Tag Archives: game

Train2Game News BioShock Remastered

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​It’s been nine years since Irrational Games and 2K took you on a terrifying journey to the depths of the underwater city of Rapture with BioShock. Five years since you returned to Rapture in BioShock 2. Three years since you grabbed a skyhook and sailed across the floating city of Columbia in BioShock Infinite. And on September 13, 2016 (September 15 in Australia and September 16 internationally), you can relive these award-winning adventures or experience them for the very first time remastered for current-gen consoles and digital PC with BioShock: The Collection.
BioShock: The Collection announcement trailer: https://youtu.be/cnB3efE0VLI

Countless fans have asked for this since the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One arrived – and we listened! Working with Blind Squirrel Games, we’ve remastered BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC making them look better than ever*. BioShock: The Collection brings the three titles together for the first time, complete with all single-player DLC** and a never-before-seen video series, “Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock,” which includes insights from Ken Levine.

If you’ve never experienced the series before, now is the time to play it and see for yourself why the award-winning BioShock franchise has topped countless “Best-Of” lists and garnered more than 125 awards including two BAFTA honors, as well as many Best of E3, Best of Gamescom, and Game of the Year accolades from respected outlets such as IGN, GameSpot, Game Informer, and many more . The weapons, plasmids, levels, and character models that shocked you years ago have been reskinned and retextured to look better than ever. On top of that, all single-player DLC created for all three games comes loaded in one package. The bundled content for BioShock: The Collection includes:

·          BioShock

o   The video series, “Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock,” featuring Ken Levine, creative director on BioShock and BioShock Infinite and Shawn Robertson, animation lead on BioShock and animation director on BioShock Infinite.

o   Museum of Orphaned Concepts: Walk through a Rapture-inspired virtual museum that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at discarded concepts that never made it into the original game.

o   Challenge Rooms: Outside the story of BioShock, tackle puzzles, splicers and Big Daddies. And achievements, of course.

·         BioShock 2 (Multiplayer will not be included)

o   Minerva’s Den: A self-contained BioShock story, presenting a side of Rapture you’ve never seen before. Use expanded combat abilities with the experimental Ion Laser and chaotic Gravity Well Plasmid, unique to Minerva’s Den, as you face off against the Lancer Big Daddy.

o   Protector Trials: Take control of an Alpha Series Big Daddy woken out of hibernation just before the events of BioShock 2.

·         BioShock Infinite

o   Burial at Sea – Episode 1 & 2 Add-On Packs: This major two-part DLC pack completes the BioShock trilogy by taking the series back to where it all began. Return to Rapture just before the events of the original BioShock!

o   Clash in the Clouds Add-On Pack: Face 60 waves of challenges across four additional maps for leaderboard glory and unlock areas to explore in The Columbian Archaeological Society hub museum.

o   Columbia’s Finest Pack: Combines the contents of the Industrial Revolution Pack and the Upgrade Pack and includes 500 Silver Eagles, five Lock Picks, six unique Gear items, and two weapon upgrades: Comstock’s China Broom Shotgun and Comstock’s Eagle Eye Sniper Rifle.

Remember: A man chooses. A slave obeys. So, would you kindly follow the new @BioShock handle on Twitter, visit us on Facebook or go to 2k.com/bioshock and prepare for a remastered BioShock experience?

BioShock: The Collection for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC will be available in North America on September 13, Australia on September 15, and internationally on September 16.

Train2Game News British eSports Association

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Following authority from the UK Government, today sees the  of the British eSports Association.

Located at Pinewood Studios, British eSports, acting as the National Governing Body for eSports in the United Kingdom, will work in conjunction with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help and represent players at all levels; develop a grassroots competitive video game scene that will nurture future talent; support existing professionals and provide the infrastructure to create future British global champions. 

The activities for British eSports will be easily accessible at www.BritisheSports.org , a portal providing the latest news on events, teams and leagues, alongside impartial advice for both players and parents.

