Tag Archives: E3 2012

Train2Game News: Nintendo Wii U supports free-to-play

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Nintendo will support free-to-play games for their upcoming Wii U console. That’s what president Satoru Iwata told an audience of analysts at a Q&A session during E3, report Digital Spy.

“With respect to the Wii U system, when we began working on it, one of our goals was to have a variety of purchase options and additional e-commerce options available at its launch,” said Iwata.

“And because of that, we have prepared a Digital Rights Management system. We have designed the system from a technical standpoint to allow developers to freely take advantage of things like free to play and micro transactions.” he added.

While free-to-play has become a popular model for PC, it isn’t as popular on consoles. Ghost Recon Online, a free-to-play version of Ubisoft’s tactical shooter is one of the game’s following the model that’ll be arriving on Nintendo Wii U.

As reported by The Train2Game Blog, One analyst believes the Wii U will be the “Swiss army knife” of gaming.

There’s more about free-to-play and its benefits here on The Train2Game Blog, while be sure to keep reading for the latest news on the Nintendo Wii U.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo introducing free-to-play to their console? Will it be a success?

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

Train2Game News: Watch the Unreal Engine 4 tech demo now

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Watch Unreal Engine 4 in action now in Unreal Technology’s elemental demo showcase, and get a glimpse at what could be just around the corner when it comes to tools in game development.  See it below, here on The Train2Game Blog.

It’s the same video Wired got exclusive access to a few weeks ago, when they spoke about it in depth with Epic Games. This week, Epic Games revealed they want Unreal Engine 4 to shorten game development time with.

There’s more on Unreal Engine 4 here on the Unreal Engine here on the Train2Game Blog.

What are your impressions of the Unreal Engine 4 demo? Does it leave you excited for the future of game development?

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

Train2Game News: Gears of War: Judgement developer diary discusses multiplayer game design changes

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Gears of War: Judgement will expose players to a time zone they’ve not accessed before and a new type of class based multiplayer. That’s what Epic Games has revealed in a Gears of War: Judgement E3 2012 developer diary.

The game is a prequel which Director of development Rod Fergusson, multiplayer designer Quinn Delhoyo believe offers a different style of gameplay that puts a twist on the Gears of War series.

They also run through the game design mechanics of Overrun, the class based multiplayer mode and reveal that inspiration for it came from the feedback of Gears of War players.

Watch the Gears of War: Judgement E3 2012 developer diary below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for news from E3 2012, while there’s more from Epic Games here.

What are your thoughts on the game design changes of multiplayer for Gears of War: Judgement?

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

Train2Game News: Epic want to shorten game development time with Unreal Engine 4

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 Epic Games president Mike Capps wants their upcoming Unreal Engine 4 to make game development time much shorter.

“Our goal is to keep bringing budgets down for making games because we get more games and more game content that way. Iteration is really the key to good games.” he told GamesIndustry.biz in an extensive interview, when asked if the new engine will cut down the time needed for making games.

“You build something you think is going to be fun and you try it out and if it’s not, you just keep trying again. The faster that cycle works, the more likely you are to get something that’s really fun.” Capps continued, before discussing how Unreal Engine 3 changed things for game designers.

“For us, Kismet was a big step towards empowering level designers with Unreal Engine 3 to get them to be able to do some of that iteration themselves. They could see what it would be like to kick open the door and have two locust grunts come out from either side and play it themselves.” he said.

“The things we’re doing to empower content creators this time around, and to accelerate that iteration loop, are going to have a pretty profound impact on how fun games get quickly.” the Epic Games president added.

Train2Game recently partnered with Epic Games for Make Something Unreal Live, a contest that saw student teams building mobile games based on the Fighting Fantasy series using the Unreal Engine. There’s more on Make Something Unreal Live  on The Train2Game Blog, while you can keep up to date with the latest from Epic here.

What do you think about Epic Games aiming to make game development shorter with Unreal Engine 4?

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

Train2Game News: Sony on PlayStation 4 – “The number one goal is to be the best machine”

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Sony believe that the quality of PlayStation 4 will be more important than rushing their next console out to complete with the Xbox 720. That’s according to Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton.

