Train2Game News, Smurfs’ Village ‘changing the market’ for mobile games

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It’s very likely that many Train2Game students are aware that Angry Birds is a hugely popular game. Indeed, it wasn’t so long ago that the Train2Game blog reported that it’s been downloaded over 200 million times.

The CEO of one developer however, believes that it isn’t Angry Birds that’s the most important mobile game, but Smurfs’ Village.

Unsurprisingly, the man singing its praises is Remi Racine, CEO of Smurfs’ Village developer Behaviour Interactive.

“Everybody is talking about Angry Birds, but the game, to me, that is changing the market is Smurfs’ Village,” he told GamesIndustry.biz “Smurfs’ Village is outstanding.”

“I’d be curious to see who is making the most money between Angry Birds and Smurfs’ Village.”

When you look at the charts it’s always among the top three of four grossing games of the last seven or eight months. It’s always there. Angry Birds is in the top ten, but Smurf is in the top three. It’s amazing.”

“About 30 or 40 percent of the top grossing games are freemium based,” Racine added. “It’s the new way.”

Smurfs’ Village is free to download, but allows players to increase progress by downloading the in-game Smurfberry currency, with real money in various sized bundles that cost between £2.99 and £59.99.

For more information about Smurf’s Village, and how free-to-play could be the way to go for Train2Game students, see the Train2Game blog.

And as reported by the Train2Game blog just last week, EA believe free-to-play titles can be as profitable as console games.

So Train2Game, do you agree that Smurfs’ Village is the most important mobile game? Is free-to-play a model a smurfy way of developing games?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

Train2Game students will be happy, Over half of UK population plays games

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If Train2Game students ever needed something to remind them about what reach the games industry has, this is it; over 50% of people in the UK play games.

That’s according to a report from games market research firm Newzoo, which suggests estimates the 31million people in the UK, or 52% of the population, spend money on video games.

Train2Game students probably aren’t surprised to hear that its consoles that bring in the most money, with an estimated £1.6 billion to be spent on the various consoles and their games this year.

Other estimates suggest that £450 million will be spent on physical copies of PC & Mac games, £400 will go on casual games, with£350 million being spent on MMOS. Digital downloads of PC and Mac games through programmes such as Steam will see £330 million being spent on them, while Brit is will spend £300 million on mobile games.

The average person in the UK plays games on 3.9 of the above platforms, with casual gaming websites proving the most popular. Consoles are the second most popular means of playing video games. People spend an average of 43 minutes playing games everyday.

“Compared to the US, the UK shows a more traditional divide of money spent by consumers, with 56 per cent spent on console and boxed PC/Mac games, whereas in the US, this figure has dropped to 45 per cent,” Newzoo CEO and co-founder  Peter Warman said..

“No other country surveyed shows such a significant difference between time and money spent. For instance, in the UK, online and mobile gaming takes 60 per cent of time but only 35 per cent of money.

“We expect the free-to-play business models on all platforms, including consoles, to not only push the UK market back to growth but also decrease the current gap between time and money spent.”

Warman may be right when it comes to predicting that free-to-play model will expand, indeed, as reported by the Train2Game blog just last week, EA believe freemium can be as profitable as console games.

What’s certain is that with an ever increasing number of people playing games, partially thanks to the rise of casual and mobile games, it’s a good time to attempt to get into the games industry through completing a Train2Game course.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the figures? Does anything surprise you? Does it offer you encouragement about your choice of career path?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News, Minecraft passes 10 million registered users

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The Train2Game blog has kept a close eye on the progress of indie sensation Minecraft, which as reported last month has reached over 2.5 million sales. Minecraft has long has a cult forum among Train2Game forum users.

The game has hit yet another milestone, with over 10 million people now having registered to play the free version of Minecraft. The free version doesn’t receive the regular updates the full-game does, such as the “adventure mode” as reported by the Train2Game blog.