“The establishment of the British eSports Association is an important initiative in furthering the credibility of the eSports industry in the UK. Pinewood is excited to be part of this National Governing Body for eSports and is aiming to have a new National Training Centre for eSports to help with grassroots and future British Champions,” commented Jules Robinson, Head of Business Development, Pinewood Studios.

The not for profit organisation, British eSports will be chaired by Andy Payne OBE, with Chester King in the role of acting CEO. The next three months will see a consultation period, during which British eSports will be gathering feedback from the UK eSports sector to ensure it fully represents the interests of individuals, teams, game publishers and broadcasters alike.

Andy Payne, chair of British eSports, added, “I am an admirer of the work of other sports associations such as British Cycling, and I am very confident that if we welcome and embrace all parties in the UK eSports scene, we can deliver a range of benefits to all players, from professional to amateur in the UK over time. These are exciting times in eSports and the time is right to build this organisation from the grassroots up.”

Thoughts and ideas can be sent to info@britishesports.org .

Train2Game News Marmalade engine upgrade

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Marmalade Technologies Ltd, a privately owned technology company, brings C++11 support to the Marmalade Platform.
In September, Marmalade Technologies introduced a standalone beta of the Marmalade Platform with C++11 support. Today, with release of the  Marmalade 8.4, C++11 support comes out of beta and is now available as standard. 

“C++11 marks a step change in the overall capability of the language, enabling developers to write more expressive, efficient and maintainable code,” says Adalberto Bruno, CTO at Marmalade Technologies. “C++11 is also becoming increasingly popular in 3rd party codebases, many of which are complementary to modern game development.”

Continuing to deliver on its core cross-platform capability, the Marmalade Platform removes the need to write compiler or library specific code when using C++11, offering consistent and predictable behavior regardless of the target platform.

“Although C++11 is not a new standard, only now are compiler vendors reaching mature support and even then there remains differing levels of capability, depending on the toolchain and target platform,” says Ryan Gilmour, Head of Product Management. “We’ve taken all that additional complexity away and levelled the playing field for developers who want to take advantage of C++11, with a write once, deploy anywhere approach.”

Alongside C++11 support, this update brings over 200 bug fixes and improvements across all areas of the Marmalade Platform. From support for Slide Over and Split View multitasking on iOS 9 to the latest Chromium Embedded Framework for webviews on Windows Desktop,  Marmalade 8.4 is one of our biggest releases to date.

The latest version of the Marmalade Platform with C++11 support is available now from the Developer area of the Marmalade website.

Train2Game News Cyber Sprites win first ever Game Marmalade

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Train2Game toasts the winners of the first ever dedicated online Game Jam for students

The first ever Game Marmalade has drawn to a close and Cyber Sprites were announced as the winners. The winning team will be provided with a Games spec Laptop provided by Train2Game.

The student organised Game Jam for Train2Game students was well attended and the games produced impressed event organisers. The event was a great chance to meet new people and learn new skills. It was a close call between Psyber Sprites and the Loonys right up to the very end.

The event was created and managed by Train2Game forum member Slinks. She was extremely happy with how the event went, especially with the games the students produced and the networking opportunities created.

There’s potential for another Game Jam in the future but that’s not confirmed at this time. Slinks and participants will continue ongoing networking discussions and are happy for students to join in future chats via TeamSpeak.

Game Marmalade founder Slinks said: ‘Great evening in the channel, it was an awesome event with lots of positives for the future. I think everyone who took part should be really proud of everything they achieved. Congratulations and well done to all of you.’

Artwork from winning game

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The Official Game Marmalade site: http://slinkydink68.wix.com/game-marmalade

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com
Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry
Read the Train2Game blog at www.train2game-news.co.uk Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.gamatier.com

Train2Game Fabble’s Adventure Development Update

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Train2Game student James Mahon updates on Fabble’s Adventure, his progress on the course and plans for the future

James Mahon and team are working on Children’s platformer Fabble’s Adventure, and its progressing nicely. He plans to use his experience making the game to learn more about creating games and as a platform to develop more games in the future.

