Injustice: Gods Among Us comes out in April and in the lead up to the game you get to vote for your favourite characters to win in game battles.
Injustice: Gods Among Us is an all-new game in development by award-winning NetherRealm Studios. The title debuts a bold new fighting game franchise that introduces a deep, original story featuring a large cast of favourite DC Comics icons such as Batman, Green Arrow, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and many others. Set in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred, players will experience heroes and villains engaging in epic battles on a massive scale.
In last weeks battles Batman faced the super strong Bane and Wonder Woman faced the insanity of Harley Quinn. You can view the results of those battles below:
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment reveal the next round of challengers in this week’s Injustice Battle Arena.
In week 2 of competition, The Flash enters the ring against Shazam in a battle of velocity versus mystic powers. Rounding out this week’s competition, the brilliant but merciless Lex Luthor challenges The Joker, the most psychopathic of supervillains.
View the latest Injustice Battle Arena videos, analyzing each contender’s strengths, offering celebrity commentary on the matches, and posing the question – who would win?
The victors of these two legendary match ups will be announced this Friday, with two new gameplay videos featuring the winning contenders.
For participating in these show-downs, fans in the UK will be rewarded with an Injustice avatar item when they register on the site and an exciting piece of DLC content when they first vote. Voice your opinion via Facebook, YouTube or Twitter and join the debate!
Train2Game once again brings you the game charts with another new number 1! This week at number 1 is the latest game from the hit horror sci-fi series, Dead Space. The previous number 1, Ni No Kuni has slipped down to number 6. Forza 4 and Madden NFL 13 have both risen back up in to the top 20.
Week ending 9 February 2013
POS.
TITLE
PUBLISHER
LAST
WEEK
1
DEAD SPACE 3
EA GAMES
–
2
–
FIFA 13
EA SPORTS
2
3
–
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II
ACTIVISION
3
4
–
FAR CRY 3
UBISOFT
4
5
–
HITMAN: HD TRILOGY
SQUARE ENIX
5
6
NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH
NAMCO BANDAI GAMES
1
7
–
NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED
EA GAMES
7
8
–
JUST DANCE 4
UBISOFT
8
9
–
HITMAN ABSOLUTION
SQUARE ENIX
9
10
SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED
SEGA
18
11
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
10
12
ASSASSIN’S CREED III
UBISOFT
6
13
–
HALO 4
MICROSOFT
13
14
–
FORZA HORIZON
MICROSOFT
14
15
–
SKYLANDERS GIANTS
SKYLANDERS
15
16
FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013
SEGA
12
17
–
LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
17
18
LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
16
19
MADDEN NFL 13
EA SPORTS
–
20
FORZA MOTORSPORT 4
MICROSOFT
–
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd
Train2Game are this week bringing you an end of the week round up of news.
A new Call Of Duty has been confirmed for the fourth quarter of this year. “The Call of Duty franchise continues to set the bar for innovation and we expect a new Call of Duty game in development for 2013 to raise that bar even higher,” said CFO Dennis Durkin during a financials conference call today. Historical trends indicate this year’s title is likely to be a new entry in the ‘Modern Warfare’ line, developed by Infinity Ward. Expect an early November release.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told investors on Thursday that Ubisoft plans to publish a new Assassin’s Creed game during the 2014 financial year. The game, developed across several of Ubisoft’s global games development studios, will likely be introduced at E3 this year. Although Guillemot didn’t go into too much detail, it was confirmed the game will take place in a new time period and star a new character. In further Assassin’s Creed news, Assassin’s Creed 3 sales have reached 12 million across the globe.
Yet another big game sequel that surfaced this week was that of Little Big Planet 3. The game is being developed by Sumo Digital who were the company behind the cross controller pack for Little Big Planet 2. Sony have yet to comment on this but VG247 was told that the independent, Sheffield-based studio has been working on the project for unknown platforms for “well over a year”.
The first trailer has been released for the up coming Activision Walking Dead game, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. The game features the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle. In addition, Activision announced that those who pre-order The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct on Xbox 360 or PS3 at GAME or GameStop Ireland will receive the Walker Herd Survival Pack, which contains Herd Mode where you stave off endless waves of the undead. The add-on will also grant new weapons in the story mode including a survival knife, sawtoothed machete, kukri, reinforced hatchet and advanced machete. If you do get the add-on, be sure to install it before starting the game as you won’t be able to access the new weapons in a game already in progress. You can watch the trailer here.
