Category Archives: Sony

Train2Game News: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag at Eurogamer

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ACIV Ace Of SpadesBe one of the first in the UK to play Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag at the Eurogamer Expo this weekend!

Get hands on with three different demos at the Ubisoft, NVIDIA and Sony stands, and pick up your free exclusive Assassin’s Creed Ace of Spades card, designed by award winning London artist Vic Lee, from stand staff after you have played* (while stocks last).

Fans who pre order Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag from the GAME stand at the Expo will also receive a limited edition artwork print, exclusively designed for Ubisoft by Vic Lee.

Mr Vic Lee – described variously as a storyteller, artist, illustrator, historian, mapper, ragamuffin and vagabond – can been discovered at www.viclee.co.uk

This is only the beginning of your Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag journey. The Ace of Spades is the key, the question is… to what?

The game will be available to play on a Sony PlayStation 4 I have been told. This seems an excellent game to test the new hardware.

Train2Game News: Sony Virtual Reality Headset

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PS4 VR HeadsetStrong speculation has risen that Sony plans to enter the virtual reality gaming space in a big way with PlayStation 4.

Multiple sources have indicated that Sony’s VR headset will work similarly to Oculus’. Internally, the device has been demonstrated with Evolution Studios’ PS4 racer DriveClub, with players able to look around the cockpit of a car.

The Liverpool studio, Evolution Studios, is home to the Worldwide Studios Stereoscopic 3D team, which has worked on 3D game development since 2008. The team, and 3D chief Mick Hocking, have been relatively quiet since PlayStation’s ill-fated 3D push in 2011.

Amid the growing popularity of the Oculus Rift VR headset among the development community and a small number of gamers it will be interesting to see how this Sony headset will stand up.

Sony’s VR headset was set to appear in some form at German show Gamescom last week, but was pulled. It is now expect it to be unveiled next year.

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida declined to comment when asked about VR in an interview with Eurogamer at Gamescom. “We don’t talk about that,” was all he’d say. This week Sony Computer Entertainment Europe declined to comment when contacted by Eurogamer.

This is certainly one to keep an eye on.

Train2Game News: Sony announcements at Gamescom

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PS4Sony have announced at Gamescom the release dates of their next generation console the PlayStation 4.

The PlayStation 4 will launch in North America November 15, with a European release to follow two weeks later on November 29. The system will roll out in a total of 32 countries this holiday season.

Before announcing the dates, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House also touted the company’s success in building anticipation for the system. To date, he said the PS4 has attracted more than 1 million preorders globally.

House also used the event to unveil a new next-gen upgrade program, saying gamers who purchase the PS3 versions of select games will be able to buy digital versions of their next-gen counterparts at “a significantly discounted price.”

Games already confirmed for the program include Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. House said Sony is also working to expand the number of publishers participating in the discount deals.

In addition to the date being announced, it was also announced that there would be a price cut on the PS Vita and the 12GB PS3. You can now buy these consoles for $199 or €199 in North America and Europe. No word yet on a UK price however but you have to hope it’s not far behind.

Train2Game News: Xbox One and PlayStation 4 game capturing

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PS and XboxMore social sharing details have been announced about the Xbox One and PS4. It can be very helpful for creators of “Let’s Play” videos.

Xbox One is able to automatically record the last five minutes of your gameplay, less time than Sony will store on PlayStation 4. PlayStation 4 can record seven minutes.

Microsoft Studios creative director Ken Lobb detailed the exact amount at San Diego Comic-Con while discussing the new Xbox One version of Killer Instinct. Sony Europe’s Neil Brown revealed at Develop last week the amount the PlayStation 4 could record.

“The idea is you’re always recording,” Lobb said of the Xbox One’s game DVR feature, nicknamed ‘Project Upload’. “The last five minutes of any game you’re playing are always being stored on your hard drive.

Like PS4, you’ll be able to edit that footage on the fly, Lobb explained, and add titles, a voice-over or extra footage recorded using Kinect.

For times when you can’t stop playing, such as in the middle of an online session, Microsoft will allow you to capture and immediately save the last 30 seconds of gameplay for editing later.

“Say you’re playing online and you just did the best thing ever – you can’t pause as you’re playing online,” Lobb continued. “You can say ‘Xbox, record that’ and it’ll grab the last 30 seconds of gameplay for you to play around with later.”

Both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will also let you stream your gameplay online, which should allow for unlimited lengths of gameplay to be captured.

Train2Game News: Become a Mudokon in Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty

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AbeDevelopers of the next Abe’s Oddysee game, Oddworld Inhabitants, is inviting you to try and become a voice in the new game.

The developers are rebooting the Abe’s Oddysee series with Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty. The voices will be used for the Mudokon who are the natives and workers on the planet the game takes place on.

The sound quality has to be at a high standard for the game so you must have the following:

  • Decent microphone for recording your voice
  • Soundcard or Audio Interface capable of 24bit/96kHz recording
  • Good cables (if there’s electrical feedback we can’t use it)
  • The script to read out
  • A SoundCloud account

The sound clips required are the following, once you’ve had a few practices turn on your microphone and get recording!