The development of Fabble’s Adventure is going really well. In the game Fabble and Minx are on a quest to find lost rice grains. It’s a traditional platformer aimed at young players with a cute yet exciting storyline. There are now six worlds for players to explore. Rewards have been introduced and replay-value added.

Current focus is programming and getting levels right, which has taken a great deal of time. The team is finding it a challenge making a game but ultimately very rewarding. At this point James is working with another Train2Game student who has taken up a position of head of QA and they are not looking for any additional help until the game launches.

James is enjoying the course, he sees it as a great chance to learn and socialise with people that have a common goal. He’s now working on portfolio projects having successfully completed course work. In the future wants to continue making similar games that have a positive effect on kids.

Train2Game student James Mahon: ‘We’ve made massive progress on the game’s environments and challenges. It’s a platformer that embraces traditional gameplay in with a cartoon look and feel. There are six different worlds for players to explore. In them, collecting items is a major part of the game flow and finding the hidden objectives are the main goal. When goals are accomplished, the player will set their own personal achievements for them to beat again, allowing for replay-ability and extended gameplay time.’

‘The game story features Fabble and Minx who are on a quest to find the lost rice grains throughout the different worlds in their universe. Their ultimate goal is to defeat Ghosthead, a mutant bug that terrorized the lost rice grains into fleeing their home. There are a variety of monsters, big and small, to defeat and a good range of challenges to overcome on their quest.’

‘The current focus is in programming to make the game’s challenges work as planned. There a numerous obstacles and pitfalls that we have to get functional in order start creating levels. We’re a small team with a big project and it’s very time consuming especially programming so that’s where a large part of the workforce is currently.’

‘The journey so far has been challenging but a lot of fun nonetheless. Taking a concept from paper to a working product is hard work but a rewarding experience. I’ve learned to appreciate game-making much like playing a game. There’s always a personal sense of accomplishment when overcoming a challenge and that’s what motivates me to continue.’

‘I’ve successfully interviewed a candidate who is also a student of Train2Game on the QA game tester course. He’s currently providing much needed support with the programming tasks and has the major role as head of QA throughout development.’

‘The recruitment drive is over for now. We have enough workers to get the project done and on time. There will be a new recruitment drive when the game enters QA in the later stages of development. We’ll be on the lookout for beta testers and even testers that fit within the game’s target audience. The most preferable skill is a working knowledge of programming concepts to be able to break the game and find bugs that could ruin the game experience.’

‘Level design is next on the list for the game, as soon as the game’s challenges are implemented. My studies as a designer will help out with this most important aspect. I want to create simple but fun gameplay with a variety of challenges while embracing the traditional platformer gameplay style.’

‘I’m currently halfway through with my Train2Game portfolio projects after having successfully completed my tutor marked assignments. I enjoy reading through my course work and applying what I’ve learned. Also, being a part of Train2Game’s community seeing as I have somewhere to hang out and socialize with people that have a similar passion. There’s also the much needed support for students from staff to help make our ambitions become a reality.’

‘In the future, I want to start an independent videogame company to specialize in creating mobile and PC games for kids. Fabble’s Adventure is the only game I’m committed to at the moment. I have other games for kids in the concept stage waiting to be created. I want to finish what I’m doing with this game before I take on another project.’

‘It’s still important for me to create games for kids. I wouldn’t want to turn down a good opportunity to create video game products, I believe, they will love. I also believe video games are a great learning tool and that means a lot more for me to create games that have a positive influence on kids.’

https://www.facebook.com/Fabbles-Adventure-937004039692461

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.gamatier.com

Train2Game Develop VR Panel

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Tandem Events has confirmed the creation of a new advisory board for its new VR conference and expo taking place in November.

The advisory board is made up of seven VR professionals who will help the team at Tandem Events to curate a conference that is both compelling and informative.

The panel is a mixture of developers from inside and outside the games industry and steer the conference programme that will include sessions on the VR and AR opportunities outside of games.

