Tag Archives: developer

Train2Game News National Videogame Museum opens soon

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Sheffield, 15th October 2018: The National Videogame Museum(NVM), the UK’s only permanent games museum that celebrates videogames and the people who make them, is opening in Sheffield on November 24th.

The NVM hosts scores of playable consoles and arcade machines, innovative exhibitions of studios, their games and how they are made, as well as cultural festivals, clubs for kids and parents, and a host of events. The NVM will feature unique exhibitions reaching back to the industry’s birth and forward to games still in development.

Following an acclaimed run in Nottingham as the National Videogame Arcade, the new museum will build on a pedigree of strong review scores, consecutive TripAdvisor awards and 50,000 visitors a year.

“We’ve always tried to do more than just put out games for people to play”, said Iain Simons, Culture Director of the BGI, which runs the NVM. “In our dynamic new space, we’re bringing videogame creators into the Museum to meet their players, showing visitors what games mean and responding to our community’s requests and ideas for new exhibits.”

Following the success of previous exhibitions featuring Football Manager, Dizzy and Monument Valley, the Museum is working with games companies to create new, more ambitious shows. “We’re delighted to launch a test lab with Boneloaf’s Gang Beasts and we’re talking to publishers and developers about showcasing their work to our broad audience.”

Kath Bidwell, founder of State of Play Games, said “I’m really excited about the launch of the National Videogame Museum at its brand new home at the heart of Sheffield city centre. The games industry is fantastically creative and culturally significant and now we have a great place to celebrate and embrace that.”

NVM Patron and BGI Chair Ian Livingstone CBE said “The NVM is the games industry’s own museum, celebrating our games, our studios and our sector’s achievements over 40 years. I invite anyone who cares about the cultural life of video games to join leaders from across the industry and support this amazing project with content, evangelism and funding to help expand the programme in the years to come.”

The NVM has been supported by patrons including Ian Livingstone, Andy Payne, Sumo Digital, Rebellion, Rami Ismail, Masaya Matsuura and many others over the years.The non-profit NVM is seeking help from the sector to take videogame culture to hundreds of thousands more visitors”.

Train2Game News Making Multiplayer in Unity

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Improbable announces that its SpatialOS Game Development Kit (GDK) for Unity is available for download from the Improbable website.

This makes it easier than ever for Unity developers to build, host and manage ambitious and unique massive, multiplayer online games. Improbable’s cloud-based platform, SpatialOS, helps developers to create games that go beyond the limits of a single server. The GDK is an integration for Unity developers to leverage the power of SpatialOS quickly and easily. This includes a brand new, open-source first-person shooter (FPS) Starter Project for Unity. The project provides an out-of-the-box template for developers to build an online multiplayer game for up to 200 players, allowing them to experience the scale that SpatialOS provides.

“It’s never been easier for Unity developers to build games with SpatialOS,” said Paul Thomas, Global Head of Product Marketing at Improbable. “At Improbable we know that development iteration speed is critical to creating games. Fast iteration means you can focus on what’s most important – finding the fun in your game. Improbable’s focus with the SpatialOS GDK for Unity is allowing developers to create unique content faster than ever.”

The SpatialOS GDK for Unity introduces a level of customisation and versatility previously unavailable on SpatialOS. This includes fully customisable modular gameplay features, which provide the building blocks of a variety of multiplayer games. This is in addition to key workflow refinements familiar to Unity developers, open development to allow users to customise SpatialOS to their projects, as well as major performance improvements to SpatialOS.

For more information and to download the SpatialOS GDK for Unity, please visit: https://gdk.improbable.io/spatialos-gdk-unity

Improbable will be discussing the GDK in depth at the Improbable Happy Hour taking place during Unite 2018 Los Angeles.

Train2Game News Borderlands 2 VR

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2K and Gearbox Software today announced Borderlands® 2 VR, that will bring the critically-acclaimed and genre-defining shooter-looter franchise to VR for the first time on December 14, 2018 on PlayStation®VR.

Fans who pre-order Borderlands 2 VR will also be rewarded with instant access to a dynamic PlayStation Theme featuring the game’s four iconic Vault Hunters – Salvador, Maya, Axton and Zer0.

Developed by Gearbox Software, Borderlands 2 VR brings the iconic world of Pandora to life like never before. Fans will virtually become a treasure-seeking Vault Hunter, grab 87 bazillion guns, and face off against the galaxy’s most charming psychopathic dictator, Handsome Jack, to free Pandora from the corrupt Hyperion Corporation.

