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Train2game News Second Keynote for Develop Brighton

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Today, Tandem Events, organisers of Develop:Brighton, Europe’s leading game developer conference, announced their latest keynote to be delivered by London based, Bossa Studios.

The announcement comes just one day before the Super Early Bird deadline on Wednesday. 

Entitled ‘Reach for the Sky: Why Disruptive Technology Deserves Disruptive Design’ the talk will take place directly after the opening keynote, delivered by Hideo Kojima and Mark Cerny, on Wednesday 13 July.

CTO Sylvain Cornillon, COO Vince Farquharson and co-founder Imre Jele will take to the stage to discuss how breakthroughs in technology have surprised, inspired, helped and sometimes annoyed Bossa Studios; how modern technologies has given the studio a way to make better games and to make games in a better way.

The biggest portion of the talk will focus on the lessons learnt whilst creating their latest and most ambitious game; Worlds Adrift and will delve deeper into why Bossa Studios is one of the most creative and pioneering UK studios.

“We’re delighted to announce Bossa Studios’ keynote talk at Develop:Brighton,” commented managing director of Tandem Events, Andy Lane. “The programme is shaping up to be one of our strongest to date and with this double keynote special it offers a fantastic opportunity for our delegates to hear from some of the industry’s leading pioneers.”

Develop:Brighton takes place from 12-14 July at the Hilton Brighton Metropole. Highlights from a growing programme include:

Opening Keynote: Legends on the Future:
Hideo Kojima in Conversation with Mark Cerny

Indie Keynote: Funomenal Feel Engineering
Robin Hunicke, Funomena

VR: Don’t Go Alone – Take Me! How to Make a Social VR Experience
Katie Goode and John Campbell, Triangular Pixels

VR: Building Great Games in VR – What We’ve Learnt Through Three Years of VR Development
Simon Harris, Supermassive Games

Marketing: Spending Millions Doesn’t Mean Top Grossing: How Rival Kingdom’s Launch Transformed Our Marketing Approach
Simon Hade, Space Ape Games

Marketing: Find the Right Users, Find Success
Bruce Kerr-Peterson, Google

Funding: Second Generation Crowdfunding: How to Make Crowdfunding & Kickstarter Work for You
Tomas Rawlings, Auroch Digital

Funding: How to Access Video Game Tax Relief
Anna Mansi, BFI

Coding: Research and Development: A Rational Approach
Ray Dey, Sony Computer Entertainment

Business: Merchandising in Games: Effectively Monetising Your Virtual IP as Physical Goods
Joe Stevens, Whispering Gibbon

Design: Let’s Talk Narrative with Rhianna Pratchett
Rhianna Pratchett, Writer

Evolve: Don’t Forget the Eyeballs: Developing Compelling Games for eSports Audiences
Ian Sharpe, Azubu

Tickets are on sale now at www.developconference.com with a super early bird rate running until 23.59 on Wednesday 27 April

Train2game Official Dan Bilzerian Game

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We would like to present to you SAVE DAN – THE OFFICIAL DAN BILZERIAN GAME, inspired by Dan’s unique lifestyle.

Bon vivan, millionaire and poker player Dan Bilzerian has been attacked in the cyber world by sexy zombies! These villains want him as much as the long-legged beauties in real life, but unlike the cuddly girls Dan is surrounded with at all times, these creatures are bloodthirsty. Only you can help him out! Avoid and gun down bloodthirsty zombies! Choose from an array of destructive weaponry and put them to use in locations throughout America! When you play Save Dan, the unbelievably funny and original free-to-play game for iOS and Android developed by Novasoft, you can expect to hold your breath for action packed moments!

Dan himself was involved in the development of the game. He gave very valuable advice on various weapon characteristics, as well as guidance on zombie modeling and animations.

“Originally the concept started out as a shooting app with a nice variety of weapons shooting inanimate targets in a variety of environments.  I suggested making it more interesting by having a variety of zombie chicks chasing me to rip my clothes off and “abuse” me.  The player’s objective is simply to save my ass!  It kinda took off from there with some cool additional features.”, said Dan commenting the launching of the game.

