Tag Archives: Batman

Train2Game News Batman Arkham Origins Story DLC

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Batman Arkham Origins DLCWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today unveiled the first details for Cold, Cold Heart; the action-packed story add-on for Batman: Arkham Origins.

In this extensive story add-on, players will unearth the tragic origin story of Mr.Freeze and learn how he earned his role as one of Batman’s arch nemeses. Cold, Cold Heart will be available for purchase on the PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE online entertainment network from Microsoft and Steam beginning April 22. This add-on pack will be available to players who have purchased the Batman: Arkham Origins Season Pass and are connected to the Internet, or it can be purchased separately.

Unfolding across iconic Gotham City locations, including Wayne Manor, Cold, Cold Heart equips players with the powerful Batman Extreme Environment (XE) suit and new gadgets including the Thermal Gloves and Thermocharged Batarangs. The game introduces several hours of all-new content in which players will battle through punishing, icy landscapes to witness Mr. Freeze’s heart-pumping first encounter with the Dark Knight.

Developed by WB Games Montréal, Batman: Arkham Origins is based on DC Comics’ core Batman license and introduces an original prequel storyline set several years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.  Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals, the game features an expanded Gotham City and showcases a young and unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, players will meet many important characters for the first time and forge key relationships.  The online multiplayer mode is developed by Splash Damage.

Batman: Arkham Origins is the next installment in the blockbuster Batman: Arkham videogame franchise and is available now for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Wii U system and Windows PC.  The game is now available worldwide along with Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for the PlayStationVita handheld entertainment system and Nintendo 3DS handheld system.

Watch the launch trailer here: http://youtu.be/m4F7XLHefzQ

Train2Game News: Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition

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B AO BlackgateWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment today announced Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition will be available in April

Developed by Armature Studio, the same team behind Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for handheld, the game delivers the same dynamic story and gameplay, now in high-definition. Fans will be able to purchase the game from 2nd April on the PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE  Marketplace, Nintendo eShop and Steam for £15.99.

Previously available only for PlayStation Vita handheld entertainment system and Nintendo 3DS handheld system, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition brings the content of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate to console and PC with enhanced high-definition 2.5-D graphics, a new map & hint system for improved navigation and objective tracking, 5.1 surround sound, a fully voiced narrative and a captivating storyline. In addition to all previous released suits, players will be able to unlock the exclusive Zero Year Batsuit skin by registering for or signing into a Warner Bros. ID (WBID) account.

After gang-fueled uprisings occur within the walls of Blackgate Prison, Batman is called in to restore order and put an end to the rebellion before the chaos implodes. As the story progresses, players will explore deep inside the bowels of this remote island penitentiary and discover what happened after the events of Batman: Arkham Origins and learn more details of the Dark Knight’s past.

You can enjoy the trailer for the game below

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 28.10.13

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Batman and DeathstrokeThe third Batman: Arkham game has followed in the footsteps of it’s predecessors debuting at number one, selling almost the exact amount of games that Batman: Arkham Aslyum sold in it’s first week. The all-time best-selling Batman game there has been in the UK however is Lego Batman: The Videogame from 2008. Further down the chart Ubisoft debut at number fifteen with Rocksmith 2014 Edition and EA debut at eighteen with The Sims 3: Into the Future.

All formats

Week ending 26 October 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE –
2 GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR 1
3 FIFA 14 EA SPORTS 2
4 SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE SKYLANDERS 3
5 POKEMON X NINTENDO 4
6 POKEMON Y NINTENDO 5
7 – MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT 7
8 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 19
9 MOSHI MONSTERS: KATSUMA UNLEASHED MIND CANDY –
10 JUST DANCE 2014 UBISOFT 9
11 DISNEY INFINITY DISNEY INFINITY 10
12 F1 2013 CODEMASTERS 8
13 BEYOND TWO SOULS SONY COMPUTER ENT. 6
14 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 12
15 ROCKSMITH 2014 EDITION UBISOFT –
16 MAX PAYNE 3 ROCKSTAR 14
17 TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST UBISOFT –
18 THE SIMS 3: INTO THE FUTURE EA GAMES –
19 ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF NINTENDO 17
20 SONIC: LOST WORLD NINTENDO 11
< 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: Batman: Arkham Origins TV Spot

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Batman Arkham OriginsWith just a few days until the launch of Batman: Arkham Origins, today Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment unveiled the game’s TV spot.

