Tag Archives: Games Developer

Train2Game News New 1TB Xbox One

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E3 has come early for Xbox fans, as Microsoft has unveiled an exciting upgrade to its home console, the Xbox One 1TB.

GAME is pleased to announce timed exclusivity of the latest technology that can be purchased in store or online from today.

The new console, which is exclusive at GAME until June 20th, can be the ultimate entertainment system for the home with its improved double the storage is also equipped with a new controller, fitted with a new 3.5mm headphone jack.

The new 1TB version will be available for either £349 for the console or as part of a bundle with either Elder Scrolls Online or Lego Jurassic World. Gamers that already have an Xbox One or Xbox 360 can take advantage of our fantastic trade-in offer. Saving £100 when they trade-in, making the console only £249.

Charlotte Knight, UK Retail Managing Director at GAME, said:

“Gamers will have been waiting until E3 for such a big announcement like this, so we’re excited to announce this with Microsoft and bring it to households early.

“The new 1TB version will give gamers loads more storage and judging by the response we’ve had, demand for this from Microsoft fans is likely to be high.”

To purchase this exclusive new console or find out more information, visit your local GAME store or check out game.co.uk.

As well as trading in, those who purchase from GAME will also earn 2% back in Reward points on every transaction, which they can then use to spend on even more great games, tech and accessories.

Train2Game News Talisman character funding SpecialEffect

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A new character for the million-unit selling Talisman PC and mobile game will be launched on June 10th thanks to a fantastic collaboration between Nomad Games and SpecialEffect, the charity which helps people with physical disabilities enjoy games.

The new Shaman character will be available as DLC from this week and is the result of a competition which Nomad Games launched earlier this year in conjunction with SpecialEffect. Fans of Talisman were invited to submit ideas for characters, with the winner voted by Nomad Games’ enthusiastic community.

US-based Graham Zaretsky was the winner of the fiercely-fought competition, with his ideas then brought to life by three artists and gamers supported by SpecialEffect, namely Amandeep Singh Heer, Ben Clark and Gareth Garratt. The three produced sketches and collages to develop the look and feel of The Shaman.

This week Zaretsky, plus Singh Heer, Clark and Garratt will see her brought to life in the game, with The Shaman available to download for £1.49, with revenue raised from the DLC going to SpecialEffect.

In addition, fans of the PC sku will be given the opportunity to choose what they pay for The Shaman character, with Nomad Games hopeful that its loyal community of Talisman fans will raise even more money for SpecialEffect.

“We’re delighted that The Shaman will finally be available for Talisman,” said Don Whiteford, MD of Nomad Games. “She’s a very special character, given that she’s been created jointly by the Talisman community and SpecialEffect.

“We are blown away by the work that SpecialEffect does to support people with disabilities to play games, and we’re honoured to lend our support to them in terms of raising awareness for this very special charity, but also to support them financially via sales of The Shaman.”

SpecialEffect’s Fund Raiser Nick Streeter added: “We can’t thank everyone at Nomad enough for this brilliantly original way of supporting our work, and for their team to involve some of the people we help in the design process was a magnificent gesture.

“All the staff at SpecialEffect are immensely excited about the launch of the Shaman, and the money raised will go straight into helping more people, whatever their physical disability, to benefit from the magic of video games.”

Graham Zaretsky, who won the competition earlier this year, offered: “I’m deeply honoured that The Shaman was selected to help raise money for SpecialEffect. I love the artwork and that it is exactly in the spirit of the character that I imagined. I hope that it helps raise a lot of money and awareness for the charity.”

Train2Game News Women in creative industries falling

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The number of women in the digital and creative industries are falling.

Just one quarter (26%) of those working in the digital sector are female, new research shows.

The findings, released today by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), show the proportion of women is down from 33% in 2002 – far below the UK average of 47%.

The shortfall comes at a time where skilled staff are in high demand: the research found there were a higher proportion of vacancies in digital and creative than across the economy as a whole, with high-level roles such as programmers and web developers remaining unfilled.

The industries now face a battle for talent, as projections suggest that 1.2m people will be needed to fill jobs in the sector by 2022.

Karen Price, Director of the Tech Partnership, a network of employers working on digital skills, said:

“The UK is a world leader in the digital and creative industries. Our software development, visual effects and computer games companies are some of the best there are, and we want to keep them that way. That means that we need to make sure talented people fill the jobs that we’ll need to keep growing.

“The news that female entrants to the digital sector are falling is very disappointing. We want to show women and girls that there are great opportunities in the digital sector, and that the rewards are great too.

“It’s key that we influence girls from a young age  and our TechFuture Girls programme aims to get girls of 10 to 14 engaged with computer skills and IT through after-school clubs. In 2022 these girls will be making choices about further study and careers, and making sure they know how important digital skills are is vital.”

The research suggests such a high volume of vacancies cause more than just increased workloads for employees, with 40% of employers reporting that they had lost business due to not being able to fill posts.

