Tag Archives: Telltale Games

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 13.05.13

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Dead Island RiptideDead Island: Riptide goes one week better than its predecessor by holding on to number one for a third consecutive week, despite a 55% drop in sales.  Bioshock Infinite is the only other title so far this year to record three consecutive weeks at number one.  Competition for top spot comes in the form of an unexpected familiar face, Call of Duty: Black Ops II which climbs four places to number two, boosted by strong retailer price promotions only two weeks after dropping out of the Top Ten for the first time. The Walking Dead from Telltale Games and Avanquest – now available on disc has entered at number nine and Luigi’s Mansion 2 being at number ten keeps this week’s only other new entry out of the Top Ten with PQube’s critically acclaimed Persona 4 Arena having to settle for a debut at number eleven.

All formats

Week ending 11 May 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 – DEAD ISLAND: RIPTIDE DEEP SILVER 1
2 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 6
3 – TOMB RAIDER SQUARE ENIX 3
4 INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 2
5 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 4
6 BIOSHOCK INFINITE 2K GAMES 7
7 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 11
8 – LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER: THE CHASE BEGINS NINTENDO 8
9 THE WALKING DEAD TELLTALE GAMES –
10 LUIGI’S MANSION 2 NINTENDO 9
11 PERSONA 4 ARENA PQUBE –
12 – FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 12
13 DRAGON’S DOGMA: DARK ARISEN CAPCOM 5
14 GOD OF WAR: ASCENSION SONY COMPUTER ENT. 16
15 – LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 15
16 DEFIANCE TRION WORLDS 13
17 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM XBOX 360 CLASSICS 14
18 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 17
19 – GRAND THEFT AUTO EPISODES – LIBERTY CITY ROCKSTAR 19
20 – GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XBOX 360 CLASSICS 20
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Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd

These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.

Train2Game News: End of week round up – 15.02.13

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It is the end of the week which means it is time for the end of week games industry news round up from Train2Game.

A game that I blogged about earlier this week, Injustice: Gods Among Us, has had a new character confirmed. You will be able to play as Aquaman in the DC Universe beat ’em up game. You can view the King of the seven seas in action in the following trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ-68LvoY4k

A new Pokémon has been revealed this week for the upcoming Pokémon X and Y. The new Pokémon, Sylveon, is a new evolution of Eevee, one of the most beloved Pokémon since it was first discovered in Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. Players with Eevee can evolve it into one of seven evolutions, like Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon. Sylveon will be the eighth Eevee evolution.

A new PR campaign has been launched by 11 bit studios, who created Anomaly Warzone Earth and Funky Smugglers. The studio have just released a teaser trailer for their next big game and any one who pre-orders it now, before any more information is released, will get 50% off. In addition they will also get access to the multiplayer beta in March. You can view the teaser trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVbaqQIySE8

Last November Bungie’s follow up project to Halo was leaked and now the company have confirmed it. Some information on Destiny that leaked last year was later confirmed by Bungie to be real. Destiny is to be an open world sandbox game with an engaging universe set 700 years into the future. Whether or not it’ll be an MMO is still unclear, but I guess we may find out this Sunday.

Telltale games, the creators of the episodic Walking Dead games have said anything is possible in the second series of the game. Telltale have already stated that they want to carry over your choices from the first season of The Walking Dead game to the second one. What these choices will impact is still up in the air, as the studio is currently in the conceptual phase. Dan Connors, CEO and co-founder of Telltale Games said “We’re talking through different scenarios, though I don’t think we’ve talked through one where we just start with a new set of characters.” The possibility of having more cross over characters from the TV show are also being discussed.

Train2Game News: Walkers come to iOS

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Walking DeadTomorrow will see the launch of another Walking Dead game, this time based on the highly successful comic book series by Robert Kirkman.

The Walking Dead: Assault, developed by Gamagio Ltd., in collaboration with Skybound and Skybound Asia will be released on all iOS devices tomorrow morning at 8am on the itunes app store.

The game kicks off in the same way that the comics and TV series did with Sheriff Rick Grimes waking up in a hospital with no idea what is happening or where anyone is, from there, players will revisit famous locations from early in the series, including travelling through Atlanta and the camp-site. The game has a beautiful look that is pulled straight from the pages of the book, everything looks like the comic, even the font.

