Tag Archives: PC gaming

Total War: Shogun 2 demo incoming

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Sega has announced that Total War: Shogun 2 – or Shogun 2: Total War as Train2Game blog readers may remember it was originally called – will get a demo and it’ll be available next week.

Train2Game students who are eager to try out the latest from The Creative Assembly can download it via Steam from Tuesday 22nd February.  The Total War: Shogun 2 will allow “all armchair samurai” to try out land battles on the new Campaign Map. Unfortunately, there is no mention of the new sea battles.

Train2Game blog readers can gain an excellent incite into the Development, Design and Art behind Total War: Shogun 2 in this write up of a preview session at last years’ Eurogamer Expo. Mike Simpson of The Creative Assembly offered an excellent insight to what went on in the development of the game so it really is worth reading.

You can also see the Total War: Shogun 2 story trailer here on the Train2Game blog. It just goes to show that no matter what the genre of a game is, there needs to be a Game Designer working on its background.

Total War: Shogun 2 is set for release on 15th March, exclusively on the PC.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Total War: Shogun 2? Are you looking forward to the game? Do you think it’ll be the next step in the development of the strategy genre? And will you be downloading the demo?

As usual, you can leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum. Alternatively you can let us know your thoughts via the Train2Game Facebook page, or the Train2Game Twitter account.

Train2Game, in association with DR Studios and the University of Bedfordshire, will be holding a Game Jam at the end of March. For more information, see the official Train2Game Game Jam website or the Train2Game Game Jam Facebook page. Alternatively, keep an eye on the Train2Game Game Jam Twitter account.

Team Fortress 2 to make adding user created content simpler

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Team Fortress 2 Australian Christmas Train2Game Blog Image

It’s often evident on the Train2Game forum that Train2Game students are keenly looking for opportunities to get their work and ideas out into the open. Train2Game students may therefore be keen to know that the latest update on the Team Fortress 2 blog reveals that Valve are planning to make it easier for players to contribute their own items to the game.

Players will also be able to test their new items, be they weapons, hats or anything else, before submitting them for contribution. Interested Train2Game students can find full details on the on the Team Fortress 2 blog.

The contribution page really does provide Games Designers with the opportunity to see their work not only put in a game, but a very successful one at that with Team Fortress 2 having thousands of players online at any one time.

Readers of the Train2Game blog may remember this post about the Polycount contest which gave budding game designers to end up with the items they designed added into Team Fortress 2. The winners did indeed have their original items added to the game in the Mann-Conomy Update at the end of September last year.

Not only did the Polycount modders see their work enjoyed by thousands of Team Fortress 2 players, but the nature of the Mann-Conomy Update meant that players could buy the items if wanted to spend money on them. 25% of the income made from the user generated Polycount items went straight back to the people that designed them with each of them making a small fortune in just the first two weeks they were on sale.

Shaylyn Hamm, Shawn Spetch, Steven Skidmore, Spencer Kern and Rob Laro made between $39,000 and $47,000 each in just those two weeks. Who knows how much they’ve made from their user generated content now!

Speaking back in October about his new lucrative line of work, Kern said:

“It’s astounding that so many people want to purchase the items that came out of the community. The response exceeded my wildest expectations. There really is no doubt at this point that there’s a huge demand for community-created content in TF2 and, hopefully, more games will start to tap into this demand.”

The demand for community-created content in Team Fortress 2 didn’t stop there with further community items being added to the game in the Australian Christmas update. This update included many of the hats and weapons made by Team Fortress 2 community modder Mister Royzo. Given the amounts of the new items I’ve seen during games of Team Fortress 2, it looks like there’s been a high demand for them in the Mann-Co Store and that Mister Royzo will be following the footsteps of the Polycount modders and making himself a nice little sum of money!

Train2Game students may find themselves looking on with envy now, but in theory anyone could submit an item to Valve and see it added to Team Fortress 2. So if you think you’ve got the skills, why not try and design something yourself? It would make good practice for Train2Game Art & Animation students at the very least!

It goes to show that PC gaming could be a great asset to Train2Game students, thanks to the likes of Team Fortress 2 community updates and the vast opportunities to mod a wide variety of games. Why not have a go?

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Valve being so keen to involve community developers with Team Fortress 2??  Will you try modding? Or have you produced your own user created items for games before?

