Tag Archives: Epic Games

Train2Game News: Mid-week round up

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Five months since its release, Minecraft on the Xbox 360 is still selling 27,000 units daily. That’s an estimated 4 million copies sold, further solidifying the games legacy.

Valve’s Steam distribution service now sells software as well as games. The software is for games development. The products currently available on the store are ArtRage Studio Pro, CameraBag 2, GameMaker: Studio, 3D-Coat, 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark 11 and of course, Source Film-maker.

Halo 4 won’t be getting Kinect controls, says 343 Industries’ Frank O’Connor. His opinion is that while the motion sensor has its uses when it comes to the UI, controlling a core game is not what it’s for. Kinect will be used for Halo Waypoint however, which can be launched from in the game.

Reportedly, Arkane studios’ Dishonored will take over twenty hours to complete playing stealthily with killing no one. A brutal play through, killing anyone in your path, will take between 12 to 14 hours but that’s without exploring every nook and cranny, and knowing the solution to everything beforehand. It should take more thorough or inexperienced players longer than that.

PlayStation Europe is offering a month long internship to who ever can make the best game on LittleBigPlanet for the PS Vita. The best submission, as voted by a PlayStation judging panel, will be rewarded with a month-long internship at Swedish studio Tarsier. Games will be judged on gameplay, originality, and commercial appeal. The winner will eventually help work on official DLC for the game. To register an interest, go here.

A new mod has been developed for Crysis. The mod, StarCry, sees many different hit sci-fi shows making their way into the new user made campaign for the game. Franchises such as Stargate SG1 and Star Wars are featured in the mod.

Chasing Aurora developer, Martin Pichlmair, says that Nintendo is working hard to make the Wii U eShop friendly and open for independent developers. This opens up a whole new market with a new innovative console to work with.

World of Tanks official site, Wargaming.net, say that registration numbers have passed the 40 million mark. Players have been pouring into servers to check out the big 8.0 update, which overhauled WoT’s visuals and added proper physics. World of Tanks is one of the biggest free to play games in the world.

Cliff Bleszinski has announced he is leaving Epic. After two decades with the company he is moving on to expand his career. Whilst with the company he was responsible for games such as Jazzy Jackrabbit and the highly acclaimed Gears Of War series.

Bad Piggies, the Angry Birds spin-off from Rovio, shot to the top spot on the US iTunes App Store within three hours of launch. The firm said the game was the fastest chart-topper in the company’s history. The game is the third from the Finnish studio this year to hit the top spot within it’s first day of release. The other titles were Amazing Alex and of course, Angry Birds Space.

Train2Game News: Train2Game student gets big chance

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James Valaitis, a Train2Game student taking part in the Game Jam was rewarded with an apprenticeship at 22Cans following his hard work at The Gadget Show Live earlier this year.

James, 19, lives in Essex and has been a student on the developer course from Train2Game for just over 2 years. He has been involved in every Game Jam that Train2Game have hosted and his hard work is now paying off.

At last years Game Jam he was a part of Team Gandalf which went on to become Digital Mage. The team would go on to be one of the winning teams that year. Winning that Game Jam meant James and his team had 6 months to design and develop a game based on the Fighting Fantasy game books written by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. The end goal was to display the games at The Gadget Show Live at the Birmingham NEC to several industry icons. It was here that James met Peter Molyneux, CEO of 22Cans.

James was the presenter for Digital Mage, as well as one of the developers. He would show the game to an audience and a games industry icon. Mr Molyneux was one of these icons. James did an incredible job of presenting to him and Mr Molyneux immediately saw his potential.

James said “Without Train2Game I would of never been in an opportunity where I got to meet so many legends at last years game jam.

“Going to the studio was an experience I’ll never forget and I think the best decision I have ever made is signing up for Train2Game.”

22Cans are soon to release there first product, the social experiment app, Curiosity – What’s in the cube?.

Good Luck to James in everything he does. I have no doubts that he will go very far indeed.

Train2Game News: Epic veterans form mobile studio BitMonster

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Epic Games veterans including Gears of War gameplay designer Lee Perry have formed a new mobile studio and will release Unreal powered titles on iOS devices.

BitMonster studios have signed a long term agreement with Epic Games to use their tech to produce iPhone and iPad games. Their first game, Lili, is currently in the final stages of development as is described as an adventure game RPG hybrid.

“Epic has been extremely supportive of our new studio and in helping us build the game of our dreams,” said BitMonster president Lee Perry

“We set out to create an adventure that is appropriate for nearly anyone. As a designer, it’s exciting to see that the Unreal Engine 3 tools are better than ever, and they provide everything we need to achieve a gratifying and imaginative experience.” he added.

“BitMonster is set to deliver the triple-A production values that appeal to discerning players,” said head of North American licensing at Epic Games Joe Kreiner.

“Given this team’s crazy mix of passion, talent and chemistry, and with the latest Unreal Engine tools in their hands, BitMonster has a winning recipe for success.”

Watch the trailer for Lili from BitMonster below.

