Category Archives: train 2 game

Train2Game News: Microsoft Reverse Xbox One Policies

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Xbox OneMicrosoft have listened to their fans and have backtracked on some of the more controversial Xbox One policies.

Since Microsoft announced that the Xbox One would need to connect to the internet once every 24 hours, you can only sell used games to certain retailers and that sharing games would be different, the console has come under attack from many people.

Consumers felt like there choices were being taken away from them.

Microsoft have now heard these attacks and have changed their policies to one that should appeal more to the wider market.

An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console – there will be no regional restrictions on the console.

These changes will impact some of the scenarios that previously announced for Xbox One, such as when swapping from one game to another will of course require a change of disc and features such as the “Driveatar” for Forza 5 will still require a constant connection.

The Kinect will still have to be always connected to the console as Microsoft believe that is a key part of gaming in the future and want Developers to be able to use it without worry.

The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.

In the article from Don Mattrick detailing the changes, it finishes saying “We appreciate your passion, support and willingness to challenge the assumptions of digital licensing and connectivity. While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds.”

Train2Game News: Oculus Rift gets huge funding

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Oculus RiftOculus VR, maker of the anticipated Oculus Rift VR gaming headset, has secured $16 million in Series A funding.

The round was co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. Santo Politi, founder and general partner at Spark, and Antonio Rodriguez, serial entrepreneur and general partner at Matrix, have joined the company’s board of directors. Founders Fund as well as Formation 8 also participated in the round.

Oculus plans to use the funds to accelerate the development of its virtual reality hardware, software and services, and ultimately create a virtual reality platform for consumers.

“Oculus began with a single mission: to put players inside the game,” said Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and inventor of the Oculus Rift.

“This investment allows us to deliver immersive and affordable virtual reality to players everywhere.”

Oculus garnered lots of attention when it debut at last year’s E3. Oculus has since manufactured and shipped the Rift development kits purchased in its Kickstarter campaign, allowing game developers to create Oculus-ready applications and interactive content.

Spark Capital has previous backed other forward-thinking tech ventures, which have subsequently gained massive popularity, including Twitter and Tumblr. Matrix Partners’ achievements include early investments in some of the world’s most successful technology companies, such as Apple, SanDisk and others.

“What better way to mark our first anniversary than to announce our next phase of growth,” said Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus VR.

“There are still many challenging problems to solve, but with the support of these great investment partners, and our passionate community, we will continue to hire the brightest minds and stay laser focused on delivering the very best virtual reality platform possible.”

Oculus VR originally raised over $2.4 million through its Kickstarter campaign – almost ten times its fundraising goal.

Development kits are currently doing the rounds, but no commercial release date has been set for the product.

Train2Game News: Fastest selling XBLA Game

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State of DecayThe official Xbox blog has specified that State of Decay is the “fastest selling original game ever” on Xbox Live Arcade.

The open world Zombie game from Undead Labs has sold over five hundred thousand copies on the Xbox Live arcade store to date.

Taking you beyond the initial panic of a Zombie apocalypse, and beyond the first weeks of the crisis, State of Decay is the embodiment of the “What if?” zombie apocalypse scenario. The world is now your oyster…a shiny oyster that happens to be filled with zombies. This game lets you fulfil your plans of what would I do if the worst happened?

According to Undead Labs founder Jeff Strain, there is a future for the series. “We’re laying plans for the future of State of Decay right now,” he said.

“There’s an incredibly sophisticated simulation engine driving the world of State of Decay – we call it FateEngine – and it gives s a platform to do much more with the game. For a start, I can tell you we’re working on a sandbox mode designed to be a pure survival simulation.”

The game is currently 1600 Microsoft Points on the Xbox Live Arcade store but the game is currently in development for PC.

State of Decay, The Last Of Us and The Walking Dead proves that Zombie games are still popular but, for how much longer?

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: UK Top 20 Games – 17.06.13

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The Last Of UsThere is a brand new number one this week with the PlayStation exclusive, The Last Of Us which was released on Friday. Animal Crossing: New Leaf came in at number two, unable to beat the popularity of The Last Of Us. Rugby Challenge 2: Lions Tour Edition also came out this week and debuted at number twelve. Finally, with the announcement of the DLC at E3 last week, The Walking Dead by Telltale Games also made a welcome return to the top 20, coming back in at number seventeen.

All formats

Week ending 15 June 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 THE LAST OF US SONY COMPUTER ENT. –
2 ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF NINTENDO –
3 GRID 2 CODEMASTERS 1
4 TOMB RAIDER SQUARE ENIX 7
5 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 2
6 INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 11
7 FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 5
8 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM – LEGENDARY BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 4
9 LUIGI’S MANSION 2 NINTENDO 8
10 – ASSASSIN’S CREED III XBOX 360 CLASSICS 10
11 DEAD ISLAND: RIPTIDE DEEP SILVER 6
12 RUGBY CHALLENGE 2: LIONS TOUR EDITION ALTERNATIVE –
13 – LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 13
14 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 15
15 DONKEY KONG COUNTRY RETURNS NINTENDO 9
16 BIOSHOCK INFINITE 2K GAMES 14
17 THE WALKING DEAD TELLTALE GAMES –
18 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XBOX 360 CLASSICS 20
19 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 18
20 REMEMBER ME CAPCOM 3
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd

These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.

