Category Archives: games

Train2Game News: UK Charts – Ghost Recon: Future Soldier shoots to No.1

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Train2Game students see Ghost Recon: Future Soldier from Ubisoft take top spot of the UK Charts in the tactical shooters’ first week on sale, one of three new entries in the top five.

The fifth full game in the Ghost Recon series has had better week one sales than any of its predecessors.  Last month, The Train2Game Blog spoke to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Creative Director Jean-Marc Geoffroy and Ubisoft Development Director Adrian Lacey, with the pair offering advice on getting into the industry.

The success of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier sees Max Payne 3 drop to No.2, while Capcom RPG Dragon’s Dogma and Codemasters’ DiRT Showdown are new entries at No.3 and No.4 respectively.  FIFA 12 is a non-mover at No.5.

Sniper Elite V2 from Oxford studio Rebellion slips to No.6, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 remaining at No.7 for the second week in a row. Prototype 2 drops two to No.8, while Diablo III is this week’s biggest loser slipping seven places from No.2 to No.9. FIFA Street completes the top ten.

Other new releases making the top 40 this week include Mario Open Tennis for 3DS at No.11, and Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock for PlayStation 3 at No. 34.

The UKIE Gfk Chart-Track All Formats Top 10 for the week ending 26th May is therefore as follows:

1. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Ubisoft)
2. Max Payne 3 (Rockstar)
3. Dragon’s Dogma (Capcom)
4. DiRT Showdown (Codemasters)
5. FIFA 12 (EA)
6. Sniper Elite V2 (505 Games)
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
8. Prototype 2 (Activision)
9. Diablo III (Blizzard)
10. FIFA Street (EA)

Releases for the coming week include Resistance: Burning Skies for PlayStation Vita.

What are your thoughts on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier taking No.1? And what about the success of a new IP in the form of Dragon’s Dogma at No.3? And which game do you think will take top spot next week?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Next Skyrim update introduces mounted combat

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 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim players will be able to partake in mounted combat when the new feature is added by Bethesda’s 1.6 Skyrim update.  You’ll be able to strike down foes while riding a horse.

Train2Game students may recall that the feature first appeared in an internal Skyrim Game Jam at Bethesda. Of course, Train2Game students will be familiar with game jams after taking part in one run by Train2Game and Epic last year.

The new patch also comes with the standard bug fixes, and will arrive on all platforms soon. PC players however, can already take a look at mounted combat by opting into the latest Steam Beta update.

Steam integration and modding support for Skyrim has proved to be very successful, with almost 14 million mods downloaded using the Skyrim workshop.  There’s much more about modding here.

Be sure to keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim news.

What are your thoughts on the update for Skyrim? And what do you think about mounted combat coming from an internal game jam?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Batman: Arkham City developer diary goes behind the scenes of voice acting

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Train2Game students can get behind the scenes of Batman: Arkham City’s voice acting in a brand new developer diary from Rocksteady Studios and Warner Brothers.

Batman: Arkham City ‘Game of the Year Edition’ Video #2: Audio Voice Talent sees game director Sefton Hill and lead narrative designer Paul Crocker discuss the importance of audio talent to making a great game.

It also shows behind the scenes footage of Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy, The Joker voice actor Mark Hamill and Talia al Ghul actress Stana Katic performing and discussing their roles.

Watch the developer diary below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

Batman: Arkham City’s Harley Quinn’s Revenge DLC  is released on 30th May, while Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition reaches the UK in September.

There’s more Batman: Arkham City news here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts of the voice acting in Batman: Akrham City? How important do you think it can be to a game?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: How The Elder Scrolls Online story is being written by Zenimax

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Train2Game students can find out how the story is being written for The Elder Scrolls Online, the upcoming MMO from Zenimax Studios based on Bethesda’s popular RPG series.

Speaking in an exclusive video interview with Game Informer, lead content designer Rich Lambert and creative director Paul Sage discuss the story for The Elder Scrolls Online and how it fits in with Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, and Tamriel as a whole.