The emotional piece depicts the transformation from Bruce Wayne’s dark childhood to his position as the feared crime-fighting hero. It is a short clip but it shows a lot of character in Bruce Wayne and it certainly has me excited for the new game!

You can view the TV spot below

Batman: Arkham Origins is based on DC Comics’ core Batman license and features an expanded Gotham City and introduces an original prequel storyline set several years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.  Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals, the game showcases a young and unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, players will meet many important characters for the first time and forge key relationships.

The games will release on all platforms worldwide beginning Oct 25, 2013.  Batman: Arkham Origins free-to-play mobile game is available now in the Apple App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod.

Train2Game News: Eurogamer Expo 2013

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Eurogamer 2013The past weekend was one I look forward to every year. It was the annual Eurogamer Expo and this year was completely sold out.

I attended the event with a couple of friends of mine, one of whom had never attended a gaming event before so it was nice to see his eyes light up at the sight of the event. There is nothing quite like your first time!

The first game we ended up playing was the new Lego Marvel Super Heroes game from Warner Brothers Interactive. The game was similar to the other Lego games just involving all of your favourite Marvel heroes! The only other Lego game I had played was the Lego Batman game so I was quite shocked when the Lego characters started talking to me. Certainly a fun game to try if you can.

Second one of my friends and I discovered an XBLA game there that we were both interested in which was a game called Foul Play by Medatonic. The game was an entertaining side scrolling hack and slash which has no health bar. The game instead rewards big combos in a similar way to Guitar Hero. I would describe this as Guitar Hero meets Castle Crashers. Foul Play is out now and I will be buying it soon.

Next I decided to start tackling the main objectives I had set myself for the weekend and started with Batman: Arkham Origins. I am a big Batman fan and absolutely loved the other two Arkham games and was a bit worried when I found out that Rocksteady wasn’t going to be doing this game as I imagine most batfans were. My worries were put to rest on playing the game though. It plays exactly like Arkham City, if it ain’t broke – don’t fix it! My other worry was the voice actors for Batman and Joker. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are the characters I hear when reading them so when they weren’t in this game I worried. I have to say though they both have excellent voices and I could find no fault with the small window of the game that I tried. I will definitely be pre-ordering my copy soon.

I then got two birds with one stone as I tried Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag on a PlayStation 4. The game was absolutely gorgeous and they have really polished up the ship sections from AC3. I enjoyed the quite open sea feel that I got from the game but couldn’t test much more than that in the time I was given.

The PS4 graphics were of course jaw droppingly stunning but what surprised me was how comfortable the joysticks were on the controller. They have just the right amount of indentation on the joysticks so your thumb slots in and is firmly in place for those more frantic moments.

The final game I tried out for the day was Killer Instinct on the Xbox One. I never played one of the  Killer Instinct games before so it was all new to me. I was paired up with a guy I didn’t know to play the game and it turned out we were incredibly evenly matched! We had two and a half games, the first he one with very little health left, the second I one with very little health left and the third one got cut short saw him well in the lead. The game was easy to get on with and just pick up and get to fighting!

Again the graphics of the Xbox One were beautiful with every little detail on display and much like the PS4 the XB1 has an incredibly comfortable joystick for your thumb to fit in to.

It was a great event as it always is but I wish I had more time to get to grips with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I do certainly advise you to go next year though as in the three years I have been, I have never been disappointed.

You can view all the developer sessions from the weekend at http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/eurogamer-expo-2012-live-developer-sessions

Train2Game News: Games Industry News – 23.08.13

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Batman Arkham OriginsIt’s the end of the week which means it’s time for the industry news round up!

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment unveiled a new trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins titled “Nowhere to Run.” The trailer showcases the indomitable super villains hell-bent on taking down the Bat and gives a first look at Firefly, one of the eight assassins featured in Batman: Arkham Origins, capable of raining fire from above. You can watch the Batman: Arkham Origins – Nowhere to Run – gameplay trailer here: http://youtu.be/gTQQaZm5Mzc

Continuing the superhero game theme, LEGO® Marvel™ Super Heroes are back, this time revealing the brick-building plot of the game, with an all-new new trailerAm! Do you have what it takes to destroy Dr. Doom and his Dr. Doom Doomray of Doom? Check out the awesome trailer (with a huge villain reveal) here: http://youtu.be/Nvpug0_-xAQ

It’s time to step back into the darkness. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, the follow-up to the genre-defining horror game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, is now available for pre-order with a 20-percent discount. From the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Dear Esther comes a new first-person horror game that will drag you to the depths of greed, power and madness. It will bury its snout into your ribs and it will eat your heart. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is survival–horror at its most unsettling; helpless and alone, no weapons to soothe your nerves, and the dim light of your lantern to offer any comfort.

