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Train2game News Fear the Walking Dead Mobile Game

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AMC and the video game publisher Versus Evil announced today that Fear the Walking Dead: Dead Run, the official mobile game based on AMC’s record-breaking TV series, is now available worldwide for free on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Fear the Walking Dead: Dead Run puts players in the shoes of their favorite characters from the show as they try to escape a devastated Los Angeles and the Infected hordes that have overrun the city.  Gameplay takes place across familiar landscapes including an abandoned church, a high school, and the local sports arena. The game features over 40 weapons and special episode levels that deliver storylines paralleling the events of the TV series.

The free mobile game will be discussed on “Talking Dead: Fear Edition,” which will premiere on Monday Night. AMC exclusively premiered the highly-anticipated new season of “Fear the Walking Dead” worldwide in more than 125 countries.

“We wanted to launch the game in a unique and exciting way that honored the great show on which it’s based. The game is both thrilling and visually-appealing as players try to survive the apocalyptic fall of Los Angeles,” said Mac McKean, SVP of Digital Media for AMC and SundanceTV.

“We’re all huge fans of the ‘Fear the Walking Dead,’ and it’s been great working with AMC to bring this game to the fans,” said Steve Escalante, GM and founder of Versus Evil. “Our goal from the beginning was to create a fun, accessible experience that stayed true to the energy of the show. We hope fans enjoy playing as their favorite show characters and competing with their friends in a world falling apart.”

Fear the Walking Dead: Dead Run is initially available exclusively on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch at https://itunes.apple.com/app/fear-walking-dead-dead-run/id1084407935?mt=8&ls=1

Download for free on iPhone and iPad: www.getdead.run

Train2game News EGX Rezzed 2016 Success

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Gamer Network is pleased to announce that EGX Rezzed has maintained its position as London’s premier games event with another sold out gala of gaming at Tobacco Dock. More than 15,000 flocked to East London over three days from April 7th to the 9th to enjoy the biggest collection of games in the capital.

Part of the London Games Festival, EGX Rezzed had more than 175 playable and pre-release games, with AAA Blockbusters such as Dark Souls III, Just Cause 3: Sky Fortress, and Total War: Warhammer alongside popular indie offerings such as Shadowhand, The Assembly, The Banner Saga 2, Overcooked and Giant Cop.

EGX Rezzed was also the place to try cutting edge VR tech. In addition to the HTC Vive, a number of games were playable on the Oculus Rift including the public debut of Gang Beasts VR.

PlayStation VR also brought along its Playroom VR suite of experiences to try, along with RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, Battlezone and Superhypercube.

The Developer Sessions brought gamers face-to-face with world renowned game creators as they presented their latest projects, took part in panel discussions and answered questions from fans. Sessions included talks from the creators of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst: Inspirations, Dying Light, and Total War: Warhammer. All the sessions were streamed on the EGX YouTube Channel

CEO of Gamer Network, Rupert Loman said “It’s fantastic to have another successful EGX Rezzed under our belt. The event goes from strength to strength and continues to grow in both attendee’s numbers and exhibitors, whilst maintaining its rare and unique atmosphere.  The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from all the people that make this show so special, developers, publishers, investors and most importantly the gamers.”

Dates for EGX Rezzed 2017 will be announced soon and tickets for EGX at the NEC Sept 22nd – 25th are now available to buy on the website www.egx.net

Train2game News No Man’s Sky Soundtrack

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UK instrumental band 65daysofstatic today announce the official global release of their first video game soundtrack, No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe, via Laced Records on 17th June 2016.

The release will coincide with the release of No Man’s Sky, the highly-anticipated science fiction exploration game from Guildford-based studio Hello Games, available on PS4 and PC from June 21 in North America, June 22 in Europe and June 24 in the UK.
                      
After the track ‘Debutante’ accompanied the first reveal of No Man’s Sky in 2013, the band spent over a year composing original music for the game’s soundtrack. No Man’s Sky’s procedurally generated universe is unlike anything yet seen in the gaming world, and 65daysofstatic’s sonic assault is equally ambitious.

The release itself comprises 10 tracks of original music, plus a second collection of 6 soundscapes and sound design, exclusive to Laced Records in an all-encompassing journey of almost two hours. This music, alongside a vast library of raw audio comprised of loops, sound textures and melody is currently being fed into the game’s unique music engine under the auspices of audio director Paul Weir, effectively creating a self-generating soundtrack to infinity.

