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Train2Game News Operation Supply Drop fundraising

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Operation Supply DropToday, military-focused video game charity Operation Supply Drop announced their next major fundraising event, the third annual “8-Bit Salute”, a 24-hour gaming marathon, to be held May 17 – 18, 2014.

Donations raised during this charity event will fund video game care packages, offering much needed diversion and stress-relief to combat-zone deployed troops and those recovering in military hospitals.

Machinima sensation and community favorite Rooster Teeth (creators of the award-winning Red vs Blue series) will actively promote the 8-Bit Salute fundraiser and field a community team to raise awareness and funds.

“Rooster Teeth is excited to continue our involvement with Operation Supply Drop and to grow the partnership to continue to provide assistance to those who dedicate themselves to serving our country,” said Rooter Teeth co-Founder Gus Sorolla. “We look forward to further collaboration and success for years to come.”

Other key partners include gaming juggernaut Wargaming America (World of Tanks, World of Warplanes), developer Naughty Dog (2013 Developer of the Year, The Last of Us) and gaming-headset powerhouse ASTRO Gaming. They have pledged significant donations and will assemble fundraising teams via the Operation Supply Drop website at www.operationsupplydrop.org. There, fans will have a chance to win a variety of great prizes while raising awareness and funds for our troops.

“The feedback, stories and pictures of delighted recipients, deployed in hot spots around the world, and those recovering from combat-related injuries serving us and our country, are testament to how much of a morale boost our supply drops are, as we try to give back to those that risk their lives to defend us and our way of life,” stated Operation Supply Drop Founder Captain Stephen “Shanghai Six” Machuga, a former U.S. Army Ranger and combat veteran. “We are thrilled to have so many partners involved and are confident that this will be the biggest and most successful 8-Bit Salute to date.”

Train2Game News Game Music Connect 2014

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Following the resounding success of the inaugural Game Music Connect conference in 2013, Game Music Connect 2014 proudly returns to The Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, London on September 24, 2014.

Game Music Connect is for aspiring and professional composers of all backgrounds and those interested in learning about the art and craft of creating today’s cutting edge video game soundtracks. Featuring interviews, practical demonstrations and roundtable discussions with some of the world’s leading composers and audio directors, the first announced speakers for Game Music Connect 2014 include music industry luminary Steve Schnur (Worldwide Executive of Music, Electronic Arts), composers Garry Schyman (BioShock Infinite), Jessica Curry (Dear Esther) and Olivier Derivière (Remember Me). Early-bird tickets are available now at http://www.gamemusicconnect.com.

Game Music Connect is founded by BAFTA and IFMCA award winner and five-time BAFTA Original Music nominated composer James Hannigan (Transformers Universe, RuneScape, Dead Space 3, Command and Conquer series, Harry Potter series) and noted game audio director, composer (Forza Motorsport 5, X-COM, Transport Tycoon), writer (develop, Audio Media), jury chair for BAFTA’s game music and audio awards, and industry commentator John Broomhall, to celebrate and explore the music of video games.

James Hannigan: “It’s a huge thrill to be back for 2014 and a great honour to have such wonderfully talented, diverse and influential guests join us for the day. As promised last year, we will be covering the innovative indie game music scene this time around, as well as continuing our focus on blockbusters and the challenges of interactive music.”

Game Music Connect 2014 will open with a keynote from Steve Schnur, EA’s Worldwide Executive of Music. Schnur’s hands-on approach with composer selection and score production has earned EA more than 50 soundtrack nominations over the last 10 years during which he has produced in excess of 100 EA soundtrack albums. With the formation of Artwerk Music Group, EA also directly signs, develops and launches artists for publishing, master recordings, sync deals and distribution.

For more information and to purchase tickets for Game Music Connect 2014, visit www.gamemusicconnect.com.

Train2Game News SpecialEffect helps gamer complete GTA V

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SpecialEffectWhen Lee lost the ability to play video games because of spinal muscular atrophy, he lost a major part of his life. But with the help of gamer’s charity SpecialEffect, he’s conquered Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V.

“I’ve played games all my life,” he said, “and I got quite depressed when I couldn’t play them. It was taking a big part of who I was away.”

SpecialEffect, who specialise in helping people with disabilities to experience the fun and inclusion of video games, worked with Lee to find a customised equipment setup that exactly suited his individual abilities.

The charity positioned microswitches to harness the small finger movements in his right hand, and mounted two joysticks that he can operate using his chin.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to play GTA because of my limitations, but there are no limitations anymore,” he said. “With games I can do the things I can’t do because of my disability,” he said. “I can play football with my brother by playing FIFA, or drive cars.”