Key features for Borderlands 2 VR on PS VR include:

  • Virtually Step onto Pandora: Step into the boots of a treasure-seeking Vault Hunter armed with 87 bazillion possible guns on a quest to line your pockets with loot and free Pandora from Handsome Jack’s clutches. Blast bandits with real-world aiming, punch bullymongs in the mouth, find the perfect gun inside a life-sized treasure chest and inspect it from every angle. Catch-aRide and race across Pandora in first-person view and experience the thrill of a psycho running toward you with grenade in-hand yelling, “Boom time!”
  • Virtually Slow Time: Borderlands 2 VR includes new features unique to the VR experience to empower Vault Hunters in their fight against Handsome Jack. With Bad Ass Mega Fun Time (aka BAMF Time), players can use this new slow-mo ability to literally slow the speed of the game temporarily to set up their next attack. In addition, with the option to Teleport, players can glide across Pandora as gracefully as Claptrap (if he had grace).
  • Become a Virtual Vault Hunter: Take on the role of one of four playable classes – Siren, Commando, Gunzerker and Assassin – each with unique combat styles and updated skills that leverage the new VR functionality, including the new BAMF Time ability. Whether crushing enemies with Maya’s Siren powers, calling in Sabre Turret reinforcements as Axton, feeling the heft of dual-wielded machine guns as Salvador, or the satisfying swing of Zer0’s sword in an enemy’s back, Borderlands 2 VR immerses players like never before.
  • Experience Virtual Improvements: For the first time ever, players can experience the sublime exhilaration of driving around the Borderlands in first-person perspective – accelerating and steering with the joystick and aiming the vehicle’s weapons with their headset. With the use of the motion controllers and headset, players can interact with the menu systems in a new and intuitive way for the platform, easily navigating through the menus by pointing, clicking, dragging and dropping. Players will also have the choice of preferred movement styles. Whether that’s the VR popular pointed-teleportation, or the classic direct movement style with joysticks – your experience should feel good for VR and true to form of classic Borderlands.
  • Get Virtually Rich: Borderlands VR brings shoot-and-loot mechanics to VR with bazillions of procedurally-generated guns and gear, each with their own capabilities and modifiers. Procedurally-generated shields, grenades, relics, class mods and more round out your Vault Hunter’s arsenal for maximum power and mayhem.

Borderlands 2 VR will be available on December 14, 2018 for the PlayStation®VR. Borderlands 2 VR is rated PEGI 18 and is single-player only.

For more information, please visit the official Borderlands web site, follow Borderlands on Twitter and Instagram and join the conversation using the hashtag #BL2VR, become a fan of Borderlands on Facebook, and subscribe to the Borderlands channel on YouTube.

For more information, please visit www.borderlandsthegame.com.

Train2Game News RAWG organises your games

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RAWG (RAWG.io) is a comprehensive database and a video game discovery service that lets players create and manage their multi-platform library in one place.

RAWG reached its first milestone in product development field, by expanding its video game database over 245 000 game titles and becoming the largest multi-platform video game database in the world.

Today, RAWG is rolling out its first set of tools for community members willing to pitch in. The first iteration of UGC tools allows registered users to add new games to RAWG’s database or edit existing game pages.

“RAWG is looking to offer personalized and extremely effective ways to discover new video games. The catalog with every game in it (regardless of their original platform or release date) is our foundation. A quarter million games we’ve got is a lot, yet we are aware that some are still missing and some have incomplete information — says RAWG’s founder Gadji Makhtiev. —

“We‘ve spent almost a year to compile it, and now we‘re ready to focus on the depth and quality of our data. With that said we are opening up our editing tools for public access and now everyone can add or edit information on RAWG.”

According to research, more than 60% of all gamers usually use multiple platforms to play games, yet there is no space where they could see all of their games in one place. RAWG’s own data also prove this — on average, RAWG users have games on 2,8 platforms. RAWG accounts can be automatically synced with Steam, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live, while other games can be added to libraries manually.

Existing game recommendations services, however, are usually limited to a single platform (PSN, XBL, Steam) and operate on limited data. When gamers use a couple of platforms, their experience with various genres, developers or world settings is not taken into account prior to suggesting new titles. Same can be said about their in-game progress or gameplay preferences — essential data points that can be reflected via personal in-game achievements. RAWG is looking to fix existing discovery issues with its „all your games on one shelf“ approach. If you loved a particular game, RAWG would be looking to suggest similar games regardless of platform, as long as its relevant to an individual gamer.

