Tag Archives: UK Games Industry

Train2Game News: SpecialEffect’s first Crowd Funding Project

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SpecialEffect SpecialEffect, the charity that enables people with disabilities to play games through adapted technology, have today appealed to all gamers to support their first ever crowdfunding project, codenamed PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES.

SpecialEffect aims to raise £5950/€6955/$9190 in order to purchase one new specialist Eye Control unit. This equipment will help many people with severe disabilities to enjoy and play games, levelling the playing field and creating a better quality of life. If they raise double the amount, SpecialEffect will buy two of these amazing pieces of equipment. Eye Control technology can be particularly helpful for those suffering from locked-in syndrome, motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy amongst many others conditions. Together with the technical and medical expertise of the SpecialEffect team, Eye Control technology can not only enable people to access and play games, but assist with rehabilitation, build self-esteem and help create a better quality of life through playing games.

But it’s not all one way. In return for the pledges made by supporters, apart from the amazing reward of knowing that your pledge will help many people with disabilities to enjoy games, SpecialEffect have designed a range of rewards. Whether it’s being included on the ‘Roll of Honour’, being featured in the ‘Video Credits’, or a place on the ‘Virtual Plaque’, there are unique rewards available for all supporters. At the top of the list is being invited to visit for a full day at the SpecialEffect National Accessible Games Centre’ where supporters get to meet the team and see the fantastic work they do.

And here’s what a difference this campaign can make – “The look on Henry’s face when he first used the eye-gaze to control something on screen was indescribable… for the first time he could play with something completely on his own. It was a landmark moment for us as a family.” Rob, Henry’s Dad.

CEO of SpecialEffect, Dr Mick Donegan commented – “We set up, create, lend and support the use of specialist games controllers from our library of equipment. Everyone we work with is different. Some of the people we work with find it difficult or impossible to control parts of their body other than their eyes. In these instances we use computers which are controlled just by moving your eyes.

“The demand for this work is growing all the time, so we are asking the gaming community, who have always been enormously supportive of our work, to help SpecialEffect through crowdfunding. The PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES project will help us meet this growing demand and enable us to purchase this very special piece of eye-controlled equipment in order to reach and help more and more people with disabilities to play games”

The crowdfunding project PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES launches on Gambitious at 10am on 13th September 2013 and will run for 30 days until Saturday 12th October 2013 and you can watch the video and pledge your support here –www.gambitious.com/projects/3576

To meet the team and see with your own eyes the amazing work that SpecialEffect do and to try out Eye Control game playing for yourself, please visit the SpecialEffect team at The EuroGamer Expo between 26th September to 29th September at Earl’s Court, London.

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 16.09.13

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Saints Row IVNow for this weeks game charts. Saints Row IV still sits a top the game charts with the only other new entry this week being Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 remix. I have a strange feeling that next week a new game will be sitting on top of the game charts however…

All formats

Week ending 14 September 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 – SAINTS ROW IV DEEP SILVER 1
2 KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5 REMIX SQUARE ENIX –
3 – DIABLO III BLIZZARD 3
4 – TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST UBISOFT 4
5 – DISNEY INFINITY DISNEY INFINITY 5
6 – MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT 6
7 – PAYDAY 2 505 GAMES 7
8 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 13
9 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 12
10 ROME: TOTAL WAR II SEGA 2
11 NHL 14 EA SPORTS –
12 MAX PAYNE 3 ROCKSTAR 17
13 RAYMAN LEGENDS UBISOFT 9
14 ASSASSIN’S CREED III XBOX 360 CLASSICS –
15 KILLZONE: MERCENARY SONY COMPUTER ENT. 8
16 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 14
17 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES –
18 FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT –
19 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 15
20 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XBOX 360 CLASSICS –
< previous week
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: UK Top 20 Games – 9.09.13

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Saints row IVI was away last week so I wasn’t here to put up the games charts. I will be putting up last weeks charts followed by this weeks. The charts last week were busy with new entries but none were enough to knock Saints Row IV off the top spot. Rome: Total War II entered at number two in the charts and Diablo III entered at number three. Further down the chart Killzone: Mercenary came in at number eight and Farming Simulator 2013 just snuck in to the top ten at number ten.