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

PC gaming hardware sells double that of consoles

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Reports of PC gaming’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and it is in fact stronger than every current console combined. That’s according to a report by the PC Gaming Alliance

Among the key findings of the Horizons Hardware research report, was that volumes for the PC Gaming hardware market in 2009 were over two times larger than the combined Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 console units shipped in the same period.  Revenue from ‘PC’s capable of gaming’ totalled $54.6 billion during last year, and the alliance expected this to grow to $61.3 billion by 2014.

The report also estimates the worldwide number of consumers gaming  on their PCs – which includes both Desktop and Notebooks – to be 212.6 million for 2009 and expects this to grow to about 322 million by 2014.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s the Asia Pacific region which has the highest percentage of PC gamers with 33% using desktops or laptops.

PCGA Research Committee Chairman Matt Ployhar says gamers are moving away from bulky desktops and towards more mobile laptop systems.

“One of the biggest trends I’m seeing in the 2009 Horizon’s hardware report indicates a strong demand for more capable mobile based systems by PC Gamers.”

“PC Gamers are playing a central role in fuelling healthier margins, and driving innovation in this space worldwide”.

Meanwhile, research manager at IDC covering PCs Richard Shims says PC gamers are more willing to spend large amounts on their systems than console owners.

“PC gaming is the highest profile and most mature example of a new era of computing systems based on usage”

“These new usage-based systems are hardware configurations optimized for an improved user experience. Consumers are often willing to pay more for such an experience. In the case of gaming PCs, up to 25% more as compared to a mainstream system.”

Of course, saying PC gamers are more mature than other gamers won’t start a flame war at all. There’s also no mention in the report of gaming on Macs, with Valve in particular pushing more games onto the Apple system. Of course, if you’re unfamiliar with PC gaming, you can read how it could be the ideal platform for Train2Game students in this blog from the archives.

So Train2Game, are any of you PC gamers? Do you think the PC is a stronger system than consoles? Or do you think the PC Gaming Alliance might just be trying to push their vested interested in the system?

As usual, you can leave your thoughts here or on the Train2Game forum.

Starcraft II ‘the fasting selling strategy game of all time’

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Blizzard has revealed that Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty sold over a million copies worldwide in just its first day on sale.

That already made it the best selling PC game of the year so far, while selling a total of 1.5 million copies in its first 48 hours cemented Starcraft II as the fastest selling strategy game of all time.

More than 8,000 stores throughout the world opened their doors at midnight to celebrate the release of the much anticipated sci-fi sequel, including Game on London’s Oxford Street.

The store saw hundreds of fans queuing up to be among the first to play Starcraft II, 12 years after the original hit the PC in 1998. CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, Mike Morhaime, is happy with the title’s initial sales.

“We launched Starcraft II in 11 different languages and on 5 different continents because we wanted to make sure as many players as possible were able to log on and play on day one.”

“We’re pleased that so many people around the world have already picked up a copy of the game, and we look forward to welcoming even more players to Battle.net in the weeks and months ahead.”

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty topped the UK charts this week, and retailer GameStop has confirmed it’s the fastest selling PC title since the release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – also published by Blizzard – in 2008.

So, Train2Game are you surprised by that Starcraft II sold a million copies in just 24 hours, or was it to be expected? Have you played it yet? And finally, is any other PC or strategy title going to beat it in the near future?

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

Jackson estate forces changes to ‘Dancing Zombie’

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RIP Dancing Zombie...again.

The Michael Jackson inspired Dancing Zombie is to be pulled from the delightful Plants vs. Zombies.

Popcap told MTV that the move comes after a request made by lawyers representing the late King of Pop.

“The Estate of Michael Jackson objected to our use of the ‘dancing zombie’ in Plants vs. Zombies based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson.

After receiving this objection, PopCap made a business decision to retire the original ‘dancing zombie’ and replace it with a different ‘dancing zombie’ character for future builds of Plants vs. Zombies on all platforms. The phase-out and replacement process is underway.”

Interestingly, Dancing Zombie’s character description says “Any resemblance between Dancing Zombie and persons living or dead is purely coincidental”

Plants vs. Zombies was released on the PC in May 2009 – two months before Michael Jackson’s death – and reached the iPhone earlier this year. The tower defence game will hit Xbox Live in September.

Dancing Zombie will be ditching the ‘Thriller’ look in favour of a disco inspired outfit. What are the odds on influence from Disco Stu?

So, Train2Game universe, what do you think of the move? Do you think the Jackson estate was justified to call for Dancing Zombie to be changed? Or is it a mountain out of a molehill? And here’s an interesting one, what would you do if your independent title was threatened with legal action for one reason or another? Is it something you’ve even considered?