Broken Sword: The Serpent’s Curse is the fifth instalment in the adventure game franchise. It was kickstarted to give Revolution Software full control, giving them total freedom over the games look and feel. It is also the first Kickstarter project to be picked up by Sony to put on the Vita. The Serpent’s Curse will also be available on iOS, PC, Mac, Android and Linux and you can see an early trailer for the game, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3jQu1riTcYg

After years of Comic Book Movies, Publishers are really making a play for videogames to muscle in. EA have a Need for Speed movie starring Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad, and Ubsioft already have Michael Fassbender attached to Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell with Tom Hardy. Now they’re taking upcoming Watch_Dogs onto the big screen too, forming a partnership with Sony Pictures and New Regency. Video Games have a very hit and miss track record with going to movies and some are only good because they are so bad. With all these games going to Hollywood though, it shows games are being accepted more and more.

Train2Game News: Mad Munchkin Reviews

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Mad Munchkin ReviewsTrain2Game student, Amy Methven from Elgin Scotland, has created her own YouTube channel talking about all sorts of different art and animation.

Amy’s Mad Munchkin Reviews have covered media such as games, movies and TV Shows. She has spoken about the Batman Arkham games, My Little Pony and she has discussed subjects such as CGI compared to 2D animation.

It’s a fascinating view on all the different aspects of animation.

I asked Amy why she decided to create her YouTube channel and she said “I started the Mad Munchkin reviews for lots of different reasons really. The first one being that I love Art and love talking about it, like most people on the Art and Animation Course with Train2Game.

The second reason is that I wanted to find other creative ways to expose my Art work outside of the video game industry. In a practical sense, it allowed me to develop my video editing skills as well as analytical skills when it comes to my writing. I wanted to teach myself how to construct my critiques so I can successfully back up my opinions on what I review.

The show primarily focuses on Animated Movies, tv shows and video games, looking at the creative process behind creating these pieces of Art from the perspective of theory rather than the practical technicalities of the process. As much as I love the practical side of creativity, it is the theory and reason behind it that I like talking about more. Asking why something looks a certain why is more interesting to me than finding out how it was constructed.”

If you would like to check out Amy’s YouTube channel you can here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Amymethven/videos?shelf_index=0&view=0&sort=dd

Or you can view her Deviant art page at: http://amymethvenart.deviantart.com/

Train2Game News: Games Industry news – 15.08.13

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Jason HoltmanIt’s the end of the week which means it is time for the industry news round up!

Jason Holtman, who spearheaded Valve’s Steam business for eight years before leaving the company in February, has a new job at Microsoft with a focus on PC gaming and entertainment strategy. At Valve, Holtman was the primary point of contact for developers that distributed games on Steam – and, to many in the gaming world, was the service’s driving force. While he certainly wasn’t the sole reason for its success, he was its biggest cheerleader and an even bigger proponent of digital distribution. What this means for Microsoft is yet to be seen.

The Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer trailer was revealed yesterday and the franchise has finally introduced female characters to play as! You can enjoy the trailer on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2lJcbeBerQ

Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches, the final add-on pack for Arkane Studios’ critically-acclaimed first-person action game, is now available worldwide via Xbox LIVE (800 Microsoft Points), Steam (£7.99 / €9.99 / AU$14.45) and on PlayStation Store. Additionally, a new gameplay trailer for the add-on was released which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLEfvTkYHeE

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced it has released Zatanna, the latest downloadable content (DLC) character to be added to the DC Comics fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us. Based on NetherRealm Studios’ interpretation of the famed DC Comics character, Zatanna is available now on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 400 Microsoft Points and will be available on the PlayStation Network at a price of £3.99 soon. A second generation magician and a master of trickery known for her clever escapes and summons executed by speaking backwards, Zatanna is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the futuristic world of Injustice: Gods Among Us. If my geek memory serves me well I believe her and her father helped teach a young Bruce Wayne that art of escape in one of the Batman story lines.