Your mission is to gun down these zombies before they get Dan, who has to activate signal beacons so you both get a chance to carry out the objective, which is to escape the zombie madness and survive. Time is of the essence, so you better watch out! If you fail to save him, the undead will throw themselves at him and tear him to pieces!

Google Play: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.novasoft.savedan
iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1079527277
Game home: http://novasoftgames.com/savedangame/
Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_j3Do4Zem3o

Train2game News Gfinity’s Tournament Builder

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Gfinity’s Tournament Builder is out now as a free download, exclusively for Xbox One – putting the power of eSports straight into your hands.

Gfinity have crafted a brand new app that give more power to you, the player. As part of a £1m investment in the world’s most advanced competitive gaming platform, the Tournament Builder app allows Xbox One players of any skill level to run or compete in player made eSports competitions.

For the first time, Xbox One gamers worldwide who want to play competitively can choose what, how and with whom they play. Gfinity Tournament Builder can be downloaded for free from the Xbox Marketplace, starting today.

Neville Upton CEO says “We are incredibly excited to launch our Tournament Builder app on Xbox One because like Microsoft, we are passionate about creating technology that is accessible to everyone – of all ages and abilities. Find out who is the best Rocket League player in the office in a head-to-head knockout cup; set up a Halo ladder for you and your mates to play in for bragging rights; or run your own FIFA league for your school…. It’s free and easy to use and perfectly compliments Xbox One’s Multiplayer features and we believe will make playing Xbox One games with friends even more fun!”

To celebrate the launch and get things started, Gfinity are also launching a Rocket League Tournament for Europe and North America – exclusively on Xbox One – with over $2,000 up for grabs in total prize money. Players simply need to download the Gfinity Tournament Builder app from the Xbox Marketplace to find out how to take part.

Tournament Builder gives players access to the following features;

–       Choose the game you want to build a competition for
–       Select a tournament format (Cup, League, Ladder) and name
–       Pick a tournament template using Gfinity rules or customizing your own
–       Decided whether to make your tournament public or invite only
–       Choose to make it an individual or team tournament and set the number of players
–       Create a dedicated tournament page with brackets and tournament details
–       Invite players and teams to take part in the tournament and accept or reject invites to a tournament
–       Post tournament results immediately online and resolve results conflicts
–       See all your tournaments in My Tournaments
–       View all your fixtures in My Fixture
–       Search for public tournaments or sign up to Gfinity Official tournaments

Train2game News AppGameKit for Raspberry Pi

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The Game Creators today released a free version of AppGameKit for Raspberry Pi users. This significant key release adds a further dimension to the already successful development engine.

AppGameKit works on all versions of Raspberry Pi and users just need to register an account with The Game Creators and then it can be downloaded for free – http://www.appgamekit.com/agk-pi/

Lee Bamber, CEO of The Game Creators, said “It’s the full AppGameKit BASIC, which has the IDE, can compile and broadcast (includes broadcasting to iOS and Android devices that have the player app on them) and allows access to the GPIO pins so you can code input and output to external add-ons (LEDs, devices etc).”

The Game Creators Development Director, Rick Vanner, said “We’re very excited to be bringing our AppGameKit game engine to the Raspberry Pi community. AppGameKit is ideal for anyone who wants to code cross-platform apps quickly and easily. We’re certain the creative Raspberry Pi community will make some amazing projects with AppGameKit.”

The Game Creators developed Driving Test Success Theory, Hazard Perception and Highway Code apps for UK publisher Focus Multimedia, deploying them onto the App Store, Google Play, Amazon, Mac Store and Blackberry World – all from AppGameKit’s executable code. These Driving Test Success apps are now one of the UK’s #1 ‘Learning to Drive’ apps.

Train2Game News One Special Day

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Video games community announce One Special Day to support gamers’ charity SpecialEffect.

Leading games publishers First Touch Games and New Star among the first to pledge 100% of their daily revenues to support charity initiative.

Some people would give everything to play video games. On 15th July 2016 some games companies are giving everything to help them. The One Special Day initiative will enable games companies of all shapes and sizes to give everything to help SpecialEffect level the playing field for gamers with disabilities.

