Tag Archives: games industry

Train2Game’s Clive Robert to speak at Edinburgh Interactive

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Train2Game‘s Clive Robert will be part of a panel discussion  about how to get into the games industry at Edinburgh Interactive next month.

The summary of the talk as stated on the Edinburgh Interactive website states:

“Whilst big UK teams producing huge ‘AAA’ games are most certainly in decline, the future is still incredibly bright;

Micro teams, new business models, new analytics, low barriers to entry and improving games education are all great news for graduates and whomever else that want to be a part of this great industry. Those who are driven and prepared to show a little entrepreneurial flair have many more options than just cutting, pasting, tweaking and mailing their cv’s.”

Clive Robert will be speaking alongside game industry legend Ian Livingstone and Ken Fee, MProf Programme Tutor and Lecturer at The University of Abertay Dundee. The session, Games Industry overview & How to get in to the Games Industry, takes place on Thursday 10th August.

It’s the first in a whole host of talks that could be very useful to any Train2Game students who can confidently get to the free, public event in Edinburgh.

“The Public programme will take place in the Great Scottish Hall at The Radisson Blu Hotel on the 11th & 12th August.  Seats are limited so we recommend getting to the venue early where seating will be on a first come, first served basis.” is the advice on the official website.

For more information visit the Edinburgh Interactive homepage.  More information about Clive is available on the Train2Game official website.

As usual, leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game / Game Horizon Developer Drinks

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  • Opportunity for students to meet industry professionals and discuss course details
  • Developer drinks on Tuesday 19 July gives developers access to hot new industry talent

Train2Game, provider of games industry training courses, today announces details of its participation in the 2011 Develop Conference, including its first ever ‘Guru Bar’ on stand B12 – giving those interested in the games industry a forum to interact with key figures and ask questions about training, career development and the community at large.

For developers eager to wind down after a long day marching the floors of the show, Train2Game will also be teaming up with leading games business network, GameHorizon, to host an evening of drinks at Alfresco, a Brighton seafront bar. Here, developers are invited to meet future industry talent and rising stars of the course, as well as get more information on how to get involved with placement programmes.

Key facts of the placement schemes follow below:

  • The placement schemes operate across the all Train2Game courses – Artists, Animators, Developers, Designers and QA.
  • Developer placements programmes are subsidised by Train2Game and can range for periods of 2 – 6 months.
  • Developers can choose from the top performers to suit their needs

Tony Bickley, Course Director at Train2Game sees events like Develop as the perfect place for the present and future of the games industry to collide: “While it’s easier than ever to connect online, there’s no replacement for meeting your peers face to face, both when on the hunt for new talent or considering a route into the industry. It’s the same logic which fuels our courses – substantial relationships and interaction online supported by face time wherever possible.”

Train2Game is a blended-learning organisation designed to fast track the best, most ambitious and motivated students into the games industry through comprehensive, expert-supervised courses. A big part of this is co-ordinating with the best developers in the country and providing top tier talented graduates for placements in the workplace.

Train2Game Guru Bar Details
Date: Weds 20 – Thurs 21 July
Venue: Develop Expo, Stand B12
Hilton Metropole, Brighton
Attendance is free, please RSVP at the Develop 2011 front desk

Train2Game/ Game Horizon Developer Drinks
Date: Tuesday 19th July
Time: 17:00 – 19:00
Venue: Alfresco,
The Milkmaid Pavilion,
Kings Road Arches,
Brighton,
BN1 2LN

Train2Game news, Retailers not good for dev creativity say Paradox

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Many Train2Game students have aspirations to work on the Triple A games that get stocked on shelves in shopping centres and supermarkets, but this area has not been good for creativity in the industry.

That’s according to CEO of Paradox Interactive, Fredrik Wester who revealed that the strategy title specialists generate most of their revenue through digital downloads.

“This year we’re close to ninety percent of our revenue being digital” he told PC Gamer.

“Retail sales are like a bonus for us now. We don’t really need retailers any more and that is a release because retailers have not been good for the industry. They’ve not been good for the creative part of the industry, for finding new cool games.”

“People complain to publishers that there are only sequels on the market, but that’s because retailers want to see sequels, because they can do their chart diagrams for how things sell and things like that. So one of the things preventing more creative gaming has been the retail challenge.”

“I can only say this now because we’re not depending on them, so it’s really relieving to be able to say that.”