The developers of the OUYA android console have said that they want to release a new OUYA every year. Ouya company founder Julie Uhrman said “There will be a new Ouya every year. There will be an Ouya 2 and an Ouya 3. We’ll take advantage of faster, better processors, take advantage of prices falling. So if we can get more than 8GB of Flash in our box, we will.” By the end of last year, 1200 Ouya dev kits had been sent out. By the end of January, the software development package had been downloaded 22,000 times.
As it is Friday afternoon Train2Game news has decided to treat you all to a new trailer for the hugely anticipated Bioshock Infinite.
The trailer packs together grand vistas of the soaring city of Columbia, insight into its fire-and-brimstone ruler Zachary Comstock, and plenty of explosive combat against men and monstrosities. Keep an eye out for a special guest appearance from an American President as well.
The trailer is for mature audiences only and is made using only in game footage.
In previous Bioshock games, the moral decisions have been to choose whether the Little Sisters lived or died. In Bioshock Infinite, the decisions you have to make are more powerful and less commonplace. BioShock Infinite will still present plenty of moral quandaries, but these are not tied to a specific system that in turn determines what ending you’ll get.
Google is to provide UK schools with 15,000 free Raspberry Pi Model B computers. Qualifications awarding body OCR will also create free teaching and learning packs to go with each Raspberry Pi. Responding to the news, games industry veteran Ian Livingstone said: “Putting Raspberry Pis into the hands of children on this scale is potentially the most positive initiative to spur digital creativity since the advent of the BBC Micro in the 1980s.”
Lifetime Xbox 360 sales look certain to overtake those of current-gen leader Nintendo Wii in the UK. Microsoft’s console was less than 200,000 sales behind Wii at the end of December, having sold over four times more units than Wii in 2012. Nintendo UK confirmed before Christmas that around 8 million Wii consoles had been sold in the UK. Despite a reported 33% decline in video game console sales last year, Xbox 360 is said to have outsold its current-gen rivals by a “significant margin” in Britain during 2012. Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 remain the UK’s first and second best selling games consoles respectively, with Wii and Xbox 360 currently in third and fourth spots.
Temple Run 2 has been released for iOS and now Android. The sequel to the hit game has hit 20,000 downloads on iOS alone. Developed by Imangi Studios, the app rushed to the top of the free App charts on iOS in just eight hours, and also hit number three in the Top Grossing chart. In its first week on sale, Temple Run 2 racked up 210 million sessions and 1,775 years of gameplay.
Rapid2D Launches TEN THOUSAND POUND App Competition!
But that’s not all; there will also be runners up prizes of Xbox 360 consoles and bundles taking the total prize fund way beyond £10,000
Windows 8, has teamed up with industry sponsor Microsoft Corp. to launch an app competition with a first prize of £10,000.
Aimed at start-ups and student studios, while being open to anyone to enter, teams will be required to submit apps to the Windows Store. The judging will be based on overall app quality submitted by a studio/team.
Myra Smallman, of Rapid2D, also announced, “To create a level playing field for those who are just starting out in the industry, Rapid2D has produced a range of templates for use with our exciting new engine, all available for free to competition entrants.”
Anand Krishnan, Senior Director, Developer and Platform Group, Microsoft UK, added, “We are proud to support and sponsor this amazing initiative. It offers opportunities for hobby builders, students and startups to bring their ideas to life. We are excited to see what the next generation of developers, designers, artists and coders can do with the Rapid2D game engine.”
The competition will launch at 15.00pm (UK) on Wednesday 23rd January 2013 via the Rapid2D web site. The first of the 10 templates will also be made available at the same time as will the latest version of the Rapid2D engine, Rapid2D V1.2.
Registration via the Rapid2D website also opens 23rd January. The closing date for the collections of apps being published is 2nd April 2013. All Apps which are to be considered for the competition must be submitted to the Windows Store for approval by 12 midnight on 2nd April 2013.
Rapid2D competition more
It is not a prerequisite of entry to use the Rapid2D engine – entrants can develop a Windows 8 game with any language or middleware platform, whilst we recommend the Rapid 2D engine to utilize the templates and accelerate the game app development.