They also reveal some of the techniques used at Zenimax to decide on their story, including research, brainstorming and communication with Bethesda Game Studios.

Watch the video over at Game Informer. You can also watch the Elder Scrolls Online announcement trailer below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

There’s much more about The Elder Scrolls here on The Train2Game Blog, including this post about nearly 14 million mods being downloaded for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

What are your initial thoughts about The Elder Scrolls Online? Do you think an MMO in an established single player universe will work well?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Call of Duty: Black Ops II will ‘rewrite the rulebook’ say Treyarch

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Train2Game students who play Call of Duty: Black Ops II when it’s released later this year will be playing a game that’s rewritten the rulebook for the popular shooter series.

That’s according to game director David Antony while discussing Call of Duty: Black Ops II and its game design with CVG.

“One of the ways we have been most ambitious is in terms of story. I worked with Hollywood screenwriter David Goyer for about the last three months editing the story on the first Black Ops, and we had a really great time. He genuinely enjoyed it, describing the experience as the most fun he’d had since film school 20 years ago.” he said.

“So we got to the end of the first Black Ops and he’s like ‘Dave, I want to work on the next one from the start. We’ve taken some risks on the first Black Ops; now let’s rewrite the rules about storytelling in games.’ So right from the start it wasn’t a case of thinking how far do we needed to go to satisfy peoples’ expectations… we’re not even thinking about that. We just want to rewrite the rulebook.”

Antony explained how Call of Duty: Black Ops 2’s branching story will work, revealing that there are different outcomes depending on your decisions.”

“So the sandbox levels, these are called Strike Force. Let me explain the overall branching story; you have characters – main characters – in the story who will live or die depending on what you do, and it’s not just what you do – it’s the choices you make and your skill in Strike Force. So depending on how skilful you are on those levels, it’ll actually have an influence on the overall Cold War that’s going on. So that’s one example.” he said.

“You play the game when it comes out in November, and you’re all likely to get different outcomes. So when you get to the end of the game we’re going to make it very clear to you the different things that could have happened.” he added.

Something that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 won’t be getting, as previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, is a new engine. A team of 300 people are working on the game.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for all the latest news on Call of Duty: Black Ops II?

What are your thoughts on what Antony says about Call of Duty: Black Ops II?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: UK Charts – Max Payne 3 beats Diablo III to No.1

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Train2Game Blog readers see Max Payne 3 take top spot of the UK charts this week, with Rockstar’s action title beating off competition from fellow debutant Diablo III for No.1.

It’s the first time a Max Payne title has debited at No.1, with Max Payne 3 outselling its 2003 predecessor by almost ten to one.

PC exclusive Diablo III therefore has to settle for No.2 on its first week on sale, despite being the 12th fastest selling PC game of all time. FIFA Street drops to No.3,  former No.1 Sniper Elite V2 drops to No.4, while FIFA 12 slips to No.5.

Prototype 2 is No.6 this week, one spot ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 which re-enters the top ten.  Battlefield 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations are up one spot each, while Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games completes the top ten.

The UKIE Gfk Chart-Track All Formats Top 10 for the week ending 19th May is therefore as follows:

1. Max Payne 3 (Rockstar)
2. Diablo III (Blizzard)
3. FIFA Street (EA)
4. Sniper Elite V2 (505 Games)
5. FIFA 12 (EA)
6. Prototype 2 (Activision)
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
8. Battlefield 3 (EA)
9. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Ubisoft)
10. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Sega)

New releases this week include Dragon’s Dogma and DiRT Showdown.

What are your thoughts on this week’s charts? Which game do you think will claim No.1 next week?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Mercenary Ops closed beta accepting applications

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Train2Game students can sign up for the upcoming beta for third person free-to-play PC shooter Mercenary Ops from Yingpei Games, the studio formerly known as Epic Games China.

Beta testing will begin in mid-June, with six types of competitive and cooperative game modes across a number of maps based in a near future where guns for hire fight each other. For your chance to take part in the Mercenary Ops beta, simply ‘Like’ the game’s official Facebook page.

