Numskull Designs and Devolver Digital/Mediatonic are excited to announce that the bean-based battle royale sensation, Fall Guys, are being added to the Christmas Jumpers range.
Grab, bounce and elegantly stumble your way to the best-dressed crown this holiday season!
This jumper may not give you the ability to tumble through crowds of beans, but it is sure to be the smash hit of any Christmas gaming session! Knitted from 100% premium yarn, this jumper shares the same colourful charm as the beloved beans, with plenty of added festive cheer to help spread the Christmas spirit.
The Fall Guys Christmas Jumper will be releasing this November and is now available to pre-order from selected retailers found on the Numskull Designs website.
Leading mobile games developer, Hutch, has today announced a partnership with leading men’s health charity, Movember, to support with the innovative work it does to encourage men to talk about their mental health.
The partnership, which runs between 4th-8th November, will introduce Movember into its popular game, F1 Manager, during a special in-game event. Players can unlock in-game rewards in the form of special Grand Prix crates, with a large portion of the revenue earned being donated to Movember’s annual funding push.
Six members of the team, including CEO Shaun Rutland, have decided they are due for a trim, and have pledged to shave off their facial hair and grow a moustache for Movember. Players and friends of Hutch are encouraged to take part and share their progress with Hutch’s social channels.
Not only that, but players will also get the chance to vote in a knock-out-poll to decide which driver had the best moustache in F1 history. Players can also download a limited edition F1 Manager X Movember Instagram filter to show their support on social media and wear a uniquely themed racing helmet for all to see.
Shaun Rutland, Hutch CEO, said: “Movember is a wonderful cause and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to support them on their drive to help men around the world. 2020 has been yet another reminder of the indefinable value of our physical and mental health, so we are proud to be working with such a dedicated and motivated team. We’re excited to be doing our bit, and hope our community joins us to help a worthy cause”
Gamers’ charity SpecialEffect is delighted to announce that, thanks to a record number of partners from the games industry, their One Special Day fundraising campaign on Friday 2nd October has raised over £500,000.
The charity, which has experienced an upturn in demand for their services since the first COVID-19 lockdown in March, are incredibly grateful to their friends from the worldwide games industry who have rallied to support their life-changing work. From donating UK income from mobile and PC games, to a special Humble Bundle and a series of socially-distanced ‘virtual’ challenges, industry partners large and small have raised vital funds to help SpecialEffect continue to find cutting edge solutions to help people with physical challenges play and avoid isolation.
SpecialEffect’s CEO and Founder, Dr Mick Donegan said “All of us at SpecialEffect are delighted and humbled at the outcome of our 5th and most successful One Special Day 2020 ever and are massively grateful to friends throughout the games industry. They’re not only ensuring that we can carry on meeting the ever-growing demand to help disabled gamers to play, but also the demand to help developers all over the world to make their games more accessible to all.”
AirConsole, a globally leading platform for casual games, today announced that they will provide everyone with free access to all of their video games during the month of November in a new attempt to stop the spreading of the coronavirus.
While Europe and other parts of the world are facing a renewed increase in coronavirus cases, the Swiss gaming company AirConsole is doing what it can to help the millions of people in quarantine across the globe.
AirConsole is a cloud based video game console that is accessible from every home through the web browser or Android TV. Smartphones are used as gamepads. No additional hardware is required for a full video game console experience. AirConsole boasts a library of 160 games across a variety of genres.
“During the first lockdown AirConsole was able to help millions of people to stay entertained with their families and loved ones. We received overwhelming positive feedback from our community and with people returning to StayHome we understood that it was time for us to act again,” says Rafael Morgan, Head of Product at AirConsole. “Today we’ve decided to give everyone access to the full platform for free for two weeks. We know that a lot of people are affected by lockdowns and quarantines at the moment, and that many will be looking for new forms of entertainment.”
“It’s been a tough time and we would like to help as many people as possible,” says Andrin von Rechenberg, CEO at AirConsole. “After the first lockdown we increased the number of family friendly games on AirConsole. It’s important to us that people without a lot of gaming experience feel welcome as well!”
As in the previous solidarity campaign, players will be able to use the promotional code “919 2020” and get two weeks of full access to AirConsole’s 160 games, which are normally available as part of a subscription called AirConsole Hero.