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

Valve offer free game after ban blunder

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Nothing says "I'm sorry" like zombies.

Well that’s certainly one way to apologise. Valve has offered not one, but two, copies of Left 4 Dead 2 to the 12,000 players that were accidently banned from playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 via Steam.

Poor, innocent gamers found themselves banned from online servers and the internet was flooded with forum posts pleading for help. Alas, Valve support staff could only tell these poor gamers that they were unable to help. It looked like many wouldn’t be able to play Modern Warfare 2 on PC anymore.

However, each of these players can now get back to shooting each other again, and have the option to pick up two free copies of Left 4 Dead 2. So, now they can shoot zombies too.   Players affected by the ban received an e-mail from Valve CEO Gabe Newell which said:

“Recently, your Steam account was erroneously banned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

This was our mistake, and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you.

The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game. This wasn’t a game-specific mistake. Steam allows us to manage and reverse these erroneous bans (about 12,000 erroneous bans over two weeks).

We have reversed the ban, restoring your access to the game. In addition, we have given you a free copy of Left 4 Dead 2 to give as a gift on Steam, plus a free copy for yourself if you didn’t already own the game.”

Well isn’t that nice?  It’s not often you see a Games Developer Apologise for their mistakes? Do Train2Game students think that other developers – we won’t name specific examples of course – could learn a thing or two from Valve? And have you ever thought about what you’d do if there was a mistake in one of your games?

As usual, leave your thoughts here or on the Train2Game forums.

Starcraft II finally launches

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It has been one of the most anticipated PC games in years, but finally, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has launched worldwide – and only 12 years after the original Sci-Fi RTS was released!

Here in the UK, a midnight launch took place at Game on central London’s Oxford Street, with hundreds of fans queuing up in order to be among the first to get their hands on a boxed copy of the game.

Of course, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is also available as a digital download, but many still see the advantages of buying PC games on a disc.

It’s widely predicted that Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty – the first instalment of a three part sequel – will sell exceptionally well for a PC title. Unfortunately, we may not know exactly how well the Sci-Fi RPG sells, because digital downloads are not tracked in the UK by Chart-Track.

Analysts suggest that Starcraft II could sell 7 million units and generate $350 million in sales which would nicely make up the reported $100 million the game cost to produce.

So, Train2Game students, have any of you already got your hands on Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty? If so what do you think?  Would you prefer it in a box or as a download? And what would you give to someday work on a massive title like Starcraft II?

As usual, leave your thoughts either here or on the Train2Game forum.

The PC – The ideal platform for Train2Game students?

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Dragon Age: proof of a popular PC game

My spiffing Train2Game colleague Gabe recently published a blog about PC gaming, and as what could be described as a ‘hardcore’ PC gamer myself, it got me thinking.

Gabe’s blog came following remarks from Bioware that the PC “is made for gaming” which seemed rather obvious to me. It should of course be obvious to anyone who’s played a Bioware Role Playing Game, be it Mass Effect or Dragon Age: Origins.

When it comes to these RPG’s, it’s the PC that’s king, and in an interview with CVG, Bioware designer and writing director Daniel Erickson says the numbers speak for themselves.

“Every two or three years we hear the announcement of fantasy being dead, PC gaming being dead and RPGs being dead, and yet, all of the biggest games that ever come out – that set the records – are nearly always PC games, and a lot of them are fantasy games.”

“The biggest game in the world is a fantasy, PC, RPG MMO. We all know the drawbacks of PC. We all scream at our boxes and try to make stuff work. But at the same time, the interface is made for games. The mouse/keyboard interface allows so much less restriction [Than consoles]”

Personally, I’ve not experienced Dragon Age: Origins on a console  – I play it on PC – but it’s certainly obvious to me how much easier it must be to play on a PC as you can easily access spells and talents using hot keys 1-9 and the space bar easily pauses the action. I’d imagine the whole process is a bit fiddler using a control pad, but if you can do so, feel free to prove me wrong!

The PC certainly gives Train2Game students, be they Games Designer, Games Developer or Games Artist & Animator, an opportunity to test their skills thanks to the number of games with large modding communities.  Half Life 2 and Fallout 3 are just two games that a loyal fanbase who are giving others the opportunity to try new weapons, new skins or even whole games.  Counter-Strike, one of the most popular online shooters of all time, started as a fan produced Half Life mod and shows that with the right ideas, modding a current game could provide a small studio with a big break.

