Train2Game News 3D Scans to video game characters

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3D graphics startup Uraniom has unveiled their new platform that turns raw 3D scans into playable video game avatars, giving life to the longstanding dream of millions of gamers.

Creating a 3D scan was once a complex and expensive operation. Today, the technology is widely available thanks to solutions such as the Occipital Structure Sensor, which already works with many mobile devices, the Intel® RealSense™ R200 which is about to be found in various flagship tablets, and lastly, in the future for regular smartphones with an app-based scanning approach by Dacuda. Uraniom is partnering with these leading 3D scanning companies to create playable life-like avatars.

“Until now, integrating a new video game character required the expertise and manual operation of a 3D specialist,” explains Nicolas Hériveaux, the Co-Founder and CTO of Uraniom. “To make matters worse, this process is completely different for each game because there is no industry standard. Our mission was to find out how we can transform a manual, time-consuming and expert-only operation into an automated, fast and easily-accessible process. I believe with our platform we have done just that.”

When the founding team of Uraniom began working on this project almost one year ago, the technical challenges seemed impossible to tackle. After months of prototyping and hundreds of scans tested on various games, the Uraniom team is excited to release their technology to the public.

Through the Uraniom platform, users now have the ability to add a 3D scan, create an avatar and integrate it into one of the compatible games. The new character will work with all of the game’s native animations and moves.

“We know how hard it is to develop a video game,” explains Loïc Ledoux, the Co-Founder and CEO of Uraniom. “From the very beginning, our goal was to avoid any interference with the workflow of game studios. Yet we still wanted to keep the avatar installation process as straightforward as possible for the users.”

The overwhelmingly positive feedback and excitement shown by testers of the early prototype have been highly encouraging for the Uraniom team. As it turns out, playing with a photorealistic digital copy of oneself in game allows for an unprecedented level of immersion.

Petr Benýšek, the CTO of Bohemia Interactive, who has been following the project very closely said that “this is a new turning point reached for the relation between the player and the game world”. He added that at Bohemia, “we always support our amazing community and love to see what people are able to create on top of our games. It’s been a pleasure to assist the Uraniom team who has used that capability to bring this exciting new technology to the whole Arma 3 community.”

Uraniom will showcase the platform at the Paris Games Week (October 28th to November 1st), and will release the public beta on November 13th. For more information visit: uraniom.co

Train2Game News Student studio on the hunt for Artists

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Train2Game student Josh Procter and his friend William Marsden have created their own studio and are now on the hunt for artists to join them

Friends Josh and Will have created SVS games and released their first game.  They are now looking to recruit team members to work on the next seven titles they have planned.

Josh is currently studying Train2Game which has helped their collaboration. Both plan to use the studio to work together but also have individual aspirations in the games industry. They are interested in the creative side of gaming and love to come up with ideas.

Since releasing their first game, Marathon, both are really excited with what they created and what more they can do. They sort industry advice in creating Marathon and it was received well. The studio was created in 2015 but the pair have collaborated for some time. Both live in West Yorkshire.  

The guys are now on the lookout for artists to join the team as they have a growing list of games planned for the future. They are on the lookout for people who are: productive, passionate and have personality.

Train2Game interviewed the guys to hear about their projects

Please introduce yourselves, what course you are on and where you are from?  

Josh: Hi. My name is Josh Procter. I’m from Bradford, West Yorkshire. I’m just on the back end of the T2G Designer course.

Will: My name is William Marsden, I’m from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. I graduated Teesside University in November 2014 with a BA in Computer Games Design (2:1)

What is the name of your studio and who are the members?

Will: Myself and Josh came together in early 2015 to form SVS Games.

Josh: Yeah. Me and Will have been working together for a while but officially SVS Games was created early 2015.

What was the idea behind the name of the studio?

Josh: SVS means Samurai vs Spartan. Because Will is totally into Murmillo fighting and I am a born Samurai with my years of sword training.

Will: Well it’s our aim to make the kinds of games that we both loved as kids. SVS Games is a way we can showcase our game development skills to attract potential employers, whilst still trying to make our mark on the Indie game world.

Are you enjoying Train2Game and are your studies going well?

