Major video game developers around the world are set to collaborate on a compilation of new games for the charity, War Child.
The teams behind blockbusting titles such as Halo 5, Alien: Isolation and the Football Manager series, will each be given six days to produce a game based around themes provided by the charity, which seeks to help children in conflict-affected countries, including Syria. The resulting compilation, titled HELP: Real War is Not a Game, will be available via digital download early in 2016.
The initiative is set to mark 20 years since the charity’s famous Help album, which saw artists such as Oasis, Manic Street Preachers and Paul Weller record an album of covers in just 24 hours. The resulting record, and a series of follow-ups, have raised over £1.5m to help children affected by war.
“War Child’s work revolves around a simple premise ... no child has started a war, so no child should be affected by one,” said Miles Jacobson, founder of the global games jam committee and studio director at Sports Interactive, creator of the Football Manager simulation series. “Whether it’s providing child-friendly spaces for Syrian refugee children in Jordan and Iraq, creating child helplines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan, or the work they do in so many other countries – they make the world a better place for children forced to live with war.”
“Game jams”, competitions in which small teams of developers are given a limited amount of time to create games based around a specific theme, have become increasingly popular over the past five years. This year’s Global Game Jam saw over 30,000 participants registered in 78 countries, who went on to create over 5,000 games. Usually they are entered by students and small teams, but War Child is recruiting some of the world’s major developers, reflecting the star-studded line up of the Help albums.
Studios currently committed to contribute include 343 Industries (Halo 5), Creative Assembly (Alien: Isolation and the Total War series), Bossa Studios (Surgeon Simulator) and Team 17 (the Worms series). Between them, the studios have sold over 100m titles.
“The idea came about over a drink, as these things tend to do,” says Jacobson, who was involved with the original Help album while working for Blur’s record label Food in the 90s. “I was with a couple of people from War Child discussing what we could do music-wise for the 20th anniversary, and looking at the revenues of the last few albums I threw in the idea of doing a games project instead, and it just went from there.
“We hope that post announcement more studios will get involved – I want more than 20.”
According to Jacobson, the studios will be given a selection of themes to base their games around, but that the entries will not necessarily be overtly political or educational. “No child has ever started a war. No child should be affected by war. That is an example of one of the briefs that will be given to the studios, and one of the things that War Child are trying to get across,” he said. “But the games don’t have to have a message – they are an entertainment medium. Whilst a message would be great, and raising awareness of War Child and their work are essential, so is making the games fun for those that are going to spend money on them.”
Video games have become an important method of raising awareness over the last decade with charities such as Greenpeace and Save the Children creating or commissioning their own titles, often available free online, in order to highlight elements of their work to a digitally aware audience. The UK games industry charity GamesAid has raised over £1m for a variety of smaller charities helping disadvantaged and disabled children and young people.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Disney Infinity 3.0 review – plenty of value, but lots more to buy 4 / 5 stars
Having worked through classic Disney and Pixar content in the first Infinity game, followed by Marvel adventures last year, the third title in this “toys to life” series now brings out the biggest franchise in Disney’s war chest: Star Wars.
As with its predecessors, the new instalment offers a range of play-sets – self-contained mini-games which can be accessed by putting the correct toy on the base. Twilight of the Republic is included in the Starter Pack and offers a Clone Wars era adventure set between Episodes II and III where a droid factory on Geonosis has been mysteriously activated.
The Rise Against the Empire play-set can be purchased separately a month after launch (or straight away in the £99 Special Edition pack) and brings the AT-AT battles, trench runs and speeder-bike missions from Episodes IV-VI. An Episode VII: The Force Awakens play-set will also be available to purchase at a later date.
Happily all the sets offer much more than a Star Wars skin on last year’s game. For a start Disney Infinity 3.0 is graphically superior. Avalanche Software’s engine has been enhanced through collaboration with other triple A developers: Studio Gobo continues its good work with Episode IV-VI content while Heavenly Sword creator Ninja Theory brings combat smarts to bear not only on its Episode I-III play-set but also throughout the game. Racing game specialist Sumo Digital completes the trio with enhanced handling for vehicles and its Toy Box Speed Way kart racer expansion.