Attempting to move away from the granular, soft-focus ambience often found in procedurally generated games, the in-game music aims to travel effortlessly between the minimal, barren melodies of outer space to the intense, visceral, aural squall of galactic survival. No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe is equally grand in its ambition, an experimental and overwhelming sonic experience that pushes 65dos into new territory while retaining their innate sense of relentlessness, driving rhythm, and a tune you can hum.
                      
Work on the game’s audio will continue right up to No Man’s Sky’s release, and 65daysofstatic are immensely privileged to have been given the opportunity to work at the cutting edge of sound design and composition. Given that their involvement in the project is now reaching the two-year mark, they are equally excited to get back out on the road and bring the energy and scope of infinite space to the live arena.

65daysofstatic said; “Being involved with No Man’s Sky is as unlikely as it is exciting. Two years of our lives have disappeared into a black hole and we’ve been spat out into another dimension. The project has pushed us to explore new processes and techniques, to rethink our relationship with our own music and to essentially soundtrack every narrative thread of a ‘choose your own adventure’ novel that exists only in our minds. We’re really proud of the results, and can’t wait to release the album and play it live.”

No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe will comprise of a ten track album including a second collection of six soundscapes, all essentially part of the same body of work. Recorded at Chapel Studios, Lincolnshire with co-producer Dave Sanderson (Reverend & The Makers), and mixed at Castle of Doom, Glasgow by Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian) in early 2015, the album will be released by Laced Records June 17th.

No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe will be available for purchase and streaming at all major digital music retailers, as well as on deluxe double CD, 10 track double vinyl with digital download of all 16 tracks, and a deluxe vinyl collector’s edition featuring all 16 tracks spread across 4 LPs.

The artwork is currently being produced by long time 65daysofstatic collaborator, Caspar Newbolt of Version Industries (Louis CK, Alessandro Cortini, Daft Punk, Big Black Delta) and will be revealed at a later date.

Fans can now pre-order all editions of the audio-only soundtrack via the Laced Records store:
http://www.lacedrecords.com

Train2game News Gaming Comedy Show

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Comedian-led TV show for gamers Console Yourself , produced by GINX TV, is set to return for a third season this week on Sunday April 10th at 8 p.m. on Virgin Media channel 290 in the UK.

Building on the trend to rally gaming to TV audiences, the show will see the return of Host Neil Cole (award-winning comedian & broadcaster) and some of the UK circuit’s favourite comedy talents dissecting the common ground of video games. The show is like a stress-busting therapy session for gamers – but funny.

Guests in the new series include comedians and gamers  Inel Tomlinson (CBBC, Virgin Radio),  Steve McNeil (Go 8 Bit), Ellie Gibson (Eurogamer), Bec Hill (Sky’s DC Fancast), Jim Smallman (BBC Radio 5 Live), Bisha K. Ali, Archie Maddocks, Matthew Highton, Sam Golin and Simon Feilder.

Series 3 of the comedian-led show will see Host Neil Cole and stand-up favourites chat the loves  and loathes of videogames, with every episode focusing on a range of popular gaming themes from the PlayStation 4 console and the Street Fighter Franchise, to Pokémon, the Zelda series and the SNES.

Neil Cole commented: “When I first started performing stand-up comedy, it was a relief to realise that I wasn’t the only comedian who spent as much time playing videogames as writing jokes and driving to gigs – so this show is as natural a meeting-place for funny gaming chat as the arcade at the services on the M6 Toll Road” 

Console Yourself will be co-produced by Adam Mason and Neil Cole. For a look at previous episodes of the series, see https://ginx.tv/tv-shows/console-yourself/.

The brand new season 3 of Console Yourself will premiere on Sunday April 10th at 8 p.m. in the UK on Virgin Media Channel 290 and on GINX TV worldwide.

Train2game News Crytek announces VR Partnership with IEEE

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Expanding the reach of its VR First academic initiative, Crytek today announced a new strategic partnership with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

The IEEE is the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology, supporting a network of over 2,300 universities worldwide by providing course accreditation and learning resources.

Yu Yuan, Chair of the IEEE Digital Senses Initiative, said, “The IEEE Digital Senses Initiative is pleased to be a partner in the VR First initiative. We believe that virtual reality, as well as augmented reality, will have a great impact on all aspects of industry.”

Tom Coughlin, Director of the IEEE Region 6 and Chair of the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society Future Directions Committee, said, “Providing laboratories at universities and colleges where students can learn and create using state-of-the-art VR tools will be important to prepare the next generation of innovators who will make these technologies a part of our daily lives.”