Open editing tools are also relevant to game developers, especially for teams delivering “games as a service” or indie studios focused on niche genres and experiences. The video game discovery, unchained from a single platform and focused on personal experience, will help games to get discovered. RAWG expects that new editing tools will be adopted by developers, publishers and other industry entities and communities.

“We are welcoming RAWG’s decision to create an open and easily editable multi-platform database. Having a large catalog of games, including several free-to-play titles that are frequently updated and expanded, we want this opportunity to quickly edit and update existing information for millions of our fans” — says Head of PR at Gaijin Entertainment Yulia Shveyko.

“Lithuanian Game Developers Association (LTGDA) truly loves the idea to unlock editing and new game submission tools for everyone. Video game discovery problem is twofold. For a gamer its a problem of finding the next favorite game, while for a developer it’s really about finding a player. For developing industries like ours, this problem is even more persistent. Thus we’re thrilled with this opportunity to pitch in and share our projects with the world” — says LTGDA executive director Gediminas Tarasevičius.

Visit RAWG: www.rawg.io

Train2Game News London Games Festival 2019 Return

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The London Games Festival will return in 2019 with an extended run and bigger events from 2 April to 14 April across the city.

London Games Festival, backed by the Mayor of London with funding of £1.2m over three years, seeks to make London the games capital of the world. It is delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and video games trade body Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).

Over 65,000 people attended 40 different events across 20 different venues during the 2018 festival. LGF has more games on show than any other global games event with nearly 400 games to play across its events. The Festival has also established itself as a platform for global business in games, connecting attendees with investors to secure deals worth nearly £20m in potential business last April.

The 2019 event will see the return of tentpole activities for the public, including the headline-grabbing Games Character Cosplay Parade and an expanded Now Play This at Somerset House, which will reach more attendees than ever. Overall the festival will provide a wider programme of outdoor events and an even bigger offering for the games developer community – while some of its core programming will focus on the impact games are having on culture, health and the wider creative industries.

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries, said: “The creative industries are key to our success as a global city and the games industry is a thriving sector bringing jobs and investment to the capital. With the Mayor’s support, the London Games Festival has established itself as a global showcase for London’s cutting-edge games industry and once again shows that the capital is open to innovation and business. I’m delighted that the festival will return bigger and better than ever in 2019.”

Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London and the British Film Commission, said: “The rapidly expanding global games industry delivers vital growth into the UK and London economies as a key, cutting edge component of the phenomenally successful creative industries. Through Games London, we are committed to cementing London’s status as a games leader, working to attract over £40m of potential investment into games businesses over the next three years. The London Games Festival is a key moment in celebrating and showcasing this success, bringing together the brightest and best talent and enabling major new business opportunities.”

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie and Mayor of London Cultural Board Ambassador, said: “Games and interactive entertainment are an increasingly important part of the creative and cultural offer of London, our capital city. Games London is a hugely valued programme which showcases the talent, innovation and creativity of the sector from across the UK, and demonstrates the impact of what we make on the economy and culture. There is something for everyone at this year’s London Games Festival, which pulls together 12 days of play, with events and hands on fun for families, for fans, all over the city, as well as opening up a critical business focus through the Games Finance Market.”

Highlights of London Games Festival 2019 include:

  • The return of the LGF HUB (Tuesday 2 April and Wednesday 3 April) featuring showcases of start-ups and prototypes, workshops and summits on Games Impact, Games Culture, Convergence and Online Live Games
  • The return of Now Play This at Somerset House, a festival of playful work and experimental game design which is set to be expanded for 2019 after a popular event in 2018
  • The fourth Games Finance Market (Wednesday, 3 April and Thursday 4 April) the only event of its kind in the UK, connecting 60 games studios with 60 global games investors
  • A second phase of Ensemble, Games London’s exhibition profiling key UK-based BAME games talent
  • Games Character Parade (Saturday, 6 April) featuring a parade of cosplayers at key London locations alongside a day of family-oriented activities

Games London is also proud to have internationaly renowned global partners delivering further events during the festival including:

  • London’s largest games event EGX Rezzed (Thursday, 4 April to Saturday, 6 April), a showcase of PC and indie games at Tobacco Dock
  • The BAFTA Games Awards on the evening of Thursday, 4 April

Applications are now open for developers and industry professionals looking to take part in London Games Festival and the wider Games London programme – including the Games Finance Market and Pitch Bootcamp, the second phase of BAME exhibition Ensemble and an upcoming outbound mission to Slush in Helsinki, Finland in December.

