Category Archives: iOS

Train2Game News: Games Industry News- 05.07.13

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Xbox360 DashboardIt’s Friday so it is time for the end of the week games industry news round up!

Microsoft has begun inviting Xbox Live members worldwide to participate in the public beta for its 2013 Xbox Live Update for Xbox 360. The update will include improvements to overall performance and the ability to conduct transactions with local currency, as Microsoft Points will be retired later this year. To join, interested 360 owners should look for the Xbox Beta Program tile on the home hub of the Xbox Dashboard and once the places are filled the beta will be closed to the public. You will be required to sign an NDA for security reasons.

In celebration of summer, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces that all its mobile games in the App Store are priced at £0.69 this week including Man of Steel, LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7, Batman Arkham City Lockdown, Scribblenauts Remix, LEGO Batman DC Superheroes, Midway Arcade and Bastion. Man of Steel, Batman: Arkham City Lockdown and Scribblenauts Remix are also available on Google Play at the same low price.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced the Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition is available for PC from Steam and other digital download portals. Originally developed by NetherRealm Studios, led by Mortal Kombat co-creator and creative director Ed Boon it has been adapted for PC by High Voltage Software. If you have always wanted to try your hand in Mortal Kombat, now is the time.

2K unveiled the WWE 2K14 cover art featuring WWE Superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The official reveal, which took place during an episode of Monday Night Raw, showcased cover artwork designed in partnership with “The People’s Champion.” The cover art reflects The Rock’s physicality and signature in-ring pose. To further celebrate, 2K recently launched a consumer contest for the opportunity to create alternate cover artwork to be included with WWE 2K14 retail copies. “I am exceptionally grateful to be chosen for the cover of WWE 2K14 and serve as the first cover Superstar under 2K’s leadership,” said The Rock.

Square Enix has released a new Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII trailer dubbed “The Divine Task”. The latest video reveals more about the game’s story, including the appearance of supporting character Hope. Lightning Returns was revealed at the Final Fantasy 25th anniversary event in 2012 and is billed as the last entry in the “Lightning saga”. The Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII’s release date has been confirmed as February 11, 2014 in North America and February 14 Europe on Xbox 360 and PS3. You can enjoy the trailer, here.

Train2Game News: Heavy Metal comic book game

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Eternal DescentLondon-based PLA Studios, have created a mobile game which sees Heavy Metal music and comics join together.

Eternal Descent: Heavy Metal Heroes is the brainchild of British guitarist and comic creator Llexi Leon. Llexi is the guitarist of the band Eternal Descent that the game and comics are based on.

Eternal Descent: Heavy Metal Heroes is an action-packed 3D scrolling endless brawler. Carve a path through hordes of daemonic minions and fight your way to Hell – all to a killer soundtrack. Set in a fantasy universe where lost souls lurk in every shadow and darkness veils sinister designs, heavy metal could be the key to salvation… or the gateway to destruction!

In addition to a cast of original characters, the game will feature appearances and original performances from Joe Satriani, Arch Enemy, Wayne Static, Periphery, Andrew W.K., and many more rock/metal music acts appearing through regular updates. Numerous real-world instrument brands such as ESP, Jackson and Dean Guitars have endorsed Eternal Descent: Heavy Metal Heroes, allowing the game to accurately portray cameo musicians with their signature instruments for real shred guitar action.

Eternal Descent: Heavy Metal Heroes will be available in July on iTunes for £1.99, with a series of updates and expansions planned throughout the year. Android, PC and home console versions of Eternal Descent: Heavy Metal Heroes are planned throughout 2014.

Llexi Leon is not the first person to go from music to comic book writing. Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance has written a couple of comics and Corey Taylor from Slipknot and Stone Sour has also started his own series.

Llexi is the first musician to have his comic developed in to a game however and I am incredibly interested to see how this game turns out.

To find out more about the game, band or comic, visit http://www.eternaldescent.com/

Train2Game News: Games Industry News – 21.06.13

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PS4It’s Friday which, of course, means it is time for the games industry news round up.