Josh: I’ll field this. I’m loving the T2G course, but I’m a very busy guy. The only reason I haven’t finished yet!

What do you hope to gain from taking the course?

Josh: Well, I personally want to write the games myself. And this has given me the skills to write better and create them. Which teams me and Will perfectly.

What is your dream in terms of working in the games industry?

Will: Well I have lots of ideas for pretty huge games. So ideally I’d want to be in a position where I can bring those ideas to life, a creative direction position seems the best position to do that.

Josh: I just really want to be the writing force behind those games. I’m an ideas man. I drift off and let myself come up with new ideas.

So what has it been like completing your first game?

Will: It has been fantastic, We have been working together to make some really involved design work for potential future games, I received some advice from a local Indie Developer to just release something small to get our names out there. Once it was out there and we got over the shock that something we had worked on was out there for everyone, the ball really started to roll and we’re well on the way to our next release.

Josh: It has been kick-butt honestly. I love working with Will and to be able to sit there after it was out, we both sort of looked at each other like “wow, we have a game for sale”
Big stuff man. Big stuff.

Can you tell us about Marathon, what were the challenges in creating this game?

Will: I think my biggest issue was keeping it small. Josh and I have this terrible problem where we keep trying to add too much to something and make more work for ourselves.

Josh: Me and Will cannot help adding more. We sat there with a product we were happy with and then went. LET’S DO MORE!
 
How has it been received?

Will: Actually pretty well considering it was just a quiet release by two guys who hadn’t really done anything before. I keep checking it and we have a nice steady stream of viewers and downloads. We are yet to have a negative comment, so I count that as a win. 

Josh: It’s going nice actually. Neither of us was expecting to make the next big thing. But we wanted to get our names out there and this game is a really nice little start.

Why did you choose to release on Windows?

Will: Honestly because it would be the quickest turnover from development to release. We’re currently looking at releasing on other platforms, including android via Google Play.

And what are you working on next, I hear you have another title in the pipeline?

Will: I like to stay busy and yeah, Josh and I are always working on something. I think the current count is at 6 or 7 games planned for the future or in development at the moment.

Josh: When we started, we had one MASSIVE game in the pipeline, with completed design documents and pitch documents. But we realized it’s far too big a project to start with. We came up with 3 small games to start with, which turned to 4 and so on. I think the count is 7 at the moment. But last night me and Will discussed another one.

And you are on the hunt for developers to join the team and assist with the project, artists and animators?

Will: Most definitely, Artists and Animators are always in demand in the games industry and we’re no different.
 
Josh: In the future, yeah I’d love to take on some new people! But I think we’re just starting out and maybe another one or two people to work with. They’d have to be into swords.

What are you looking for in new team members? What character traits?

Will: Someone who works hard, likes to swap and share ideas and someone who is above all else, passionate about gaming.
 
Josh: I think after years of work. I cannot stand people who half-arse jobs. I really don’t want to sound like a grumpy boss but people have to pull their weight. I just finished moving and lost my entire internet but I still did everything I could to push our projects forward.
Aside from that, they’d need a great personality and to have a laugh.

Is joining the studio a good opportunity, and why?

Will: I would definitely say so. Opportunities to work with other game developers is beneficial for everyone involved, we all share the work load and each get an equal share of the credit. Most employers look for people who have game development experience. The best way by far to do that is to release some games.

Josh: Exactly. I’d love to have some other people working with us. It’s always a good idea to make your own things. Think how indie developers get massive. It’s all about content and quality. You put your heart into a game and it might end up being the next big thing. I think for myself and Will, it’s not about getting famous or super rich, it’s about creating the games that people will lose themselves in. I can’t get over massive moments in games that I go back to thinking about years later. I still have the DmC3 cut scenes on my phone that I watch monthly.

What are the plans for the studio?  

Will: We are both going to continue to working on games together until we catch the eye of an employer or we start making enough money to make a career of making games for SVS Games full time.

Josh: Keep releasing content. Keep having fun.

http://svsgames.itch.io/
Http:// joshprocterdesign.wix.com/joshprocterdesign
http://svsgamesmaster.wix.com/svsgames
www.train2game.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry
Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.plasisgamesportal.com and www.gamatier.com

Train2Game News PreLaunch.me Launched

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Adways Interactive (Head Office: San Francisco, CEO: Ken Asakura) today announced the full launch of PreLaunch.me.