On that day, games companies can donate 100% of that day’s sales of one or more of their games, or 100% of their advertising revenue, or 100% of the in-app purchases or maybe 100% of their DLC. Or it could be 100% from a dedicated activity or promotion. Or 100% of something else!

As well as games developers and publishers, SpecialEffect will be working with well-known YouTubers and Streamers to highlight and promote all the games that are part of One Special Day.

Charles Chapman, CEO of First Touch Games said, “One Special Day is an opportunity for the games industry to follow other industries by uniting on one day to help a cause that is so close to our work and I would urge other developers to join us on One Special Day and donate 100% of revenue from the day to SpecialEffect.”

Founder of New Star Games, Simon Read added, “When you spend your life creating and playing games it’s easy to take them for granted, so when I try to imagine having this hobby and passion taken away from me it makes it all the easier to see what wonderful work SpecialEffect are doing.  New Star are long term and passionate supporters of SpecialEffect and are delighted to be part of One Special Day which will be a life changing day for the charity and the people they help to game.”

Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect said, “We’re asking the games industry to be loud and proud about supporting our work in helping people with all kinds of physical disabilities to play video games. It’s a great opportunity for companies to demonstrate CSR in a way that resonates with their own communities, and we’ll be promoting One Special Day to the national media with the message that this is an industry in unity for a worthwhile cause.”

Ian Livingstone CBE, Co-Founder Games Workshop, and Founder and Chairman of the Livingstone Foundation added “I was excited to hear about One Special Day at the VIP opening of the SpecialEffect Centre in February, and would urge people to back this exciting project in support of the life-changing work of the charity.”

All the proceeds from One Special Day will be channelled into the work that SpecialEffect do to help gamers with disabilities. Gamers like Tom, a 26 year-old who has Spinal Muscular Atropy and very little movement in his fingers. “With SpecialEffect’s help I was able to play for the first time in years”, he said, “And nothing can describe the feeling that gave me. So many things in life are limited because of my condition, but when I play a video game I’m in a world where the only limits are the ones I allow to be there.”

Other companies who have backed the initiative so far include Ripstone Games, Nomad Games, Tag Games and nDreams.

One Special Day is open to all companies working in the games industry. To find out more, visit www.onespecialday.org.uk

Train2game News Train2Game student joins UK studio

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Looking to make next step into the Games Industry Muir Halleron is volunteering with Games Development studio Atom Republic.

Muir who’s originally from the US now lives in Leeds with son and cat, has been with Train2Game for three years. At this stage coming to the end of the course and looking at City & Guilds qualifications.

Muir is volunteering with Atom Republic as a moderator, working on its Atom Universe social world, a project which is now available on PS4 and Steam.

Muir sees networking and working with professionals as a huge plus and has learnt a great deal from the experience. Now plans to use the experience to get into making games or as a foot in the door as a moderator or QA.

Train2Game student, Muir Halleron ‘I’m an American ex Pat and have been living in the UK for 15 years. Currently I live in Leeds, West Yorkshire with my teenage son Paul and our cat Felix. For the last 3 and a half years I’ve been studying T2Gs Computer programming and Game Design course.’

‘I’ve finished the programming part of the course and am on the last optional module that I’ve chosen (Design module D15 – Seeking Employment). In addition to this, I am currently working on the C&G diploma assignments. I’ve met lots of other students through my time on the course which is a huge positive. Another highlight is meeting some of the T2G staff a few years ago at a gaming convention in London.’

‘With only one month left of the six months extension I was given to do the C&G assignments, I am definitely feeling the pressure right now and have been all year. Out of the four assignments, I only have two of them complete, with another nearly done and the fourth about at the halfway mark.’

‘Working between 8 – 10 hours per day, 7 days a week, I should be able to get the last two remaining assignments working well enough to turn in on time though. I am 100% looking forward to finishing and will be taking at least a month off to unwind once it’s all done.’

‘Currently I’m working with Atom Republic as a volunteer forum moderator. Atom Republic is made up of a small team of developers and they are currently working on Atom Universe, a social world much like PS Home was before Sony retired it.’

‘So far, it’s been a good experience. I’ve worked with their Community Manager before, which is good, as it allows a bit more rapport. We know how the other works and have similar work ethics, which really help us to work together well.’

