Train2Game News: UK Top 20 game charts – 25.02.13

Crysis 3Crysis 3 knocks last week’s number 1 Aliens: Colonial Marines down to number 5, debuting ahead of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance which begins life at number 2. Two new entries at number 1 and 2 is a first for 2013. Four out of the eight UK All Formats number 1’s so far this year are represented by 3 different EA titles.

All formats
Week ending 23 February 2013
POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 CRYSIS 3 EA GAMES
2 METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE KONAMI
3 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 3
4 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 4
5 ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES SEGA 1
6 DEAD SPACE 3 EA GAMES 2
7 FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 5
8 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 7
9 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 6
10 HITMAN ABSOLUTION SQUARE ENIX 11
11 JUST DANCE 4 UBISOFT 8
12 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 12
13 SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED SEGA 9
14 SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 13
15 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 15
16 HALO 4 MICROSOFT 10
17 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 16
18 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XBOX 360 CLASSICS 20
19 THE SIMS 3 EA GAMES
20 FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 MICROSOFT

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd

Train2Game News: Games news round up – 22.02.13

Barack Obama speaks at the Rodon Group in PennsylvaniaIt’s the end of the week so Train2Game News will bring you some of the news stories of the week!

United States president, Barack Obama, revealed he was in favour of computer programming lessons in schools as part of a Google+ discussion. He said computers and videogames excited youngsters and spurred them on to learn. He referred to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, saying he taught himself to program due to his interest in games. He said he wanted people to understand the principles involved in a career in videogames such as maths, science and design.

Following the troubles THQ had they have sold the rights to the WWE video game series to 2K. 2K are more than familiar with sports titles having previously developed the entire NBA series of games since 2011. The series, which will continue to be developed by Yukes in Japan and will combine the studio’s signature gameplay with 2K’s commitment to authenticity in this years WWE ’14.

In addition 2K Games and Irrational Games today announced that production of downloadable content has recently begun for their forthcoming BioShock Infinite and revealed details of the BioShock Infinite Season Pass. Three all-new add-on packs are in development that will provide hours of additional gameplay and continue the player’s journey in the sky-city of Columbia with new stories, characters, abilities and weapons. The BioShock Infinite Season Pass will be available on March 26, 2013 when the game is planned to launch.

Despite Sony showing the currently-available PS Move controller being used with PS4 during the console’s unveiling event on Wednesday, the firm says the new console will not support the use of the standard DualShock 3 controller. The reasons are unclear since the DS3 controller uses the same industry-standard Bluetooth 2.0 tech as the Move controller to connect with PS3, which suggests PS4 will have Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities.

Commander Shepard’s story is finally coming to an end with the announcement of the last bit of single player DLC. Available on March 5th, Mass Effect: Citadel will see Shepard “explore and discover new locations across the vast, deep-space station” while reconnecting with some recognizable characters from the series past. Mass Effect was truly a great game, a save game that lasted six years across three games. Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy shall be missed.

Train2Game News: Train2Game Student’s game on Kickstarter

ScavengersTrain2Game Student, Robert Ramsay, has been working on a game with London games studio, Boss Level. You can now support the game and your fellow student on Kickstarter.

Boss Level, a digital gaming startup, based in the Dalston area of London, today announced their Kickstarter campaign to fund the beta phase of their upcoming title Scavengers. Scavengers is a turn-based strategy game in the style of X-Com, playable directly through a web browser across PCs, mobiles, tablets and Smart TVs without plug-ins. However, what truly distinguishes Scavengers is that despite playing across these myriad platforms with their different screen sizes and input methods, players will be playing exactly the same game, no matter where they are. This true cross-platform functionality is highlighted by the ability of players on different platforms to play against each other at the same time, a feat not yet achieved by any other games on the market.