Adways Interactive are releasing the Android app out of Beta with new features and debuting the PreLaunch.me web app for iOS and Android, available for publishers and gamers in the US, Canada, Australia and UK.

PreLaunch.me is a new pre-registration platform for game developers to enhance pre-launch exposure by building and engaging a targeted audience of gamers with new assets, closed beta testing periods, robust social tools, and participation rewards. PreLaunch.me also provides the industry’s first built-in A/B testing combined with pre-registration services, including a full-service user data analytics suite. Developers that have used PreLaunch.me have seen significant post-launch results with one week ARPUs hitting $1.50 and one week retention rates performing 270 percent higher than non-PreLaunch.me users.

Gamers can use PreLaunch.me to research a curated roster of featured games they want to closely follow from announcement through launch. After pre-registering, players can receive in-game gifts, participate in closed beta programs, build a social network through a player-driven guild system and receive immediate notification once their game is live.

“The best part about PreLaunch.me is that it really is a social platform for gamers and developers to work together and make everything about the game the best it can be before it launches to the wider market,” said Ken Asakura, CEO of Adways Interactive, parent company of PreLaunch.me. “Through the PreLaunch.me program, publishers can receive direct gamer feedback that is native and conversational, enabling them to update their product in an authentic way.”

Soft-launched in 2015, PreLaunch.me is the Western iteration of Yoyaku Top 10, the world’s first pre-registration platform for game developers to build an audience and engage a community before launch. This platform quickly gained widespread success and evolved into an essential ingredient for mobile game marketing. With more than one million users reached and more than one million pre-registrations per month, Yoyaku Top 10 provides a contemporary preview of PreLaunch.me’s potential success.

To download PreLaunch.me to your Android device, visit Google Play, while iOS users may visit www.PreLaunch.me via the Safari web browser.

Train2Game News Head to head cash challenges on Xbox One

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Starting today, Xbox One gamers can now enjoy competitive head-to-head gameplay with the new WorldGaming Xbox One app.

The new app will allow users to experience the world of head-to-head cash challenges, including all WorldGaming supported Xbox One titles.

With the Xbox One game experience in mind, the WorldGaming Xbox One app was developed from the ground up to offer simple registration, head-to-head challenges, live daily video updates, contests and cash prizing. Gamers interested in a new level of competition will find unique gaming strategies, the live WorldGaming StreamTeam, and live eSports events.

Through the Xbox One app, gamers across the U.S. can play all Xbox One games that are currently supported by WorldGaming. Registration is easy and users can link their Xbox Live account with their new WorldGaming account through the app.

It’s all the games you love, all in one app, across your favorite Xbox One games.

WorldGaming Chief Executive Officer, Rob Segal, is eager to bring competitive gaming closer, and more natively, to the Xbox Live community with the WorldGaming Xbox One app.

“We wanted to create a one-stop shop for the Xbox community,” commented Segal. “We host thousands of daily challenges and tournaments for Xbox gamers through our website, I’m excited that we are again able to bring the competitive gaming experience to gamers directly on their console.”

“Through our Xbox One app, gamers can live chat with one another or challenge other gamers,” explains Segal. “You’ll be able to see WorldGaming opponents and your Xbox Live friends online. From there you can challenge them to a match or simply check their profiles and watch their gameplay feedback.”

The launch of the new Xbox One app is just the next step in WorldGaming’s plan to develop professional and casual gaming communities around the world.

The new app is free to download and play, through Xbox Live, allowing for head-to-head challenges, news, updates, and much more.

For more information visit www.WorldGaming.com

Train2Game News Fallout Beer

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Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today announced that it has teamed up with Carlsberg UK to offer fans Fallout™ BEER, a beverage inspired by Vault-Tec Industries and the multi-award winning Fallout® videogame series. 

Fallout BEER will be available via Amazon.co.uk and will begin shipping to customers from 5th November, ahead of the launch of Fallout® 4, the most anticipated video game of the year.

