Today Electronic Arts revealed a brand-new Need for Speed game, which is gracing to PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this year on November 8th with an Origin Access Premier release coming first on November 5th. More specifically, EA has revealed Need for Speed Heat, which it hopes will be resurging the series after Payback tainted its name. EA has also revealed the game’s first-ever trailer boasting of the new racing title for the first time ever.
The current development team on the series is Ghost Gaming, but it has seen other developers over the years, such as EA Black Box and Criterion Games. Further, it’s one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, with over 150 copies sold to date.
EA’s new Need for Speed will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
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Every year, we get together to remember and offer our gratitude to those who have sacrificed their lives in the war zone for our country’s freedom from British rule. While we pay tribute to the fallen, it is important to note that as many as 87,000 Indian soldiers lost their lives in World War II (commissioned by British India against German Nazis). Post World War II, India emerged as the world’s fourth-largest industrial power and its increased political, economic and military influence in the world paved the way for India’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Paying homage to the World War II heroes, Teapot Games recently launched World War II-era air combat flight simulator game War Dogs: Air Combat Flight Simulator WW II which featured 24 warplanes from the five major powers of the time- USA, Germany, UK, Japan and Russia.
The game features a diverse range of aeroplanes that were used in the great war; right from dogfighters to dive-bombers to torpedo-bombers and long-range heavy-bombers.
Its been around six years since the studio stepped foot in the gaming developing sphere and including this game, the studio has already breathed life into 10 games so far. They have also gone on to win the Indie Game of the year award for NASSCOM GDC in 2015.
The studio is run by a team of three people and they work with external teams for art, audio (music, sound fx, voice), and quality assurance/testing.
“We have secured more than 10 million downloads across all platforms and the number is growing every day!,” revealed Teapot Games founder and managing partner Satish Chandra in a conversation with AnimationXpress.
The game is live on Google Play(Android) and App Store(iOS)and it has both single and multiplayer campaigns. Single-player campaigns lead the player through the five major theatres of war-battle of Britain, North Africa, Pearl Harbor, Russia and finally the Japanese Isles.
”The Multiplayer features a 4 VS 4 arena-style battles where players can deploy their aircraft and try to down as many enemy aircraft as possible while destroying enemy ground assets before the clock runs out” Chandra added.
On learning that the studio had launched another army-specific game titled Enemy Waters, we probed him about the recurring theme. Chandra answered, “The core impetus for our last game, Enemy Waters was that there isn’t any game on mobile that focuses on the cat and mouse chase we see between submarines and battleships in naval combat movies like (Das Boot, Enemy Below, and Run Silent Run Deep). We set out to recreate that specific aspect of naval warfare in our game. Similarly, for War Dogs, we felt that there weren’t any air combat games on mobile that explore the full range of WW2 aerial warfare. Most mobile air combat games are arcade-style and don’t offer genuine dogfighting experience. At the same time, we don’t want to overcomplicate things for players who may be new to the genre, so we had both simulation and arcade controls that the player can choose from. This sets War Dogs apart from its contemporaries on mobile.”
Their games have mostly made use of inorganic real-world models (ships, submarines, or aircraft) since it becomes easier for the studio to provide blueprints, dimensions, number of LODs, and polycount limits to their external team of 3D modellers. He also shared while designing a game, a designer should also focus on the target audience for the game and it should go through a prototype phase and must play-test it as early as possible and external players. The monetisation plan for the game has to be developed in the pre-production stage itself and mustn’t delegate it to a later period in the development life cycle.
Indie prize showcase at Casual Connect, London, May, 2019
The studio initiated the pre-production work for the game in July of 2017. They almost took two years from pre-production to final release of the game.
“We typically three to six months in pre-production, working on the Prototype and refining the core game mechanics. After that we design Art pipeline, creating a roadmap as to what assets have to be created in what order,” he added.
Since the studio creates games by targeting the global market (not limited to Indian market), however, it becomes difficult for them to acquire support from respective storefronts for featuring them on a global scale which has become the biggest challenge for them. They have managed to mitigate this problem by cross-promotion within their games and also optimized their store listings to maximize their reach.
For further plans of the studio, he shared, “plans to make another flight simulation game in the lines of our 2015 hit, Avion flight Simulator. We also have plans to make a train simulator game as well- we do have a trick up our sleeve to differentiate ourselves from hundreds of other train simulator games out there.”