Paradox’s main digital partner is Steam, with GamersGate also a big parter. Recently, the company had success publishing indie title Magika, which has been downloaded over 600,000 times. It’s proved to be a popular game on the Train2Game forum.

It also offers inspiration to Train2Game students in that Magika was developed by students at a Swedish University who’ve now got a hit game on their hands!

Essentially, Paradox suggest that digital platforms allow developers to self publish and take creative risks that retailers may not want to be a part of. Self-publishing could also potentially allow Train2Game students direct access to a market for their games.

Earlier this year, the Train2Game blog reported that Alan Wake developer Remedy sees an all digital future.

So Train2Game, do you agree that digital distribution allows game developers to be more creative? Would you publish in that way? Or is seeing a game you’ve developed on store shelves the ultimate goal?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: PC Gamer]

Train2Game students do you agree? Two screens “is the future” say Nintendo

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As extensively reported by the Train2Game blog, Nintendo revealed the Wii U at E3 last month. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the new console is the controller which features a large touchscreen.

According to Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime a two screen set up for consoles is the future, and he believes that the company do have history setting industry trends.

“All I can say is that this is not the first time that Nintendo and our competitors have had dramatically different views on the future of gaming,” said Fils-Aime.

“When we launched the original DS everyone was saying the handheld competitor coming from Sony has more powerful graphics, that’s really the way to go. And we showed that no, two screens, a touch screen, a microphone, that actually led to better gaming experiences.” He continued.

“With the Wii, as well, Nintendo shunned the idea that a modern console needed high-resolution graphics. “We said we think that a motion-controlled experience could be more fun,”

“86 million units later around the world, I think people would say we got that one right as well.”

The Nintendo boss of America is confident the company have done it again with the Wii U.

“In this case we’re saying that this two-screen experience – either two screens playing the same game or two screens doing fundamentally different things – is the future,” he said.

And as reported by the Train2Game blog last month, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata sad that core gamers – which includes many Train2Game students – will be drawn to the Nintendo Wii U.

So Train2Game, do you think Nintendo are right? Is gaming on two screens the future of the industry? Or are Nintendo just pumping their own egos?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Beefjack]

Train2Game News, Cloud gaming service Gaikai founder on how to combat latency

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As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, streaming video games directly to televisions or other devices is increasingly being talked about as a means of getting them directly to the consumer.

However, with internet connections, well, notoriously unreliable there are those that doubt whether steaming games can truly take off in the near future.

Indeed, Dave Perry, founder of cloud gaming service Gaikai, acknowledges that latency is “the biggest elephant in the room” but claims the company has gone to great length to combat it.

“A lot of programmers  went on record straight away saying ‘this’ll never work’, Perry told Edge “I am an engineer and I get it, I’m there with them, I understand the conceptual problem”

Of course, Train2Game game developers are working towards a career in the area of programming.

“The thing they don’t think about is I have about 60 people coming to the office every day working on this problem. We found many, many ways to do it, and we’re executing all of them.”

“The way the math works is that if I get two states closer to you, I actually get four states closer,” he said

“Two states is four states in latency, we had that epiphany pretty early on. That’s why we have so many data centres.”

Another solution is rather interesting, and also surprising.

“Imagine your game’s running at 30 fps on your console, but we run it at 60 fps [in the data centre], the amount of time that the game took while it was running,” he explains. “The engine itself took less time because we’re running it faster.

“So we take that time and use it for compression and sending, and you can suddenly see how the math starts to work in our favour. The faster we run the game, the more we overclock it, the lower the feel of the latency. This is one of many, many ways we’ve discovered to tighten up the feel of it.”

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, there are those that truly believe cloud gaming is indeed the future of this industry, could Gaikai’s methods be a step towards this?

So Train2Game, do you think it’s the future of the industry? Does Perry address concerns about latency?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Edge]

Freemium ‘As Profitable As A Console Game’ say EA

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As something that Train2Game students may get involved with in future, it’s interesting that Free-to-play games can be as profitable as regular console games. That’s according to EA Games label head Frank Gibeau

“We’re aggressively investing in things that are very low cost like free-to-play,” said. “The free-to-play group inside of EA Games is growing extremely fast – we’ve got 17 million users.” He told GamesIndustry.biz.

“Frankly when they get to scale, have huge audiences, are very profitable, they’re not cannibalizing the main games and they actually reach markets that we’re not currently serving. With Need for Speed World, Russia and Brazil are number one and two – the Ukraine is in there too. I can’t sell packaged goods in those territories.”