Fallout 4 will be available worldwide on 10th November 2015, and is being developed for Xbox One, PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system, and for PCs by the award-winning team at Bethesda Game Studios® under the direction of Todd Howard. Named ’Best of Show’ by the official Game Critics Awards following its world premiere at E3 2015, Fallout 4 is the eagerly-awaited 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®.

Bruce Ray, Corporate Affairs Director at Carlsberg UK: “This is something of a world-first. Adult participation in video gaming is a truly social activity, on a par with cinema and music.  We’re proud to work with Bethesda to produce a beer Fallout fans can enjoy”.

Fallout BEER is a 4% alcohol by volume (ABV) pilsner lager, with a refreshing zesty hoppy taste and a floral aroma, sold in a 330ml bottle format and sold only to customers aged 18 and over.  To reserve your case of Fallout BEER please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016XZVE96

For more information about Fallout 4 please visit www.fallout4.com

Train2Game News GAMEr Claus

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Forget the man in the big red suit, Gamer Claus is the one this Crimbo who knows what gamers want for GAME Season.

Whether it’s the latest releases, console upgrades or cool accessories, Gamer Claus is emerging from his underground lair to guide gamers and gifters through the raft of all-encompassing game gear at GAME this Christmas.

Created by illustrator Boneface, Gamer Claus is an intriguing and mysterious new character who will be the face of GAME this Christmas. Heralded as the champion of gamers, Gamer Claus knows exactly what they want and simultaneously will be on-hand to guide and advise those gift-giving shoppers to get the best gaming deals, exclusives and bundles, in-store or online at game.co.uk to make sure every gaming fan gets something totally awesome under the tree this year.

To catch a glimpse of this elusive character, stay tuned for his TV, print and radio appearances which will run through to December. For those who can’t wait to find out more about this mysterious figure, a series of online videos will bring fans a little closer to the gaming hero and his mysterious origins.

Fred Prego, Marketing and Insight Director at GAME, says: “In preparation for the big day, Gamer Claus has been hidden away, trying and testing the biggest games of the year, growing stronger with each new release and we can’t wait to introduce him to the gaming community. As the hero of all things gaming, GAME’s ethos really sits at heart of Gamer Claus helping both gifters and gamers get exactly what they want this Christmas.

“So whether you are a gamer wanting to get involved with his world of mystery and get the inside scoop on the latest releases or a gifter looking to find out more about the best gaming offers, Gamer Claus will be on hand to help everyone get the most from GAME Season.”

To find out more about Gamer Claus and catch up on his latest escapades on GAME’s social channels, follow @GAMEdigital.

Train2Game News Symphonica 64

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If you were in the British games industry of the 1980s,  you might just have been immortalised in a new comedy text adventure game, released today.

“Symphonica 64” is a prize text adventure/interactive fiction game playable online or downloadable for Windows and Linux.

Best described as “Pimania” meets “Bureaucracy” meets “Bedrooms to Billions”, it’s packed with in-jokes, satire, asides and many puns.

Storylines within the game include “The invention of Grand Theft Auto”, “Who owns Miner Willy’s Yacht now?”, “Spectrum vs C64 – the pub brawl”, and “moving Matt Smith”.

So, if there’s anyone who wanted to make amends for microwaving the hamster in Maniac Mansion, who wondered what Action Biker did on his down-time, or who wished they could take that terrible contract, smear it in dung and use it as fertiliser… this is the game for them.

The Grand Prize

The underlying goal of the game is to collect music scores and get them to the Royal Albert Hall with an expensive orchestra. A 400+ location map filled with 200 characters makes that a challenging task.

For the first player to finish, there’s also a prize: a 300 page leather-bound hand-made Commodore 64 score book from the Back in Time Symphonic Collection Kickstarter (they will get £100 if it doesn’t fund).

The game is a promotional release to support the “Back in Time Symphonic Collection” box-set Kickstarter, which launches 21st October.

Back in Time Symphonic Collection – “Video Games Live for the Commodore generation”

“It can be argued that video games have saved the symphony orchestra”, says Chris Abbott, “ but who needs more Mario and Zelda covers? Commodore 64 fans have to do it for themselves, as always, but I hope my 30-year old dream is shared by enough fans to make it work.”