Individuals can enter, but obviously teams can share the demanding workload
Full terms and conditions available via www.rapid2d.com , however entry is restricted to the UK.
Train2Game again brings you the latest game charts and this week FIFA 13 has been toppled from the number one spot by Capcom’s reboot of Devil May Cry. NBA 2K13 has hit number 19 and with the release of the latest DLC Borderlands 2 has risen back up to number 20.
Week ending 19 January 2013
POS.
TITLE
PUBLISHER
LAST
WEEK
1
DMC
CAPCOM
–
2
FIFA 13
EA SPORTS
1
3
–
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II
ACTIVISION
3
4
FAR CRY 3
UBISOFT
2
5
–
NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED
EA GAMES
5
6
–
JUST DANCE 4
UBISOFT
6
7
FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013
SEGA
8
8
HITMAN ABSOLUTION
SQUARE ENIX
4
9
–
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
9
10
ASSASSIN’S CREED III
UBISOFT
11
11
LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
10
12
–
WWE ’13
THQ
12
13
DISHONORED
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
15
14
SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED
SEGA
13
15
SKYLANDERS GIANTS
SKYLANDERS
17
16
FORZA MOTORSPORT 4
MICROSOFT
19
17
LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
20
18
–
MEDAL OF HONOR: WARFIGHTER
EA GAMES
18
19
NBA 2K13
2K SPORTS
–
20
BORDERLANDS 2
2K GAMES
–
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2013 UKIE Ltd
Hey internet, it’s the one and only Deadpool and I’m here to tell you fine *website name* readers about my brand new video game ‘Deadpool’. Great name, right?
Originally some hack writer was going to do this preview/interview thing but, after careful consideration, I’ve decided to hold him hostage at gunpoint and do it myself. The lawyers aren’t happy about it but I like to think of it as ‘brand preservation’. And yes, I can type with one hand… thank you Playboy!
Does anyone even read things with this many words on the internet? It’s the internet! People are knocking themselves out, there’s pictures of adorable cats everywhere, and do you know how easy it is to find chicks naked? Anyways, let’s get this show on the road.
Obviously this is a game about yours truly; Wade Wilson, the Merc with a Mouth. I’ve been in a few games over the years: X-Men Legends 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (I was voiced by Goku in that one), and most recently I kicked all kinds of ass in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. But this is the first game all about me. And it’s about. damn. time.
If you’re wondering why the skeletons at Marvel are finally letting me be the star of my own show, I think it might be have something to do with that movie that may or may not be happening. *Wink* *Wink*. And of course, they figured out they can make mucho dinero by cashing in on my popularity.
So, my game is a third-person action thing being made by the boffins at High Moon Studios. The same dudes that did the Transformers games you all expected to be complete garbage, but were actually quite good. Go out and buy them, these programmers could do with more money.
I’ve got High Moon’s Sean Miller, who is creative director on this here piece of software, with me for quotes. Apparently you video game journalist people like padding out these things with hokey quotes for context, flavour and that kinda crap. I got some! Hit it Sean.
“With Deadpool, Activision has this relationship with Marvel, I am a lifelong X-Men fan, I’ve loved them since I was a kid. When I saw there was an opportunity to play in that universe, we seized at it. But what we didn’t want to do was something that had been done over and over.
Says the man making a third-person action game… AMIRITE guys?
“If you do games based on Wolverine it has to be that character, you’re kind of limited because everybody knows that character.”
Careful buddy, you’re basically saying I’m a nobody…
“Here we had this character who was this flawed superhero, that was interesting. The idea that he was insane created this mixture of comedy and really visceral action. I love the visceral action but I also like to laugh, I don’t think we do that enough in games.
Obviously he hasn’t played Daikatana.
“We found that there were elements to Deadpool that we related to in that he’s flawed and I think there are elements of him that touch me as gamer, both in what he does and his kind of combat.”
WOAH! WOAH! WOAH there Mr. Game Developer. Lets not talk about me touching you. What he’s trying to say is that my game has ass whoopin’ parts, and I’ll bring the funnies too. It’s the classic Deadpool formula.
For example in one mission I have to go to Genosha, the mutant utopia that Magneto set up. Things have gone pretty sour over there, Mister Sinister is going all crazy scientist, talking about “purifying the mutant race” and other crazy crap that always earns him a beating. That techno vampire looking chump loves his clones, and Genosha has lots of mutant DNA laying about. Not good.