Welcoming the partnership, Ferhan Özkan, Crytek’s Senior Business Development Manager Partnerships & Alliances, said, “Collaborating with the IEEE dramatically broadens the potential reach of VR First and emphasizes our commitment to ensuring the program makes a genuine impact on the landscape of VR research and development at the grassroots level.”

Crytek’s collaboration with the IEEE follows news that the VR First program – which provides state of the art VR research facilities on university campuses – is being rolled out to seven new academic institutions in North America with support from AMD, Leap Motion, OSVR and Razer.

For more information on VR First, visit vrfirst.cryengine.com.

Train2game News The eGames

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Launched today as part of the London Games Festival, the eGames is an international gaming tournament where national pride is the prize.

Speaking at the event, Minster for Culture Ed Vaizey said “The eGames promises to be an exciting venture that will give eSports competitors across the UK even more opportunities to showcase their talents on an international stage. I welcome the ambitions of the IEGC and their efforts to promote the UK as a leading nation in the eSports sector.”

In line with other globally established sporting events, the eGames will be a medal only competition, with no prize money, but the opportunity to take home gold for your country.

The IEGC is a not for profit initiative, and has been set up with the aim of positively shaping the future of competitive gaming . They will set up an International Advisory Board to assist in running the eGames and assist it with: instilling good governance, responsible gaming and ensuring the competition is inclusive and diverse.

Each country will have the opportunity to enter their eTeam. Currently eTeam Britain, eTeam Canada, eTeam Brazil and eTeam USA are already on board.

The first planned event is a two-day pop up in Rio during the Olympics to showcase the eGames to the world of competitive gaming and attract further partners.

“We plan to take the very best practice from the sports world and bring it to competitive gaming. Our ambition is to bring credibly to the sector, dignity to the players and inspiration to the spectators.” – Chester King, Chief Marketing Officer, International eGames Group.

Jules Robinson Head of Business Development at Pinewood Group, where the IECG will operate from, added “We are delighted to be welcoming this exciting new initiative to our growing gaming community here at Pinewood. This bolsters our ambitions for Pinewood Games to become the leading games hub and go to location for the British games industry looking for state of the art facilities and a cluster of likeminded companies to work alongside. The IEGC will also be able to take advantage of outstanding venues for hosting events as well as our industry leading broadcasting services, which will prove essential in delivering all the action that the eSports community demands.”

For more info please go to www.egames.org

Train2game News VR Tourism

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Realities, the first VR tourism experience to hit the global market, is released today as a free download.

The users can wander within photorealistic landmark environments from around the world. These places have been scanned using photogrammetry to capture every last detail. Graphine’s texture streaming technology ‘Granite SDK’ makes it possible to visualize this scanned content at the highest quality available while still only requiring a PC with the minimal specifications for VR. Users of Realities use the app’s innovative locomotion methods to explore these photorealistic environments.

realities.io is another addition to the list of leading content creating companies that use Granite for their VR projects. Other VR companies using Granite are Sólfar Studios with Everest VR, Nurulize with Nu Reality and companies like Oculus and The Mill with undisclosed projects.

“The need to display photo-realistic content at the most detailed quality level, while keeping a solid very high frame rate is a requirement from all companies that want to create state-of-the-art content for virtual reality. We are proud to support more and more companies like realities.io that use Granite to deliver extraordinary experiences to the consumers with unseen graphical fidelity.” affirms Aljosha Demeulemeester, Graphine’s CEO.

realities.io’s CEO Dominic Eskofier confirms: “With Realities, we put real, mesmerizing places 1:1 into Virtual Reality and make them fully explorable – at a quality level that we couldn’t achieve without Granite. Walking around in Realities’ unique environments is the closest thing to actually be at the places we capture – thanks to the great performance and extreme texture resolutions we get from Granite in Unreal Engine 4.”

Realities released today on Steam and is available for free to all VR users.

Granite is available as a standalone SDK that can integrate in any engine and as a plugin for Unreal Engine 4 and Unity3D.

More information on the web site:

www.graphinesoftware.com/blog/realities-released-on-vr-stores-includes-granite

Train2game News Develop Brighton 2016

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Tandem Events, organisers of Europe’s leading game developers conference Develop:Brighton, today announce Hideo Kojima, director of Kojima Productions, as keynote speaker for this year’s conference.
                                                                                               
Hideo Kojima is a world-renowned game creator and auteur known for pushing the boundaries of the video game medium.  Widely considered the father of the stealth genre, he is also credited with innovative story-telling and cinematic presentation in video games at large.

