Category Archives: train 2 game

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio talks to Lee Sainsbury

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Lee SainsburyEarlier this week I got the pleasure of talking to Lee Sainsbury, Game Designer of Icey Monty who are hoping to release there first title, Tamarex, this Sunday, Lee talks about how Train2Game has helped him and how the idea behind Tamarex was formed.

You can listen to the interview, here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1215262-train2game-student-lee-sainsbury-speak-to-mark-on-t2g-radio

Or read the transcript below:

Hi I’m Lee Sainsbury, I am 24 from Manchester and I am studying the Game Design course.

Hi Lee, how you doing?
I’m not to bad Mark, how are you?

I’m very well ta buddy! So tell me a bit about yourself, how did you get to where you are now?
Well I started the Train2Game Course in 2009, I really wanted to study Game Design all my life. I’ve always been a gamer and Train2Game just popped up and it was a perfect opportunity to study in my own time and yeah really give me the opportunity to grow.

What sort of things are you doing with it now?
Well since I’ve been on the Train2Game course for so long, I’ve made a lot of contacts, worked on a few personal projects and recently I’ve just joined Icey Monty, where we developed Tamarex.

How did the idea for Tamarex come about?
Well, before we worked on a project that ran into some circumstances and we had to stop. So really we wanted to come up with a really easy fun idea that we could just sit down and work on. The idea for a Tamagotchi game came around and of course, my generation, everyone had a Tamagotchi! I thought it would be fun to make a fresh take on the Tamagotchi genre. That’s where the idea for Tamarex came around.

So what’s the idea behind Tamarex?
Ah, the idea behind Tamarex. OK well, the idea behind Tamarex is that you take care of a pet Dinosaur. We didn’t really want to go for the usual Cats and Dogs. We found that the Dinosaur was a bit funny, a bit quirky. So yeah you have to take care of a pet Dinosaur, you can feed it, you have to wash it, you have to clean up after it, you can play with and yeah that’s it.

Were you a big fan of the Tamagotchi when you were younger then?
Oh definitely! I think every kid my age, at the time, had a Tamagotchi and we all used to palm it off on our parents when we went to school.

Yeah I remember doing the same thing! So how’s the course helping you get to making the game?
Well there’s no bounds, it’s helped me massively! Just understanding game design and game development was a help too. I think that if I hadn’t done the course, I wouldn’t be where I am now. It’s just helped me so much, it’s unbelievable!

Is that where you met the other members of Icey Monty?
Yes! John and Nick, both Train2Game students and they’re both programmers. We met through the forums, we did a couple of projects together and then decided we would go for a commercial release eventually, which was Tamarex!

Where can people find out more about the studio?
We’ve got a website which is www.iceymonty.com we also have a Facebook page at IceyMonty. Or you can come and chat to us on the forums at http://www.forum.train2game.com we are all on there.

Excellent, so it’s all going pretty well then?
Yeah, it’s going fabulous actually!

When is the game going to be out?
We have scheduled the release for this Sunday! If everything goes well with Apple, and they decide the game’s going to be released then it should be this Sunday, hopefully, fingers crossed! It will be on the Android store as well.

Excellent, brilliant news! Thank you very much Lee
Thank you very much Mark

And good luck with everything
Cheers

Train2Game News: Chimpact in The Sun

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Chimpact in The Sun

Earlier this year, Train2Game covered the story of the Windows 8 game, Chimpact. This morning the national paper, The Sun have reviewed and covered the same game.

The Sun ran the article this morning alongside a review for Sega’s Aliens: Colonial Marines. Chimpact was the second biggest review on the page with a huge rating of 4 out 5 where as Aliens: Colonial Marines only got 3 out of 5.

The review in The Sun says: “Though the iPhone and iPad, understandably have a stranglehold on the market, some games are actually better on other platforms. Chimpact is an example of that.”

The whole review was very positive and ended by saying: “Chimpact is mega-addictive, delivered with impressive graphics and spot-on gameplay.”

This is excellent news for anyone else thinking of developing for Windows 8 as it shows you can get recognition on the platform from some of the top news distributors.

It also shows the Train2Game blog keeps you one step ahead of the rest with us getting to this great game first!