Mark Cerny, the lead system architect on Sony’s PlayStation 4 console, will deliver the conference keynote at Develop in Brighton, which takes place at the city’s Hilton Metropole from 9-11 July 2013. Cerny’s keynote, Changing the Game: Developing into the Next Generation, will see the industry legend take delegates through the journey he has been on to bring the console to reality, looking at the lessons learnt from previous console generations, the future vision for PS4 and how embracing the Indie community will have a key role in fulfilling that vision. To find out more about the event, go to http://www.developconference.com/

Gamers competing via the Xbox Tournaments with Virgin Gaming app on Xbox 360, now have a new way to win cash and show off their gaming skills. With the new update, available today, players can now enter buy-in tournaments and head-to-head challenges using their own money. Since launching nearly two months ago, Virgin Gaming has awarded Xbox 360 gamers nearly $100,000 in cash prizes, while also allowing players to seamlessly browse, enter, challenge, play in and track tournaments for their favourite games directly from Xbox Live. Gamers that are not already using the app can register for an account at http://virgingaming.com/xbox and download the app from Xbox Live.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced LEGO Legends of Chima: Laval’s Journey will be available for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita handheld systems in Europe on 21st June. A Nintendo DS version will follow this Autumn, as will a free-to-play online world, LEGO Legends of Chima Online. The new games all complement a line of branded products and TV content based on the LEGO Legends of Chima action packed world ruled by eight animal tribes that tells the classic story of good and evil, friendship and family.

Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 will be releasing on Xbox LIVE Arcade, PC/Steam, PlayStation Network, iPad, and for the first time on Android tablets next week. As with previous years Wizards of the Coast are rolling out the release of the game over two days across the myriad of platforms. The game will be released on June 25 for iTunes, Google Play and Amazon App Store. The following day will see the release on PC, Xbox Live and PSN. Associate Community Manager Sean Gibbons gives the community a first look at the new Sealed Campaign and deck editor in the upcoming Magic 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers, which you can enjoy here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEQVZf8qxYo

Finally, some good news for those of you who are looking forward to the new Thief game. You won’t have to buy a next generation console for the game. Eidios Montreal has confirmed that the game will also be coming to Xbox360 and PS3. No word yet on a WiiU release. Senior Producer Stephane Roy acknowledges that the developers “have to be smart” in transferring the demands of the software to consoles at the end of their life cycle – suggesting that the breadth of the world may be scaled down to accommodate present-day hardware.

Train2Game News: Games Industry News – 07.06.13

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Son of NorIt’s Friday so it is time for a Train2Game industry news round up!

stillalive studios celebrated after its Kickstarter campaign, to raise $150k to fund the completion of its debut 3rd person action adventure PC/Mac/Linux title; Son of Nor, was a success, making $151,175 at its close. The team are now putting all efforts into the completion of the highly anticipated game and have announced its launch onto Steam Greenlight and call for support and people’s votes on the platform. The link to this can be found here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=143053545. During the month long crowd-funding project the studio announced a number of exciting partnerships that will allow players to use integrated hardware such as the Emotiv EPOC; a revolutionary personal interface for human computer interaction, a so called Brain Computer Interface (BCI); the partnership will allow players to control character actions, such as telekinesis, terraforming and magic with the power of their minds and Oculus Rift; that will allow players to immerse themselves in the lore and adventure of Son of Nor deeper than ever before by using this hugely exciting virtual reality device in game.

SpongeBob SquarePants fans can build their very own Bikini Bottom with Nickelodeon’s brand-new city building app, SpongeBob Moves In. Released and available worldwide, SpongeBob Moves In features a stylized 2D design and gives fans a whole new way to interact with the hit animated series. The game is available on iOS and costs £1.49. In the game, players build Bikini Bottom to their own tastes and are tasked with keeping the city’s residents happy by making all their wishes come true. As players advance in the game, they can unlock exclusive-to-the-app, untold stories about how their characters, including SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Plankton, Squidward and Sandy, first arrived in the town. Written by the SpongeBob SquarePants series writing staff, these stories are told through brand-new animated short videos unlocked throughout the game.