The game has already received a positive response and secured a rating of 4.4/5 on Google play with 800+ reviews and the studio is aiming to hit one million downloads with War Dogs: Air Combat Flight Simulator WW II before the year ends. As Independence Day is here, we hope the game War Dogs : Air Combat Flight Simulator WW II takes players through the history corridors of World War 2. So, this independence day, you can celebrate by being a fighter pilot!
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Demo reels are a dime a dozen so creating something unique can be quite the task. If you’re bored with the standard format or simply seeking some daily inspiration, you’ll definitely want to check out Emory Allen’s new reel!
CHNO Media a gaming content and gaming talent startup signs India’s top Fortnite players, TanishqSaini, Omkar Malji and Paras Bhandari.
Tanishq Saini is the emerging star of Fortnite from India and has held the first position consecutively in Season 8 and 9 (Solo mode in the Indian region). 20-year-old Tanishq is the captain of his team and practices the game for six to eight hours daily. CHNO also handles Paras (third position in Season 9, Solo mode, Indian region) who is 15 years old and one of the youngest top performing players. Omkar is at eight position( Solo, Indian region) for Fortnite. (Source : Fortnite leaderboard tracker ).
Commenting on the same, Anshu Patni Singh, founder of CHNO says “TV consumption among young adults has reduced considerably in the last four years. This has made advertisers look at other avenues and gaming is the perfect medium due to the kind of reach, loyalty and engagement it enjoys. At CHNO, we work closely with gaming creators and esports talents to create larger opportunities for them through interesting pieces of content both offline and online. These content pieces are proven to be more beneficial for gaming publishers and brands as compared to basic social media marketing. With talent like Tanishq, Omkar and Paras (Fortnite Players ) through our partnership with Fortnite team Playground Esports we intend to bring these sports heroes closer to their audiences through curated content and smart brand partnerships.”
RecentlyFortnite made big news across the world when an AMERCIAN teenager Kyle Giersdorf’s alias Bugha, became the first Fortnite world champion in the solo division, winning $3 million at age of 16 . Epic Gamers, Fortnite creators have spent a whopping $100 million (roughly Rs. 700 crores) on the inaugural event, including staging 10 weeks of qualifying culminating in this weekend’s tournament.
Tanishq, Omkar and Paras all part of the professional Esports company Playground esports, an esports team that is committed to provide training and mentoring to gamers to turn them into professional athletes in order to have them participate in competitive tournaments. CHNO Media has announced an exclusive partnership with Playground esports, CHNO will be responsible for handling brand-led engagement for the esports athletes.
In the rapidly evolving and growing gaming ecosystem in India where CHNO Media is bridging the gap between gaming content and talent and works with gaming publishers and brands to create strategic content and content-led IP’s. The Company, by way of representing gaming creators from across the country, brings with it, huge insights into the gaming content ecosystem and engagement patterns, both of the gamers and the viewers along with the behavioural pattern of the gaming audience. This is highly insightful for brands that are looking to penetrate and earn the loyalty of the teenagers and millennial audience.
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Tarantino aims high with his cowboy period-piece in his trademark style with broad strokes of vintage-themed Hollywood of the 50s and 60s. Depicting a microcosm that captures the ‘Golden Age’ encompassing a variety of themes ranging from ‘rock ‘n’ roll, cowboy movie culture, the hippie movement, psychoactive substances, free-love counterculture to Manson Family crimes and the overall indulgent Hollywood lifestyle, the movie grows on you as it progresses albeit at a slow pace. In the chaotic cacophony buzzing with a nostalgic Hollywood’s transatlantic slant and seemingly unrelated jigsaw scenes, you see a common thread amongst the myriad characters and everything woven together in the end. While Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie) beguiles with her performance, we see the lead Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo Di Caprio) having a meltdown, blaming his inability to remember the lines on alcoholism and then redeeming himself later.
Once upon a time in Hollywood
The blood and gore are on point yet surprisingly marginal despite depicting Manson’s murders with environments enhanced by VFX (done by Luma Pictures). You can see an impeccable use of fire-effects, background replacements and green screens but what stands out is Tarantino’s storytelling and content which unfolds seamlessly over the course of the actor’s journey. The movie presents the fictional actor Rick Dalton’s assent and dreams in the face of struggles. Although most of it is set against the backdrop of real-life scenarios seizing the heart of the classic Hollywood of the halcyon days graded in sunshine hues, the story is largely a fictional one.