More than 2 million people are employed in digital and creative industries, with the sector worth £137bn to the UK annually.

UKCES research also finds jobs within the sector to be highly productive and well paid, with average earnings up to 25% higher than the UK average.

Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey said:

“The UK’s Digital and Creative Industries are amongst our biggest success stories, but for them to continue to flourish we must make sure the next generation of talent is being taught, trained and nurtured. Initiatives like TechFuture Girls that encourage young women to consider a career in this dynamic sector will play an important role in addressing this issue.”

Train2Game News Tabletop Simulator

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After a little over a year with support and feedback from the community, Berserk Games’ first title, Tabletop Simulator, leaves Early Access and releases in full force on Steam for $19.99 and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. (http://store.steampowered.com/app/286160)

Tabletop Simulator is a unique blend of multiplayer physics, a sandbox, and a prototyping tool. Create your own original games and rules, import 3D models & cards, set up complete dungeons for an RPG gathering, manipulate the physics, create hinges & joints, and of course flip the table when you are losing the game. All with an easy to use system integrated with Steam Workshop. Most importantly, you can do anything you want in Tabletop Simulator. The possibilities are endless!

Main Features include:

·         Online sandbox with unlimited games to play how you want.
·         Create your own mods easily with full Steam Workshop support and 3D model importing.
·         Up to 8 people can play together on the same table & talk on in-game voice chat.
·         Team system with voice and text chat.
·         Hotseat mode allowing you to play locally on the same computer.
·         Browse the internet, listen to music, and watch videos in multiplayer, in-game on a tablet.
·         Perfect for RPGs – build your very own roleplaying dungeons with our modular tileset, RPG Kit and tablet.
·         Great admin tools to enable or disable player permissions and to eliminate griefing in public games.
·         Included game modes: Backgammon, Cards, Chess, Checkers, Chinese Checkers, Custom, Dice, Dominoes, Go, Mahjong, Pachisi, Piecepack, Poker, Reversi, RPG Kit, Sandbox, Solitaire, Tablet

Berserk Games have also partnered with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment to bring Superfight into Tabletop Simulator as official DLC. Superfight is the viral card game sensation in which players use cards to create ridiculous characters, and then argue about who would win in a fight. Superfight is now available for $4.99.  (http://store.steampowered.com/app/367330)

Dan Murray, President of Skybound Interactive states, “The entire Skybound team is thrilled to expand the universe of Superfight with Tabletop Simulator. We look forward to seeing Superfight live in the digital world for years to come.”

Read about and purchase the box set of Superfight at http://www.superfightgame.com

You can enjoy the trailer for Tabletop Simulator at
https://youtu.be/lKZVGZEuCHo

Train2Game News Super Mario Bros inducted in Hall of Fame

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Super Mario Bros. is to be inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.

A committee of journalists, scholars and video game industry members has inducted Super Mario Bros. into the new World Video Game Hall of Fame in the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

The original game for the Nintendo Entertainment System is one of six inductees in this inaugural class.

The World Video Game Hall of Fame recognizes electronic games that meet the following criteria: icon-status, longevity, geographical reach and influence. Launching in 1985 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario Bros. is one of the most well-known and best-selling games of all time, selling more than 40 million units worldwide and starring instantly recognizable characters like Mario, Luigi and Bowser.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the long-running franchise. To evolve the series like never before, Nintendo is launching Mario Maker, a game for the Wii U console that lets players play, create and share their own Super Mario Bros. levels using four Super Mario Bros. game themes – from the 8-bit pixel art of the original game to the world and characters of New Super Mario Bros. U.

For more information about the World Video Game Hall of Fame, visit http://www.worldvideogamehalloffame.org/.

Train2Game News Steam machines from SYBER

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SYBER, a new division of CyberPowerPC, today announced it is taking pre-orders for its new Steam Machines series, which offer the ultimate in PC Console solutions to bring the PC gaming experience to the living room.

Customers can select from three models with a starting price of $499, all of which can be configured with a number of hardware options, including high-performance CPUs, graphics cards, gaming memory, solid state drives, graphics cards, and gaming peripherals.

Syber Steam Machines provide the best living room access to the greatest games and user-generated content available. Steam Machines offer the in-home streaming capabilities of Steam Link, which transports your games from your PC to your TV, plus the ability to locally install and play the entire library of native SteamOS titles.

Syber’s Steam Machine series gives gamers more power and more customization than standard video game consoles. Customers can start with the Steam Machine I, which features an Intel Core i3-4160, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 1GB, 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD with a starting price of $499.  The advanced Steam Machine X features an Intel Core i7-4790K CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 graphics, 16GBs RAM and 1TB HDD at $1,419.

The first three models are available for pre-orders at www.sybergaming.com/products/steam-machine.aspx

Train2Game News VidXplore beta launch

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VidXplore today announces the beta launch of their video based game discovery tool.