If you want to find out more about the game you can go to www.chimpact.com

Train2Game News: End of week round up – 15.02.13

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It is the end of the week which means it is time for the end of week games industry news round up from Train2Game.

A game that I blogged about earlier this week, Injustice: Gods Among Us, has had a new character confirmed. You will be able to play as Aquaman in the DC Universe beat ’em up game. You can view the King of the seven seas in action in the following trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ-68LvoY4k

A new Pokémon has been revealed this week for the upcoming Pokémon X and Y. The new Pokémon, Sylveon, is a new evolution of Eevee, one of the most beloved Pokémon since it was first discovered in Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. Players with Eevee can evolve it into one of seven evolutions, like Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon. Sylveon will be the eighth Eevee evolution.

A new PR campaign has been launched by 11 bit studios, who created Anomaly Warzone Earth and Funky Smugglers. The studio have just released a teaser trailer for their next big game and any one who pre-orders it now, before any more information is released, will get 50% off. In addition they will also get access to the multiplayer beta in March. You can view the teaser trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVbaqQIySE8

Last November Bungie’s follow up project to Halo was leaked and now the company have confirmed it. Some information on Destiny that leaked last year was later confirmed by Bungie to be real. Destiny is to be an open world sandbox game with an engaging universe set 700 years into the future. Whether or not it’ll be an MMO is still unclear, but I guess we may find out this Sunday.

Telltale games, the creators of the episodic Walking Dead games have said anything is possible in the second series of the game. Telltale have already stated that they want to carry over your choices from the first season of The Walking Dead game to the second one. What these choices will impact is still up in the air, as the studio is currently in the conceptual phase. Dan Connors, CEO and co-founder of Telltale Games said “We’re talking through different scenarios, though I don’t think we’ve talked through one where we just start with a new set of characters.” The possibility of having more cross over characters from the TV show are also being discussed.

Train2Game News: Game music on Classic FM

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Aerith's ThemeEver since I became your Train2Game blogger I have been contacted by a PR Guy for some of the biggest games developers. He has been leading his own personal campaign.

The guy I am talking about is a man called Mark Robins. Mark is a 13-year games industry veteran who used to work as a journalist at Computec and Future Publishing before moving into PR. The firm he works at, Lunch PR, is an agency whose clients include Bethesda Softworks.

The campaign he has been leading is to get some of the orchestral game music more well known. Robins’ campaign made amazing headway last year and recorded amazing success. Thanks to his efforts, he and his followers not only propelled Aerith’s Theme from Final Fantasy 7 and the theme from Skyrim into the Classic FM Hall of Fame, but Classic FM produced a pair of two-hour shows featuring nothing but video game music.

Mark has been using his contacts he gets through his job to ask for there help in spreading the word about his cause.

He firstly stresses “This campaign has nothing, nor has it ever had, anything to do with any of the clients I represent”

He goes on to say “This is a purely personal crusade. Skyrim made the Hall of Fame thanks to community motivation by Bethesda’s social media team. It’s no secret that I run the campaign, but I don’t actively tell people who I am via the social media channels and I’m actually really keen to keep this as distant from my work as possible.

“One of the interesting things I found when I started this was just how accepting the people at Classic FM were of the music. To them the revelation was, ‘Oh, we thought game music was all beeps and bloops, but actually this stuff is great. If Mozart or Beethoven were alive today then who’s to say this isn’t the stuff they’d be composing. It absolutely sits alongside movie and traditional classical music.'”

This year Robins is encouraging people to vote for Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack to Final Fantasy 7 again. He points out that thanks to last year’s voting effort there is now loads of video game music in Classic FM’s voting database, making it easy for people to highlight particular favourites. He also encourages fans of classical game music to join the Facebook group – not just to rock the vote, but also to share their enthusiasm.

This is great news for the games industry as it further cements the games industry as a main stream art form. I think it would be a good idea to further spread the news of this around to as many people as we can.

Train2Game News: The Dark Knight Returns

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Arkham CityYou may or may not know that your Train2Game blogger is a massive fan of the Dark Knight so hearing the news that there is going to be a third Arkham game made me very happy.