Currently over 2.7 million people have bought the Beta version of Minecraft, with the full release coming later this year.  Imagine if the free-to-play Minecraft users all bought the full version, Notch would become even richer!

As reported by the Train2Game blog, we’ll also see an Xbox 360 version of Minecraft towards the end of this year. Minecraft is also heading to smartphones, there will be no escaping it!

Minecraft can act as a massive inspiration to Train2Game students as to how successful an indie game can now be thanks to digital distribution and word of mouth. Last week the Train2Game reported that Mojang’s next title, Scrolls, will follow the same release pattern.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the continued success of Minecraft? If you’re playing the free version, why are you sticking to it?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: PC Gamer]

Train2Game News, Cloud gaming service Gaikai founder on how to combat latency

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As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, streaming video games directly to televisions or other devices is increasingly being talked about as a means of getting them directly to the consumer.

However, with internet connections, well, notoriously unreliable there are those that doubt whether steaming games can truly take off in the near future.

Indeed, Dave Perry, founder of cloud gaming service Gaikai, acknowledges that latency is “the biggest elephant in the room” but claims the company has gone to great length to combat it.

“A lot of programmers  went on record straight away saying ‘this’ll never work’, Perry told Edge “I am an engineer and I get it, I’m there with them, I understand the conceptual problem”

Of course, Train2Game game developers are working towards a career in the area of programming.

“The thing they don’t think about is I have about 60 people coming to the office every day working on this problem. We found many, many ways to do it, and we’re executing all of them.”

“The way the math works is that if I get two states closer to you, I actually get four states closer,” he said

“Two states is four states in latency, we had that epiphany pretty early on. That’s why we have so many data centres.”

Another solution is rather interesting, and also surprising.

“Imagine your game’s running at 30 fps on your console, but we run it at 60 fps [in the data centre], the amount of time that the game took while it was running,” he explains. “The engine itself took less time because we’re running it faster.

“So we take that time and use it for compression and sending, and you can suddenly see how the math starts to work in our favour. The faster we run the game, the more we overclock it, the lower the feel of the latency. This is one of many, many ways we’ve discovered to tighten up the feel of it.”

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, there are those that truly believe cloud gaming is indeed the future of this industry, could Gaikai’s methods be a step towards this?

So Train2Game, do you think it’s the future of the industry? Does Perry address concerns about latency?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Edge]

Train2Game News, Media Molecule revealed as Develop Conference headliners

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Develop Conference logo

Many Train2Game students already know that the Develop Conference is one of the biggest games industry events in the UK.

It’s been announced that leading UK games developer Media Molecule, the studio behind multi-award winning LittleBigPlanet, will headline this year’s Develop Conference, which takes place 19 – 21 July in Brighton.

Industry luminary Phil Harrison, co-founder and general manager of London Venture Partners, will interview Media Molecule founding directors Alex Evans, Mark Healey and Kareem Ettouney for the conference’s Opening Keynote session: Living Inside a Molecule.

“We’re delighted that Media Molecule is opening the conference this year,” commented Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events.

“They are the pioneers of user-generated content and remain one of the most creative studios around. It will be fascinating to hear their stories from the trenches – and who better to help them relive their tales than the man who helped them on their way: Phil Harrison.”

The Train2Game blog has previously promoted the potential importance of LittleBigPlanet 2 to Train2Game students, with a in depth rundown of why available to see here.

The user generated content tools allow LittleBigPlanet players to create their own levels, with the Train2Game blog reporting that the best community level creators even being hired by Media Molecule.

And in an interview with the Train2Game blog last month, Red Faction: Armageddon Lead Level Designer Jameson Durall recommended Train2Game students get their hands on the LittleBigPlanet creation tools purely for the experience of building their own creations.

The sixth Develop Conference will take place at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton, UK, from 19 – 21 July 2011. It attracts around 1300 game developers from over 20 different territories and has become firmly established as the leading conference in Europe for games developers.