On the way there the X-Jet crash lands on the island, I don’t know who had their feet on that thing’s pedals but based on my flight experience I’m guessing Professor X; that joke is funny because he’s a paraplegic. Don’t be offended he’s a fictional character, and an asshole.
After the dust clears I notice the X-Babes are out cold, and you know what that means: creepshot time!
Wolverine’s unconscious too, so I slapped him about to wake him. He didn’t come to. So I slapped him around a bit more. Because I can, and because I get a bit aroused when I slap people. Each to their own. The slapping is a button-bashing quick time event, do gamers still hate those? I can’t keep up with what you people hate and don’t hate.
When the fun and games are over Deadpool takes care of business, and that means shooting and stabbing stuff. In my game combat is a seamless blend of styles, I’ve got my trusty swords – for stabby stabby – and more guns than I have licenses for. Each of these bad boys can be upgraded and has its own moves. You should see some of the moves I pull off, I’ve given them awesome names like “The Equaliser” and “Suck it Gravity”. If that doesn’t crack you up I make “pew pew” sounds when I fire my gun and kick people in the balls.
Tagging in Sean.
“Then there’s the more vulnerable state; he’s a guy that cracks wise. Why do people make people laugh? Because they want to be liked. There’s an element of that in the comics and it was fascinating to me.
“So we put together a pitch for what we thought would be a good Deadpool game and found that Marvel was interested in it too. When we did our prototype and showed them the mature take they dug in with both feet, which was fantastic. For me that’s been one of the best parts, I get to play in a universe that I’ve loved for 25 years.”
Jeez, short and sharp next time motor mouth.
Back to my adventures on Genosha! That place is littered with bullets, it’s almost like a trail leading me somewhere. Eventually I ran into Cable, who told me some stuff about the world ending and how it was all up to me to save everyone. I don’t really remember the specifics, I tune him out, or blow my own head off and hope that when I come too he’s gone. I have a crazy healing factor so it grows back as ugly as ever.
I woke up to find a note pinned to my chest telling me to meet him at the north end of the Island, where a large breasted, naked girl claiming to be my biggest fan was waiting for me. The next few minutes went something like this, except with more goons getting murdered:
There was no babe, but I did get to do a hilarious gag where I pilot a Sentinel’s boot and crush some enemies with it, then say “yo dawg, I heard you like boots, so I put my boots in this boot, so I can stomp ya, while I stomp ya”.
Aha, ha, ha. Ahhh Xzibit.. You had to be there. Sean, I’m losing them, give them some video game mumbo jumbo.
“Rocksteady grasped who Batman was, that’s why those games were so awesome. They made sure everything in the game supported who Batman was. In Bayonetta they had really smooth, slick mechanics, even though they were second or third generation mechanics, and they’d been developing them for a while.”
“I don’t necessarily look at them as competition as much as I do inspiration in creating experiences. I love the idea of creating an experience that’s more than just a single mechanic. That’s what we’re striving for with Deadpool, I think we’re achieving some success with that.
Batman? What the hell is a Batman? To Wikipedia!
Wait, he doesn’t have any powers? Just money? What. A. Loser.
Sean. SPEAK!
“It has to be a good action game, if it isn’t, you can have all the jokes in the world but it would get old fast. We’re gamers, we like to play, we need that feel, it needs to feel good, feel right.
“Batman is an icon, was well before I was born. I don’t think you can compare a character like that to one that started in the 90s. I want to attract new fans, but we’ve got to take baby steps in terms of that.
Again with the Batman! I don’t think we’ve spent enough time talking about me in this interview, Sean.
“Deadpool has a broader appeal than you might imagine, because he’s made cameos across genres. He’s hugely popular in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, he resonated with people. So we’re appealing to a broader market of gamers, I don’t know if we’re going to drag in movie people and others, maybe we will but our Deadpool isn’t that movie guy anyway.”
Remember Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place? That was the last thing Ryan Reynolds did that didn’t make me want to kill him.
“On the first outing with a character like this you have to start with the essence of that character, appeal to the people that know that character. Together that becomes a base. Deadpool is a character that’s fun to talk about, it’s almost infectious, that’s why he’s risen in popularity recently. There’s a decent amount of recognition among gamers, those are the people we want to reach out to and have show up.”
