Train2Game News Custom Controllers

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ZavviCustom Controllers UK is proud to announce Zavvi, the online entertainment retailer as their first official stockist.

Zavvi, ‘The home of entertainment’ sell anything from the latest tech to T-Shirts and their brand new ‘ZBOX’ monthly entertainment crate. In addition to this, Zavvi will now stock over 35 Custom Xbox One and PS4 controller designs, manufactured by Custom Controllers UK.

Custom Controllers UK are enthusiastic about giving gamers the opportunity to customise their controllers and continuously release new designs to cater for all styles. Since 2007 ‘CCUK’ have been striving to meet the needs of gamers and are very proud of what they have managed to deliver.

As well as the range offered on Zavvi, Custom Controllers UK offer a vast range of options on other platforms including over 250 designs across Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

To find out what Custom Controllers UK and Zavvi have to offer click here: http://www.zavvi.com/brand/Custom+Controllers+UK.content

Train2Game News UK Top 20 Games – 16.02.15

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EvolveAfter a few quiet weeks the top of the charts have received new blood! Evolve is the new number one with the re-release of Majora’s Mask on the 3DS is at number two. A couple down from that at number four is Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. The rest of the charts have stayed mostly the same.

All formats
Week ending 14 February 2015

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 EVOLVE 2K GAMES –
2 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK 3D NINTENDO –
3 CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE ACTIVISION 1
4 MONSTER HUNTER 4 ULTIMATE CAPCOM –
5 GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR 2
6 FIFA 15 EA SPORTS 3
7 FAR CRY 4 UBISOFT 9
8 MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION MICROSOFT 5
9 ASSASSIN’S CREED: UNITY UBISOFT 4
10 DESTINY ACTIVISION 7
11 MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION SONY COMPUTER ENT. 6
12 THE CREW UBISOFT 10
13 WWE 2K15 2K SPORTS 11
14 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS ACTIVISION 8
15 LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 14
16 DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 DISNEY INFINITY 17
17 MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 15
18 TERRARIA XBOX 360 CLASSICS 13
19 WATCH DOGS UBISOFT 16
20 FORZA HORIZON 2 MICROSOFT 19
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2015 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 Crytek showing VR at GDC

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With GDC 2015 just around the corner, independent game developer and publisher Crytek has announced details of its plans for the annual conference and expo in San Francisco, which runs from March 4th – 6th this year.

Crytek will set up base at booth #1424 in the South Hall of the Moscone Center, where attendees will be able to take a closer look at a brand new VR demo powered by CRYENGINE and witness Crytek’s technology at work on Android-based systems.

On top of seeing CRYENGINE unleashed for VR and Android, visitors can discover how the engine is equipping developers on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Linux, and learn more about CRYENGINE Sandbox – the ultimate multiplatform toolset.

Throughout the expo, Crytek’s booth will also play host to a regular program of live theatre demos hosted by CRYENGINE licensees and Crytek staff. These demos will offer audiences a detailed look at how both major studios and indie developers are using the engine to create stunning new projects irrespective of size or budget.

For more information, visit www.cryengine.com.

Train2Game News Free Developer Workshops

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Creative England announces FREE marketing workshops for South West and West Midlands SME games businesses, run in partnership with Ukie.

Creative England has joined forces with Ukie, the trade body that aims to support, grow and promote the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry, to deliver a series of free marketing training workshops.

The workshops are open to SME games businesses based in the South West and the West Midlands and are fully subsidised by the Creative England GamesLab programme.

The courses, running in Bristol and Leamington Spa, will cover:

·         Marketing for games: What it does and how to use it to improve profits

·         Strategic marketing planning: A decision-making process for generating a strategic change perspective. What it is and how it relates to business planning

·         Marketing auditing: Macro, micro and internal analysis, key issue analysis and market segmentation

·         Marketing Communications: A solid grounding in the tools, techniques and approaches used in professional marcomms

·         Metrics: How to measure marketing and business performance including return on investment measurement.