Get access to the full version of AirConsole:
1. Download the AirConsole App from Apple’s AppStore or Google Play. 2. Launch the app and insert the following code when the numpad appears: “919 2020” 3. The full AirConsole experience will be unlocked for two weeks. 4. Open www.airconsole.com on your desktop browser, connect your smartphone as the gamepad by following the simple instructions and start playing instantly.
HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology, Inc., today announced the release of HyperX SoloCastTM USB microphone for streamers and content creators.
SoloCast offers Plug N Play audio recording capability and a tap-to-mute feature that indicates the mute status when the red LED is flashing. Using a cardioid recording pattern, it provides a clear sound ideal for streamers, casters, students, and working from home.
SoloCast microphone offers an easy Plug N Play setup. It utilises a cardioid polar pattern that is more sensitive to sound sources directly in front of the microphone, making it great for in-game voice chat, streaming voice audio, and audio recordings for content creation.
“We are excited to expand our USB microphone line with the addition of HyperX SoloCast,” said Bianca Walter, Business Manager, HyperX EMEA. “We are always looking for new ways to deliver an amazing user experience, expanding our USB microphone lineup with our new SoloCast brings a different option to streamers and content creators.”
The SoloCast small size and rotatable stand with adjustable tilt positions gives it the ability to fit in small or tight places, such as under a monitor. The included mount adapter fits both 3/8” and 5/8” thread sizes and is compatible with most stands and boom arms.
The SoloCast microphone joins the HyperX microphone lineup with the recently launched QuadCast S microphone with RGB lighting. Both microphones are compatible with PC, PS4, and Mac® and works on major streaming platforms like Streamlabs OBS, OBS Studio, and XSplit and is certified by Discord and TeamSpeakTM.
Availability HyperX SoloCast USB microphone is available for €74.99 / £64.99 MSRP through HyperX’s Online Shop. For more information on the HyperX SoloCast USB microphone global availability, please visit the SoloCast USB microphone product page
Developer Joy Way is delighted to announce its parkour and combat game STRIDE on the Oculus store is available now.
Called “A worthy Mirror’s Edge VR tribute” by UploadVR, STRIDE is a high octane VR game which fuses parkour and combat to create one of the most nail-biting virtual reality experiences available. Joy Way wants to put players in the shoes of a master free-runner as they vault, swing, roll, and shoot through an intense, action-packed adventure.
STRIDE has been available in Steam via the Early Access program, but has now launched in full on the Oculus store. The game is due to leave Early Access on Steam on November 4th.
Arena mode: A spacious arena with waves of enemies. Perfect for practicing tricks across a varied terrain and refining shooting skills.
Time Run. Perfect for testing parkour-at-speed skills in a race against the clock.
A full story mode update is planned for release in 2021.
Joy Way has painstakingly crafted an homage to parkour which feels incredibly close to the real thing. Designed specifically for virtual reality play, the rush of leaping across impossibly wide gaps over dizzying heights is replicated perfectly in STRIDE.
Players can navigate city rooftops like a pro, grabbing ledges, jumping from roof to roof, vaulting through windows, sliding down cables, swinging from hooks; with a near unlimited skill ceiling, anyone can put on their running shoes, but it’ll take some work to truly master the city.
STRIDE is now available on the Oculus store for Oculus Rift devices with Oculus Touch support.
STRIDE will leave Steam Early Access on November 4th.
– 26% of U.K. respondents say that they have successfully preordered a next-generation console, but a slightly higher percentage of participants (30%) say that they tried to preorder a next-gen console and were unable to do so. – Among U.K. respondents that successfully preordered one or more next-gen consoles, 58% preordered a disc edition of the PlayStation 5, 38% preordered an Xbox Series X, 24% preordered a PlayStation 5 digital edition, and 7% preordered an Xbox Series S. 21% of respondents said they pre-ordered more than one next-gen console. The survey was conducted in October 2020.
The full report also contains info on the most anticipated games and can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/VGM_UK_NextGen
Independent retro-development studio Spacebot Interactive will be shipping Dragonborne on Nintendo Game Boy in January 2021.
Pre orders are live for the 2nd run now and will end on 30th November.
Dragonborne is a brand new 8-bit adventure RPG featuring a turn based battle system and various mini quests and puzzles that you must complete to progress through the game.
Travel through the region of Argon as Kris in search of your missing father Kurtis, the greatest dragon slayer the region has ever known, as you fight your way through dungeons to save the region before the dragon awakes.
Dragonborne contains more than 6 hours of gameplay, dozens of enemies, weapon and armour upgrades, character zapping and ranking systems, collectibles, detailed battle scene graphics, and multiple endings.