“Disabilities are very frustrating and limiting – you’re basically imprisoned. This is the charity that could help change your life and bring something back that you thought you’d lost.”

Before his condition had advanced, Lee had found out about the charity through a clicking on the SpecialEffect pitchside advertising board in Sports Interactive’s Football Manager 13 game.

Nick Streeter, fundraiser at the charity, said “We’re absolute delighted to be able to help Lee. His physical abilities are changing over time, and we’ll keep visiting him to modify his equipment so that he can continue to play games as effectively as possible.”

“Games are an amazing medium through which people make friends, socialise and come together for a common cause. To be able to extend that medium to people that would otherwise not be involved is both an honour and a privilege.”

Lee’s story is featured in a short YouTube video, shown below, by the charity

Train2Game News Costume Quest 2 announced

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Costume Quest 2Midnight City, indie label of Majesco Entertainment Company, will publish Double Fine Productions’ first big sequel, Costume Quest 2, coming to PC and consoles.

In Double Fine’s triumphant return to Auburn Pines, our candy-crazed crusaders Wren and Reynold must once again protect Halloween from untold horrors, and grown-ups! Your favorite trick-or-treaters will come armed with a new batch of costumes they wear to transform into giant super powered fantasy Hallowarriors. Fans of the original can look forward to a sweet upgraded battle system and a story that is unmistakably Double Fine.

“For the last couple of years,” said Tim Schafer, Creative Director of Double Fine Productions, “Whenever Halloween came around, I felt like something was missing. No matter how many pumpkins I carved, apples I bobbed, or candy I ate, it just couldn’t fill the big spooky hole inside of me. But then I realized what was missing: I needed more Costume Quest. And also, I really wanted a T-Shirt with glowing skulls on it.”

“It’s not every day that you’re able to work with talent like Double Fine,” said Casey Lynch, VP of Publishing at Midnight City. “The opportunity to partner with one of the most beloved, well-established studios in the indie scene along with one of the most brilliant teams in development represents a sea change for games publishing. We’re moving into a brand new middle that’s taking shape in the widening gap between word of mouth indie and triple A.”

Costume Quest 2 join Midnight City’s growing roster of indie titles alongside handcrafted puzzler The Bridge, the infamous madness-inducing Slender: The Arrival, and innovative minimalist e-sport VIDEOBALL.

You can enjoy the crazy announcement trailer for Costume Quest 2 below:

Train2Game News Future Internet Games Contest launched today

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ficontentThe Future Internet Games Contest is being launched today by Disney and the Future Internet Consortium partners in association with Abertay University.

Ideas for games in the areas of augmented reality, blending real and virtual worlds, and city-wide play will be assessed by a panel of experts from the Europe-wide Future Internet (FI) Content initiative.

This Disney-led project comprises major European and global companies and research centres, who have joined their skills to drive innovation at the crossroads of content, media, networks and creativity.

Entries can be made at http://www.daretobedigital.com/220_Future-Internet-Games-Contest-.html until 10 June, with a £2000 prize for the winning web or mobile game – and potential opportunities to work with the Disney-led consortium.

Professor Kenny Mitchell, Research Lead at Disney Research, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for budding game developers and veterans alike across Europe to show their skills on a highly visible and important stage as part of our Future Internet Content project.”

The partnership between Abertay University and FI Content is to focus on the Pervasive Games platform, where the real world and internet experiences are playfully mixed together.

The platform focuses on multiplayer mobile gaming, using cutting-edge internet technology to enable large groups of people to play together, and moving games beyond playing on a console at home or remotely interacting with friends through social games.

Game developers are invited to think about how a mobile game can be an augmented version of the real world, offering play between real people that creates something more exciting and interactive for everyone.

Professor Louis Natanson, who leads computer games education at Abertay University, said: “Abertay University is delighted to work with Disney on the Future Internet Games Contest, and we look forward to seeing how game developers address this challenge.

“Games have incredible power to bring people together, to entertain and to change how we perceive the world around us.

“Future internet technologies, and the hugely powerful smartphones everyone carries with them, offer an unprecedented opportunity for designers and programmers to build entirely new ways for large groups of people to play together in the real world.”

The Future Internet Games Contest is led by Disney and associated partners in association with Abertay University.

This initiative aims at developing and experimenting across Europe cutting-edge ICT platforms devoted to applications and services in the emerging area of pervasive games for virtual and augmented reality.

For more information, and to apply, please visit http://www.daretobedigital.com/220_Future-Internet-Games-Contest.html

Train2Game News UK Top 20 Games – 10.03.14

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South Park The Stick of TruthThe truth this week is the top spot has been stolen from Thief by South Park: Stick of truth. The rest of the charts stay very quiet with Forza Motorsport 5 making a return in to the top twenty at number sixteen.