‘Through volunteering, I’m learning the different ways to manage the gaming community and how to develop and encourage a healthy community. The moderation team is larger than I’ve worked with previously, but I would say it’s just the right size, allowing everyone to get to know each other. ‘

‘Atom Republic is currently developing Atom Universe, as I said above. It is Free to Play and is currently available to the public on PS4 and Steam, where it’s in Early Access.’

‘As for personal projects, I have a few that I’d like to work on, but they’ve been put on hold until after I’ve completed the C&G assignments.’

‘I don’t think I’ll be applying for a job with Atom Republic, just because they live outside commuting distance from where I currently live. However, the experience will most likely serve me well when I do start applying for jobs around the Leeds area.’

‘Once I’ve finished the C&G assignments, my plan is to flesh out and improve on my knowledge and ability in C# and Unity as well as C++ and DirectX 11. I plan on doing this by designing and making a game or two in each language. These will then become a part of my portfolio, with which I hope to use to get a job in either the gaming industry or in a non gaming specific programming position, if any are available. If not, I should be able to get in on the ground floor so to speak in either QA or community management.’

Atom Republic, Atom Universe http://www.atomrepublic.com/AtomUniverse/
For more information contact: mark@train2game.com
Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry
Read the Train2Game blog at www.train2game-news.co.uk Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.gamatier.com

Train2game News 2016 Q1 Games Report

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Last year was the worst games deals ice age in a decade, but the topline numbers in Digi-Capital’s new Games Report for Q1 2016 (http://www.digi-capital.com/news/2016/04/games-deals-rebound-in-q1-but-rocks-below-the-surface/ ) make it look like there has been a thaw. However, the buoyant waters of the first quarter hide rocks beneath the surface, and games deal makers should look carefully before they dive back in.

The topline figures for games investment in Q1 make it look like a recovery, with more than $500 million raised. However, that half billion dollar figure is highly concentrated with three deals taking more than half of the total. The number of games companies that successfully raised money in Q1 2016 actually dropped 40% compared to the 2015 quarterly average. Similarly, games M&A appeared to make a spectacular recovery in Q1, with over $6.2 billion dollars of exits. Again the topline figure makes this sound like a huge wave of deals, but $5.9 billion came from Activision-Blizzard completing its acquisition of King. The remaining $300 million amounted to 36% of the 2015 quarterly average. Extreme concentration and a lack of momentum characterized games deal making in Q1.

The games investment market was dominated by games tech, web games and console/PC games sectors, with the largest deals happening in Asia. It is worth noting that the previously dominant mobile games sector took under 10% of games investment in the first quarter, where it had taken around $4 of every $10 invested in games in previous years.

Games M&A in the first quarter was all about the Activision-Blizzard/King deal. Everything else was small in comparison. There could be more thawing of games exits during 2016, with larger consolidation deals and take-privates coming over the horizon to move the market forward.

Train2game News Develop Brighton Indie Keynote Speakers

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Robin Hunicke, one of the games industry’s most talented developers, has been named as the Indie Keynote Speaker on Thursday 14 July at this year’s Develop:Brighton.

Over a career spanning an impressive 12 years, Hunicke has worked on a number of titles that have shaken the industry, including Journey (9/10 IGN), Boom Blox (9/10 Eurogamer), MySims (8/10 Game Informer) and The Sims 2 (94% IGN). She’s also the co-founder of indie studio Funomena, where she’s currently working on two upcoming titles: Luna and Wattam.

Though her glowing resumé reveals the depth of her knowledge, Hunicke’s candidacy for the Keynote spot is bolstered by an incredible commitment to fairness and diversity of both thought and participation in game design and culture. Recently recognised with an Influential Woman in Games award, Hunicke has also spent several years involved in the organisation of Indiecade while holding the role of Professor of Art, Games & Playable Media at UC Santa Cruz.

She believes game developers can create novel, experimental games by designing for feeling, and her talk will aim to highlight this by focusing on the core artistic and emotional inspirations at the heart of Luna, which focuses on themes of personal transformation. The talk will explain how decisions in art, sound and gameplay design are integrated via “Feel Engineering” to reinforce the games underlying themes and narrative.