The game will allow players to assemble and upgrade their ultimate team of four characters, with many fan favourites represented, such as Rick, Lori, Carl, Glenn, Shane, Andrea, Carol, Sophia and Dale. Each will have unique abilities that players can capitalise on, and game play includes distracting walkers using flares and car alarms. There will also be four levels of difficulty. Completing bonus objectives and challenges will unlock additional content, including artwork, wallpapers and behind-the-scenes trivia from The Walking Dead. Game Centre is also integrated, with achievements and leaderboards.

Assault is optimised for the iPhone 5 retina display and is automatically enhanced for iPad.

This game joins the ever growing franchise joining the likes of the comics, TV series, Telltales Episodic games and Activision’s upcoming The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct which follows the story of Daryl and Merle Dixon.

Train2Game News: Mid-week round up – 21.11.12

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A trailer for the next Borderlands 2 DLC has been released. It is full of explosions, carnage and hilarity. From the looks of the trailer, Tiny Tina is back which is great news, she is a highly amusing character. When I heard about this DLC I was worried it was going to be another “Moxxis Underdome” but luckily it looks like it’s a proper campaign. You can enjoy the trailer here.

Peter Molyneux has announced that up to six new features could be coming soon for the experiment app Curiosity. The new features are currently on the prototype phase. Molyneux hasn’t released what they are yet but did give the clue ‘Badgers’. The new features have been designed by watching how people are using the cube. As of 3pm today 30 layers have been chiselled away.

The company behind The Walking Dead episodic series of games has had to move to a bigger premises. Telltale currently employ about 125 staff, but the new space will provide enough room for 160 employees, and the company is planning a hiring spree for 2013.

Microsoft’s further venture in to entertainment sees a new app coming soon which will turn your Xbox into a Karaoke machine. You’ll able to purchase singing time in blocks of two, six or 24 hours with your Microsoft Points. The app, simply named Karaoke, offers over 8000 tracks. You’ll be able to warble along to pop, rock and country tunes, plus some R&B and hip-hop tunes.

Windows Phone may not have the market share of Apple or Google, but it does appear to be winning in one key area for game developers: monetization. According to data from EEDAR’s 2012 Mobile Syndicated Reports, Windows smartphone users “consistently outspend their peers” with almost 10 percent of Windows gamers classified as “Whales” (those who spend more than $25 a month) compared to just four percent on both iOS and Android.

Sony has released the public version of the PlayStation Mobile SDK, allowing developers to create content for a wide range of devices and sell through the PlayStation Store. As well as PlayStation Certified Android hardware, developers can build apps and games for the PlayStation Vita, PSP and the PlayStation 3 with an annual license fee of just £60.

Artist, Andrew Ryan, has created some gorgeous character art by putting Mass Effect character in to the Dragon Age universe. The Normandy is a high dragon ridden by Joker, Garrus is an awesome crossbow-wielding knight, Jack’s a blood mage elf and EDI is a golem. Each character was designed separately before being combined in the final diorama. You can check out the pictures on his Deviant Art page, here.

Train2Game News: Mid-week round up

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Blizzard Entertainment released Mists Of Pandaria yesterday. The latest expansion for World Of Warcraft. Blizzard have also said that they have no fear of Windows 8 and will release games for any platform their players are on.

Avenged Sevenfold have released a new track that will feature on Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2. The song, Carry On, is the second song the band have released for a Call Of Duty game. They previously released Not Ready To Die with one of the Call Of Duty: Black Ops DLC packs.

Telltale’s five Walking Dead episodic games will be put on disc in December for Xbox360 and PS3. The game is based on the graphic novel turned TV show and through playing them myself I can say, if you are a fan of the series, play this game. You won’t be disappointed.

Nvidia’s head of cloud gaming, Phil Eisler, believes that cloud gaming could take over from consoles. He believes that consoles have one final generation in them before they die out, leaving the world of gaming in the hands of the cloud.

Ubisoft have announced that Assassins Creed 3 will not play on Windows XP. The company has released the specifications needed to play the game. There is a version for Windows 8 in the pipeline though.

Bethesda have released an animated prequel to its upcoming Dishonored. The webseries is called Tales of Dunwall and the gorgeous animated shorts are being released in three parts. The videos can be found on YouTube and they show the downfall of the in game city.

Sony Xdev are giving a small studio the opportunity to win £25,000. This new initiative, called Playstation Pioneers, will reward developers for a PlayStation Mobile game concept and will also offer successful candidates the opportunity to work alongside XDev. Further details can be found here.

An extra four titles have been added to the Humble Bundle 6. The titles are: Bit.Trip Runner, Gratuitous Space Battles, Jamestown, and Wizorb. If you have already purchased the bundle, you will get the new games added at no extra cost.