The next entry in the Batman: Arkham series will be released this year, Time Warner quietly revealed in a financial meeting last week. A transcript of the company’s Q4 2012 earnings call, quotes CFO John K. Martin as saying:

“We expect [digital home video revenue] to grow close to 20% in 2013. And we also have a strong games release this year, which will include the next release in the Batman Arkham franchise.”

Batman: Arkham City, the previous game in the franchise, was released in 2011 and was a huge success thanks, in part, to the story being written by the Batman animated series writer, Paul Dini. The game play was also incredible and as you were battling with the thugs of Gotham you did feel like Batman. The game was then retooled for Nintendo’s Wii U and re-published last November.

Last year it was rumoured that the next game in the series would take the form of a prequel, with developer, Rocksteady drawing inspiration from the Silver Age of comics. However, VG247 claims the UK studio is not developing the next game in the series.

In addition, in August of last year Paul Dini, announced he also will not be working with Warner Interactive on a Batman: Arkham 3 and Mark Hamill said that he would never voice The Joker again after Arkham City. A few months after the games release however, in an interview with film director Kevin Smith, Hamill said that he wouldn’t be opposed to playing the insane villain again if the part was right.

Train2Game News: Pokémon TV app for mobile devices

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Pokémon TV appToday Train2Game brings more great news for Pokémon fans around the globe! You can now watch Pokémon episodes on your iOS or Android device.

The Pokémon Company International launched the official Pokémon TV application earlier this week, it is available now for free on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch—and Android devices. The Pokémon TV app helps fans follow the many adventures of Ash, Pikachu, and their friends in fan-favourite episodes from the animated television series that will be updated weekly from a library of more than 700 episodes spanning fifteen seasons. In addition, Pokémon fans can catch special features, trailers, and Pokémon movie events using the Pokémon TV app.

Also, Pokémon fans can catch the debut of the animated short Meloetta’s Moonlight Serenade on February 15—available only through the Pokémon TV app and on www.pokemon.co.uk. This special event will be the first time Meloetta’s Moonlight Serenade is shown in English, and fans who watch can expect a sneak peek at the magic of Meloetta’s Pirouette Forme! Stay tuned—further exciting Meloetta news for video game fans will follow shortly!

Standard data charges will apply when using the Pokémon TV app. The Pokémon TV app is available in countries outside of Asia and can be downloaded from the App Store here:
https://itunes.apple.com/uk/app/pokemon-tv/id594261405?mt=8

Or from the Google Play Store here:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pokemontv&hl=en_GB
.
Be sure to visit Pokemon.co.uk, Like the official Pokémon Facebook page at Facebook.com/Pokemon, and follow Pokémon on Twitter @Pokemon to receive the latest Pokémon news.

Train2Game News: SpecialEffect helps young Arlo

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SpecialEffect Train2Game’s friends at SpecialEffect have helped a give a young boy named Arlo the chance to play in a world where he is not impaired by his illness and giving him a chance to dream.

When Arlo’s friends came round, they’d end up playing outside with his brother but Arlo was not able to. He’s now overcoming his disabilities to take on his mates – and he’s winning!

Arlo’s just one of the many people whose lives the charity are transforming. Enabling him to play computer games, SpecialEffect are giving him the precious gift of inclusion with his friends and for a boy of seven, that means everything.

You can join SpecialEffect in changing more lives like Arlo’s by running at the British 10k or simply donate a few pounds to the charity.

Here’s a short video that shows how they’re making it possible.

Train2Game News: Injustice: Gods Among Us choose your winner!

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Nightwing v Harley QuinnInjustice: Gods Among Us comes out in April and in the lead up to the game you get to vote for your favourite characters to win in game battles.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is an all-new game in development by award-winning NetherRealm Studios. The title debuts a bold new fighting game franchise that introduces a deep, original story featuring a large cast of favourite DC Comics icons such as Batman, Green Arrow, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and many others. Set in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred, players will experience heroes and villains engaging in epic battles on a massive scale.

In last weeks battles Batman faced the super strong Bane and Wonder Woman faced the insanity of Harley Quinn. You can view the results of those battles below:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment reveal the next round of challengers in this week’s Injustice Battle Arena.