The Train2Game blog will be sure to report on the biggest news to come out of Develop later this month.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Media Molecule giving the keynote? Do you see them as one of the top British studios?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game student Jonathon Robinson shares his work placement experience video diary No.2

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Train2Game Game Designer Jonathon Robinson, recently joined DR Studios as part of theTrain2Game industry experience placement programme.

In his second experience diary, Jonathon and Train2Game incubator scheme and Art & Animation student William Alexander discuss a little more about what goes on behind the scenes at DR Studios, and let us know about the fun they’ve been having during breaks.

Watch the video, produced voluntary by Jonathon, below and leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Disclaimer: views expressed in the video are those of the person expressing them, and not ofTrain2Game or DR Studios.

UK Charts: Three in a row for Zumba Fitness

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Train2Game students may be getting fed up with hearing the same news again and again, but Zumba Fitness is top of the UK Charts for the third week in a row.

As reported by the Train2Game blog, the fitness title was No.1 last week, and a release of very few new releases sees it hold onto the position once again. That makes it a total of six weeks at No.1 for Zumba Fitness.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean moves up to No.2, equalling its highest ever position, former long time no.1 – as reported by the Train2Game blog – L.A. Noire  drops one place to No.3, pushing F.E.AR.3 down one spot to No.4.

Wimbledon fever plays a part in Virtua Tennis 4 jumping 15 places to No.5, while the release of the new film sees Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon move from No.17 up to No.6.  DIRT 3 moves down to No.7, while another Tennis game in the form of Top Spin 4 sits at No.8, up two places since last week.

Former No.1 Brink – as reported by the Train2Game blog – remains at No. 9, while FIFA 11 is No.10. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Duke Nukem Forever both drop out of the top ten.

Capcom’s ‘Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D’ and THQ’s ‘UFC Personal Trainer’ are the only new entries this week, entering at No.2 1 and No.2 2 respectively.

The UKIE Gfk Chart-Track All Formats Top 10 for the week ending 2nd July 2011 is therefore as follows:

1. Zumba Fitness (505 Games)
2. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney Interactive Studios)
3. L.A. Noire (Rockstar Games)
4. FEAR 3 (Warner Bros)
5. Virtua Tennis 4 (Sega)
6. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Activision)
7. Dirt 3 (Codemasters)
8. Top Spin 4 (2K Games)
9. Brink (Bethesda)
10. FIFA 11 (Electronic Arts)

It’s a quiet week for releases, with arguably no huge releases.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the continued dominance of Zumba Fitness? Will a slow week for releases see it achieve a 7th No.1? What releases are you looking forward to this summer?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: UKIE Games Charts©, compiled by GfK Chart-Track]

Train2Game students MUST read this! Molyneux reveals wacky sources of game ideas

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In a Gamelab talk that should provide a lot of interest to Train2Game students, Peter Molyneux has revealed what inspirations lie behind some of his games, and some of them are a little…odd.

For example, Train2Game students may find it strange to hear that Black & White was inspired by a time when Molyneux had a pet hamster at the age of 12.

“I spent the first three months of my hamster’s life teaching it tricks,” he told the Gamelab.

“Now, sadly, hamsters aren’t clever animals. So eventually I ignored him. One day I came back and, after ignoring the hamster for a month, I found it in its cage and realised it had been dead for two weeks.”

“It was the shame of letting this cute creature die that inspired me,” Funnily enough, Black And White is a game where neglecting your character has consequences.

Molyneux also revealed that the inspiration for Dungeon Keeper came from watching Bond film ‘You Only Live Twice’

In this film, James Bond single-handedly takes out an entire base from an evil villain by pressing one button. I thought this was incredibly unfair. What about the bad guys?” he said

“They’ve spent years building this entire base and it is completely wiped out when James Bond presses a single button?! We never know about what happens to the bad guy,”

“I decided to embrace the dark side, so Dungeon Keeper is all about being evil.” He added.

