe

 
Job Description Hello Games, the bright new star of the indie scene, is hiring. It’s pretty awesome. Here’s the “job description” – make fun games, drink tea, win awards and talk nonsense. You can have total creative freedom too, if you want.

Hello Games is a tiny team and it’s going to stay that way. It’d be nice to become the next big thing though, which is going to take at least a couple more friends. This is your chance to become a big part of a small team with big ideas.

We’re looking for anyone who likes making games, and is awesome. Specifically we’re really interested in new fresh talent to fill the role below.

Programmers
We’re looking for enthusiastic programmers interested in owning a project from start to finish. Here’s some things we think you should have:

  • Examples of some previous games and side projects.
  • Good academic record, especially Maths.
  • Experienced in C++ and 3D programming.
  • A love of playing and making games
  • An interest in bringing existing games to new platforms

About Hello Games
Hello Games wants to make games that will put a stoopid grin on your face. They have set forth on a brave journey of discovery and adventure to bring some new, funky coloured pixels to the world.

Joe Danger was their first title, a triple A game developed by the talented team of four for XBLA and PSN. Since then they have been joined by some more talented people from around the globe. Together they will all unleash the charm and creativity that has been stopping them from sleeping at night.

And it’s only just begun. Drop what you’re doing and come join them!

Application Instructions
Please send CVs and portfolios to:
jobs@hellogames.co.uk

ART

Job Title Cinematic Animator – On-site or Remote – up to 220 EURO a day – Games
Job Category Art / Animation
Skills Required Animator
Location Germany
Job Description  

Location: On-site Frankfurt or Remote from home
Salary: Up to 220 EURO a day
Job Type: Contract from 10th Feb to 20th Feb 2013
Project: 1st Person Video Game Cinematic

My client is a specialist visual outsourcer to mainstream game developers as well the broadcast and feature film industry. As a result of a video game contract they are now looking to hire a Freelance Cinematic Animator to work either on-site in their Frankfurt studio or remotely from home. It is a short contract but an awesome project and there might be chance to work on future projects for the studio.

REQUIREMENTS / RESPONSIBILITIES:
You will be need to have experience of MotionBuilder and be responsible for layout of some cutscenes (prior to mocap). The cutscenes are first-person and the task is to block out the scenes and roughly animate the camera (which is supposed to be the head of the player).

A competitive day rate is on offer and the potential for work on other projects.

To ensure a speedy application please email your up to date CV in MS WORD FORMAT and Show Reel to officemanager@opmjobs.com or call me Jon direct on +44 (0) 1206 214425 if you have any queries.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t miss out on this great opportunity!

DESIGN

Game Designer

London

11 Month Contract

Start ASAP

£200 to £250 per day
STR are working closely with an award winning studio who are leading the way with interactive entertainment. Following this success and due to new exciting projects an excellent opportunity has arisen for an experienced Games Designer to join their team starting as soon as possible within a long term contract.
Game Designers are expected to bring their creative skills to bear in a team environment to delight customers and raise the quality of the features and products they are working on. Ideally we are looking for experience across multiple platforms and Apps, able to translate high level vision into quality designs and prototypes. Previous work with sports apps is an advantage. You must be comfortable working within a fast paced, busy team who rapidly produce prototypes and deliver high quality work as expected.

You will be focused on creating and implementing detailed interactive design mechanics that are fun and innovative and deliver highly engaging consumer experiences.

Responsibilities will also require collaboration creatively with external partners, brands and content providers
Key skills and experience required:

Proven ability to design detailed mechanics from concept and prototype to production
To develop workable product designs from high level creative direction
To work as part of a team, with artists and programmers, to fine tune interactive mechanics
A deep understanding of production pipelines and experience with in-development tool-sets
Outstanding verbal and written communication skills
High attention to detail
Knowledge of scripting or programming languages such as LUA, Kismet or XML and visualisation packages such as Visio or In Design
Passion for sports and interactive entertainment

On offer is a long term contract starting ASAP, full time Monday to Friday based on-site with our clients studios in London, easily commutable from many surrounding areas.

To apply please send your CV and Portfolio to cjacques@strgroup.co.uk or call Charlene Jacques on 02392 322362

QA

Job Title Embedded Tester
Job Category QA / Localisation
Skills Required QA Tester
Location Guildford
Job Description This is an excellent opportunity for a future high flying individual to join the 22cans team. We are seeking an embedded tester to work closely with our Development team on the production of Godus.

Key accountabilities
-Testing of games features in full partnership with the development team.
-Working closely with design and code to highlight weaknesses and areas for improvement during feature testing.
-Ensure the build remains stable, reporting of issues by verification testing and automated smoke testing.
– Meticulous logging and organisation of bugs .
– Generation of multiple test and bug reports.

Success Criteria
At least 1 game shipped in a similar role

Understanding of the software development process

Good understanding of mobile devices

Technical understanding of game features

Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills

Self-starter

Desired
Previous experience in QA is an advantage

Familiar with bug tracking software

Attitude and desire ‘to go far’ in the games industry

You can apply here.