Famed for the hit Metal Gear Solid franchise, Kojima will be joined onstage for an hour long fire side chat with industry legend, president of Cerny Games and long-time friend, Mark Cerny. The discussion will focus around Kojima’s inspirations, process and his thoughts on the future of the game.

As well as delivering this year’s keynote, Hideo Kojima will be awarded the 2016 Industry Legend Award at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards on the evening of Wednesday 13 July, the same award fellow keynoter, Mark Cerny received in 2014.

“We’re delighted and honoured to announce Hideo Kojima as our keynote speaker for Develop:Brighton 2016,” commented Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events. “Known the world over as someone who’s at the forefront of what’s possible within video games, he continually pushes the boundaries. Alongside his good friend, Mark Cerny, these gaming legends have an amazing history within the games industry and I’m looking forward to hearing more.”

Develop:Brighton takes place at the Hilton Brighton Metropole from Tuesday 12 July to Thursday 14 July. The keynote entitled Industry Legends Discuss the Future: A Conversation with Hideo Kojima, will take place on Wednesday 13 July at 10am.

Other sessions announced for Develop:Brighton 2016:

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

Converting an Established Genre in VR: Pitfalls and Opportunities
Martin de Ronde, Vanguard

What Not to Do as a Startup
Ella Romanos, Strike Gamelabs

Lets Talk Narrative with Rhianna Pratchett
Rhianna Pratchett, Writer

Harnessing the Power of the Crowd to Get Your Game Noticed
Kate Russell, Journalist, Reporter and Author

From 2 to 13: Growing from Nothing and Working with the “Big Boys”
Aj Grand-Scrutton, Dlala Studios

Community-driven Game Development through innovative Marketing Analytics
Ammar Jawad, Radiant Worlds.

Passes are currently available at http://www.developconference.com/

Train2game News Games Finance Market

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The Games Finance Market launches as part of the Brand New London Games Festival.

When: Wednesday April 6th, 9.30am – 6pm

Where: The Grange City Hotel, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London EC3N 2BQ

The Games Finance Market is a brand new financing event and the only one of its kind in the UK. Handpicked British game developers will be introduced to potential VC’s, investors and business partners who are ready to sign up new product and finance deals. Games London will match some of the most promising games businesses in the UK with a carefully selected set of high profile financiers in a ’speed dating’ style event that includes over 500 pre-organised 20 minute  pitching meetings.

The following spokespeople are available for interview by appointment:

Dr Jo Twist: CEO of UKIE the governing trade body for the UK Video Games Industry. Jo can talk about the UK games industry in terms of what it’s worth to the economy and what the recent tax breaks have achieved.

Adrian Wootton: CEO of Film London and the British Film Commission. Film London has a long history marrying investment with British movie talent.

Alex Fleetwood: Founder of London-based games studio Sensible Object, which is working on an innovative new toys-to-life game for iPad.

London Venture Partners: A venture capitalist firm based in the city that has invested in a number of influential games developers around world including Supercell, creators of the world’s biggest game Clash of Clans.

Please contact Caroline at caroline@indigopearl.com directly for an appointment.

Train2game News 2 Brothers Form Student Studio

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Train2Game studio on the hunt for more team members

Turrall brothers have formed SolarFlare and now looking to grow the team

Two brothers based in West Midlands are looking to expand their studio and take on new volunteers to create games with them. They are using the studio to get hands on experience and want to offer others the same opportunity.

The team called SolarFlare are made up of Edward and his brother. Edward is studying with Train2Game, he’s had a positive experience with Train2Game and wants to get more students involved in studios. The Turrall’s created SolarFlare to release games in the UK on Android, and looking to take steps into Switzerland in the future.

The brothers are using SolarFlare as work experience in their games making journey and the door is open for more students to join them. They also want anyone who is interested in gaming to join up and experience is not necessary, new team members will learn on the job and thrown straight into a working company.

Edward Turrall, Train2Game student and SolarFlare founder, said: ‘My name is Edward James Turrall, 23 years young and live in the West Midlands.’

‘I did a course with Train2Game a few years back. It was the Arts and Animation course, however I did not finish that one and got transferred to the App Development course which I am still doing as we speak. Admittedly, I am taking longer than I thought I would as a lot of other things have come up since I started.’

‘Both the courses have been very informative for me and helped me gain more experience in each field. App Development and Art & Design. My experience with Train2Game was amazing and 100% positive, I would, in future, work together with them to get more Students involved in new Studios, existing Studios and more Student arranged Events.’

‘SolarFlare is a new start-up Studio that my brother and I have formed because we love making games and wanted to get into the Industry in the UK and Switzerland as we want to take the Gaming Industry over there.’