Diablo 3 is coming to the Xbox 360 as well as PlayStation, Blizzard has announced. The action role-playing game launches on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 3rd September 2013. The game is already announced for PlayStation 4, although that version is without a release date. There is currently new word of an Xbox One edition. If you pre-order the PS3 or Xbox 360 version and you’ll get the Infernal Helm in-game item. You can wear this at level one and gain an experience bonus to boot.

Telltale games have been using their twitter account to tease and excite fans. They have been using the Vine app to show little six second clips showing characters that are drawn in the same art style as The Walking Dead game. It started with the Day 2 trailer, which is interesting as the first episode of Season 1 was Day 1. It shows a missing persons board and someone hanging up a picture of a character called Vince. Vine 2 is titled Day 220, and it’s the same missing persons board with Bonnie being added to it. Bonnie apparently stood outside the White House once. Vine 3 shows a man named Russell, who, by the looks of it, seems to be a recent graduate.

Finally, Masahiro Sakurai took to Twitter to confirm the news today of the brand new Smash Bros. He said (via Google translation): “In Nintendo Direct delivery of 23:00, June 11, New video of “Smash Bros.” will be unveiled for the first time. Simultaneous world, here for the first time! Do not miss.” You can watch it from 3pm UK time. Sakurai is serving as producer on the new Smash Bros. game, which is a Wii U/3DS crossover in development at Namco Bandai.

Train2Game News: Deus Ex: The Fall coming to iOS

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Deus Ex The FallFollowing the news of a Halo mobile game that Train2Game announced yesterday, comes the news that a Deus Ex game is hitting the mobile market.

The internet was teased with a Deus Ex announcement yesterday and when it was announced as Deus Ex: The Fall, a mobile title, fans were not pleased, referring to the game as Deus Ex: The Fail.

Fans were anticipating a ‘normal’ sequel for consoles/pc, and this can certainly be read as trying to appeal to a different market altogether than the ‘hardcore’ Deus Ex fans.

Executive producer David Anfossi and Jean-Francois Dugan go in to more detail on the game in the video below, describing and demonstrating the game.

In my own opinion the game looks interesting with some good ideas and nice graphics. It is a shame it is only on iOS devices but I am getting used to games heading straight their instead of Android as well.

With this and the new Halo game on mobile, it may start a new trend of developing big AAA spin off’s as mobile titles.

Train2Game News: What’s inside the cube!

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curiosity-whats-inside-the-cube-22 Cans’ debut project, the iOS and Android title Curiosity, has finally come to an end, with the UK-based winner receiving his life changing prize.

Since November 6 last year, the intriguing mobile and tablet game has drawn in about five million users, according to creator Peter Molyneux. If you are unaware of Curiosity: What’s inside the cube, the game asked players to tap away at tiny cubelets which together formed layers of a massive cube.

Now, some seven months later, user Bryan Henderson from Edinburgh has reached the centre of the cube and received what Mr Molyneux said would be a “Life changing prize”.

Once Bryan tapped the final cube, a video was revealed to him detailing his prize and in my opinion, it certainly can be life changing.

The video revealed that he will be granted the role of God in 22 Cans’ next project for PC and iOS, Godus.

“As God, the Curiosity winner will decide the rules under which the Godus game is played by and even share in the success of the product” said Molyneux.

“Every time people spend money on Godus, you will get a small piece of that pie,” he explained.

“It means that you will decide on how people will play a game. You will accrue riches from that game, from the start until the finish of your reign. That, by any definition of the word, is life changing.

“You will have fame, you will have fortune and you will have the power to introduce morals into a game.”

Molyneux went on to say the idea of having a single player act as god over an entire game genre came to him many years ago, but “it’s only now when we’re all connected that we have the power to do it.”

Molyneux also confirmed that 22 Cans may undergo another gaming experiment that’s “even more intriguing” in the future.

You can enjoy the video Bryan shared after clicking that final cube, below:

Train2Game News: Top 3 Game Engines

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UDKAcross the past week Train2Game held a poll to see which is your favourite game engine. These are the results!