Some developers even encourage the addition of community content to their games, with Valve perhaps providing the best example of this with Team Fortress 2. Valve have run numerous community competitions calling on fans to create items in the form of weapons and hats with the winners being able to see their creations in game. There seem to be a lot of talented Games Designers out there, and Valve are going to have a tough time deciding on a winner of the most recent contest!

The PC is the most popular gaming platform, partially due to the rise in the popularity of flash games which in itself provides even more opportunities for Train2Game students to create games.

So what do you think? Would you consider creating PC games? Have you already made mods? As usual, let us know here on the Train2Gameforum.

Discs vs Digital – Round 2

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Another big name has waded into the Discs vs Digital debate in the form of Namco Bandai VP of sales, marketing and publishing Olivier Comte.

You may remember that recently, SCEE President Andrew House acknowledged that games sold on discs in boxes are still popular but that digital content could possibly the way forward. His comments were discussed in great detail on the Train2Game Forum.

In an interview with MCV, Comte spoke about a number of subjects including the digital market. He questioned its relevance on consoles;

Today digital is a significant part of PC gaming. We are a Japanese company and Japanese companies are not known for PC titles. But we need to have a product on every platform – including PC – so in that sense digital will start to become more important for Namco Bandai. There is better margin and using a digital platform gives us direct access to the consumer.”

“But in terms of console, it is a little bit too early to say. The only real business model for digital on consoles is DLC because the consumer will always want to have the box because it is an expensive thing.”

He raises a good point about the contrasts between the digital markets of console and PC games. As mentioned in a previous blog, the PC has embraced the idea of digital distribution and downloadable content far more enthusiastically than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 has. The dominance of Steam in the digital distribution market has of course helped this along. Meanwhile, console owners prefer their games to some on a disc in a box.

So, while downloadable games may not be to the tastes of major distributors, it’s an ideal way for independent Games Designers, Games Developers, and Games Artists and Animators – like Train2Game students – to get their work out there.

This appears to have worked for independent studio Hello Games, who’ve just released their first production in form of Joe Danger on the PlayStation Network – and it’s had some very good reviews. We’ll have to wait and see if these positive reviews transform into downloads, but with a relatively low price it’s likely that many gamers will be tempted to try it out.

We’re not so willing to risk our money on something new if it costs £40 and doesn’t even come in a box. But this raises an important question for independent developers; do you save costs by releasing your first game as a digital download? Or do you sell it in a box which consumers can pick up on the shelf. Train2Game students, as producers, which medium would you prefer?

Why aren’t you buying my games?

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So, let’s imagine that you’ve completed your Train2Game course and a small group of you have formed your own little independent studio with a Games Developer, a Games Designer and a Games Artist and Animator. You make a game, a great game that you feel is amazing, but due to the competitive market, your title doesn’t sell as well as you’d hoped. What do you do?

Give up? No, don’t be silly! When did Train2Game ever teach you to do that?

Work on another project and just hope that it sells a bit better? Hmmm, maybe.

Send out a questionnaire asking people why they’re not buying your games?

That last one sounds a bit farfetched doesn’t it? Well, not necessarily because that’s what one independent developer has done.

Positech Games is a UK-based one man games company run by Cliff ‘Cliffski’ Harris, who last year released a title called Gratuitous Space Battles which has generally received favourable reviews. Now in the name of self-improvement, Cliffski is asking ‘“Why didn’t you buy Gratuitous Space Battles?” He says:

“I am NOT complaining. I am NOT moaning about sales. I am NOT unhappy with sales, I am not whining or anything like it. I just like making games that people enjoy, and I don’t know why the people who didn’t buy it, didn’t buy it. I’d like to know. The answers may well make it a better game for everyone, if I fix those reasons (if they make sense). It will make the game attractive to current fence-sitters, better for current owners, and more sales for me and my cats.”

Anyone, including you – yes, you – can email Cliff and tell him why you didn’t buy his game. Responses so far range from ‘I have too many games to play’ to ‘I don’t like strategy games’ to even ‘Before reading this I’d never heard of your game’ Hopefully this information has been useful to Cliffksi and he’ll benefit from it as a independent developer.

However, it isn’t the first time he’s asked the general population on the Internet about issues relating to his games. Two years ago, Cliff asked ‘Why do people pirate my games?’ and the responses he got led to the removal of DRM from his games.

Positech games may be a tiny developer, but he has allowed the general gaming public to have a say on his company’s products and this has had had an impact on sales. This could be an important lesson to any Train2Game students trying to break into the industry – you need to listen to your audience – their attitude towards your games could essentially make or break them.

Would you consider asking people who haven’t played your game why they didn’t buy it?