His main point is sure to be useful to the Train2Game Game Designers.

“Nurture your ideas. Care for them. Don’t criticise them. Think about the reasons why they excite you. I obsess about the reason why my ideas excite me,” Molyneux told Gamelab

“And be prepared before you tell other people about them. As soon as you present your idea you’ll have to answer to the negativity. Start with the people who will believe in your idea. Eventually, you’ll need to be prepared to change your mind as well.”

Useful advice for Train2Game students if there ever was any.

Peter Molyneux often offers advice to up and coming developers, and as reported by the Train2Game bog, he believes they should be getting more support. And as also previously mentioned on the Train2Game blog, he’s offered advice on how to get into the game industry.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Molyneux’s inspiration and advice? Have you had game ideas in odd situations?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Develop]

Train2Game good news for modders! Source SDK will soon be free

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Exciting news for Train2Game modding enthusiasts! Valve has revealed that their Source Software Development Kit will be available to anyone for free.

The announcement comes following Valve stating that they were working on making the Source SDK ‘less painful to use, as reported by the Train2Game blog earlier this year.

Currently, you need to buy a Source based game such as Half-Life 2 in order to gain access to the mod tools, but it appears Team Fortress 2 going free-to-play last week has fundamentally changed this.

The news of the Source SDK becoming free first appeared on Reddit, after a mod tester known as Riley contacted Team Fortress 2 developer Robin Walker to ask if buying an in-game item would allow access to the tools. Walker replied with:

“Yep. That said, your email has triggered a process here that made us re-examine that, and we’re going to just go ahead and make the Source SDK freely available. Thanks for making us better!”

PC Gaming blog Rock, Paper Shotgun also contacted Walker to confirm the news, to which he replied:

“We are in the process of getting it all done. It’s a bit messy because we have multiple versions of the SDK, and there’s some dependencies we need to shake out. But yes, the gist of it is that we’re just going to go ahead and make the Source SDK freely available.”

So there’s good news for budding Train2Game game developers, you’ll now be able to access the Source modding tools for free!

Valve have a long history of supporting modders, and as many Train2Game students will know, the popular shooter Counter-Strike begun as a mod for the original Half-Life.

More recently, Valve have allowed Team Fortress 2 community developers a cut of the revenue made from the in-game items sold through digital transactions.

In an interview published on the Train2Game blog last month, Red Faction: Armageddon Lead Level Designer Jameson Durall said that modding is an excellent way for those with desires to get into the games industry to practice their skills.

So Train2Game, will you be using the Source SDK? Have you used it before? And does the  support Valve give mods inspire you?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Rock, Paper Shotgun]

Train2Game students have the opportunity to join Hellgate Open Beta

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Here’s something that may especially be of interest to Train2Game students on the Games QA Tester course, the Open Beta period for T3 Entertainment’s MMO Hellgate has begun.

As Train2Game students will know, a Beta period not only acts as a good source of promotion for a game, it also allows users to essentially become QA Testers and report any bugs or problems they encounter.

The Hellgate Open Beta could therefore provide a Train2Game QA Tester with an opportunity to test their bug testing skills, while having some fun with a new game at the same time.

Hellgate is described as “an online, action RPG that allows you to play in a first-person or third-person perspective.”

Set in a near future where the gates of Hell have opened and Demons roam the earth, the game is based in London! Perhaps some Train2Game students would be interested in testing Hellgate purely for that reason.

To sign up for the Hellgate Open Beta, visit the official website and follow the Hellgate logo.

Hellgate is a free-to-play MMO, and as reported by the Train2Game blog just yesterday, freemium games can become very profitable for developers and publishers.

Train2Game students who want an in-depth look at how developing a free-to-play title can bring success should see this previous post on the Train2Game blog

So Train2Game, will you be joining the open beta? Do you see it as a good opportunity to test your abilities as a QA Tester?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]