In descending order the Third most popular games engine for Train2Game Students is the CryEngine 3.  It was originally developed by German studio, Crytek, as a technology demo for Nvidia and, when the company saw its potential, it was turned into a game. That first game developed using the engine was the first Far Cry.

The CryEngine 3 Free SDK, originally called Sandbox Editor, is the current version of the level editor used to create levels for the CryEngine line of game engines by Crytek. Tools are also provided within the software to facilitate scripting, animation, and object creation. It has been included with various Crytek games and is used extensively for modding purposes. The editing style is that of the sandbox concept, with the emphasis on large terrains and a free style of mission programming. The editor can also construct indoor settings.

Recently the engine has been used to create games such as Crysis 3, Monster Hunter Online and Ryse which will be released on the Xbox One.

Second in the poll was the Unity engine. Unity (also called Unity3D) is a cross-platform game engine with a built-in IDE developed by Unity Technologies. Unity is primarily used to create mobile and web games, but can also deploy games to consoles or the PC. The game engine was developed in C/C++, and is able to support code written in C#, JavaScript or Boo. It grew from an OS X supported game development tool in 2005 to the multi-platform game engine that it is today.

The Unity Engine is simple to use and as of this month free to publish to mobiles. It is clear why it is popular among Train2Game Students.

The Unity Engine has been used to create popular mobile games such as Bad Piggies, Slender: The Arrival and it was used to port Temple Run 2 to Android devices.

Finally the number one games engine according to Train2Game students is Epic’s Unreal Engine. Although primarily developed for first-person shooters, it has been successfully used in a variety of other genres, including stealth, MMORPGs and other RPGs. With its code written in C++, the Unreal Engine features a high degree of portability and is a tool used by many game developers today. It was first developed in 1998 for Unreal.

The third and current generation of the Unreal Engine (UE3) is designed for DirectX (versions 9-11 for Windows and Xbox 360), as well as systems using OpenGL, including the PlayStation 3, OS X, iOS, Android, Stage 3D for Adobe Flash Player 11, JavaScript/WebGL, PlayStation Vita and Wii U. Its renderer supports many advanced techniques including HDRR, per-pixel lighting, and dynamic shadows. It also builds on the tools available in previous versions.

In October 2011, the engine was ported to support Adobe Flash Player 11 through the Stage 3D hardware-accelerated APIs. Epic has used this version of the engine for their in-house games. Aggressive licensing of this iteration has garnered a great deal of support from many prominent licensees. Epic has announced that Unreal Engine 3 runs on both Windows 8 and Windows RT.

The engine is free to download and has a small charge of $99 to publish from, as long as you don’t make over $50,000 after which Epic will start to take a percentage.

The Unreal engine has been used in countless games including The Batman Arkham Games, BioShock Infinite, The Borderlands games, Dishonored, The Gears of War series and countless others.

It is quite clear why the Unreal Engine is the most popular engine among Train2Game Students.

Train2Game News: Unity goes free to develop for mobile

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unity-logoGood news for Train2Game students, the Unity engine is now free to use for development for iOS and Android.

In a move to further democratise game development, Unity is making its basic mobile tools free for independent developers and small studios.

Unity is a game development ecosystem: a powerful rendering engine fully integrated with a complete set of intuitive tools and rapid work flow to create interactive 3D content. It also has thousands of quality, ready-made assets in the Asset Store and a helpful knowledge-sharing Community.

Starting today, indies will be able to publish their games and apps to iOS and Android in the build menu. Publishing options for other mobile platforms, such as BlackBerry and Windows Phone 8 will also be included “at no additional cost” once they are released.

Unity CEO David Helgason said “We were able to make Unity free for the web and for desktop computers a while ago, but have been dreaming of doing the same for mobile for what seems like forever.

“Mobile games development is possibly the most dynamic and exciting industry in the world, and it’s an honour to be able to help so many developers be so successful in fulfilling their visions and in building their businesses.”

Taking to Twitter, Unity rendering architect Aras Pranckevičius said that there will be some compensation for developers who had already paid for their licence but he is unsure of how the compensation scheme will work.