All formats

Week ending 8 March 2014

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH UBISOFT –
2 THIEF SQUARE ENIX 1
3 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE EA GAMES 4
4 THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 2
5 FIFA 14 EA SPORTS 3
6 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS ACTIVISION 5
7 MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT 8
8 BATTLEFIELD 4 EA GAMES 6
9 LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 7
10 ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG UBISOFT 9
11 RAYMAN LEGENDS UBISOFT 12
12 GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR 11
13 NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS EA GAMES 14
14 ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES SEGA 17
15 WWE 2K14 2K SPORTS 19
16 FORZA MOTORSPORT 5 MICROSOFT –
17 BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 18
18 – LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 18
19 TOMB RAIDER: DEFINITIVE EDITION SQUARE ENIX 15
20 GRAN TURISMO 6 SONY COMPUTER ENT. 15
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2014 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 Game to help cope with ADHD

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The holy grail of educational gaming is to make a game that educates yet also is as fun as an entertainment game. AdapTac Games believes they have achieved the holy grail of educational gaming with their Intergalactic Aetherial Hurtle: ADHD Skills Booster Game.

This action/strategy single player racing game iPad app is based on standard executive skills function and behavioral therapy strategies built into a game designed like an entertainment game, surpassing basic mind puzzles or mini-math challenges.  In the game, players study specs on available car parts and characters, plan which parts and characters to select, compete for car parts, build and race their car (players control acceleration and braking). Players compete against 3 NPC teams while sticking to their time limit and avoiding distractors like the Trickster. Skill in key areas like attention and strategy is shown on the dashboard, which displays both per game scores and overall averages so players can see how they are improving.

Why though is this game needed? CEO and Founder, Candice M. Hughes, PhD, MBA, neuroscientist, mom and serial entrepreneur struggled to find ways to help her family cope with ADHD. Shockingly, she discovered that while medications are available for the condition, up to 64% of kids with ADHD either discontinued or would not take them due to high cost, side effects and other concerns. (AdapTac does not endorse changing medications without consulting a physician.) After surveying other families living with ADHD and finding that all wanted a different solution, she developed her own non-medical solution by founding AdapTac Games, which has already completed nearly half of the first game to improve attention and planning through skills training in teens with ADHD. An Indiegogo campaign, which has consistently been in the “Most Popular” under gaming since launch continues through April 4 to build remaining portion of the game as well as to improve the graphics and gameplay on the initial portion of the game at http://igg.me/at/adaptacgames.

AdapTac Games takes pride in working with women programmers through a collaboration with Mount Holyoke College, Dr. Hughes’ alma mater. The firm is also proud to be part of the growing games for good movement, which encourages social improvement through games. In 2013, AdapTac Games was named a 2013 Tech Company to Watch by Connecticut Innovations, received and Entrepreneur Innovation Award in 2014 and Dr. Hughes is a Women of Innovation Entrepreneur finalist.

For more information and campaign updates visit AdapTac’s website

Train2Game News Wearable Technology Conference

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Wearable Tech ConferenceIntel’s chief futurist and strategist, Steve Power Brown, and Dave Evans, innovation guru for Cisco, will deliver the daily keynote addresses at the first ever Wearable Technology Conference & Expo, which takes place from 18-19 March at Olympia in London.

With more than 100 expert speakers, 30 exhibitors and a whole host of UK-exclusive product launches, the Wearable Technology Conference is expected to attract 1,500 attendees, making it the biggest event of its kind in the world. Delegates will be informed, inspired and entertained during the two day event, for which just a handful of seats remain unfilled.

With speakers from the likes of Google, Misfit Wearables, Fitbit, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Virgin and Cisco, the conference will cover every aspect of wearable tech – from development and funding, to testing and manufacturing. Sessions, workshops and demos will drill down into the myriad of markets this technology will impact, including healthcare, sports and fitness, engineering, the military, AR and VR, gaming, fashion, travel, entertainment, telecoms and communication.

Delegates will also hear from Chris Dancy, otherwise known as ‘the world’s most connected man’. Chris keeps metrics on himself for every moment of every day, believing that keeping statistics makes him a better employee and it’s in the future of everyone’s work. And Jason Bradbury and Rachel Riley from The Gadget Show will make a very special appearance as they pitch their own wearable tech inventions to the experts.

UK EXCLUSIVES

The Wearable Technology Conference will be the first time many new products will be seen in the UK, including:

· The Intelligent Headset – the world’s first headset with dynamic 3D audio, which has applications for gaming, music and also as an aid for the visually impaired

· Optinvent – the UK launch of the ORA smart glasses, the most complete and powerful true AR see-through smart glasses platform available. The ORA glasses are not released until April/May this year and will initially be available to industrial/professional markets and application developers before going on sale to consumers.