As regular readers will know, Train2Game student team Commando Kiwi are currently developing an iPhone and iPad game using Unreal Technology after winning Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show. Their game, based on Fighting Fantasy book The Warlock of Firetop Mountain will be released soon. There’s more about Make Something Unreal Live here on the Train2Game Blog.

Be sure to keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest from Epic Games and Unreal.

What are your thoughts on the Epic veterans forming mobile studio BitMonster?

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

Train2Game News: “We want to be on the bleeding edge of technology and that means having to invent it” – Epic Games

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Epic Games invent technology in order to maintain their place as one of the cutting edge names in game development.

That’s what Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein told Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson in a developer dialogues session at Develop Conference 2012.

“We want to be on the bleeding edge of technology and that means having to invent it” said Rein, who enthusiastically pointed out that in order to improve as a company, Epic are always hiring.

Of course, Epic recently revealed the potential future of gaming by showcasing an Unreal Engine 4 tech demo. But while Epic Games want to be number one when it comes to video games technology, their UDK modding tools allow developers of all abilities to create games, and Rein said this was always part of Epic’s plans.

“We always intended to make modding tools clean and easy enough for anyone to use.” he said.

Epic Games partnered with Train2Game earlier this year for Make Something Unreal Live, which saw winning team Commando Kiwi walk away with a fully licensed Unreal Engine for iPhone and iPad.

There’s more news from Develop Conference right here on The Train2Game Blog, while be sure to keep reading for the latest from Epic Games.

What are your thoughts on Rein’s comments?  Is inventing technology necessarily to be at the cutting edge of it?

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

Train2Game News: Games have become easier says Cliff Bleszinski

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Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski believes current generation games have become too easy, with developers more focused on appealing to as many people as possible over a challenge.

“It feels like in this current console generation that we’ve taken a lot of steps to grow the audience and what I think’s happened is that the games have become more linear and easier, so it feels like a lot of quick-time-events,” Bleszinski told X360A.

The Epic Games design director – who helped mentor Train2Game student teams during Train2Game and Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal Live contest at The Gadget Show – pointed to Demon Souls and Dark Souls being what he wants.

“The more I play games like that the more I turned off to them and just want to get back to systems interacting with systems, and get back to a game that, you know, when was the last time a game really challenged you and asked something of you, right? There’s a reason why Demon Souls and Dark Souls have taken off lately. It’s because they really require you actually try.” he said.

Bleszinski says the upcoming Gears of War: Judgement will be challenging and allow freedom.

“Casual mode will still be casual, whatever, if you just want to see graphics and you don’t want to die, but every other mode will be hard in this game and you will die,” he said.

“When I played this in 4-player co-op… I mean, I’ve been playing Gears since the beginning of the course and I really have to hunker down and focus, and if my buddies aren’t reviving me, and we aren’t working as a team, you’re going to die, and it’s okay to die a few times in a game to try some different strategies, the S3 respawn system provides unique challenges.” the Epic Games designer added.

There’s more from Cliff Bleszinski here on The Train2Game Blog, while you can get the latest news from Epic Games here.

What are your thoughts on Bleszinski’s comments? Do you believe game developers have made games easier in order to reach a bigger audience?

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

Train2Game News: Chinese gaming giant Tencent acquires stake in Epic Games

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Chinese gaming and internet giant Tencent has announced it’s agreed to acquire a minority stake in Epic Games producers of the Unreal Engine and games including Gears of War.

In China, Tencent runs social networks, web portals, e-commerce and MMO services, with almost 650 million users.

Epic state they will continue to operate independently, with the deal expected to go through within the next month.

“We’ve developed a huge amount of respect for the Epic team for many years now, as dedicated players of Epic’s games and as licensees of Epic’s Unreal Engine technology. Epic’s deep commitment to quality across all of its games and technologies inspires us. They’ve been raising expectations in gaming for two decades now and they’re just getting started,” said David Wallerstein, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent.

“We have a lot that we can learn from each other, and we look forward to supporting the Epic team as they embark on their next phase of gaming innovation across both emerging and familiar platforms.”

Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps welcomed the investment from Tencent.

“Tencent’s investment will empower Epic to help us do even more of what we do best, which is making great games and game technology. Their expertise in the global online gaming market is second-to-none, and the opportunity to work with them to bring richer experiences to players all over the world is irresistible,” he said.

“Epic is excited to be full steam ahead on all of its current plans for this generation of games and the next, with the support of a fantastic partner that believes in our strategy and shares our dream.”  Capps 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 Epic Games news here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Tencent acquiring a minority stake in Epic Games?

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 at Gadget Show Live 2012 – All 4 documentary films (Updated)

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Train2Game student teams took last month’s Make Something Unreal Contest at Gadget Show Live, with the task of building an iOS game based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy series.

Now, you can see the progress each of the four made through Make Something Unreal Live in a new video from Train2Game! It features industry figures including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, Peter Molyneux and Ian Livingstone providing advice to Train2Game students as they developed their game.

We have upgraded all the team videos on YouTube, so if you are linking to them you will need the new URLs which you can find below. 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Commando Kiwi Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Derp Studios Story

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The IndigoJam Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Digital Mage Story

They’re also all available, with much more, on the Train2Game YouTube channel.

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