“The quality of Robin’s output speaks for itself,” said Andy Lane, Managing Director at Tandem Events. “As someone who’s worked with both big studios and small indies, we know Robin will offer valuable insight and inspiration in her keynote, with her talk kicking off a day of great sessions from a talented cast.”

Other sessions in the Indie Dev Day include:

Pitching is Courtship
Shahid Ahmad, Indie Developer

How does someone in charge of budget for financing video games think? As a developer, how do you give yourself the best possible chance to unlock those funds? In this session, Shahid shares his experiences in commissioning over a hundred games. If you’re a developer and you’re looking for funding for your game, you’ll want to know how to give yourself every chance of success. In “Pitching is Courtship”, Shahid shares some of the things he looked for in a developer and their pitches when he was making funding decisions.

Killing the Indie Crunch Myth: Shipping Games Alive
Simon Roth, Machine Studios

Crunch has become commonplace in AAA and indie development, but it is often misunderstood, misrepresented and, more often than not, outright harmful to a game and the team developing it. This talk will explain the myths surrounding productivity and overtime in the indie games pipeline, illustrate how to avoid the common pitfalls and offer realistic strategies that can be used to keep your team healthy and your milestones on schedule.

Console Porting Indie Games with Network Support: Worth it?
James Parker, Ground Shatter

This talk aims to provide an understanding of the additional elements required to port games to console platforms. It’ll go into the knowledge you’ll need when trying to do network play with a micro-team, along with examples of who is currently doing this kind of work and what help is available.

How to Succeed and Where You’ll Fail: Money, Marketing, and Making a Mark
Chair: Joe Brammer, Bulkhead Interactive
Agostino Simonetta, ID@Xbox
Phil Elliott, Square Enix Collective
Gordon Van Dyke, Raw Fury Games
Howard Philpott, Bulkhead Interactive

This 30-minute panel will be discussing multiple avenues to success as an independent developer or studio, focusing on PC & Console. This panel will focus on the often forgotten parts of indie development; how to fund, market, and make a significant splash in the gaming community with your indie title. The speakers are interested in helping developers build sustainable and viable studios, audience members will have multiple opportunities to ask questions to the panel throughout the talk.

Alongside the expo, there are also a number of free-to-attend Indie BootCamp sessions.

Super Early Bird passes are available until 27 April, saving delegates up to 30% on a three day pass. Indie Dev Day passes cost just £90 if booked by this date.

Train2game News Global VR Gaming Challenge

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Steel Media, publisher of Pocket Gamer, is delighted to reveal the launch of a brand new VR competition created in association with DeePoon, the leading VR company in China.

The Global VR Gaming Challenge is a new initiative setup to identify the best new VR games development talent and concepts, from UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, and help bring them to the world’s biggest VR market, China.

The challenge will include a total of $35,000 worth of cash prizes up for grabs for the winners, alongside VR hardware for all longlisted teams, and an expenses paid trip to ChinaJoy, Asia’s biggest game show in Shanghai in July, for the developers that are shortlisted.

This competition is open to all Independent developers, providing their game / concept is suitable for mobile VR, and will be unreleased prior to 28th July 2016. A full detailed set of rules can be found at the following link.

In order to enter, developers must submit a one page description of their game / concept, alongside any artwork and video assets available via the Global VR Gaming Challenge website.

After an initial entry period, expert judges from the industry will create a longlist of nominees in June who’ll then be provided DeePoon hardware and a month to hone their games before a final judging session on 15th July creates a shortlist of developers who’ll all be invited to ChinaJoy (flights and accommodation paid) to pitch at the final in Shanghai.

Those interested can also find a full breakdown of the competition’s timeline at the following link.

Through this competition Steel Media and DeePoon collectively hope to not only help the development of brand new VR concepts, but also in deepening the ties between China, Europe, and the rest of the world within the video game industry.

Train2game News World of Warcraft Legion

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The great enemy of Azeroth is back, and soon the kingdoms of the Horde and the Alliance will be consumed in a storm of fel fire.