The seven advisory board members are:

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO, nDreams
Sam Watts, Operations Lead, Make Real
Jonathan Newth, CEO, Focal Point
Solomon Rogers, Rewind:VR
Jamie Macdonald, Co-Founder, Mindwave Ventures
Keith Russell, VR Consultant
Steve Jelly, Joint MD, Hammerhead VR

“At Mindwave Ventures we see great potential in the use of VR for amplifying the impact of existing therapies in mental healthcare,” commented Jamie Macdonald, co-founder at Mindwave Ventures. “Develop:VR recognises that VR is not just about games and brings together the wider VR community from different industry sectors. If you’re doing VR you’ve got to be at Develop:VR.”

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of nDreams added, “Develop:VR is a great opportunity for virtual reality developers to share their insights and expertise with the community, and it’s fantastic that Develop recognises the importance of VR as an emerging medium by giving it such prominence at the conference. I’m delighted to be speaking about developing for the next generation of mobile VR at this event, and we look forward to dissecting our two original games for Daydream, Google’s platform for high-performance mobile VR.”

Andy Lane, managing director, Tandem Events commented, “From our years of organising Develop:Brighton we know what makes for a great event so we’re really excited about Develop:VR. With our advisory board we’ve got a stellar line up to help us cultivate a conference programme that’ll help our delegates realise the potential of VR and AR both inside and outside the games industry.”

Develop:VR is brand new event focusing on new commercial opportunities that Virtual and Augmented Reality present to today’s game developers, together with highlighting the tools and techniques needed to produce chart-topping VR and AR content.

Train2Game News XSplit Broadcaster on Steam

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XsplitStreaming superpower SplitmediaLabs and chat lurkers Devolver Digital have launched the pioneering and top-selling streaming software XSplit Broadcaster and Gamecaster on Steam [http://store.steampowered.com/app/433800/].

XSplit free is available now on Steam for – well, free – and the fully featured XSplit Premium is available for $9.99 per month.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering up with Devolver Digital to bring XSplit to players on Steam” said John Howe Marshall, CMO for SplitmediaLabs “Getting started with live streaming right now couldn’t be easier, and we’re looking forward to ushering in a new wave of awesome content creators and help them shape the future of gameplay broadcasting.”

XSplit Broadcaster is one of the most popular and widely used applications for live Internet broadcasting, with a user base ranging from hobbyists to prominent professional casters in more than 150 countries. XSplit allows users to record or live stream any type of media, while taking advantage of TV-like broadcasting features that anyone can learn to master.

XSplit Gamecaster is the world’s easiest live streaming and recording solution, allowing for users to upload and share their greatest gaming moments to popular video services such as Twitch and YouTube, at just the click of a button.

Both XSplit Broadcaster and Gamecaster have recently undergone a feature-wide update. XSplit 2.8 includes a major design upgrade for Gamecaster as well as new features including Unlimited Scenes, YouTube Gaming Chat Support, Custom URI support, and more. These platforms receive over 7,000 sign-ups per day and well over 200,000 new users every month.

“There will never be a time in my life that I understand nerds watching other nerds play nerd games on the internet,” said Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker. “That said, you should buy XSplit from me and then stream all sorts of nonsense and get them subs.”

Train2Game News Michael Bay working on VR

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The Rogue InitiativeThe Rogue Initiative and Michael Bay have announced a partnership to develop original entertainment properties with a focus on virtual reality and interactive hardware.

The new collaboration will produce immersive, virtual adventures offering gritty, danger-close action coupled with Michael Bay’s signature style and storytelling that fans all over the world have come to expect from his blockbuster action films.

This is Bay’s first foray into interactive entertainment; he will direct and The Rogue Initiative will produce and develop original content in cinematic-style VR.

Pete Blumel, co-founder and CEO of The Rogue Initiative, said: “I’ve enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Mr. Bay and couldn’t be more excited to work with him and truly leverage his unique vision and incredible depth of experience to this amazing new medium. We’re all absolutely thrilled to be working with such a cinematic powerhouse in the field of action entertainment.”

Bay said: “I’ve known Pete for a long time, and he’s put together a great team. I’m excited about building new visual worlds for this innovative medium with them.”