Find out more at www.games.london and follow @londongamesfest for more updates over the coming weeks and months.

Train2Game News Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us

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This November, CinEvents, Fathom Events and The Pokémon Company International invite Pokémon fans to experience the highly anticipated “Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us” on the big screen, with UK screenings on November 24th, December 1st plus additional screenings in select cinemas till December 3rd.

Based on the globally popular Pokémon brand, “Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us” tells a new story of Ash and Pikachu as they team up with diverse characters to face unique challenges and thrilling Pokémon battles in this heartwarming film that illustrates the value of teamwork.

The feature-length anime film has a unique art style, new characters, and some exciting and fun surprises for fans both new and old to the extremely popular franchise.

Continuing from last year’s “Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You,” it follows young trainer Ash as he voyages with the adorable and fan favourite Pikachu as they continue with their Pokémon-capturing adventures. The new installment takes place in the seaside town of Frau City, where an annual festival celebrating the legendary Pokémon Lugia is held each year, as it saved the town from danger in the years prior.

When the festival’s livelihood is put at risk, Ash must team up with others in Frau City as well as some extremely familiar faces to face off a procession of Pokémon imposing threat to Frau City. This is an unmissable and thrilling installment and a complete treat for the whole family.

“Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us” will be shown in more than 300 cinemas across the UK & Ireland.
Attendees at selected screenings of “Pokémon the Movie: The Power of US” across the UK & Ireland will be able to pick up a free sample pack of The Pokémon Trading Card Game, featuring three random trading cards.

To find your closest participating cinema showing “Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us” and to book your tickets please go to www.fathomanimation.com.

“Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You was a huge success last year and we are delighted to be bringing the next installment to fans across the UK & Ireland from November.” Joe Evea, MD CinEvents.

“We are thrilled to work with The Pokémon Company International to bring another exciting and new Pokémon adventure to cinemas nationwide this fall,” said Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt. “These cinematic events provide an opportunity for fans to catch up with their favorite characters, and for a whole new audience of moviegoers to discover Pokémon.”

“We’re excited that fans will be able to immerse themselves in Ash and Pikachu’s latest animated adventure from their neighborhood movie theaters,” said J.C. Smith, senior director of consumer marketing at The Pokémon Company International. “Our continued partnership with Fathom Events allows us to deliver more quality entertainment experiences that delight the Pokémon community.”

Train2Game News International Mobile Gaming Awards submissions open

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The International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) has now opened the call for submissions for their 15th annual Global edition.

What started in 2004 in Monte Carlo has now grown to be the largest competition for mobile games in the world, with additional region-specific events and competitions in China, Southeast Asia, and Middle East North Africa.

All mobile game makers, from indie developers to established studios, publishers, students and researchers from all countries are invited to enter their games into this year’s competition. Participants have until December 31, 2018, to submit their entries. The competition is free, and entrants may submit multiple games for consideration.

Following the deadline for submissions, an online judging panel will determine the shortlisted nominees who will then be revealed as the 15th IMGA Global finalists in February. This year’s winners will be determined by a panel of industry experts and revealed during the annual International Mobile Gaming Awards ceremony in San Francisco, at Minna Gallery on March 19, 2019.

Last year’s awarded games include Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh), Life is Strange (Dontnod), Tokaido (Funforge Digital), Old Man’s Journey (Broken Rules) and many others.

“Mobile Gaming represents more than 50% of the games industry today,” says Maarten Noyons, IMGA’s CEO and founder. “More people play mobile games than PC and console games combined. At IMGA, we’re proud to be part of this industry. For almost 15 years, we have been celebrating the ever-increasing quality and stunning innovation of mobile games, and have witnessed huge advances over the years, from augmented reality to AAA-quality mobile productions. I’m already looking forward to what lays ahead for 2019, and which games we will be playing in our online and on-site judging sessions to come.”

The IMGA Global competition is also open to AR and VR games. Eligible games must be published in 2018 or have yet-to-be published and must be downloadable in a playable version.

Entrants from across the globe can submit their games for consideration on the official IMGA website.