Nick Brown, CEO of Boss Level, said “We’re really excited about finally bringing Scavengers to the wider public, both for them to play it, but even more importantly, for them to contribute to it. Scavengers really is a world first in that no matter where you play the game and on what platform, you will be able to play exactly the SAME game with everybody else in the world at the same time. We hope that this Kickstarter campaign is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to working with our players as collectively we build a massively fun and engaging shared experience that is open to all.”

The crowd-funding approach of Kickstarter perfectly incorporates the ethos of Scavengers as being “open-to-all” whether it be via contributing or playing. The Kickstarter “rewards” on offer thank pledgers by enabling them to design large aspects of the game and the Boss Level team are excited to see the level of creativity they expect this to release. In addition, the successful conclusion of the beta stage will see the release of the Editor through which players will be able to freely mod large sections of the game’s graphic, audio and map assets and then distribute these assets via social media. Finally Scavengers is also entirely free-to-play further ensuring one of the most open player bases ever, requiring as it does no up-front purchases of hardware, software or licences to access the game.

Robert Ramsay, from Paisley, has been working at the studio for 10 months as a Graphics Artist. He got the position when he showed the studio his impressive art and the speed and skill he utilised when making 3D models, which proved that he would be confident in the position. When Robert was asked about working on the game he said “I can see how I would approach this game, I know what styles to research and what my job would entail. Talking to Nick, the Boss, we agreed upon various aspects of the sprites and scenery, the angles that things would be viewed at and the types of colouring and tones that would make the game stand out.”

Robert was also asked to implement a workflow for creating and importing the assets because this being a new technology, nobody had really done this before. This was challenging but ultimately fun and really allowed him to draw on the diverse skills he’d picked up over the lifetime of the course.

You can support Robert and Boss Level in their creation of Scavengers by donating to the Kickstarter which you can find, here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/428530696/scavengers-beta

If you want to find out more about the game, go to: www.playscavengers.com

Train2Game News: Injustice: Gods Among Us choose your winner! – Week 2

AquamanTrain2Game brings you the results of the second week of the Injustice: Gods Among Us in game battles!

Last week we showed you a video with celebrity insights and asked you to choose who would win in a fight between some of the DC Universes biggest names! All the action was then played out in the up coming game Injustice: Gods Among Us.

In the first match the fastest man alive, The Flash faced the mysterious Shazam in an epic battle of speed versus strength. You can view the results of the match in the game play video below:

In the second battle it was a battle of the insane minds when The Joker and Lex Luthor faced off. You can be sure to see a lot of dirty handed tricks in this grudge match of the biggest villains!

This week’s pair of matches pit clever, gadget-laden specialists against brute force challengers, as the cunning Aquaman summons the powers of the deep to take on tech-heavy Cyborg, while intergalactic-traveling Green Lantern faces off against the brutish undead strength of Solomon Grundy.

You ca view these all-new Injustice Battle Arena videos below, analyzing each contender’s strengths, offering celebrity commentary on the matches, and posing the question – who would win?

Remember for participating in these show-downs, fans in the UK will be rewarded with an Injustice avatar item when they register on the site and an exciting piece of DLC content when they first vote. Voice your opinion via Facebook, YouTube or Twitter and join the debate!

You can learn more and vote at https://injustice.dccomics.com/

Train2Game News: Top 20 UK Games Chart – 18.02.13

Aliens: Colonial MarinesTrain2Game brings you the Top 20 UK Games Chart with another new number one this week! Aliens: Colonial Marines has taken the top spot, pushing Dead Space 3 down to number 2. At the other end of the chart, Dishonored has made another appearance coming back at number nineteen and Grand Theft Auto IV has re-appeared at number 20!

All formats

Week ending 16 February 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES SEGA
2 DEAD SPACE 3 EA GAMES 1
3 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 2
4 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 3
5 FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 4
6 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 12
7 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 7
8 JUST DANCE 4 UBISOFT 8
9 SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED SEGA 10
10 HALO 4 MICROSOFT 13
11 HITMAN ABSOLUTION SQUARE ENIX 9
12 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 11
13 SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 15
14 HITMAN: HD TRILOGY SQUARE ENIX 5
15 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 18
16 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 17
17 FORZA HORIZON MICROSOFT 14
18 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 SEGA 16
19 DISHONORED BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
20 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XBOX 360 CLASSICS

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd

Train2Game News: Injustice: Gods Among Us choose your winner!