If you are attending Eurogamer this weekend you can get a special surprise when you play Company Of Heroes 2. Everyone that plays the game or attends the developer session at the event will get a code to access a future beta for the game.

Finally Train2Game will be at Eurogamer this weekend. If you are attending go and say hello, it is always nice to meet these people. I will be attending on the Saturday so if you see me feel free to talk to me. I hope everyone that attends has a brilliant time.

Train2Game news: Telltale Games – iPad ‘obvious place to focus’

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Train2Game students will be aware of the significance of the iPad and how Apple has changed the games industry.

Not only has it provided indie developers with the opportunity to release games, but bigger, more established studios are also seeing its benefits.

Telltale games are one such studio,  last month seeing 30% of their revenue come from the sale of iOS titles, and now CEO Dan Connors says they’re planning to focus more resources on iPad game development.

“The tablet is super interesting to us because we believe the style of content we build is perfect for the form factor,” he told Gamasutra.

“The fact that Apple has been able to get such a powerful tablet out there with a big install base makes it the obvious place to focus.”

Telltale games available in Apple’s app store include episodic titles Back to the Future, Sam & Max, Monkey Island and Hector: Badge of Carnagae.

And the studio CEO praised Apple’s global appeal and commented that the App store is an excellent way of getting games in front of a wide audience.

“What we’re seeing is you have access to a worldwide audience. There seems to be a real proliferation of these devices across the world,” he said.

“And the app store is so easy for people to purchase from. You can get your products to market really quickly and get them in front of people really quickly. There’s a good diverse audience – which is really good for the content that we do.”

Train2Game student Georgij Cernysiov has already seen his own iPad title released through the app store, while Train2Game student team Horizon Studios released Postal Panic for iPad earlier this year.

Train2Game students have also contributed to the development of DR Studios’ Bug Wings for iPhone and iPad. All of these show that producing iPad games could potentially be a great way for Train2Game students to get their games on the market.

And as previously reported by the Train2Game blog, Apple could potentially continue to revolutionise the games industry.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Telltale’s move towards more focus on iPad development? Is it something more developers will do? Would you focus on developing games for Apple devices?

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

[Source: Gamasutra]

Will the future come in small episodic chunks?

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In a world where we’re seeing digital distribution becoming an increasingly popular way to buy video games, some developers are already altering the way they produce titles.  But firstly, what is an episodic game? Well, it’s a video game produced and sold in small units that build into a recognizable series as opposed to a single massive game. Basically a game could be released over five instalments with each one of these costing say between £5 and £10. Eventually, and when the gamer buys the episodes, they’ll end up with the full game.

Ok, so some of you are probably now saying ‘What’s the point of that? I want to play full games, not just little instalments of them!” And yes that’s a very valid point, after all Modern Warfare 2 wouldn’t have been as successful if it was released with an unfinished campaign mode right? But, episodic content does offer advantages! For a start it provides people with cheap games….you’re more likely to buy a game for under a tenner on impulse than a £40 one, yeah? It also makes things easier for developers and designers, providing them with deadlines in small manageable chunks! Though someone try telling that to Valve…can we have Half Life 2: Episode 3 yet please?

There have been a number of successful – mainly digitally downloadable – episodic games in recent years with Tales of Monkey Island featuring prominently among them. We also five episodes of an episodic Sam & Max title scheduled for release this year from Telltale Games who are well known for producing quality titles that come in little monthly chunks.

Now Telltale have revealed a new scheme which could both further develop the concept of episodic gaming via digital download and benefit Train2Game students aspiring to get their first big break in the industry. The developers will soon be using their skills to create pilots which if sell successfully could be made into full games.

Telltale’s CEO, Dan Connors says this concept is ““excellent way to expand the boundaries of interactive entertainment and gaming by bringing audiences unique and interesting content they might not see otherwise.”

Ok so you Train2Game students may not work for a developer yet, but the concept of episodic gaming could very well provide you with your first role in the industry.  Of course, you’re bound to be a very busy person but if you could produce say a pilot that was a few hours long then get it out there on the internet…and someone likes it, it could very well be the catalyst you need to start your career. There’s never been an easier time to get something out there, especially through the use of digital distribution.

And the use of digital distribution is bound to only get bigger, especially with a certain free and episodic Doctor Who adventure game on the horizon. Yes, it’s going to be free but it could also be the most popular episodic game to date!

So, what do you think? Is episodic gaming the way forward?