On August 30, realms will shatter, heroes will fall, and the world will stand on the brink of destruction with the launch of World of Warcraft®: Legion™, the sixth expansion for Blizzard Entertainment’s acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

Defenders of the Alliance and the Horde can steel themselves for the return of the demonic armies of the Burning Legion by pre-purchasing World of Warcraft: Legion digitally at www.wowlegion.com . Players who pre-purchase will unlock an instant level-100 character boost, as well as early access to the Demon Hunter—Legion’s dextrous and deadly new hero class—prior to the expansion’s release.

“Legion opens a dark and thrilling new chapter in one of the Warcraft series’ greatest conflicts, and things will never be the same for some of Azeroth’s most iconic heroes and villains,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “This expansion is loaded with features and content that give players whole new ways to explore the world and customize their heroes. We’re looking forward to sending everyone into battle against the Burning Legion this August.”

In this expansion chronicling the events following Warlords of Draenor, all hellfire breaks loose when the warlock Gul’dan, betrayer of the orcs and twisted servant of the Burning Legion, unleashes a demonic invasion force upon Azeroth unlike any the Horde and the Alliance have ever faced. To save their world from annihilation, heroes must unlock the mysteries of the mythic Broken Isles, master powerful Artifact weapons, and strike a forbidden pact with the Demon Hunters of the Illidari—vengeful disciples of the dreaded Illidan Stormrage.

Pre-purchase Now and Prepare for the Invasion

World of Warcraft: Legion will be available in a Standard Edition (physical and digital versions available, £34,99). Players also have the option to upgrade their pre-purchase to the Digital Deluxe Edition (£49,99), which contains a hoard of in-game bonuses for a variety of Blizzard games, including an Illidari Felstalker mount and pet for World of Warcraft, a Felstalker mount for Heroes of the Storm®, a helm transmog and wings for Diablo® III, and a pair of fel-infused StarCraft® II portraits.

Players who pre-purchase Legion either at participating retailers or the digital Standard Edition or Digital Deluxe Edition of Legion through www.wowlegion.com , will be able to immediately boost one character to level 100, allowing them to experience the latest World of Warcraft content alongside their friends.

Pre-purchasing Legion will also grant early access to the Demon Hunter prior to the expansion’s release. During the pre-launch early-access period, players will be able to complete the Demon Hunter’s unique starting experience on the shattered, Legion-corrupted world of Mardum and achieve level 100, leaving them fully prepared to join their allies on the Broken Isles the moment the expansion launches. Further details on the upcoming Demon Hunter early-access period, including the timing and duration, will be announced at a later date.

World of Warcraft: Legion will also be available in a retail-only Collector’s Edition (£64,99), which includes the digital bonuses from the Digital Deluxe Edition along with a full-color hardcover art book, a behind-the-scenes two-disc Blu-ray/DVD set, a CD soundtrack, and a Legion mouse pad. Supplies are limited; players should check with their local retailer for preorder details and availability.

World of Warcraft: Legion Features

World of Warcraft: Legion is filled with features and content that will transform Azeroth’s heroes into Legion-slaying avatars of vengeance, including:

·       New Hero Class: Demon Hunter— Unleash the demon within as an all-new melee hero class gifted with preternatural mobility—and the ability to metamorphose into hellish new forms.
·       New Feature: Artifact Weapons— Smite the Legion with class-specific weapons of lore. Unlock abilities and traits, and customize your weapon to suit your needs.
·       New Continent: The Broken Isles— Discover the fate of a lost night elf civilization, confront twisted fragments of the Emerald Nightmare, and hunt agents of the Legion in all-new zones. Forge your own path through the Broken Isles as you explore content that dynamically scales to your level.
·       Boost to Level 100— Come fully prepared to battle the Legion with a level-100 character boost, and fight alongside your friends in this epic new chapter of World of Warcraft—available immediately upon pre-purchase.
·       New Feature: Class Hall— Gather with fellow members of your class and unite followers of your order—including iconic characters from Warcraft lore—to carry out missions at your command.
·       New PvP Honor System— Fight for fame, glory, and a range of new PvP-specific powers as you face the opposing faction in Arenas and Battlegrounds.

For more information about World of Warcraft: Legion or to sign up for the upcoming beta test, visit www.wowlegion.com