Cathy Twigg, co-founder and Chief Production Officer of The Rogue Initiative, said: “We take a comprehensive approach in producing our IP for the entertainment landscape, specializing in film, television and interactive experiences with a focus on virtual reality. This enables The Rogue Initiative to align with our partners in expanding our IP to various other platforms and media. We’ll be bringing this approach to the properties we co-create with Mr. Bay as well.”

The Rogue Initiative officially launched earlier this year with several projects in development.

The company will seek further investment and strategic partnerships to develop its slate of upcoming cinematic, interactive VR, film and television projects for platforms and distribution channels, including Sony Playstation, Oculus, HTC Vive, Samsung GearVR, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, feature film, network and cable television.

Hrish Lotlikar, co-founder and CBDO of The Rogue Initiative, said: “We are producing entertainment properties for a global audience and continue to seek investors and partners internationally that would like to collaborate in developing and distributing our content.”

Michael Bay will join The Rogue Initiative as a strategic advisor, along with veteran film and television Producer Lynda Obst (whose credits include Interstellar, Contact, Sleepless in Seattle) as well as other recently added advisors, including Cliff Plumer (President, Jaunt Studios at Jaunt VR), Matthew Cohan (President, Bay Films), and Cody Simms (Executive Director, Disney/TechStars).

For more information about The Rogue Initiative and its collaboration with Michael Bay, please visit therogueinitiative.com.

Train2Game News 2016 E3 Twitter Trends

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E3-logoWith E3 2016 over, Twitter has taken a look at the most talked about titles of the conference following a week of press conferences, gameplay reveals, ‘behind-the-scenes’ sneak peaks and hands on demo’s.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild from Nintendo America is coming out on top of the charts with more than double the number of mentions of its nearest rival, Battlefield. Sneaking in at last place, news that Vicarious Visions are working to remaster fan favourite Crash Bandicoot has helped him secure his spot in the top ten.

Twitter is where game publishers, the gaming media, popular game streamers and entertainers, eSports leagues, teams, players and commentators interact with their most engaged fans and with one another. Last year, there were nearly 84 million Tweets about gaming in 2015 in the US alone, according to Crimson Hexagon.

The top 10 most Tweeted about games of #E32016 are below:

E3 2016 Twitter Trends

Train2Game News Nintendo Treehouse live at E3

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wpid-2000px-nintendo_red_logo.svg_.pngNintendo showed off a variety of games for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems during its Nintendo Treehouse: Live at E3 broadcast today, including a new game in the Mario Party series, an original action-adventure RPG IP for Nintendo 3DS, a sequel to Nintendo eShop hit BOXBOY! and the surprise launch of Rhythm Heaven Megamix.

Here’s a quick recap of just a few of today’s highlights. For even more details on upcoming games, visit http://e3.nintendo.com/videos to watch individual Treehouse: Live segments and more.

Pokémon GO Plus: The Pokémon GO Plus accessory can connect via Bluetooth Low Energy technology with any smartphone that has the Pokémon GO application installed, and provides an easy and convenient way to catch Pokémon and collect items (accessory must be in proximity of smartphone). Once the accessory is synced with a smartphone, Pokémon GO Plus notifies the player about events in the game, such as the appearance of a Pokémon nearby, using an LED display and vibration. Players can catch Pokémon or collect items by pressing the button on the Pokémon GO Plus without looking at their smartphone. Pokémon GO Plus will launch in late July in North America, and is currently available for pre-order at select retailers at a suggested price of $34.99.

Ever Oasis : This action-adventure RPG for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems contains puzzle-filled dungeons, real-time battles, exploration and treasure hunting. Players use the oasis as their base, which they can expand as they play, and gain affinity with characters called Seedlings, who are themed after plant seeds, as well as a variety of other unique characters who live in the desert. Players can freely form strategic parties with any of their allied characters, using allies’ weapons and skills to battle enemies and solve dungeon puzzles. Ever Oasis is scheduled to launch in 2017.