‘We founded the Studio in November 2015 with the aim to develop Android and iOS games at the beginning and then large scale multi-platform MMORPGS based in the distant (or near) future. Another aim that I have had for the UK Office was for Students to get the opportunity to work together with some professionals and gain experience, almost like work experience, just this won’t be anything like it.’

‘I myself aim to give Students a chance to be part of a large company without having to go through years of University or education. They will be able to join us (as long as they Study anything to do with games, art & design or App development) to hone on their skills, get experience and build an amazing Portfolio/CV for the future! Any students we like, could even be offered a starting position in the Studio and work themselves up the ladder.’

‘We are a family run business as it is my brother and I. We get along well, work gets done and we give the players what they want. Games have been a HUGE part of my life growing up, and have helped me through times where I had nothing else to do as a kid. They’ve given me a new sense of my imagination and inspired me to do a lot of things such as Photography, 3d Art and Design and more. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have done all of those things without games, but I certainly wouldn’t have been able to adjust my imagination in such a way without them.’

‘I want to help other people and show them that not everyone needs to go to school for years just to get a great job. I want to be able to pick a few students from a College, give them all a computer and an office to work in and give them 2 months to make a game. And then hopefully over them a job if they can pull that off. If not, I will give them a chance to change their lives and learn more than they could ever learn in a College or University as they would be working on real games, with real people and with real money involved. Sure the College/University Degree/Diploma will be needed at some point, but I hope to be able to work together with Train2Game so that they could work towards that degree while working for us at SolarFlare Studios.’

‘At the moment we only develop for the Android market place as we do not have the funds available to release onto iOS devices. But we plan on working that out in the near future and then develop iOS games as well as Android games. I can’t tell you much about the latest project as it is still on the drawing board, however I can tell you guys about the game already released.’

‘The game we already released on the Android Market is called Count Rockoola and features a Rock that happens to be a Vampire. You adventure as this rock, collect Blood as the Score, Premium Garlic as the “Coins” in the game and avoid the normal Garlics as they will, as you are a Vampire, hurt you and then kill you if you happen to find too many of them (5). The project itself is still in its infant stages but I am bringing out new updates soon to fix a few issues we’ve been having. Crashing issues, Sound issues, Sprite issues, etc. The other things I am also working on are procedurally generated Levels as I do not have any Level Designers that could help me make any at this point.’

‘We are looking for new people!! However, you cannot really call them “employees” as they will not be getting paid as of yet. But in the near future, if we make enough games and enough people download them & buy in game currencies, they will be paid per Level they make.
For example; You make 1 Level for a game that’s got 500,000+ Downloads, if 50% out of those 500,000+ people buy currency, you will be paid. Depending on the length of the Level you made, you will be paid around £1 – £50. It all varies on your experience as well.’

‘But for now, we just want Students to get involved as we want them to gain experience and get a good feeling with the Programme we are using. You just need to know how to use a Programme called Construct 2, which was made by Scirra LTD. You will need to know how to make a Level in it and how to send it as an individual file. Nothing special J’

‘The main objective of our “employees” will be to make Levels and improvements to the game if they wish to do so, in future, I want to be able to have over 500 levels, if not over 2,000. They will need to be able to attend weekly, if not daily Skype calls to give us updates on what they are doing and give us weekly/monthly reports on the Levels they have made, if they hit any issues or if they’ve made a mistake in the game.’

‘This is a great opportunity for a Student to jump out of their comfort zone and show everyone what they can do! If you are someone that wants to show everyone what you can do, then you should come help us out! You will learn a lot about is and about the gaming industry in the UK. You will have the chance to meet new people and get closer to something you love doing – MAKE GAMES.’

‘We aim to be the first ever Gaming Studio to succeed in Switzerland and bring games to the people down there in Central Europe. We aim to help Colleges and Universities with Student Projects and give them support with Students that don’t know how to do a certain thing. We want to show people that making a game isn’t always “fun” or “lazy” or something you do because you are a Nerd/Geek. I myself, want to give everyone the opportunity to jump out of their seat, shout at the TV and say “I HELPED MAKE THAT GAME!!!!” without having to hide it. Be proud of making a game and be proud to be a gamer. The future is now, not tomorrow.’

‘Join SolarFlare Studios as a volunteer, help us spread our wings and you might just get a chance to be part of the Studios first ever employees to bring out amazing games for Kids, Teenagers and Adults in each and every country of the world.’

Visit SolarFlare here: http://solarflare-studios.com/

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com
Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry
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