The Back in Time Symphonic Collection campaign aims to raise £30,000 to create over 40 full symphonic Commodore 64 orchestral arrangements on a triple CD set, and then to have them transcribed to sheet music so they can be performed in concert halls worldwide. Music from artists such as Rob Hubbard, Ben Daglish and Martin Galway will feature.

A highlight of the campaign is the top level £2,999 pledge that features a one-off, UK hand-made 1000 page B4 orchestra score book. It’s bound in imported goat-skin, and cradled in a museum quality silk-covered presentation box. It may be the most expensive retro book ever created, and is so expensive to make that even the creators of the Kickstarter can’t have one.

This is Chris’s fourth solo crowdfunding campaign , after three previous successful C64 music campaigns. He also helped veteran composer Matt Gray to a £75,000 haul for this “Reformation” Kickstarter.

Train2Game News adjust gets huge funding

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adjust, the leading business intelligence firm for mobile apps, has received $17M in funding from Highland Europe.

The funding round takes the company to a total of $30M raised since it was established in 2012.

Over the past three years, adjust has quickly expanded from its Berlin (DE) office to six additional cities: San Francisco (US), Istanbul (TR), Beijing (CN), Shanghai (CN), Tokyo (JP) and Sydney (AU). adjust now processes over 1 petabyte of mobile data each month and its SDK recently surpassed 1.3 billion live instances in mobile devices. The company also turned profitable in 2015, and is further demonstrating its ability to scale fast and efficiently.

This investment will further accelerate adjust’s product expansion, while strengthening its commitment to the mobile marketing industry through the prevention of fraudulent traffic, encouragement of user-friendly advertising practices and prioritization of privacy protection in mobile marketing.

Christian Henschel, CEO and Co-Founder of adjust, said: “As an independent third-party attribution solutions provider, we assume a central role in connecting app developers to ad networks, publishers and other ecosystem parties. We have now reached a critical scale where as a market leader within the ecosystem, we are uniquely positioned to drive both product innovation as well as industry standards.”

Sam Brooks, Partner at Highland Europe, added: “At Highland, we seek to invest in rapidly growing companies with global ambitions and a commitment to product excellence. We consider adjust’s technical expertise, vast device coverage and deep network integrations as industry-leading within the premium mobile measurement space, demonstrated by the business’ impressive momentum and trusted position among leading international brands. We are thrilled to partner with the adjust team.”

The investment will also enable the company to expand its offering and presence among underserved, high-potential businesses.

Henschel continued: “The growth of mobile-born companies around the globe signals a positive environment for the development of tracking solutions that provide quality data for business decision makers. As these companies become market leaders, more and more businesses will require a holistic mobile marketing tool. Our ambition is to become that essential part of their business intelligence and process data at scale, just as SAP broke out of its market scope decades ago.”

Train2Game News Linkin Park playing Blizzcon

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Whether you’re geeking out on the show floor at BlizzCon® or tuning in from home, this is a performance you won’t want to miss.

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that Linkin Park will be taking the stage on Saturday, November 7, to provide an epic send-off for everyone attending this year’s BlizzCon or watching from home. While tickets to Blizzard’s two-day gaming convention are sold out, players and Linkin Park fans around the world can still watch the show live with the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket.

Over the course of Linkin Park’s genre-defying career, the Grammy Award–winning band has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and is the biggest band on Facebook with over 63 million fans and counting. They also made Internet history by becoming the first rock band to hit 1 billion views on YouTube. This week, Linkin Park is celebrating the 15th anniversary of their smash debut album, Hybrid Theory. They’re currently in the studio working on their seventh studio album.

“We’re beyond excited to welcome SoCal natives Linkin Park to close out BlizzCon with a bang on Saturday night,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We can’t think of a better way to bring two full days of gaming and action-packed eSports matches to an epic conclusion than with a band that’ll carry the weekend’s electricity through to the very end.”

“Playing BlizzCon will be one hell of a first for us,” said Chester Bennington, lead vocalist of Linkin Park. “We’re looking forward to giving all the gamers out there a killer rock show.”

BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities that bring Blizzard’s games to life. Taking over the Anaheim Convention Center November 6 and 7, this year’s show is brimming with discussion panels of all sorts, eSports tournaments, contests, hands-on play time with the latest Blizzard Entertainment games, and much more.

Though tickets to the convention sold out rapidly, viewers at home can still join the excitement by ordering the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket (£24,99), which offers comprehensive live online coverage of both days of the event—including the community contests hosted by Wil Wheaton on Friday evening and Linkin Park’s performance on Saturday night.

As the countdown to BlizzCon continues, further details about the show will be announced at www.blizzcon.com

Train2Game News Instant Indie Collection Volume Two

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The Instant Indie Collection Vol Two is designed to offer Xbox One and PlayStation owners the opportunity to build a collection of the The Instant Indie Collection Vol Two is designed to offer Xbox One and PlayStation owners the opportunity to build a collection of the very best indie games, for a fraction of the total retail price.

Instant Indie Collection Volume Two contains The Swindle, Pumped BMX + and Nova-111 and is available from today on the US PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita (cross buy) stores, tomorrow in Europe and Friday (23rd October) on Xbox One worldwide, priced £19.99/$24.99/ €24.99.

The Swindle hails from developer Dan Marshall. A mixture of platform, action and stealth gameplay, The Swindle gives player access to the ultimate thieves’ guild and tasks them with breaking into procedurally-generated buildings, hacking their systems, stealing their cash and then charging to the nearest exit to the sound of alarms and breaking glass.

Pumped BMX + is the latest game in the series which has captivated both the BMX and gaming communities alike from one man studio YEAHUS. Pumped BMX + takes everything that made the original game so well loved and brings it up to date for the console generation. With 50 tricky courses, a comprehensive collection of authentic ticks and 500 intense in-game BMX challenges, this truly is the ultimate Pumped experience.

Nova-111 is the brain child of ex Q-Games developers Eddie Lee and Kalin, whose previous work included the PixelJunk series. Nova-111 is a sci-fi themed adventure that lets you utilise both real-time decisions and turn-based strategy to fight enemies and solve puzzles. Pilot rescue vessel Nova through mysterious and alien planets, navigate mind warping puzzles and engaging in strategic battles with bizarre astrobiological creatures.

“Instant Indie is designed to allow console owners the opportunity to discover indie gems that they may have missed upon original release in one no hassle, discounted bundle.” says managing director of Curve Digital, Jason Perkins. “Volume Two showcases some of our year’s biggest hits from a variety of different genres. There is something for everyone in this bundle” very best indie games, for a fraction of the total retail price.

Instant Indie Collection Volume Two contains The Swindle, Pumped BMX + and Nova-111 and is available from today on the US PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita (cross buy) stores, tomorrow in Europe and Friday (23rd October) on Xbox One worldwide, priced £19.99/$24.99/ €24.99.

The Swindle hails from developer Dan Marshall. A mixture of platform, action and stealth gameplay, The Swindle gives player access to the ultimate thieves’ guild and tasks them with breaking into procedurally-generated buildings, hacking their systems, stealing their cash and then charging to the nearest exit to the sound of alarms and breaking glass.

Pumped BMX + is the latest game in the series which has captivated both the BMX and gaming communities alike from one man studio YEAHUS. Pumped BMX + takes everything that made the original game so well loved and brings it up to date for the console generation. With 50 tricky courses, a comprehensive collection of authentic ticks and 500 intense in-game BMX challenges, this truly is the ultimate Pumped experience.

Nova-111 is the brain child of ex Q-Games developers Eddie Lee and Kalin, whose previous work included the PixelJunk series. Nova-111 is a sci-fi themed adventure that lets you utilise both real-time decisions and turn-based strategy to fight enemies and solve puzzles. Pilot rescue vessel Nova through mysterious and alien planets, navigate mind warping puzzles and engaging in strategic battles with bizarre astrobiological creatures.

“Instant Indie is designed to allow console owners the opportunity to discover indie gems that they may have missed upon original release in one no hassle, discounted bundle.” says managing director of Curve Digital, Jason Perkins. “Volume Two showcases some of our year’s biggest hits from a variety of different genres. There is something for everyone in this bundle”