Nightwing v Harley QuinnInjustice: Gods Among Us comes out in April and in the lead up to the game you get to vote for your favourite characters to win in game battles.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is an all-new game in development by award-winning NetherRealm Studios. The title debuts a bold new fighting game franchise that introduces a deep, original story featuring a large cast of favourite DC Comics icons such as Batman, Green Arrow, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and many others. Set in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred, players will experience heroes and villains engaging in epic battles on a massive scale.

In last weeks battles Batman faced the super strong Bane and Wonder Woman faced the insanity of Harley Quinn. You can view the results of those battles below:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment reveal the next round of challengers in this week’s Injustice Battle Arena.

In week 2 of competition, The Flash enters the ring against Shazam in a battle of velocity versus mystic powers. Rounding out this week’s competition, the brilliant but merciless Lex Luthor challenges The Joker, the most psychopathic of supervillains.

View the latest Injustice Battle Arena videos, analyzing each contender’s strengths, offering celebrity commentary on the matches, and posing the question – who would win?


To cast your vote, visit: http://ema.io/MzAz

The victors of these two legendary match ups will be announced this Friday, with two new gameplay videos featuring the winning contenders.

For participating in these show-downs, fans in the UK will be rewarded with an Injustice avatar item when they register on the site and an exciting piece of DLC content when they first vote. Voice your opinion via Facebook, YouTube or Twitter and join the debate!

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 11.02.13

Dead Space 3Train2Game once again brings you the game charts with another new number 1! This week at number 1 is the latest game from the hit horror sci-fi series, Dead Space. The previous number 1, Ni No Kuni has slipped down to number 6. Forza 4 and Madden NFL 13 have both risen back up in to the top 20.

Week ending 9 February 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 DEAD SPACE 3 EA GAMES
2 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 2
3 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 3
4 FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 4
5 HITMAN: HD TRILOGY SQUARE ENIX 5
6 NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH NAMCO BANDAI GAMES 1
7 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 7
8 JUST DANCE 4 UBISOFT 8
9 HITMAN ABSOLUTION SQUARE ENIX 9
10 SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED SEGA 18
11 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 10
12 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 6
13 HALO 4 MICROSOFT 13
14 FORZA HORIZON MICROSOFT 14
15 SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 15
16 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 SEGA 12
17 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 17
18 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 16
19 MADDEN NFL 13 EA SPORTS
20 FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 MICROSOFT

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd

Train2Game News: SimCity Closed Beta

SimCityFan excitement for the release of SimCity has been growing. In order to give even more fans a taste of the game before its March launch, Maxis is proud to announce that it will be holding a second SimCity Closed Beta.

The franchise that laid the foundations of the city building simulation genre is back, empowering players to create the world of their imagination! Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that SimCity is breaking new ground in 2013. SimCity for PC, a brand new entry in the franchise is currently in development at Maxis Emeryville, and was revealed at GDC early last year.

Lucy Bradshaw, Senior Vice President of EA’s Maxis Label said “We’d like to thank the millions of fans who have helped make SimCity synonymous with the city-building genre. This is a franchise that means the world to us at Maxis and we’re happy to be bringing it back home where we are re-imagining it for an entirely new generation of players. Using our proprietary GlassBox Engine, SimCity for PC will equip players with the tools to play the most sophisticated simulation of its kind. We are dedicated to making sure the experience – no matter the platform – has the fun, flavor and playability that has been intrinsic to the franchise since its birth.”