The free to play Need for Speed World now has over 5 million registered users, with Micro-transactions providing the game’s income.

“But I’m reaching an audience with Need for Speed content. It’s an engine that’s not as advanced as Frostbite 2 but it’s certainly got great production values and great game designs, and it’s free-to-play with micro-transactions. It’s a very exciting time from our perspective because it’s not all about consoles. It’s about smartphones, tablets, free-to-play, browser, social,” added Gibeau.

The free-to-play model has already established itself as a successful mode for social media titles, as reported by the Train2Game blog earlier this week.

Train2Game students who want an in-depth look at how developing a free-to-play title could bring them success should see this previous post on the Train2Game blog

So Train2Game, do you think it’s possible for free-to-play titles to become as profitable as console games? Is it a development model you’d consider pursuing?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

Interesting BBC article on Game Jams Train2Game students should read

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The Train2Game Game Jam took place at the end of March, with many of the Train2Game students involved finding it an enjoyable and very useful experience.

You can even download the games created at the Train2Game Game Jam from the official Train2Game website.

Why is the Train2Game blog mentioning a Game Jam now? Well, there’s an extremely interesting article on the BBC News website that looks at a Game Jam in New York

It’s an interesting read for Train2Game students, both those who did and didn’t attend the Train2Game Game Jam back in March.

For more about Game Jams, and how they can be useful for game developers, see the Train2Game blog interview with Scottish Game Jam organiser Romana Khan.

A Train2Game blog interview with Mediatonic Director Paul Croft also re-enforces how taking part in a Game Jam can be useful for game developers.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: BBC]

Future of games industry “is here” says EA’s John Riccitiello

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With the reveal of the Wii U at Nintendo’s E3 press conference, as reported by the Train2Game blog, you can’t help but wonder when the next generation of consoles will arrive.

However, according to EA CEO John Riccitiello new hardware isn’t needed to keep the games industry moving forward.

“There’s never ‘enough’ innovation and we should always be setting the bar higher,” he told told Industry Gamers. “What I don’t agree with is the implication that we’re waiting for the hardware guys to transition to help us realize the innovation.”

“I think the greatest innovation in the history of gaming is occurring right now. It is happening in the cross-platform arena — where Publishers are linking the best IP from console to PC to mobile to social”

“This is hard to do, but it will change the way gamers interact with our IP.”

As reported by the Train2Game blog, mobile gaming is becoming a huge phenomenon.

Riccitiello believes the key to innovation lies in interconnectivity.

“The future is here, and centres on creating a 24/7/365 experience and community behind the games you love,”

“Big game franchises have evolved from the ‘one and done’ model that released a new 15 hour experience ever 12-24 months. Games have evolved from a thing that you buy, to a place you go.

” … Anytime, anyplace – you can play, track your scores and see what your friends are doing. That’s the future of gaming.”

So Train2Game, what do you think is the future of gaming? Where is the innovation going to come from? Or are you ready to leap to the next generation of consoles already?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Industry Gamers]

Train2Game Art & Animation student David Sims speaks to Train2Game Radio

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David Sims is studying to become a Game Artist & Animator with Train2Game.  Train2Game Radio caught up with him to find out why he chose to study with Train2Game, how he’s finding the course and what he wants to achieve in a career in the games industry. Listen to the interview at www.audioboo.fm/train2game Discuss it here on the Train2Game forum.

GameHorizon event to promote Train2Game student work placements

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In potentially exciting news for Train2Game students, Train2Game partner GameHorizon is holding an event next week with the aim of encouraging even more game developers to take Train2Game students on placement.

For more on how Train2Game students have fared on industry experience placements, see the official Train2Game website. Train2Game students on work placement at DR Studios helped develop newly releases iPhone and iPad title Bug Wings.

The release on the GameHorizon website states:

“GameHorizon is working with Train2Game to promote and place their best Train2Game students in UK companies.  We are holding events around the UK in Brighton, London and Dundee but thought it would be a good idea to start with an event for our nearest and dearest!”

“We are only placing students who are in the top 10% and these places are heavily subsidised and will give you a chance to have a risk free placement who could potentially become an employee.”

“The evening will give you a chance to test our knowledge on the subject and also to meet some of the local interns.  You will also find out how the scheme can help you and your company.  Please send decision makers and your HR professionals.”

For more information about the Train2Game partnership with GameHorizon, see the Train2Game blog post regarding the partnership announcement.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.