  • Hello / Hi
  • OK
  • Laughing
  • Giggling
  • Angry hissing
  • Pain grunts (oof, ow, eugh, etc) x5
  • Death screams x3
  • Bonus points for providing some sound effects for the wildlife of Mudos (birds, Scrabs, Elums, etc.)

Your audio clips must be in by Friday July 26.

To enter your sample, simply upload your audio and share with the developers account on SoundCloud either public or privately shared. You must put your name in the title and file name so you get credit for your work. Multiple takes are encouraged but the file must be 24BIT/96KHZ WAV FORMAT, and downloadable from SoundCloud.

There is no guarantee that your sound clip will be used but if it is used you will be in the end credits of the game for all to see.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty will be out on PS3 and Vita by the end of this year and on Wii U, PS4 and PC in 2014.

Train2Game News: Cliffy B comments on used games

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Cliff Bleszinski Cliff Bleszinski says the public reaction to the Sony and Microsoft press conferences at E3 are premature, arguing that the former was simply playing a PR game.

Many who watched the show claimed that Sony had “won” E3 due to its declaration that the PlayStation 4 would not have any restrictions on used games.

Bleszinski not only doubts that Sony doesn’t have some anti-used tricks tucked away, but says the used game market is undermining the $60 triple-A model.

“I’d bet Sony has some similar stuff up their sleeves they’re just playing on the internet outrage for free PR,” said Bleszinski over Twitter.

“You cannot have game and marketing budgets this high while also having used and rental games existing. The numbers do NOT work people.”

Bleszinski started his career at Epic Games, where he rose through the ranks to become one of the industry’s most recognisable faces and as the creator of Gears of War, Bleszinski knows the cost of modern triple-A games are astronomical.

“The visual fidelity and feature sets we expect from games now come with sky high costs,” he explained.

“Assassin’s Creed games are made by thousands of devs.”

According to Bleszinski, this means consumers should be prepared for more than just the death of used games, but should expect physical media to be replaced by new distribution and business models.

“This is why you’re seeing free-to-play and microtransactions everywhere,” he concluded.

“The disc based day one $60 model is crumbling.”

Train2Game News: Xbox One vs PS4

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The helpful people at CVG have put together an infographic detailing all the information about the next gen consoles that was announced during E3.

You can enjoy the infographic below:

XB1 v PS4

Train2Game News: PlayStation 4 at E3

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PS4At the biggest gaming convention in the world, E3, Sony have finally given their first look at the PlayStation 4.

The console was revealed to the world and it reminded me of the hugely popular PlayStation 2. With the same black colouring that all the Sony consoles have had and a parallelogram shape, the machine was more attractive than the Xbox One. This was the first of many “One-Ups” Sony performed over Microsoft.

The second came when it was announced that the PlayStation 4 will not force DRM restriction around used games. The clear message was that there were no changes to the way used games and lending games to your friends will be changed at all.

Sony has confirmed that you’ll need to subscribe to PS Plus in order to play PS4 games online. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida explained that the PS Plus subscription covers the cost of Sony’s massive server-side investments for PS4. Currently a year’s subscription costs £39.99, though it’s yet to be confirmed how much it’ll cost on PS4. Those who already have a PS Plus subscription will have their subscription carried over and your subscription will cover your PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and your PS Vita.

If you do choose to subscribe to PS Plus not only will you be able to play your games online but Sony are also giving one free PS4 game a month, starting with Evolution Studio’s, Driveclub from launch.

Sony also confirmed that it’s new console will be region-free! So no longer will you have to worry so much about your favourite games, or even the console, being cheaper in America.

Speaking of cheaper I will finish off this round up of the console with the price that was announced.

The Sony PlayStation 4 will cost you £349 in the UK, coming in at £80 cheaper than the Xbox One.

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: Sony waiving publishing fee for PlayStation Mobile

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PlayStation MobileThis was brought to my attention yesterday and it is amazing news for Train2Game students creating mobile games. Sony have announced they are waiving the publishing fee for PlayStation Mobile.

Those who are developing mobile titles now have a new strong market to publish for, including the hand held Sony device, the PS Vita. The PS Vita has new interesting control functions which opens up a whole new way of thinking of game mechanics using the touch pads on the front and back of the device.

Sony already have a number of popular mobile titles such as Haunt the House: Switch Galaxy and Beats Trellis. A game you are creating can now sit along side these and other great titles.

PS Vita owners can download these games and the new games soon to be arriving from amateur developers from the PlayStation Mobile section of PlayStation Store. Owners of PlayStation certified devices can obtain them through the PlayStation Mobile Store – click here for full instructions.

You can see everything you need to know about PlayStation Mobile on the PlayStation Mobile website which has a key game highlights, a direct link to the Dev Portal, and a link to download the PlayStation Mobile application for Android to your PlayStation certified device.

Sony seem to be strongly embracing the indie market with this and the introduction of an Indie store on the PlayStation 3.

This is a great time to start developing titles and to be a Train2Game student.