This is obviously amazing news for Train2Game students and student studios as it is one less boundary stopping you from developing games. You can download the engine and start developing today from here, http://unity3d.com/

Train2Game News: Rugby Nations 13

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Rugby Nations 13The biggest rugby game for smart phones and tablets is back and aims to grow its existing 2.5m fans with new features including professional commentary and improved rugby simulation.

Distinctive Games launches the fourth instalment of the biggest rugby title for the smart phone and tablet, Rugby Nations 13. The series has gone from strength-to-strength since its creation in 2009, new features include: Commentary from Sky Sports’ Bill Leslie, improved visuals and animations with guidance from ex-professional rugby player James Waterhouse and increased accuracy and realism of the rugby simulation, directly requested by players of previous games in the franchise.

Powered by the Phoenix engine, the astonishing visuals and incredibly fluid game play of Rugby Nations 13, propel your rugby experience to new heights. Charge into the action with all-new set play mechanics, offload passing and strategically increase your scoring potential using the in-game team management to ensure only the fittest make the pack.

Rugby Nations is one of Distinctive Games major franchises, to date it has released four games in the series that have been played by over 2.5m players. Rugby Nations 13 will the 5th in the series and will be released accompanied by Rugby Kicks 2, a free rugby flicking game which will be available a few weeks after Rugby Nations 13 is released. Rugby Nations 13 will be launched exclusively on iOS with plans for release on additional formats later in the year.

The Distinctive Games team have a huge amount of experience in creating sports games, having previously worked with the biggest sports IPs in gaming and now with over 30 million people playing their sports titles. The franchise has achieved over 2.5m downloads, is the #1 rugby game for smartphones/tablets and has featured in the top 10 sports games on Appstores, with Rugby Nations 2011 reaching #1 within two days of release.

Distinctive games have also recently employed Tarnya Smith, a Train2Game student who worked on this years Rugby Nations game. We will catch up with her soon to find out about her experiences with Distinctive Games.

Nick Dent, Creative Director, Distinctive Games, said: “We’re all huge fans of sports and sporting games at Distinctive Games, so it’s great to bring the latest version of Rugby Nations to our enthusiastic and passionate fan base. We’ve taken a lot of time to look over reviews of the previous titles by the players and improve aspects of the game they have specified. We’ve also been continuing to work with ex-professional rugby player James Waterhouse to improve the realism of the game. With professional commentary by Bill Leslie this is the biggest and best Rugby Nations to date.”

Distinctive Games recently won the Windows 8 “Power Up” gaming App competition. To find out more visit the Distinctive Games website at www.distinctivegames.com.

Train2Game News: Details for Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers

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Magic 2014Wizards of the Coast have announced two exciting new features coming to Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers!

Sealed Play and a new take on the popular Slivers creature type will both make their debut in the Duels of the Planeswalkers franchise with Magic 2014.

The addition of Sealed Play will allow players to open booster packs and build decks to play against the AI and other players. Each sealed pool is comprised of 84 cards, mimicking paper TCG booster packs. The PvE experience includes a six-deck ladder where players take on mono-colored Sealed decks each corresponding with a particular Planeswalker, and finally facing a ‘boss’ Sealed deck.

Another feature debuting in Magic 2014 is a new take on the popular Slivers creature type. A fan-favorite, new playable Slivers in Magic 2014 decks. For the Magic fans who know the cards, the decks will include:

−     Sliver Construct

−     Predatory Sliver

−     Groundshaker Sliver

−     Megantic Sliver

−     Blur Sliver

−     Striking Sliver

−     Thorncaster Sliver

−     Battle Sliver

−     Sentinel Sliver

−     Bonescythe Sliver

In addition, Hive Stirrings, a sorcery that creates Sliver tokens, will also be included in Magic 2014.

The Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers video game will be available for PC, Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, iPad, and Android tablet for the first time when it launches this summer. The Magic 2014 product line-up also includes the Magic 2014 – Core Set for the paper trading card game and Magic Online.

You can enjoy a gallery of shots from the upcoming game below.

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