Dragonborne is a cartridge available in an original box including a manual and can be acquired at https://www.spacebot-interactive.com for $54.73/£42/€46,46.
The game is fully compatible with all Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance handhelds.
Following the success of GGJ NEXT Online – the Global Game Jam event for younger participants that takes place each summer, and this year also moved to a digital format – GGJ Online is officially announced to take place January 27-31, 2021. Join thousands of hobbyist, student, and professional game developers from over 115 countries across the world online this January to celebrate creation, collaboration and togetherness despite being apart!
Additionally, Seattle video game industry veteran and champion for game development and climate science, Tim Cullings, joins Global Game Jam, Inc as Director of Operations, replacing Jo Summers who served as the GGJ Executive Producer for over three years. A Systems Engineer at Oculus and Founding Board Member for Seattle Indies, Cullings also helped found GUILD, a support group for indie game developer community organizers, as well as Games For Our Future, a multi-city game jam that brings together climate science researchers and game developers to make games about climate change related issues.
“We’ve been discussing GGJ Online with our community on social media for a few months already. Given the current global situation, it was really never an ‘if’, it was a ‘when’ and ‘how’,” said Kate Edwards, Executive Director of Global Game Jam. “The tenets of Global Game Jam – creativity, collaboration, inclusion and fun – are more important now than ever, and we are so excited to have Tim Cullings joining our staff. His extensive background in supporting indie developers and organizing charity game jam events for change will prove invaluable as we steer into the uncharted waters ahead.”
The Global Game Jam® (GGJ) is the world’s largest game creation event taking place around the globe, typically at physical locations. A “game jam” is essentially a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.
For individuals interested in running a GGJ Online site, please click here to fill out the application.
Two months after Battletoads’ big launch, the dust is finally starting to settle and our heroes are adapting nicely to life in this gaming generation!
Since their brand new adventure released with Xbox Game Pass and on Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam on August 20, the development team at Dlala Studios and Rare have been keeping a close eye on responses to the game. It’s been wonderful to see the positive reception from so many players and journalists, celebrating how the game stays true to form in its multi-genre, couch co-op nature, all wrapped up in that Saturday morning cartoon styling.
The team have loved seeing so many people enjoy the nostalgia trip and share the experience with others, and had an absolute blast watching creators share experiences with their communities too. And to those who’ve completed the game on ‘Battletoads’ difficulty and even picked up the full 1000 gamerscore – congrats!
We also wanted to share some stats with you now that we’ve reached the point where over a million unique players have jumped in to try the game, with the cool, impulsive Rash pipping his partners to the post as the most frequently selected ‘Toad.
As part of the trio’s mission to save the galaxy they’ve collectively died 80,037,506 times, more than half of which were turbo bike crashes. Some things never change! On the flip side, team players have managed to step in and revive their fellow ‘Toads 2,880,267 times, sweep up an enormous 8,677,560 collectibles along the way and tear through enemy forces so ferociously that first level boss Porkshank alone has taken a total of 1,562,508 beatings. Players aren’t being slouches about it either – the fastest full game speedrun recorded so far (‘Tadpole’ difficulty, 100%) clocked in at an astonishing 1:38:51, set by Fuzzyness in the Game Pass for PC Battletoads Speedrun Challenge!
If you’re partial to a Sea of Thieves session between Battletoads brawls, you should toadally take advantage of the Fightin’ Frogs Ship Set that’s still unlockable for free by players of both games – just complete Act I of Battletoads (using the same profile that holds your Sea of Thieves progress) and you’ll earn this mean, green livery to display proudly on the seas!
Want even more Battletoads goodness? Be sure to check out The Lost Adventure comic series from Titan Comics to discover what led to the events of the new game – the first free issue arrived on October 21! If you’d like some audio accompaniment with that, David Housden’s pounding modern Battletoads soundtrack can be enjoyed on various streaming and download services right now thanks to the recent release of the full 32-track album.
Don’t forget, newcomers to the Battletoads series can also relive some of Zitz, Rash and Pimple’s classic ’90s adventures in the Rare Replay collection, now available with Xbox Game Pass.
Once again, we can’t thank everyone enough for their kind words on the Battletoads’ return and for taking the time to check it out, whether that’s with Game Pass or from the Microsoft Store or Steam. We look forward to seeing even more reactions as players old and new continue to get swept up in the wild world of Battletoads!
The Train2Game Blog 