Mercenary Ops is scheduled to launch in the summer, with the free-to-play shooter featuring micro transactions, allowing players to unlock and customise weapons. The game is being built using Epic’s Unreal Engine 3.

“Balancing is always a major concern when it comes to online shooters, especially when they are free-to-play,” said Mercenary Ops Producer Jason Sharp on the decision to hold a beta test.

“Because of this, we have committed heavily to testing the game internally and have even invited some of the world’s best professional gamers for their invaluable feedback. With the launch of our closed beta we will have the chance to garner even more feedback, this time from general shooter fans.” he added.

And for more on beta testing, how it’s useful for Train2Game students, and opportunities to get involved with it, keep reading the Train2Game blog.

What are your initial thoughts on Mercenary Ops? Will you be applying to take part in the beta?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Designing games specifically for girls isn’t the way to encourage more into the industry says Jade Raymond

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Train2Game students are likely to be aware that the games industry is currently rather male dominated. And while that’s slowly changing – there are plenty of both male and female aspiring game developers on the Train2Game forum – some believe more needs to be done to redress the balance.

However, according to Ubisoft Toronto boss Jade Raymond, designing games with a female audience in mind isn’t the way to encourage girls into the industry. Rather, if games are good, people of both sexes will be interested in game development.

“It’s not a question of making games specifically for girls, you make a good game and it will be played regardless of gender. A good game is a good game.” she told Eurogamer.

“I come from a family of three girls and we would sit around and play tons of games for our NES. I mean, can you say that Super Mario Bros. 3 is made for girls or boys? No, it’s more about exposure.”

And Raymond says that exposure is changing, as more and more girls own consoles.

“The truth is that perhaps my sisters and I were the exception because we had a console. Now that’s not the case. Games are everywhere. Just as many girls have a Nintendo DS as boys do. That’s step one towards thinking about a career in games.”

“Because if you haven’t been experienced them growing up, then you don’t think that it might offer a career for you. That is changing.” she added.

The full interview is over on Eurogamer, and is a fascinating read.  You can also get some advice on getting into the industry from the Ubisoft Toronto head, here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Raymond’s comments? What do you think is the answer?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Tomb Raider delayed until 2013 to allow extra development time

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Tomb Raider reboot Train2Game blog image

Train2Game News listed Tomb Raider, the series reboot from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix, as one of the most anticipated games of 2011. Obviously, it didn’t appear in 2011, and in fact, won’t be released until the first quarter of 2013.

The announcement came on the Eidos forum

“When Crystal Dynamics first set out to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise, there were two goals that we were extremely passionate about. The first was to create a modern Tomb Raider game that would surprise and excite gamers. The second was to make this the best game of our careers, something we would be really proud to be a part of. We truly believe that we have something very special on our hands and we can’t wait to share it with you.” said Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher

The reason behind the delay, much like that of Bioshock Infinite’s, is to allow the development team more time to take the best game possible.

“Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.” Gallagher continued.

“We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can’t wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks.” he concluded.

There’s more Tomb Raider news on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the Tomb Raider delay? Disappointed you won’t get to play it this year, or relieved you won’t be playing something that’s been rushed?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: BioWare Associate Art Director on getting into the industry

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Train2Game students looking to make that critical first step into the games industry need to be creative and full of good ideas. That’s according to BioWare Associate Art Director David Lam.

“Like anything in this world, if you want to achieve anything it takes hard work and commitment.” he told BioWare blog, emphasising how you need a good portfolio too.

“Our field is highly competitive, so you have to know your stuff and be able to show it. If you want to be an artist, draw! If you want to be a programmer, code! Never underestimate the power of ideas.”

“Creativity and good ideas are what drives our business. If someone asks you what makes you better than somebody else, have an answer.” he added.

The full interview in which Lam describes his role as Associate Art Director and his life at BioWare is here.

There’s more advice from professional game developers on how to get into the industry, right here on the Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the advice from the BioWare Associate Art Director? How is your own portfolio coming along?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.