Category Archives: Train2Game

Train2Game

Train2Game News: When and where to watch Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo E3 conferences

Posted on by
Reply

Train2Game News won’t be updating over the Bank Holiday, as we’ll be enjoying the extended weekend like many of you. However, the games industry won’t be stopping, with E3, the biggest event in the video games calendar beginning at the start of next week.

Many of the large publishers and hardware developers will be streaming their conferences live from Los Angeles, allowing you to watch them as they happen, or in the case of some, watch them you’re willing to stay up until the early hours here in the UK!

Microsoft are the first of the console manufactures to give their E3 presentation on Monday 4th June at 17:15 British time, which you can watch live on the Xbox website, or through your Xbox console if you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber.

Sony’s E3 press conference in which they’ll run through their latest plans for PlayStation, takes place on Tuesday 5th June at 02:00 British time, and will be available to watch through the Sony E3 2012 website.

Nintendo have three separate live streams planned, but all of them are likely to follow the same theme; their next console, Wii U. Their main conference takes place on Tuesday 5th June at 17:00, a Developer discussion, perhaps the most interesting part for Train2Game students, bright and early on Wednesday 6th June at 07:30a.m. Nintendo’s Software Showcase is on Thursday at 02:00a.m. All three Nintendo presentations can be seen on their official E3 website.

Of course, The Train2Game Blog will be back on Wednesday, ready to bring you all the big news that comes out of E3.

What are you most looking forward to about E3 2012?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Hideo Kojima talks Zone of the Enders HD Collection in E3 2012 developer diary

Posted on by
Reply

Get behind the scenes of Zone of the Enders HD Collection in an E3 2012 developer diary from Konami.

The video sees director Hideo Kojima discussing the robot anime influences of Zone of the Enders, where the HD updates are most noticeable, and how the new opening animation was produced.

Watch it below here on The Train2Game Blog.

Zone of the Enders HD is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Japan later this year.

Get behind the scenes of many more games by watching other developer diaries here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the Zone of the Enders HD developer diary? Were you a fan of the original?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Dota 2 officially confirmed as free-to-play by Valve

Posted on by
Reply

Dota 2 will be free-to-play with a microstransaction store allowing players to buy community and developer created items, Valve has announced.  Steam Workshop will be the way in which players submit items to be used in the game.

“The opening of the Dota Store is a big part of our final push to launch,” said Dota 2 lead designer IceFrog.

“With support for the Steam Workshop, the majority of the items made available on day one were created and being sold by members of the community. By making the game Free to Play, we hope to give gamers the ability to decide how – and how much – they want to invest in the game.” he added.

The significance for Train2Game students is that, potentially, items they submit to the Dota 2 workshop could become a full part of the game.

Valve a targeting a full release of the RTS/RPG hybrid before the end of this year, with a Dota 2 closed beta currently underway.

Dota 2 follows in the footsteps of Team Fortress 2 in both allowing users to submit items to the Steam workshop and being free-to-play.

For the latest news from Valve, keep reading The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the decision to make Dota 2 free-to-play, with the ability to contribute items to the store?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Take-Two not worried about a lack of next-gen consoles at E3

Posted on by
Reply

There’s no need to panic if no new console systems are shown off at E3 next week. In fact, an extended life cycle for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is good for game developers and publishers.

That’s the view of Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick in an interview with MCV.

“There is still ample opportunity in the market with the current generation, provided that you deliver the highest quality entertainment experiences – which we always aim to do,” he said.

“We’re seeing some evidence of an ageing console cycle, which generally is a good thing for a company with very high quality titles, like Take-Two.”

Games coming from Take-Two in the near future include Borderlands 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, BioShock Infinite and Grand Theft Auto V, the latter of which doesn’t have a release date as of yet.

“Hardware transitions historically have created both challenges and opportunities for third-party publishers. In order to succeed, it seems to me that any company needs: talent, tech, IP, and a strong balance sheet.” Zelnick continued.

“Take-Two has all four. As always, we’ll need to make triple-A titles that delight consumers. Frankly, our creative folks will be thrilled to have an opportunity to do just that.” he added.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest news on next gen consoles.

What are your thoughts on the possibility of next-gen consoles not turning up at E3? Do you think their needed yet? Or are developers doing just fine with the current crop?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Inversion developer diary discusses influence of gravity on game design

Posted on by
Reply

Get behind the scenes of Saber Interactive’s upcoming third person shooter Inversion in a brand new developer diary from Namco Bandai.

Saber President Matthew Karch and associate producer Nick Madonna discuss the game design of inversion, covering the story, the gameplay, and perhaps most interestingly of all, how gravity and physics at as Inversion’s main weapon.

Watch Inversion – Behind the Game: Weaponizing Gravity developer diary below here on The Train2Game Blog.

Inversion from Saber Interactive and Namco Bandai is scheduled to be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Get behind the scenes of many more games by watching the latest developer diaries here on The Train2Game Blog. There’s more Namco Bandai news here.

What are your impressions of Inversion? What do you think about gravity being key to the game’s design?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: American McGee’s BigHead BASH enters open beta

Posted on by
Reply

BigHead BASH, a free-to-play multiplayer game from Spicy Horse and American McGee has entered open beta.

Train2Game students may know American McGee as the creator of the Alice and Alice: Madness Returns, as well as working as a game designer for classic titles including Quake and Doom.