All formats

Week ending 7 September 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 – SAINTS ROW IV DEEP SILVER 1
2 ROME: TOTAL WAR II SEGA –
3 DIABLO III BLIZZARD –
4 TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST UBISOFT 2
5 DISNEY INFINITY DISNEY INFINITY 4
6 MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT 5
7 PAYDAY 2 505 GAMES 9
8 KILLZONE: MERCENARY SONY COMPUTER ENT. –
9 RAYMAN LEGENDS UBISOFT 6
10 FARMING SIMULATOR 2013 FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE –
11 FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN SQUARE ENIX 3
12 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 15
13 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 12
14 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 10
15 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 8
16 ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF NINTENDO 11
17 MAX PAYNE 3 ROCKSTAR 14
18 THE LAST OF US SONY COMPUTER ENT. 13
19 MADDEN NFL 25 EA SPORTS 7
20 TOMB RAIDER SQUARE ENIX 16
< previous week
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: Sony Virtual Reality Headset

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PS4 VR HeadsetStrong speculation has risen that Sony plans to enter the virtual reality gaming space in a big way with PlayStation 4.

Multiple sources have indicated that Sony’s VR headset will work similarly to Oculus’. Internally, the device has been demonstrated with Evolution Studios’ PS4 racer DriveClub, with players able to look around the cockpit of a car.

The Liverpool studio, Evolution Studios, is home to the Worldwide Studios Stereoscopic 3D team, which has worked on 3D game development since 2008. The team, and 3D chief Mick Hocking, have been relatively quiet since PlayStation’s ill-fated 3D push in 2011.

Amid the growing popularity of the Oculus Rift VR headset among the development community and a small number of gamers it will be interesting to see how this Sony headset will stand up.

Sony’s VR headset was set to appear in some form at German show Gamescom last week, but was pulled. It is now expect it to be unveiled next year.

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida declined to comment when asked about VR in an interview with Eurogamer at Gamescom. “We don’t talk about that,” was all he’d say. This week Sony Computer Entertainment Europe declined to comment when contacted by Eurogamer.

This is certainly one to keep an eye on.

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 Games – 02.09.13

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Saints Row IVSaints row IV hasn’t been knocked off the top spot for another week with the highest new entry being Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn which comes in at number three, just behind Splinter Cell: Blacklist. The other new entries this week are Rayman Legends at number six and Madden NFL twenty five at number seven.

All formats

Week ending 31 August 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 – SAINTS ROW IV DEEP SILVER 1
2 – TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST UBISOFT 2
3 FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN SQUARE ENIX –
4 DISNEY INFINITY DISNEY INFINITY 3
5 MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT 4
6 RAYMAN LEGENDS UBISOFT –
7 MADDEN NFL 25 EA SPORTS –
8 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 5
9 PAYDAY 2 505 GAMES 18
10 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 6
11 ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF NINTENDO 7
12 LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 8
13 THE LAST OF US SONY COMPUTER ENT. 9
14 MAX PAYNE 3 ROCKSTAR 12
15 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 13
16 TOMB RAIDER SQUARE ENIX 15
17 SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 16
18 ASSASSIN’S CREED III XBOX 360 CLASSICS 11
19 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XBOX 360 CLASSICS 17
20 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES –
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE LtdThese 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: Virgin Media Game Space

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Virgin Media Game SpaceI got the pleasure of attending the launch for the Virgin Media Gaming Space last night at Blackall studios in London.

The Virgin Media Gaming Space is a new venture to promote indie gaming in the lead up to Eurogamer, where Virgin are one of the key sponsors.

The space itself is filled with many of the new indie games to try, including Spelunky and Super Hexagon. Downstairs is an area for indie developers to drop in and work together to create games with the hardware available.

There is also going to be a number of events across the time that the space is there including Game Jams and several talks with industry professionals including Mike Bithell, the developer of Thomas Was Alone.

One of the biggest attractions that is at the Virgin Media Gaming Space is the chance to try out an Oculus Rift. I jumped at the opportunity to see what it was like myself and personally was a bit disappointed but I can certainly see the potential in it.

The game that was being used to display the Oculus Rift was Strike Force Zero. A space shooter where you are a pilot destroying all things in view.

My main problem with the Oculus Rift was with me wearing glasses the headset pressed them in to the bridge of my nose causing discomfort. I did however like the way the UI would slide in to view when you looked to the left.