Jaspal Sohal, Head of Games and Digital at Creative England said: “Creative England’s GamesLab programme seeks to discover and nurture our flourishing regional games industry. Through this partnership with Ukie we are able to provide these innovative developers with the necessary tools they need to get their games noticed in a competitive industry.”

CEO of Ukie, Dr Jo Twist said: “In our sector making a game is only half the battle. The other half is marketing and getting noticed in crowded marketplaces. It’s fantastic that these courses can be offered for free thanks to Creative England’s support. They will help give SMEs a better understanding of the kind of strategies they need. As we know, compared to other creative industries, we have strong clusters of games businesses right across the UK. The more courses and help that the GamesLab programme can offer outside London, the better.”

The courses will run on 24th March in Leamington Spa and 10th April in Bristol. If you are interested in attending, please check qualifying criteria and registration information on our website here:
http://ukie.org.uk/event/2015/03/24/marketing-workshop
http://ukie.org.uk/event/2015/04/10/marketing-workshop
The courses are funded by the European Regional Development Fund, supported by the Regional Growth Fund and led by Creative England.

Train2Game News UK video games market worth

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Leading video games business publication MCV has revealed that the UK video games market generated £3.944bn of consumer spending in 2014.

Working in conjunction with trade body Ukie (UK interactive entertainment), MCV’s research compiles the amount spent across video games and related products – from downloads to consoles, licensed toys to mobile games.

The £3.944bn includes the spending on new boxed games, pre owned games, hardware and accessories, digital sales on all games formats plus merchandise, events, plus games-related books and magazines.

The number is 13 per cent higher than 2013’s figure, when the UK market reached £3.48bn.

This year’s data includes £1.048bn for digital console and PC content (based on IHS estimates), £915m on console hardware (Chart-Track figures), £106.8m on pre-owned software (Kantar Worldpanel) and £69m on toys (NPD figures). For the full breakdown, check out the attached infographic.

The best-selling video game soundtrack of 2014 was ‘The Music of Grand Theft Auto V’, the most popular video game-based movie was Need for Speed, while the best-selling video game-based book was Minecraft: The Official Construction Book.

“£3.944bn is the second-highest figure in games industry history and just narrowly misses out on eclipsing the £4bn generated in 2008 when Guitar Hero, Wii and DS ruled the charts,” said MCV editor Christopher Dring.

“Almost every sector of the market is in growth, and 2015 is set to be even better, with new blockbusters such as Uncharted, Zelda, Halo and Star Wars; highly anticipated new technologies such as Oculus Rift and Steam Machines, plus new business models around games subscriptions and streaming. It’s a good time to be involved in the video games business.”

Ukie CEO Dr Jo Twist commented on the evaluation “It’s fantastic the see the consumer market thriving and growing. Impressive figures like these help reinforce the importance of our sector to policy makers and the media, strengthening our standing globally as a key market in the digital economy.”

The data was revealed to industry professionals at a behind-closed-doors presentation this morning, and will be the subject of tomorrow’s edition of MCV (Friday, February 13th).

Train2Game News F2P summit 2015

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F2P: Summit returns on Thursday 26 March and organiser, Tandem Events, today announced the confirmed speakers.

Barry Meade, co-founder of Fireproof Games, Richard Earl of Bossa Studios and Dan Griffiths, co-founder of Monster & Monster will be among an experienced line-up of free to play experts taking to the podium to share their knowledge and experiences with conference delegates.

The first sessions confirmed are:

How to Build and Maintain Community Engagement
Richard Earl, Bossa Studios

Richard is senior marketing manager at Bossa Studios with over a decade of experience in the industry. Having worked with the likes of TT Games and Capcom, Richard will discuss building and maintaining a community for a company like Bossa Studios.

Data Mining the App Store: Hidden Winners and Whale Spotters
Ric Moore, Secret Police

Ric has built a system which harvests data from Apple and extracts hidden info; business intelligence that is not available elsewhere. He’ll explain why he went looking for this data, how he did it, what trends he discovered and what developers can learn from this.