Mario Party Star Rush : This new Mario Party game for Nintendo 3DS takes the fan-favorite series in new directions to make it more fast-paced and portable friendly. The main mode, “Toad Scramble,” uses a new open style of map that allows up to four players to move around freely instead of traditional linear space movements. Also, because the four players roll dice at the same time, players no longer have to wait for others to finish their turns. Players pick different-colored Toad characters to navigate the game map, and familiar characters from the Super Mario series are scattered all over the map. As players encounter these characters, they will help the player throughout the game.

Mario Party Star Rush launches on Nov. 4, alongside new amiibo figures in the Super Mario series (sold separately). The lineup includes Daisy, Waluigi and Boo, who make their amiibo figure debut, and the Boo figure even glows in the dark! New Wario, Rosalina, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong figures will also launch. Each of these figures will be compatible with Mario Party Star Rush.

Paper Mario: Color Splash : In this new Paper Mario game, the story begins as Mario and friends arrive on Prism Island and need to solve the mystery surrounding Toad characters that have lost their color. Mario and his new partner Huey join forces to learn more about what is happening on Prism Island, and also to collect missing Paint Stars.

In a first for the series, The Koopalings make their Paper Mario debut in the game, and players can use the Wii U GamePad controller to “cut” sections of the landscape to help Mario solve puzzles. The game launches Oct. 7.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix : The game offers more than 100 rhythm games, 30 of which are new to the series. An additional 70 have been selected from previous games in the series, including the original Game Boy Advance title, which was never released in North America. The game also features a continuous story for the first time in the history of the series. Players view the action on the top screen, and on the bottom screen they will receive feedback on how well they are matching the beat of the music as they play. The game also offers StreetPass features and a multiplayer mode for up to four players. This Nintendo eShop exclusive game launches … right now! Go find it, as well as two new Nintendo 3DS themes and a free demo in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS, or purchase the game at http://e3.nintendo.com/games/rhythm-heaven-megamix-3ds.

BOXBOXBOY! : This sequel to the acclaimed BOXBOY! game for Nintendo 3DS features the ability to create two sets of boxes, which means players will be challenged by new kinds of puzzles. The game picks up right where the original left off, but can be enjoyed even by people who missed the first one. The Nintendo eShop exclusive game launches June 30. To celebrate the upcoming launch, the original game is available at a discounted price in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS. Between now and June 21 at 8:59 a.m. PT, the original game will be available for $2.99, a 40 percent savings off the regular price, with My Nintendo members getting an additional 10 percent off the discounted price. More details on this special sale price are available at e3.nintendo.com. June 30 can’t come soon enough? The game is available for pre-purchase now.

YO-KAI WATCH 2: Bony Spirits and YO-KAI WATCH 2: Fleshy Souls : The next big entries in the YO-KAI WATCH series for Nintendo 3DS arrive on Sept. 30. Players will embark on a new adventure across Springdale and through time, with more than 350 new and returning Yo-kai to discover and befriend—each with a unique look, personality and Soultimate Move. Teaming up with the heroic cat Hovernyan, players will travel back in time to 60 years ago and witness the origin of the Yo-kai Watch. Up to four players with their own systems and games can team up in an action-packed co-op mode to earn rewards that can be used in the single-player adventure.

Monster Hunter Generations: Starting June 30, a special demo will be available for all prospective hunters to download on Nintendo eShop. This special demo features single-player gameplay in addition to local and online co-op. Select ambassadors will receive two early access codes for the special demo before it’s made available to everyone. Additionally, those with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate save data on their systems will receive a bonus item pack that includes an exclusive Felyne armor set, potions, in-game money and more to help dive right into the hunt.

DRAGON QUEST VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past : This Nintendo 3DS remake of the classic turn-based game involves a young boy who sets off with his friends on a journey to restore the world to its former glory and save the present by mending lands that were sealed in the past. In addition to updated graphics and an entirely new localization, the game does away with random enemy encounters to bring the player deeper into the game world. Players can also collect and share Traveler’s Tablets via the StreetPass feature, granting access to special dungeons offering unique rewards. The game launches Sept. 16.

To watch full Nintendo Treehouse: Live segments, or for more information about Nintendo’s activities at E3, visit http://e3.nintendo.com.