Of course, neither Microsoft or Sony has confirmed they’re working on a next-gen console, but various signs from both have pointed in that direction.

“The number one goal is to be the best machine”. Tretton told GameTrailers when asked if it was important for PlayStation 4 to launch before Xbox 720.

“We’ve never been first, we’ve never been cheapest, it’s about being best, and I think if you can build a better machine and it’s going to come out a little bit later, that’s better than rushing something to market that’s going to run out of gas for the long-term.” he said.

“I think, ideally, in a perfect world, you want the best machine that ships first, that’s cheapest, but the number one goal is to be the best machine and that’s what we’re always focused on.” The SCEA CEO added.

There’s more about next-gen consoles here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Jack Tretton’s comments? Do you agree that quality is better to focus on than rushing a new console out?

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

Train2Game News: South Park creators on the research going into their RPG

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South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have spoken of the difficulty they’ve had bringing their show accurately to a video game, revealing that a lot of research has gone into the game design of South Park: The Stick of Truth, the upcoming RPG being developed by Obsidian.

“The funny part was writing it and saying, ‘Ok, maybe you’re here, and then you’ve gotta go from Stan’s house to Kyle’s house,’ and after fifteen years of doing the show it was the first time that Matt and I were like, ‘where is Kyle’s house?'” said Parker, speaking at E3

“The only thing that really interested us was if we could make a game where it felt like you were in an episode of South Park,” added Stone, saying that despite South Park’s simple look, a lot of R&D went into it.

“To do that you had to get the look right; it had to look like an episode of South Park- which is pretty crappy. So we worked with Obsidian, and we said we wanted to do this, and you would not believe how hard, how many hours of R&D, how much work went in to really making that distinctive, crappy South Park look, but they did it.”

You can see how South Park: The Stick of Truth is coming along after all that research in the trailer below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

There’s more news from E3 2012 here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the research going into South Park: The Stick of Truth? How important is research to game development as a whole?

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

[Source: Develop Online]

Train2Game News: Square Enix show off next-gen Final Fantasy tech demo

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Square Enix has used E3 to show off a tech demo of what will be powering their games on next-gen consoles, and it’s really quite impressive.

Agni’s Philosophy, the Final Fantasy real time tech demo gives us a glimpse at what Square Enix are developing behind the scenes with Luminous Studios.

“The Luminous Studio game engine aims to bring about greater productivity within game production teams, while simultaneously offering an environment to create games of fantastic quality,” said a statement from Square Enix.

“Furthermore, the Luminous Studio game engine is planned to support game consoles, PC, smartphones, and the web, encapsulating the many platforms of the next generation of quality”

Watch the Final Fantasy tech demo from Square Enix below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

There’s more Square Enix news here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the Agni’s Philosophy tech demo? Does it make you more excited for next-gen consoles?

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

Train2Game News: Nintendo Wii U is the “Swiss army knife” of gaming

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E3 saw Nintendo reveal more about the Wii U, with one analyst dubbing the upcoming console the “Swiss army knife” of video games.

The one hour presentation saw Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime and Shigeru Miyamoto discuss how the tablet controller can be used in conjunction with the current Wii-remotes and how a “social window” allows new ways to play while allowing users to connect with others.

“For 30 years, game machines … couldn’t take on a more important role than the TV itself,” said Miyamoto  “We knew our next system was going to have its own dedicated screen even if it had to be small. We wanted it to be the first screen people went to when they went into the living room.”

Using the mini-monitor on the game pad was demonstrated by Pikmin 3 and how it uses it to monitor your strategy and the game world as you play through a TV, along with showing off a variety of other things the Wii U can do.

Nintendo has made the console a “Swiss Army knife” said P.J. McNealy of Digital World Research. “Nintendo has a history of creating hardware devices that it takes advantage of over time, whether it was voice commands, the touch panel, the accelerometer, or the gyroscope.”

As of yet there are no price or release date details for the Nintendo Wii U. Games shown for the console however include Nintendo Land, Pikmin 3 and a Wii U version of Batman: Arkham City.

What are your thoughts on the Nintendo Wii U? Do you have a clearer idea of what its about after the E3 presentation?

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


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

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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

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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.