A Monster’s Tale – Lessons Learned from an Indie Dev
Dan Griffiths, Monster and Monster

Dan from indie developer Monster and Monster will be talking about their experiences self-publishing an indie free-to-play title on mobile. He’ll cover the rationale for choosing F2P as their business model for Deep Loot, share facts, figures and a list of key lessons learned by the team.

The State of Free to Play
Will Freeman; Barry Meade, Fireproof Games; Dave Bishop, Delinquent

Will free to play be a victim of its own success, as developers struggle to get discovered among the rising tide of competition? We’ll debate all this and more with our agenda-setting panel of experts.

“Free to Play has been an established business model in the games industry for some time now,” commented Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events. “We’re no longer asking the question whether F2P is sustainable, but instead how can developers maximise its potential and what platforms work best. The F2P: Summit aims to steer the debate on this new vision of F2P development and offers vital networking opportunities with developers and publishers succeeding in the market right now.”

The F2P: Summit takes place on Thursday 26 March 2015 at RichMix in London. As well as the speaker sessions, delegates will also have a number of opportunities to network with speakers and other delegates throughout the day.

Registration is open now at www.f2p-summit.com with early bird rate costing just £145. Post 25 February tickets will cost £195.

Train2Game News WeWanaPlay writing competition

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If you have ever dreamed of becoming a Games writer then WewanaPlay have a great challenge which could give you the exposure you desire.

The Wewana:Readit challenge will give you the opportunity to writeabout something you love and help you gain recognition for it too.

The challenge aims to bring together gaming’s best new writing talent in a unique competition that encouraged creativity and originality as you can write about anything within the world of video gaming. The challenge was launched on the 10th of February and has already been well received within the industry.

Ghostwriters for many well-known gaming publication already write for and support WewanaPlay as they gain the recognition and exposure that they don’t get anywhere else. As WewanaPlay CEO, Deepak Pathak explained: “It is notoriously difficult to break into Gaming Journalism and it’s perhaps why so many talented writers already support us. We decided it’s time to increase the scale of what we are doing, help new gaming talent to be seen and of course encourage the 48% of our app users who are female to begin being better represented in games writing too.”

Although the competition is mainly aimed at students there is a category for non-students too. The categories include Secondary school pupils, College, University and of course a non-student category.

Each entry must be between 500 and 1500 words long, be related to gaming and be an original piece of work written solely for the competition. Submissions must be submitted by 7th April whereafter screening the shortlisted finalists will be published on the site from the 10th April for the public voting process. From these awesome articles he winners will be announced on the 30th April.

Full details of how to get involved (either as entrants or supporters) can be found on the dedicated event page: http://wewanaplay.com/events

Train2Game News Open Source Virtual Reality gains more support

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Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, and Sensics, a leader in high-performance VR, today announced additional partners for the Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) ecosystem.

Since its award-winning announcement at CES 2015, OSVR has signed 13 new members, including Jaunt, a pioneering company in cinematic VR. Other companies are in talks with Razer and Sensics.

“The reception of OSVR exceeded even our own expectations and we’re working through numerous partner requests since CES,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “Being able to bring together companies doing amazing work in all areas of virtual reality can accelerate consumer-ready devices and improve overall user experiences.”

OSVR aims to standardize the creation and enjoyment of content for virtual reality devices and software. Razer and Sensics will support the venture with the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit, a virtual reality device and open-source software that enables programming for any variety of VR technology.

For the full list of OSVR supporters and more information, go to www.osvr.com.

Train2Game News Bafta 2015 nominations

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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has today announced the nominations for the British Academy Games Awards in 2015.

A total of 51 games have been recognised across 17 categories, showcasing the very best games of the past 12 months and highlighting an outstanding level of creative excellence from a broad range of UK and international development teams.

Alien: Isolation leads the way with six nominations across Audio Achievement, Best Game, British Game, Game Design, Game Innovation and Music.