The Starter Pack (£45) is a little cheaper this year, although the toy-box mini games are now sold separately (£13.99). It provides the game disc, USB Disney Infinity base peripheral to read figurines into the game, the Twilight of the Republic play-set as well as two toy characters Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker to get you started.
Those who have a pervious version can download or purchase the game (£25-£30) on its own. Deals at retail pair this with figures and play-sets to offer not only savings but a route to purchase for those not wanting to play the Star Wars Episode I-III content — either waiting for Episode IV-VI and VII or the other play-set content such as Inside Out.
However the purchase is made, placing a Star Wars figurine on the USB Infinity Base and seeing it appear in iconic locations is spine tingling stuff for fans of the films. First encounters with enemy droids show off the enhanced combat. Ninja Theory may have seemed a strange choice, with its history of gory brawling games like Devil May Cry, but this expertise adds more weight and finessed controls to the fighting along with pixel perfect lightsaber duals — complete with the ability to rebound blaster fire back towards enemies.
The on-foot combat is joined by new space based dog-fights, Podracing and light speed interplanetary travel to the likes of Geonosis, Tatooine, Coruscant and Naboo. This breaks up the more familiar fetch quests and brawling battles to add a sense of polish to the experience.
Purchasing additional characters (£12.50-£14.99) expands the range of combatants as well as offering more lives should one of them die (they fall apart with no blood, by the way, so parents worried about bloody onscreen deaths can rest easy). Some care is warranted here, though, as characters from other Star Wars eras require the hidden “Cross-Over” coins to be collected before they can be used in the Starter Pack adventure.
The toy-box game creator mode is free of these limitations, allowing players to combine any Disney Infinity character old and new. This year, a simple set of enhanced tools enable a wide range of home-made adventures to be created and shared online. Long after the several hours of the play-set adventure have been completed there is still plenty of entertainment to be had here.
Beyond the Star Wars content, Disney Infinity 3.0 also has a set of Inside Out figurines and a related play-set adventure. There are also classic Disney characters for films old and new, including Mickey, Minnie, Mulan and Quorra from Tron as well as the much requested Olaf from Frozen. In the future we’ll also have characters from Good Dinosaur, Zootopia and a Marvel Battlegrounds play-set that promises four player co-op in the adventure mode for the first time.
Then there are the two spin off toy-box games that can be purchased separately. Toy Box Takeover (£13.99) offers an action platformer around Syndrome using Merlin’s magic wand to take over the world. Toy Box Speed Way (£13.99), coming later in the year, applies Sumo Digital’s popular Sonic All Star Racing formula to Disney characters and works wonderfully well in split-screen mode.
This adds up to a lot of content in the Starter Pack and a wide range of ways to expand upon this with additional purchases. However, the tiered release and timed exclusives tied to more expensive packs may frustrate families wanting to access Episodes IV-VI from day one. It all means that some research is required if parents are to purchase the right combination of products. Certainly, most families will want to avoid collecting all these figurines and play-sets, which would set them back over £300 – and that’s before more products roll out later in the year.
In terms of play-value, the toys feel less impressive this year compared to the articulated vehicles of genre rival Skylanders Superchargers and the build-able smart bricks of Lego Dimensions. Adult fans of Star Wars will happily swoon over the sculpted recreations of their iconic heroes but these static figures are more likely destined for the collector’s shelf than the toy chest.
Disney Infinity 3.0 does much more than just rely on Star Wars to sell units, though. Enhancements to combat, toy-box tools and vehicle handling combine with the new space dog-fights, racing and more generous cross-over characters to deliver just what fans of the series have been asking for.
As with its predecessors, the new instalment offers a range of play-sets – self-contained mini-games which can be accessed by putting the correct toy on the base. Twilight of the Republic is included in the Starter Pack and offers a Clone Wars era adventure set between Episodes II and III where a droid factory on Geonosis has been mysteriously activated.
The Rise Against the Empire play-set can be purchased separately a month after launch (or straight away in the £99 Special Edition pack) and brings the AT-AT battles, trench runs and speeder-bike missions from Episodes IV-VI. An Episode VII: The Force Awakens play-set will also be available to purchase at a later date.