Train2Game News One Special Day Today

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Some of the biggest names in the world of gaming will be coming together in partnership with their communities today to help the gamers’ charity SpecialEffect transform the lives of disabled gamers all over the world.

Now in its third year, One Special Day is a flagship fundraising day for SpecialEffect and is supported by a stellar line up of over 50 partners across the games industry including SEGA, Supercell, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Seriously, Miniclip, Rovio, Splash Damage, Nordeus, Outfit 7, Logitech, CCP and many others.

PC and mobile partners are donating a day of their UK revenue (and in some cases making corporate donations) to help the charity get more of the world’s most severely disabled people enjoying the fun and inclusion of digital gaming. A Humble Bundle Store promotion was also launched last night to go alongside the One Special Day Humble Bundle, and fundraising events are taking place across the UK.

Nikki, the mother of Chase, a young gamer with a severe form of cerebral palsy that SpecialEffect has helped, is urging other gamers to play games, buy games and donate to One Special Day:

“Gaming is a huge part of our lives and I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome it is that Chase can game thanks to SpecialEffect.”

For more information on who is taking part in One Special Day 2018 and to find out how you can support the biggest games industry fundraiser of the year, go to www.onespecialday.org.uk or call Nick Streeter on 01608 810055.

Train2Game News Downloadable Gaming Platform Kartridge

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Kongregate, a leading publisher of mobile, console, PC, and web games, has revealed that Kartridge, the upcoming downloadable gaming platform, currently in closed beta, will become available to the public on November 1, 2018.

The Kartridge Open Beta will launch with several distinct features; most notably, it will reward playtime by providing tangible perks to those who level up their account.

Players accrue experience by completing game-specific achievements and collecting unique badges, co-designed by Kartridge and selected development teams.

As players earn experience, their Kartridge account will increase in level. As a reward for their progress, they’ll receive substantial benefits at specific levels that allow them to purchase any game at a discount or receive a game of their choice for free.

“For over a decade, we’ve cultivated an environment where players not only care about their in-game accounts, but about their entire platform persona; we’ve found that players respond well to empowerment and choice,” said Alison Huffman, Director of Product at Kongregate. “We hope that players will find the substantive benefits of gaming on Kartridge to be a personally rewarding experience.”

With over 200 games from a total of 100 founding developers, Kartridge’s debut will feature content from industry headliners such as Double Fine, Versus Evil, and Thunder Lotus.

The inaugural platform release will also provide an effortless content upload process, expanding developer tools and analytics, and core community features, including a global platform chat system.

“We want Kartridge to feel like an investment that pays off for both developers and players. Developers will gain a bigger and expanded audience through purchases subsidized by Kongregate and players will get more of what they want: games,” Alison continued. “We hope Kartridge accounts will become a point of pride for players, with a lot of completed achievements, a large library, and a place where community investment, health, and longevity are encouraged.”

Kartridge is currently in closed beta and will be released as an open beta on November 1, 2018. Players and developers can learn more about the Kartridge platform, and sign up for the ongoing closed beta, at kartridge.com.

Train2Game News Insomnia63 smashes records

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The GAME Events team, previously known as Multiplay, smashed expectations with another successful Insomnia show featuring record-breaking feats with games such as Fortnite and Mario Kart.

Insomnia63, which was held at the NEC in Birmingham, is the largest family gaming event in the UK, bringing together people of all ages and genres. Over the four-day event from 24th – 27th August a staggering 14 records were achieved at the Guinness World Records GWR Live! stand, establishing six brand new record-holders (two individuals and two pairs) across Fortnite, Mario Kart, Rocket League and TrackmaniaTurbo.

The four records up for grabs were:

• Fastest time to complete the Rocket League training time trial
• Most coins collected in one minute in a game of coin runners on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (team of two)
• Fastest completion of the TrackmaniaTurbo race track in double driver smash mode
• Fastest time to build a three-story wooden fort in Fortnite: Battle Royale solo Playground mode (Console version)

Hot off the heels of the teams Insomnia success is the upcoming BrickLive event – http://bricklive.co.uk . The UK’s largest LEGO® exhibition is back at the NEC, Birmingham on 1st – 4th November 2018. With a wealth of new features including new for 2018, the Mythical Beasts section which houses over 50 models and interactive experiences from mythology to life, making it an unmissable experience for LEGO® fans of all ages.

For tickets please to go http://bricklive.co.uk/bricklive-tickets/