· ORSTO’s X3 smartwatch – British-made and hand built

· SunSprite from Goodlux – SunSprite is a next-generation health wearable invented by Harvard doctors that tracks a person’s sun and bright light exposure to improve their energy, mood and sleep.

· Xensr – the conference will host the European launch of Xensr – the first wireless, programmable motion capture solution that measures physical motion for sports, engineering, medicine and more.

· Smartlife – Smartlife will use the Wearable Technology Conference as the platform for the first public demonstration of its brand new base layer garment and associated electronics, which will report the wearer’s heart rate, location, speed, calorie burn and duration worn – perfect for athletes of all levels.

Outside of the conference, delegates are invited to enjoy multiple networking opportunities, including the Wearable Technology Conference drinks and awards.

“Wearable tech is THE big news for 2014 and it’s only going to get bigger, with experts predicting it will be worth as much as $8.4 billion by 2018,” commented Wearable Technology Conference director John Weir.

“And it’s not surprising when you consider it has the potential to impact all of our lives, both professionally and personally, affecting everything from our health and wellbeing, to the way we see, hear, communicate and play with the world

“For anyone who is interested in finding out how wearable tech can change their life, their job, their business, their industry or their customers’ lives, there is only one place to be on 18-19 March, and that’s the Wearable Technology Conference.”

Full information on the conference sessions and speakers together with who is exhibiting at the expo and demonstration products please visit www.wearabletechnologyshow.net

Train2Game News Watch Dogs release date announced

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Watch DogsToday, Ubisoft revealed that its highly anticipated open world action-adventure game, Watch Dogs, will be released worldwide on May 27, 2014.

In Watch Dogs, players assume the role of Aiden Pearce, a new type of vigilante hero who, with the help of his smartphone, will use his ability to hack into Chicago’s central operating system (ctOS) to control almost every element of the city.

“We are pleased to be able to reveal to gamers all over the world the new release date for Watch Dogs,” said Geoffroy Sardin, EMEA Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Ubisoft. “We are extremely confident that the additional time we afforded the dev team to refine and polish the game will be more than worth the wait.”

Players who purchase Watch Dogs on either PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 will have exclusive access to 60 minutes of additional gameplay via the PlayStation Network.

“We’re really excited for the launch of Watch Dogs on both PS3 and PS4 and are confident that it will prove to be one of the standout games of 2014,” said Michael Pattison, Vice President, Third Party Relations, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “It’s a unique and visionary game and we believe that the exclusive content available via PSN will not only excite gamers, but showcase how PlayStation is a preferred destination for Watch Dogs.”

Watch Dogs will be available on Sony PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Microsoft Xbox One the all-in-one games and entertainment system, Microsoft Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and Windows PC. The Wii U version will release at a later date.

You can enjoy a brand new trailer for the game below

Train2Game News Gabe Newell on Source Engine 2

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Valve's Gabe NewellGabe Newell has commented on the progress of Source Engine 2 during a recent Reddit AMA, saying the company is building the tools with user-generated content in mind.

Newell fielded questions from the general public today regarding the future of Valve, his favourite games and what the company has in store for Source Engine 2.

Answering to the latter, Newell said the industry’s move towards user-generated content has influenced the development process.

“The biggest improvements will be in increasing productivity of content creation,” he wrote.

“That focus is driven by the importance we see UGC having going forward. A professional developer at Valve will put up with a lot of pain that won’t work if users themselves have to create content.”

While Newell didn’t comment on Half-Life 3, he did address Valve’s attitude towards developing new IP, indicating that core game systems take precedence over everything.

“An IP is really a tool for a development team more than anything else,” he said. “The key is to have clarity around what is uniquely of value in what you are trying to do and not waste your effort on things that don’t directly contribute to that.”

On the topic of e-sports, their popularity on PC and micro-transaction funding models, Newell said he wants to facillitate an easier connection between consumers and content creators.

“We still think we have a long way to go to get to the point where all of the different people that are contributing value to competitive play get everything out of it that they should,” he wrote. “[It] feels like we are making pretty good progress though.

“Giving the consumers of content a direct relationship with the creators of content is something we think about a lot. That is what drove our thinking about how the community could be more involved in the tournaments that mattered to them.”

Steam, the PC platform Valve founded and operate, has over 65 million users, the company announced earlier this year.

A line of thirteen different Steam Machines, all boasting different hardware specs, was unveiled at CES 2014.

Newell also revealed during the AMA that his most played game is DOTA 2, while his favourite non-Valve game of all time is Mario 64.

Source: CVG