Regardless of my opinions on the Oculus Rift I wouldn’t have had the chance to try it out if it wasn’t for the Virgin Media Gaming Space. I urge all who can make it to visit as it is an excellent place to meet like minded individuals and play some of the latest greatest indie games.

You can read more about the space and find out about the events taking place at http://www.vmgs.com/

You can view a gallery of my time at the event below:

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Train2Game News: Eurogamer after party

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Eurogamer after partyUK independent gaming news, reviews and previews site, StickTwiddlers, have announced the details for this year’s StickTwiddlers Eurogamer Expo After Party to raise funds for the charity SpecialEffect.

Sponsored by NCSOFT, ArenaNet and Carbine Studios, the StickTwiddlers Eurogamer Expo 2013 After Party is set to be a celebration of the past and current generation of gaming as we head ever closer to the release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, due for release later this year.

The event is taking place on Saturday 28th, September at The Pembroke where the gaming industry and public can enjoy an evening of drinks, prizes, tournaments and more with some of gaming’s most iconic characters. Music is being provided once again by the fantastic GamerDisco with other surprises to be announced on the night.

“We’re consistently blown away by the volume of requests we get around Eurogamer Expo time to throw another Eurogamer Expo after party,” says Ben Cordell, co-owner and editor of StickTwiddlers. “We’re hoping to make this year even better than the previous two as well as raising plenty of funds for our favourite charity, SpecialEffect. It’s truly going to be a night to remember for a fantastic cause.”

Entry to the event costs a mere £8 with proceeds going to SpecialEffect, a charity that helps those with disabilities enjoy gaming. Attendees will also be provided with 2 free drinks on entry as well as the opportunity to take part in the charity raffle and gaming tournaments, featuring fantastic prizes up for grabs.

Last year’s event brought Earl’s Court to a standstill as an army of zombies took to the streets before entering the party. Tickets sold out in a remarkable 6 hours and the event raised an astounding £2,100 for SpecialEffect. You can see a gallery of last year’s party on the StickTwiddlers website.

For more details on what to expect at this year’s StickTwiddlers Eurogamer Expo After Party and to purchase tickets, check out the FAQ on the StickTwiddlers website.

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 games – 27.08.13

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Saints Row IVThere has been several new entrants this week with three of them taking the top three spots. Saints Row IV from Deep Silver has taken the number one spot, Ubisoft’s new Splinter Cell: Blacklist has taken second and Disney Infinity has taken the number three spot. The Bureau: XCOM declassified was also released this week and has entered the chart at number ten. A busy week for new releases!

All formats

Week ending 24 August 2013

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 SAINTS ROW IV DEEP SILVER –
2 TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST UBISOFT –
3 DISNEY INFINITY DISNEY INFINITY –
4 MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT 2
5 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 3
6 FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 4
7 ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF NINTENDO 5
8 – LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 8
9 THE LAST OF US SONY COMPUTER ENT. 6
10 THE BUREAU: XCOM DECLASSIFIED 2K GAMES –
11 – ASSASSIN’S CREED III XBOX 360 CLASSICS 11
12 MAX PAYNE 3 ROCKSTAR 16
13 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 14
14 FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT 15
15 TOMB RAIDER SQUARE ENIX 9
16 SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS –
17 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XBOX 360 CLASSICS 10
18 PAYDAY 2 505 GAMES 1
19 THE SMURFS 2 UBISOFT 7
20 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM – LEGENDARY BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 12
< previous week
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: Train2Game radio interviews Lewis Gordon

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Lewis GordonI got the pleasure of interview Train2Game student, Lewis Gordon. Lewis is one of the founding members of Merkury Games and he talks to me about how the studio started and where the ideas for the games came from.

You can listen to the interview here: https://audioboo.fm/boos/1561950-train2game-student-lewis-gordon-talks-to-t2g-radio

Or read the transcript below:

Hi I’m Lewis Gordon from Train2Game doing the Games Development course.

How you doing Lewis?

I’m not too bad, yourself?

I’m good cheers mate. So give us a bit of your background then mate, what you been doing?