The movie, as it were, is a homage to what Tarantino has grown up learning from the old Hollywood movies. The cinema, the pop-culture conjectures, the real-life tragedies of the era… all collectively constitute his inspiration as a filmmaker. The movie could have been shorter, had it been edited more judiciously as some scenes look painfully stretched.
Leonardo Di Caprio delivers a thrilling performance while Pitt is equally charming as a buddy. Margot plays her part effortlessly well. The jaw-dropping last sequence packs quite a punch comprising everything from dog-bites to butcher knives to flamethrowers and jiggered faces. Another masterpiece in Tarantino’s oeuvre.
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EA SPORTS Madden NFL 20 is taking the sports world by storm, turning players into stars with some long-awaited football action. Over 70 per cent of players dove into Face of the Franchise: QB1 during the game’s first week in a bid to become the next great quarterback. The new mode shows 80 per cent growth over last year’s Longshot 2, demonstrating just how eager Madden NFL 20 players are to put themselves in the game and become stars.
Fans couldn’t wait to get their hands on the game, as Madden NFL 20 had the highest final week of pre-orders in franchise history. Also, well over half of week one sell-through units were digital, a first-ever milestone for the franchise. Additionally, the head-to-head action in the game has been intense — the number of games played in-game in the first week is up by double-digit percentages over last year.
The superstars of the Madden NFL community have also been shining during launch, creating nearly 2,000 videos which have been viewed over 63 million times. This year’s features are striking a chord with Madden NFL players, with the highest positive sentiment ever measured on social channels for the franchise.
Additionally, the fun factor of Madden NFL 20 is resonating with major media outlets, with Complex calling it the “Best Madden game in years.” IGN applauds the on-field action, stating, “Playing as an X-Factor player is the stuff dreams are made of.”
Madden NFL 20 is developed in Orlando, Florida by EA Tiburon and is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation4 and Origin for PC.
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VFX Legion recently completed a complex mix of visual effects for History Channel’s new docudrama mini-series, The Food that Made America. The Burbank-based company worked on every phase of the production, from start to finish. Its team was on-site during locations scouting and on-set during production in New York, all the way through the final delivery of a show open assigned during the eleventh hour of production. Its LA and NY teams provided a full-service approach to producing a wide range of high-quality, cost-effective visual effect that the show demanded.
Produced by Lucky 8, out of New York, The Food that Built America tell the stories of visionaries – such as Milton Hershey, John and Will Kellogg, Henry Heinz, C.W. Post, the McDonalds brothers – who built the brands and invented the technology that revolutionized the food industry. The docudrama recounts these titans’ roles in the reshaping of the country’s culinary landscape at the turn of the century using dramatic reenactments that replicate the look of the period with spot-on accuracy.
Among VFX Legion’s most challenging tasks was building out present-day structures with large-scale set extension to recreate warehouses and factories from a by-gone era. Legion stepped in to meet another challenge when the plates originally shot didn’t show off the Hershey factory and surrounding landscape to their best advantage. Its team built a fully digital replica of the factory and the vast landscape surrounding it – from the ground up. The shot recreated the style of the period architecture, as well as the documentary-like feel of the series.
“Working on a docudrama with Lucky 8, a New York-based company that’s produced a prestigious roster of documentaries, was a great experience,” adds Hattin. “History Channel is home to a continuing line-up of documentaries and docudramas that captivate and engross audiences with dynamic programming about the past and present. Legion’s team really enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to work in this genre.”
Lucky 8 creative director Yoshi Stone worked closely with Legion LA In-house VFX Supervisor Matthew Lynn and Creative Director James Hattin. They developed the look of the sets based on the technical scout sessions that VFX Legion New York-based On-Set Supervisor Eric Pascarelli attended.
Working with Lucky 8’s production team during the shoots, Pascarelli made sure they had the shots Legion’s artists needed back in Burbank. The detailed descriptions and measurements of each shoot that he provided ensured that they got it right the first time and were able to turn around all of the visual effects quickly and cost-effectively. VFX Legion used Zoom video conferencing to collaborate during every phase of the production and to go over the continually evolving plan of action and ensure that the teams on both coasts were always on the same page.
The Food That Built America was a fixed cost show because of the way it was structured. It required the kind of practical solutions that our pioneering pipeline and forward-thinking approach to visual effects production was created to handle,” says Legion founder Hattin.
Late in the game, Lucky 8 asked Legion to create the show open graphics package. The team pitched a number of designs and styles of both treatments and logos. The company’s LA team designed and animated the open, and fine-tuned it based on the client’s editorial decisions.
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