“He’s a character that was genetically engineered to kick Wolverine and Spider-Man’s ass in a battle of brawn and wit.”
Damn right, but thanks to Dan Slott I don’t have to anymore. Spoilers: Peter Parker is a vegetable! Cry fanboys. Cry.
Alright Sean, wrap it up, my hand does get tired eventually you know.
“Deadpool is a guy that actually wants people to like him, and he likes other people. That personality is what defines him, it’s not just about making jokes. For me that’s what we need to develop, at the end of the day if you don’t like and want to hang out with Deadpool – despite the fact that he’s socially inappropriate, awkward, certifiably insane – we’ve failed.”
In short: Game is action game, stars best hero ever Deadpool, has shooting and cutting, is funny. I’m just going to go ahead and assume reviews will be brilliant and you’ll all be coughing up the cash come release day. I’ll get to work on my Game of the Year award acceptance speech. Deadpool out!
It is that time of week for the Train2Game mid-week round up!
Valve has announced plans to to discuss a port of Team Fortress 2 to virtual reality goggles. The first talk will be programmer Joe Ludwig’s ‘What We Learned Porting Team Fortress 2 to Virtual Reality’ and it will explore the efforts of several employees over the last year to get the game to run in virtual reality goggles. In addition, Valve’s Michael Abrash will discuss the hardware challenges that lie ahead and possible solutions for virtual and augmented reality in ‘Why Virtual Reality is Hard (And Where it Might be Going).’
Square Enix have launched a new website to tease all fans of an upcoming iOS game. More information is to be released on January 17. The site has an image of what looks like a front end menu for the game which is called, Final Fantasy: All The Bravest. You can check out the website for yourself here: http://www.jp.square-enix.com/ff_atb/
Since Activision brought out Skylanders it has done very well and now Disney has seen it’s potential. They are now doing their own version with the announcement of Disney Infinity. Infinity will work in the same way as Skylanders, needing action figures and a “toy box” base to give players access to different worlds. Disney fans will recognize plenty of familiar faces, like Captain Jack Sparrow, the cast of the Incredibles, and Sully from Monsters Inc.
Surreal game creator Suda51 has revealed details of his next game, Killer is Dead. The game stars Mondo Zappa, a 35 year old American executioner that abides by a strict suit-and-tie policy and his left hand is a gun that can also transform into a drill and is used primarily to absorb an enemy’s blood for an “Adrenalin Burst” attack. The game’s antagonist is Victor, who can manipulate emotions through song. He’s appropriately styled to look like classic composer, except has a green face and glowing eyes.
Online and mobile are spearheading the game industry’s growth to a potential total valuation of $83 billion by 2016, according to new research. Conducted by Digi-Capital, the global games investment review states that online and mobile could have a revenue share of $48 billion in 2016, 55 per cent of the entire game industry. The biggest driver in mobile and tablet app revenue meanwhile will be free-to-play, which could deliver 55 per cent of revenue in the sector and account for 93 per cent of app downloads by 2016.
Train2Game has discovered that Microsoft and Sony may reveal their next generation of consoles prior to E3 which takes place in June.
Rumours published in the February edition of Game Informer suggests that both companies are working on a press conference that is to be held near the time of the Game Developers Conference in March.
Sources have confirmed that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 systems will be revealed before E3, though specific dates or events have not been finalised.
“We hear that both Sony and Microsoft are targeting special Apple-style press conferences to unveil their platforms near the Game Developers Conference in late March,” reads the Game Informer report.
“E3 in June may be the industry’s biggest event, but both companies want to give their systems their own limelight,” the piece adds.
Analyst Colin Sebastian of Baird Equity Research also suggested that the PS4 price and Xbox 720 price could be £225 to £275 if the prices are equal to the American predictions.
“Our checks suggest that next-generation console hardware will be largely built from ‘off the shelf’ high-end PC components, along with hybrid physical/digital distribution models, enhanced voice controls and motion sensing (Kinect integration with every Xbox), and broad multi-media capabilities,” Sebastian added.
“The cost of production and retail price points should be lower than prior console launches.”
Sebastian also estimated that the Xbox 720 release date is expected for November, while the PlayStation 4 release date may be later than November due to “early production issues”.