In week 2 of competition, The Flash enters the ring against Shazam in a battle of velocity versus mystic powers. Rounding out this week’s competition, the brilliant but merciless Lex Luthor challenges The Joker, the most psychopathic of supervillains.

View the latest Injustice Battle Arena videos, analyzing each contender’s strengths, offering celebrity commentary on the matches, and posing the question – who would win?


To cast your vote, visit: http://ema.io/MzAz

The victors of these two legendary match ups will be announced this Friday, with two new gameplay videos featuring the winning contenders.

For participating in these show-downs, fans in the UK will be rewarded with an Injustice avatar item when they register on the site and an exciting piece of DLC content when they first vote. Voice your opinion via Facebook, YouTube or Twitter and join the debate!

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 11.02.13

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Dead Space 3Train2Game once again brings you the game charts with another new number 1! This week at number 1 is the latest game from the hit horror sci-fi series, Dead Space. The previous number 1, Ni No Kuni has slipped down to number 6. Forza 4 and Madden NFL 13 have both risen back up in to the top 20.

Week ending 9 February 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 DEAD SPACE 3 EA GAMES –
2 – FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 2
3 – CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 3
4 – FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 4
5 – HITMAN: HD TRILOGY SQUARE ENIX 5
6 NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH NAMCO BANDAI GAMES 1
7 – NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 7
8 – JUST DANCE 4 UBISOFT 8
9 – HITMAN ABSOLUTION SQUARE ENIX 9
10 SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED SEGA 18
11 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 10
12 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 6
13 – HALO 4 MICROSOFT 13
14 – FORZA HORIZON MICROSOFT 14
15 – SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 15
16 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 SEGA 12
17 – LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 17
18 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 16
19 MADDEN NFL 13 EA SPORTS –
20 FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 MICROSOFT –

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd

Train2Game News: Search for a Star, last chance to sign up!

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Aardvark Swift’s Search For A Star 2013 set to be the biggest year in the competition’s history

Students looking to showcase their work to the industry are joining Search For A Star competition in record numbers as registration closing date (the first of March) approaches.

Search For A Star the nationwide competition for student games developers and programmers will soon reach the final stages of its registration process. With 100 entries so far, this year will set the record for the most entries to the competition and is set to be the biggest year in the competition’s history. The final opportunity to register for the competition is the first of March.

Search for a Star is a nationwide competition designed to highlight and reward the UK’s most promising video games students. The competition spans the UK’s leading areas of higher education (universities, blended learning courses and colleges) and is an excellent chance to shine the spotlight on students studying video games related subjects (including computer science and computer games programming) and also highlight the UK’s leading courses.

The register and find out more about the competition go to www.aswift.com/searchforastar/

Daniel Collinson, last year’s Search For A Star Winner and now an employee at Sony Evolution, said: “I’m happy to hear that more and more people are interested in the Search for a Star competition. People who are passionate about getting into the industry MUST take part as it makes such a huge difference.

Even just taking part looks good on your CV as you are keen to try other things outside of your University modules. Employers want people that not only study hard, but demonstrate that they really are passionate and keen to get into the industry, this is done by doing personal projects in their spare time, taking part in game jams and of course competitions such as Search for a Star.

The competition will teach candidates the type of interviewing processes that real studios do. I personally never had a real interview before so the skills I learnt from the competition helped me land my dream job working for Sony Evolution. I will be following this year’s competition and can’t wait to see the games from stage 2, good luck to all, it’s a very nerve wrecking and exciting process.”

Created by Aardvark Swift the competition is contributed to by some of the UK Games Industry’s most respected video games developers. Included in the judging panel are representatives from: The Blast Furnace, Headstrong Games, Rockstar Leeds, Microsoft, Sony Evolution and many more.

All entrants receive CV and Portfolio advice from Aardvark Swift, up for grabs for the winners will not only be physical prizes provided by Microsoft but also internships at some of the most prestigious games developers in the UK, including: Sony Evolution, Exient and Boss Alien.

The register for the competition and find out more about the competition go to www.aswift.com/searchforastar/