The web-based tool, freely accessible to all at www.vidxplore.com, suggests new games to play based on games one already enjoys. Gameplay videos are shown to determine if the new game is a match, with recommendations being constantly refined based on liking and disliking results. Users may even create multiple channels to separate out all of their varied tastes. In essence, the recommendations are personalized for each individual.

In addition to game discovery, VidXplore assists content creators, who spend hours creating Let’s Plays, walkthroughs, guides, reviews, and more, with greater exposure. VidXplore draws on a broad spectrum of personalities to showcase gameplay. As games are discovered, so too will the rising stars of the gaming entertainment.

Originally created to discover games on ShinyLoot.com, it has since been expanded to include over 9,000 games for PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Wii. New games and platforms will be added each month.

With VidXplore’s proprietary recommendation algorithms, it intends to do for gaming what Pandora did for music. With the rise of indie developed games and an ever growing market of console titles, choice has reached an overwhelming level for gamers. VidXplore is the solution to narrow that choice quickly and accurately.

Train2Game News Fallout 4

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Bethesda, a ZeniMax Media company, today confirmed the upcoming global release of Fallout 4, the next generation of open-world gaming.

The world premiere of the game will take place during Bethesda’s E3 Showcase being held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on June 14th beginning at 7.00pm PST, and streamed live around the world via Twitch and YouTube.

Fallout 4 is being developed for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system and PC by award-winning Bethesda Game Studios under the direction of Todd Howard.  This eagerly-awaited game is the follow up to the 2008 ‘Game of the Year’, Fallout 3, and the first title from the world-renowned studio since the release of their global phenomenon and 2011 ‘Game of the Year’, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

“We know what this game means to everyone,” said Game Director, Todd Howard, “The time and technology have allowed us to be more ambitious than ever. We’ve never been more excited about a game, and we can’t wait to share it.” 

The game’s official trailer, created in-game at Bethesda Game Studios, can be viewed at: www.fallout4.com

Train2Game News BadLand Games in the UK

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The BadLand family is growing. We are thrilled to announce the opening of its first international office in one of the most active video game industries in Europe, The United Kingdom.

BadLand Games UK Ltd is the UK based operation of Spanish Publisher & Distributor BadLand Games SL. The UK team is tasked with establishing three business units: BadLand Indie, BadLand Tech and BadLand Games, all of which sit under the umbrella brand of BadLand Games UK.

Each business unit has its own objectives in 2015 – these being:

·         BadLand Indie: To offer indie development teams that are both UK and Internationally based access to resources and expertise that can help with every aspect of the development, publishing and global distribution of their gaming projects.
·         BadLand Tech: To establish the BadLand Tech brand and sell into the UK market the exciting range of cutting edge technology products.
·         BadLand Games: To act as a point of contact for BadLand Games UK based distribution partners and to also offer UK (and globally – if required) distribution for digital & boxed video game content.

“BadLand Games UK represents a new challenge, another one, for a small, new business like ours, and supports not only Spanish studios and talent, but also the general indie market.” – Luis Quintans, CEO

In the experienced hands of Ben Stevens, BadLand Games UK represents an important breakthrough for the company.

‘I am delighted to be joining the BadLand Games team, the opening of the UK office is an important milestone for the company and I am now looking forward to building the BadLand Games UK business’. – Ben Stevens, Country Manager

In 2015 the three BadLand Games UK business units will begin the process of building the BadLand Gaming & Technology brands and laying foundations for the ongoing growth of the UK and parent business.

Train2Game News MetalGL available

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The Brenwill Workshop Ltd. announces the availability of MetalGL, which seamlessly brings the performance of Metal to OpenGL games and applications on iOS devices.

MetalGL is an implementation of the  OpenGL ES 2.0 API that runs on Apple’s  Metal graphics framework on compatible iOS devices. With MetalGL,  OpenGL developers get many of the performance benefits of  Metal, without having to abandon the proven and familiar  OpenGL ES 2.0 API, or rewrite rendering logic and shaders for a different platform.

MetalGL unleashes the power of  Metal’s low-latency rendering to let OpenGL games and applications perform up to 3x the number of draw calls, all without changing the way the game or app use  OpenGL.

It’s all automatic. Developers can continue to use a single  OpenGL API to build games and applications that run unchanged across multiple devices, platforms, and operating systems, including those that support Metal.  MetalGL automatically detects whether the iOS device supports  Metal, and will use it where available. This automatic portability even extends to shaders, as  MetalGL will convert GLSL shaders to their  Metal Shading Language  equivalents, either automatically and transparently at run time, or at development time using  MetalGL’s shader conversion tools.

“With MetalGL, developers have the opportunity to triple the performance of their  OpenGL ES 2.0 games and apps on iOS devices without having to rewrite a single line of their game logic, OpenGL framework calls, or shaders”, said Bill Hollings, President of The Brenwill Workshop Ltd., the creators of MetalGL.