The second SimCity Closed Beta will be running from 1400GMT on February 16 to 1400GMT on February 17 and will feature an enhanced version of the one-hour slice of gameplay that delighted fans in January. Fans who haven’t already signed up for the beta can do so at www.SimCity.com/beta. Hurry, sign-ups end at 1400GMT on February 11.

To whet fan appetites even more, Maxis today unveiled a new trailer showing off the Limited Edition exclusive content, which can be seen below

SimCity has been rated PEGI 7. To stay up-to-date on the latest regarding SimCity, and to pre-order now, please visit www.SimCity.com.

For a full list of conditions, please visit www.SimCity.com/betadisclaimer

Train2Game News: End of week round up – 08.02.13

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3's does it look dated to you?Train2Game are this week bringing you an end of the week round up of news.

A new Call Of Duty has been confirmed for the fourth quarter of this year. “The Call of Duty franchise continues to set the bar for innovation and we expect a new Call of Duty game in development for 2013 to raise that bar even higher,” said CFO Dennis Durkin during a financials conference call today. Historical trends indicate this year’s title is likely to be a new entry in the ‘Modern Warfare’ line, developed by Infinity Ward. Expect an early November release.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told investors on Thursday that Ubisoft plans to publish a new Assassin’s Creed game during the 2014 financial year. The game, developed across several of Ubisoft’s global games development studios, will likely be introduced at E3 this year. Although Guillemot didn’t go into too much detail, it was confirmed the game will take place in a new time period and star a new character. In further Assassin’s Creed news, Assassin’s Creed 3 sales have reached 12 million across the globe.

Yet another big game sequel that surfaced this week was that of Little Big Planet 3. The game is being developed by Sumo Digital who were the company behind the cross controller pack for Little Big Planet 2. Sony have yet to comment on this but VG247 was told that the independent, Sheffield-based studio has been working on the project for unknown platforms for “well over a year”.

The first trailer has been released for the up coming Activision Walking Dead game, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. The game features the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle. In addition, Activision announced that those who pre-order The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct on Xbox 360 or PS3 at GAME or GameStop Ireland will receive the Walker Herd Survival Pack, which contains Herd Mode where you stave off endless waves of the undead. The add-on will also grant new weapons in the story mode including a survival knife, sawtoothed machete, kukri, reinforced hatchet and advanced machete. If you do get the add-on, be sure to install it before starting the game as you won’t be able to access the new weapons in a game already in progress. You can watch the trailer here.

The developers of the OUYA android console have said that they want to release a new OUYA every year. Ouya company founder Julie Uhrman said “There will be a new Ouya every year. There will be an Ouya 2 and an Ouya 3. We’ll take advantage of faster, better processors, take advantage of prices falling. So if we can get more than 8GB of Flash in our box, we will.” By the end of last year, 1200 Ouya dev kits had been sent out. By the end of January, the software development package had been downloaded 22,000 times.

Train2Game News: Cheap(er) Raspberry Pi now available

Raspberry Pi Model B

Raspberry Pi Model B

The Train2Game News team is a big fan of the Raspberry Pi computer and now the cheapest computer on the market has an even cheaper version.

A new lite version has released and will cost £16. The Model A is a stripped-down version of the Model B Raspberry Pi, which launched late last year. The lite version has no Ethernet, one USB port and 256MB RAM.

As well as being cheaper than the Model B, the Model A consumes roughly a third of the power of the B, which is useful for those wanting to run projects from a battery or solar power, such as robots, sensor platforms, Wi-Fi repeaters and so on. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is already working on software to get its power consumption even lower.

The microcomputer is getting its general roll out this year, following a well-received reception from early adaptors.

The Model A will only be available in Europe for now, and can be purchase from suppliers RS Components and Farnell. This restriction is due to be lift soon so the rest of the world can order it as well.

RS customers outside Europe can order a Model A now, but there will be a short delay in processing orders, while paperwork is sorted before the devices can be shipped. Farnell customers outside Europe will see the Model A appear on their local sites when this paperwork has been filled.

The Raspberry Pi can be purchased here.