Far Cry 4 receives a nomination in each of the following five categories: Artistic Achievement, Game Design, Music, Story and Performer. Monument Valley also receives five nominations in Artistic Achievement, Best Game, British Game, Mobile & Handheld and Original Property.

Four games receive four nominations apiece: 80 Days is nominated for British Game, Game Innovation, Mobile & Handheld and Story; Destiny is nominated for Best Game, Game Design, Multiplayer and Persistent Game; Mario Kart 8 is recognised in Audio Achievement, Best Game, Family and Multiplayer; and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor picks up nominations in Best Game, Game Design, Game Innovation and Music.

The Banner Saga, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Lumino City, Titanfall and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter all receive three nominations each, whilst Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved, Forza Horizon 2, Hitman GO, The Last of Us: Left Behind, Minecraft: Console Editions, Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna), The Sailor’s Dream, Threes, Valiant Hearts, The Walking Dead: Season 2 and The Wolf Among Us all have two nominations each.

Nominated in the Performer category are Adam Harrington (Bigby Wolf) in The Wolf Among Us, Ashley Johnson (Ellie) in The Last of Us: Left Behind, Kevin Spacey (Jonathan Irons) in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Logan Cunningham (Transistor) in Transistor, Melissa Hutchinson (Clementine) in The Walking Dead: Season 2 and Troy Baker (Pagan Min) in Far Cry 4.

Other nominated games are Assassin’s Creed Unity, Broken Age, Counterspy, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Eve Online – Phoebe, FIFA 15, Football Manager 2015, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, Hohokum, Kalimba, The LEGO Movie Videogame, League of Legends, LittleBigPlanet 3, Madden NFL 15, OlliOlli, Runescape, Shovel Knight, Skylanders Trap Team, Sunset Overdrive, Trials Fusion, Twelve a Dozen, World of Tanks and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.

Showcasing the very best in young games development and design talent, the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital finalists are Chambara, Sagittarius and Don’t Walk: Run.

For the first time, the British Academy Games Awards will be hosted by actor  Rufus Hound and will take place on Thursday 12 March at Tobacco Dock, London, for the second year. On the night, the ceremony will be streamed live online at Twitch.tv. BAFTA’s website, www.bafta.org, will also feature red carpet highlights, photography and winners’ interviews, as well as dedicated coverage on its social networks including Facebook (/BAFTA), Twitter (@BAFTAGames / #BAFTAGames), and Tumblr.

Industry tickets to the British Academy Games Awards, which include champagne reception, awards ceremony, buffet supper and after party, are available here:  http://tickets.bafta.org.

Train2Game News Interface

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The teams behind MCV and Develop are hosting a brand new event in May for developers to showcase their games, find investors and pitch ideas.

Interface takes place on May 14th in central London and will bring together developers, publishers, platform holders, investors and funding experts.

Interface will connect indies, start-ups and creators of new games with investors and backers in private pitch meetings; plus, there will be demo zones and breakout sessions dedicated to seminars on better business practices.

There will also be areas for studios looking to recruit, plus networking and lounge spaces.

Interface will be affordable for businesses large and small, with prices starting at just £49.

Registration for walk-in delegates opens in March.

First partners will be announced next week – sponsorship includes exhibition space, access to the B2B meeting/pitching service and prominent exposure.

Email interface@nbmedia.com to be one of the first to find out more.

Interface will also offer affordable demo areas for indies wanting to showcase games, premium spaces for publishers, content acquisition, technology, recruiters and platform-holders looking to find games and partners; and over 300 delegates, including press, to present your creations to.

Interface takes place at the Candid Arts Trust, a creative arts space in London next door to Angel tube station.

“Indies, investors and creators of interactive content have told us they want a new place to find partners, see games and pitch ideas,” said Michael French, publisher of MCV and Develop.

“Interface focuses on quality meeting time – that’s what matters most if you’re looking to score a deal or a new business.”

Source: Develop