Train2Game News: Paid C++ Job Opportunity

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Top job opportunity for Train2Game students with raw talent who want to join a London based indie that is going places.

A friend of Train2Game is looking for a C++ coder to work in Soho for a contract which runs until January that could then become permanent.

The details of the job can be found below, if you are interested contact harry@swanpr.co.uk and he will put you in contact with the studio.

Role Purpose
Looking for a skilled and experienced Server Developer to join a small, creative, indie team working in Soho London.

Team/Department Mission
This role is part of a larger team creating games and entertainment services influenced by changing consumer consumption and emerging business models. Part of its purpose will be to showcase functionality of specific platforms but the primary goal is to establish new entertainment franchises. The ethos of this team is to be distinctive, deliberate and disruptive. It has large ambitions.

Key Accountabilities

  • Develop and maintain software services to support gameplay, data sharing, and title instrumentation.
  • Develop and maintain client (game) side library’s to interface with server/cloud hosted services.
  • Work with IT infrastructure engineers to onboard and maintain services.
  • Affect gameplay engineers to ensure game supports synchronous, remote multiplayer modes.
  • Implement game state synchronization.
  • Understand and refine game & customer behaviour requirements by working with non-engineering disciplines.
  • Implement in-game telemetry and reporting mechanism.
  • Understand and create data storage and reporting system to deliver relevant game & customer behaviour reports to non-engineering disciplines.
  • Affect IT infrastructure decisions to support the above.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience
Requirements

  • Have shipped something really cool that is networked/online/connected to a cloud or datacentre

– could be a AAA game or an indie game or both,

– could be a streaming service, peer-to-peer BitTorrent-like system, anything web-service on the backend. It just needs to demonstrate that you can design and implement web services in a game-like environment

  • Have good understanding of caching, queuing, naming, and data structures, especially how they’re key to making backend systems work
  • Have designed and implemented working modules (ie cache server, proxy server, leaderboards, authentication, chat systems)
  • Experienced, willing and eager to work with cloud platforms and services. You’ve got to have a bit of sys-admin in you!
  • Proficient in Java, C++, C#, Node.js or whatever language you need to get the job done well
  • Very strong problem-solving skills.

Personal Attributes/Interpersonal Skills

  • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
  • Outgoing and pro-active personality who thrives on working within a team.
  • Self-motivated with a drive for excellence.

If you are interested in applying for the position then email Harry at Harry@Swanpr.co.uk

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: University student writes about Video Game writing

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Gareth BrookRecently University student, Daryl Cox, got in touch with me to get a developers opinion on video game writing, I pointed him in the direction of Train2Game student and founder of Road Hog Games, Gareth Brook.

Gareth helped him out and was mentioned along side some of the big names in the industry of today.

You can read the essay Daryl wrote, below:

 

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: Xbox at E3

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Xbox OneE3 has begun and the first subject I will report on from the event is the Xbox E3 Conference which was on at 5:30pm GMT, yesterday.

The event began with an incredibly stunning trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain, featuring the voice of Kiefer Sutherland. The trailer displayed incredibly beautiful graphics using the Xbox One system and they are truly jaw dropping. The game play its self looks big, epic and is open world. This new adventure of snake uses interesting stealth mechanics and action to achieve your goals.

It was a beautiful start to the conference.

The rest of the conference was full of the new stunning games for the Xbox One for all audiences and fans.

There was another old favourite game returning to console market, Killer Instinct, the beat-em-up game published by Rare and Nintendo that was made popular in 1994, released as an Arcade machine, then later ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Killer instinct was displayed on stage by Double Helix Games, the creators of the reboot.

Games for the younger audience were also displayed. Minecraft: Xbox One Edition looked beautiful some how. I have no idea how the Xbox One has made simple blocks beautiful but they managed it!

One of the more interesting looking games and mechanics was that of Project Spark. You create the game world using the Kinect Voice Recognition, saying phrases such as “Woodland” and the land would be covered in Woodland. You can then go through and shape the world in a way you see fit and give inanimate objects intelligence to fill many roles. The possibilities are truly endless for the game.

Forza 5 was shown at the event and this was one of the most intelligent features I have ever seen in a game. With their feature known as “Drivatar” as you play the game, it will learn what you do and how you race, with what it learns, when you are not playing the game, your friends and people around the world can use your Drivatar to race against. In a way, there is no AI to race against, instead you race against people matched to your level so there is always a challenge through out the game. It is an incredible idea.

With it being an Xbox conference there was of course a few first person shooters.

Battlefield 4 was shown and looked absolutely beautiful, with incredible action and an exciting pace. They didn’t display any multiplayer game play however.

There was also a teaser trailer for the next Halo game that completely blew me away. As I sat there watching the trailer, trying to work out what I was seeing I was shocked and excited to see the Master Chief unveiled, that was one of the best moments of it for me.

There was several other games mentioned through the conference.

The Xbox it’s self was announced to be very heavily integrated with the Smartglass app. Using it from keeping an eye on other players stats to displaying the user interface.

The price was the biggest downfall of the console however. In the UK the console will be £429. A price many aren’t sure is worth it.