I started the Train2Game course three years ago, I’ve literally just applied for my extension on the course it’s self, but I started off originally just as a gamer and I turned around and thought, “I want to make games”, didn’t know much about it, saw this course, saw I could do it around my own time and work and thought it suited me to the best of my abilities really. Once I started the course I did struggle a bit and I met a couple of people on the forums them selves, one in particular, we started to bounce ideas off of each other and get some actual games rolling. The original one we made was just between me and the programmer, it was just literally the two of us. We had no designers, no artists or anything like that, it was just a case of we thought we’d make a game and it turned out it was actually working, which was a shock!

Nice! With the games you’ve made and stuff is that with the studio you’re part of now?

That’s right yeah, both games we’ve made are or are part of studio work.

Yeah? What was the studio called, your one?

The studios called Merkury games with an M-e-r-k-u-r-y.

Any reason you decided to go with that rather than the actual spelling?

Just because, like with our games, it represents how different we want to be. So instead of going the same route and going the same words and everything like that, we will just change a slight bit to make it our own.

Fair enough! I’ve had a look at a couple of the trailers for your games, I haven’t had a chance to play them yet, and they do look quite interesting and fun. Where do the ideas come from for them?

The first one, the pirates one, that was actually an idea from my portfolio project. We had to make a design document for a game and that was the one I came up with, then me and the other programmer decided “OK, let’s try to make this game”. So we kept putting ideas together and the ideas just kept expanding and expanding. That one, its self is still a work in progress because we are thinking about adding more levels into it and bosses and things like that but the idea, like with any kind of game, come from games we have played previously but just something that we’d want to play ourselves. If we think we can enjoy it, we just want to make sure people can enjoy it as well.

Yeah fair enough! So, you develop mostly for PC don’t you?

Yeah, for ourselves, PC market is the one we are going for. Just purely because PC Gaming is more or less for the hardcore gamers. We can obviously look at mobile phones and consoles but end of the day, Consoles are becoming more and more like a PC so might as well go directly to the market that’s asking for it.

Your studio now, you said that it started off as just you and another developer, so what have you got now?

So originally it was just me and the programmer. Now, I don’t know the exact numbers, I think we’ve got about six artists, some of them are on and off – just doing work when they can, we’ve got out games designer and obviously QA involved as well. So we’ve got a good variety of people, some new, some experienced and some just looking to get involved really.

How long have you been doing the studio?

The studio started this year, so we finished the first game and thought, why don’t we try and make this in to a studio? Get some people together and make some games that would actually be appealing to people and not just us.

Yeah, is it all Train2Game members you’ve got as your team?

Near enough all of our members are Train2Game except for one which is just a person I know personally.

Nice one. So what are your plans for the future?

Plans for the future, we are hoping that we can turn this company in to something that can.. For us it’s not making a profit that drives us, it’s making them games, but if we can make anything off the work we do that’s a bonus none the less!

Perfect! Well I think that’s all we have time for today Lewis so thank you very much for your time buddy!

That’s no problem at all

I will talk to you soon

Talk soon

Bye!

Bye!

Train2Game News: Where could Oculus Rift lead?

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Oculus RiftThe founder of Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey, has stated that VR tech may be able to achieve “Matrix level virtual reality” within just a few years.

In a talk with Eurogamer Mr Luckey predicted a bright future for VR technology: “VR tech is still very crude,” he said, “but it’s advancing rapidly.”

The Oculus Rift device is going from strength-to-strength this year. Over 20,000 dev units have been shipped, and the company recently recruited id veteran John Carmack as its CTO. Oculus is now working on making the device compatible with Android mobile devices.

The next step beyond that would be to bring the device to games consoles. It’s simplicity means it would be a relatively easy thing to accomplish. “From our point of view you just need an HDMI input, and both consoles have HDMI,” said Laird Malamed of Oculus. “My experience has been that to get access to the USB side, that’s typically where you need software level support and that’s where you need their help.”

This could be nixed if Microsoft and Sony choose to release their own VR headsets for their respective next-gen consoles. Malamed said that the competition would be a positive thing for the technology.

“They’re big companies with lots of resources. For us we’d say good. With John Carmack coming over as our CTO, we’ve had a great Kickstarter campaign, they continue to be great supporters, but we’re still a start-up. VR’s had a lot of failures in the past, and so the more people that enter the market is good because developers that ultimately have to develop the content, they know they’ll have people playing their games which is better for all of us.”

It’s conceivable then that VR headsets could become commonplace during the next console generation. This would open up a whole new world of development.