BigHead Bash is described as “a fast-paced, multiplayer online action game with console-quality graphics using licensed content. Among the content licensed includes bands, brands, comics, and games.”

“BigHead BASH is designed to bridge the gap between social-online and hardcore action games – targeting the magical ‘mid-core’,” said McGee

“Set in a toy shop, the game offers up an impressive collection of virtual toys and weapons for players to collect and fight.” he added.

You can sign up to take part in the BigHead Bash open beta here. The trailer is below.

There’s more beta testing news, and information on how it’s useful to developers andTrain2Game students, here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your initial thoughts about American McGee’s BigHead Bash? Will you take part in the open beta?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Quantic Dream “unhappy with everything” about Heavy Rain says David Cage

Posted on by
Reply

Heavy Rain Train2Game blog image

Heavy Rain may have been rather successful, even scooping three BAFTAs, but that doesn’t mean developer Quantic Dream is satisfied with what they produced. In fact, game director David Cage has admitted the team thinks they could’ve done better.

“We were pretty much unhappy with everything. We thought we could have done a better job in all areas, and have better rendering, and better visuals, and better gameplay, and better everything,”  Quantic Dream boss David Cage told Gamasutra in an extensive interview.

“This is definitely things we took into account designing the new technology, wanting to work with performance capture. And we wanted a better blend of storytelling and interactivity. We thought that sometimes in Heavy Rain there were moments where the balance wasn’t exactly right. We are working on new ways of merging this in a more natural and fluid way.” he added.

Heavy Rain did, however, sell well, something that Cage was satisfied with.

“I think it performed better than anyone’s expectations, including ours, to be honest,” he said.

As previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, Quantic Dream released their Kara tech demo earlier this year. It’s rumoured to lay the foundations for their next project, with suggestions it could be revealed at E3.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for more from Quantic Dream.

What are your thoughts on Cage’s comments about Heavy Rain? How important is it for developers to look at their work and examine what could be done better?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Molyneux and Livingstone on next BAFTA Games Question Time panel

Posted on by
Reply

Peter Molyneux BAFTA Train2Game blog image

BAFTA Games Question Time returns on Tuesday 12th June, with the free event offering Train2Game students the chance to ask a panel of experts about the games industry.  The BAFTA panel will include Peter Molyneux OBE, Ian Livingstone OBE, Alice Taylor and David Bailey.

Peter Molyneux founded Lionhead and Bullfrog productions and was until recently Creative Director of Microsoft Games Europe.  He left to form startup 22 Cans. He recently appeared at Train2Game and Epic’s Make Something Unreal Live, mentoring Train2Game students as they built games.

As co-author of the Fighting Fantasy series, Ian Livingstone also played a huge part in Make Something Unreal Live, something he was “delighted” to have taken part in. He’s also Life President of Eidos, Vice Chairman of UKIE and co-chair of their Next Gen Skills Campaign.

Alice Taylor was previously VP Digital for BBC Worldwide, and commissioner of Channel 4 Education games, apps and web TV shows, Alice is the founder of MakieLab, a new company producing customisable, 3D-printed, game-enabled toys.

Dave Bailey  is co-founder of Mediatonic, a studio based in central London whose team of around 40 design high quality social and mobile games in partnership with media giants such as Disney, EA, Time Warner and Sony.

The event will be chaired by games industry journalist Johnny Minkley.

BAFTA Games Question time takes place on Tuesday 12th June from 18:30p.m. For more information, or to book free tickets for the event, visit the BAFTA website.

You can also submit questions for the event in advance viaevents@bafta.org, the hashtag #baftagamesQT .  It offers a great opportunity for Train2Game students to get advice from some of the best in the UK games industry.

There’s more BAFTA news here on The Train2Game Blog.

Will you attend BAFTA Games Question Time? What would you like to ask the panel?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

BAFTA’s public events and online resources bring you closer to the creative talent behind your favourite games, films, and TV shows. Find out more at www.bafta.org/newsletter,www.facebook.com/bafta or twitter.com/baftagames

Train2Game News: Metro: Last Light brand manager on getting into the industry

Posted on by
Reply

Those looking to move forward into the games industry need play a lot of video games, but need to do more than playing the big box office hits; they need to play independent titles too. That’s according to Metro: Last Light global brand manager Mark Madsen.

“Play the Hell out of video games, continue to gather your own opinion.” he told The Train2Game Blog when we asked his advice on getting into the industry at a recent press event by THQ.

“And while the mass market games are a lot of fun, just understand that you need to take those with a grain of salt. They drew their inspiration from elsewhere, and from elsewhere is where you should really get your gaming base.” he added.

The advice is somewhat similar to that of Mass Effect 3 senior writer John Dombrow, who previously said “You should play games all the time.”

Find out more about Metro: Last Light from our interview with senior producer John Block in which he discusses developing the game and offers his own advice on getting into the industry.  Metro: Last Light is scheduled for release early next year.

There’s more advice from industry professionals on getting into the industry here on The Train2Game Blog.

As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game industry experience diaries: Will Alexander at AppCrowd – week 12

Posted on by
Reply

Train2Game Artist Will Alexander is his final week of aTrain2Game work placement at AppCrowd. In his final industry experience diary from AppCrowd, Will discusses finalising projects and his hopes for the future.

Read what he has to say about his Train2Game work placement  here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.

There are plenty more Train2Game student industry diaries here.