Happily all the sets offer much more than a Star Wars skin on last year’s game. For a start Disney Infinity 3.0 is graphically superior. Avalanche Software’s engine has been enhanced through collaboration with other triple A developers: Studio Gobo continues its good work with Episode IV-VI content while Heavenly Sword creator Ninja Theory brings combat smarts to bear not only on its Episode I-III play-set but also throughout the game. Racing game specialist Sumo Digital completes the trio with enhanced handling for vehicles and its Toy Box Speed Way kart racer expansion.
The Starter Pack (£45) is a little cheaper this year, although the toy-box mini games are now sold separately (£13.99). It provides the game disc, USB Disney Infinity base peripheral to read figurines into the game, the Twilight of the Republic play-set as well as two toy characters Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker to get you started.
Those who have a pervious version can download or purchase the game (£25-£30) on its own. Deals at retail pair this with figures and play-sets to offer not only savings but a route to purchase for those not wanting to play the Star Wars Episode I-III content — either waiting for Episode IV-VI and VII or the other play-set content such as Inside Out.
However the purchase is made, placing a Star Wars figurine on the USB Infinity Base and seeing it appear in iconic locations is spine tingling stuff for fans of the films. First encounters with enemy droids show off the enhanced combat. Ninja Theory may have seemed a strange choice, with its history of gory brawling games like Devil May Cry, but this expertise adds more weight and finessed controls to the fighting along with pixel perfect lightsaber duals — complete with the ability to rebound blaster fire back towards enemies.
The on-foot combat is joined by new space based dog-fights, Podracing and light speed interplanetary travel to the likes of Geonosis, Tatooine, Coruscant and Naboo. This breaks up the more familiar fetch quests and brawling battles to add a sense of polish to the experience.
Purchasing additional characters (£12.50-£14.99) expands the range of combatants as well as offering more lives should one of them die (they fall apart with no blood, by the way, so parents worried about bloody onscreen deaths can rest easy). Some care is warranted here, though, as characters from other Star Wars eras require the hidden “Cross-Over” coins to be collected before they can be used in the Starter Pack adventure.
The toy-box game creator mode is free of these limitations, allowing players to combine any Disney Infinity character old and new. This year, a simple set of enhanced tools enable a wide range of home-made adventures to be created and shared online. Long after the several hours of the play-set adventure have been completed there is still plenty of entertainment to be had here.
Beyond the Star Wars content, Disney Infinity 3.0 also has a set of Inside Out figurines and a related play-set adventure. There are also classic Disney characters for films old and new, including Mickey, Minnie, Mulan and Quorra from Tron as well as the much requested Olaf from Frozen. In the future we’ll also have characters from Good Dinosaur, Zootopia and a Marvel Battlegrounds play-set that promises four player co-op in the adventure mode for the first time.
Then there are the two spin off toy-box games that can be purchased separately. Toy Box Takeover (£13.99) offers an action platformer around Syndrome using Merlin’s magic wand to take over the world. Toy Box Speed Way (£13.99), coming later in the year, applies Sumo Digital’s popular Sonic All Star Racing formula to Disney characters and works wonderfully well in split-screen mode.
This adds up to a lot of content in the Starter Pack and a wide range of ways to expand upon this with additional purchases. However, the tiered release and timed exclusives tied to more expensive packs may frustrate families wanting to access Episodes IV-VI from day one. It all means that some research is required if parents are to purchase the right combination of products. Certainly, most families will want to avoid collecting all these figurines and play-sets, which would set them back over £300 – and that’s before more products roll out later in the year.
In terms of play-value, the toys feel less impressive this year compared to the articulated vehicles of genre rival Skylanders Superchargers and the build-able smart bricks of Lego Dimensions. Adult fans of Star Wars will happily swoon over the sculpted recreations of their iconic heroes but these static figures are more likely destined for the collector’s shelf than the toy chest.
Disney Infinity 3.0 does much more than just rely on Star Wars to sell units, though. Enhancements to combat, toy-box tools and vehicle handling combine with the new space dog-fights, racing and more generous cross-over characters to deliver just what fans of the series have been asking for.
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