Finally Little Orbit, a worldwide video game publisher, today announced a partnership with TNT to bring the epic alien-invasion television series Falling Skies to multiple video game consoles. Depicting a world gone mad after an alien invasion, the Falling Skies video games will grab a foothold in the gaming world with a mobile game due out this holiday and multiple consoles launching in 2014. Falling Skies is based on the popular TNT show of the same name and will tie directly into the television series, with a scenario that will weave itself into the existing universe and feature voice work by the show’s actors. This has worked incredibly well for The Walking Dead but time will tell how this one will do!

Train2Game News: Top 3 Game Engines

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UDKAcross the past week Train2Game held a poll to see which is your favourite game engine. These are the results!

In descending order the Third most popular games engine for Train2Game Students is the CryEngine 3.  It was originally developed by German studio, Crytek, as a technology demo for Nvidia and, when the company saw its potential, it was turned into a game. That first game developed using the engine was the first Far Cry.

The CryEngine 3 Free SDK, originally called Sandbox Editor, is the current version of the level editor used to create levels for the CryEngine line of game engines by Crytek. Tools are also provided within the software to facilitate scripting, animation, and object creation. It has been included with various Crytek games and is used extensively for modding purposes. The editing style is that of the sandbox concept, with the emphasis on large terrains and a free style of mission programming. The editor can also construct indoor settings.

Recently the engine has been used to create games such as Crysis 3, Monster Hunter Online and Ryse which will be released on the Xbox One.

Second in the poll was the Unity engine. Unity (also called Unity3D) is a cross-platform game engine with a built-in IDE developed by Unity Technologies. Unity is primarily used to create mobile and web games, but can also deploy games to consoles or the PC. The game engine was developed in C/C++, and is able to support code written in C#, JavaScript or Boo. It grew from an OS X supported game development tool in 2005 to the multi-platform game engine that it is today.

The Unity Engine is simple to use and as of this month free to publish to mobiles. It is clear why it is popular among Train2Game Students.

The Unity Engine has been used to create popular mobile games such as Bad Piggies, Slender: The Arrival and it was used to port Temple Run 2 to Android devices.

Finally the number one games engine according to Train2Game students is Epic’s Unreal Engine. Although primarily developed for first-person shooters, it has been successfully used in a variety of other genres, including stealth, MMORPGs and other RPGs. With its code written in C++, the Unreal Engine features a high degree of portability and is a tool used by many game developers today. It was first developed in 1998 for Unreal.

The third and current generation of the Unreal Engine (UE3) is designed for DirectX (versions 9-11 for Windows and Xbox 360), as well as systems using OpenGL, including the PlayStation 3, OS X, iOS, Android, Stage 3D for Adobe Flash Player 11, JavaScript/WebGL, PlayStation Vita and Wii U. Its renderer supports many advanced techniques including HDRR, per-pixel lighting, and dynamic shadows. It also builds on the tools available in previous versions.

In October 2011, the engine was ported to support Adobe Flash Player 11 through the Stage 3D hardware-accelerated APIs. Epic has used this version of the engine for their in-house games. Aggressive licensing of this iteration has garnered a great deal of support from many prominent licensees. Epic has announced that Unreal Engine 3 runs on both Windows 8 and Windows RT.

The engine is free to download and has a small charge of $99 to publish from, as long as you don’t make over $50,000 after which Epic will start to take a percentage.

The Unreal engine has been used in countless games including The Batman Arkham Games, BioShock Infinite, The Borderlands games, Dishonored, The Gears of War series and countless others.

It is quite clear why the Unreal Engine is the most popular engine among Train2Game Students.

Train2Game News: Batman Arkham Origins full trailer

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Batman Arkham OriginsThe full trailer has been released for Batman Arkham Origins following the little tease we received last week.

As regular readers probably know, I am a big Bat Fan so when I heard of the move to Warner Bros from Rocksteady I was cautious but hopeful. After watching this trailer, story wise, it seems my hope was well placed.

The trailer depicts the Cowled hero and his universe, from what I can tell, as good as the previous Arkham Games.

There is also a nice little nod to another DC character in the trailer that has got me wondering if the character will be in the game in any way.

The trailer also reveals that if you pre-order the game you will get to play as Deathstroke in the challenge mode for the game.

You can enjoy the gorgeously crafted trailer below: