Play2Improve - FPS Trainer
Game under development in Dundee designed to hone our skills for competitive eSports.
Dundee, Scotland. November 5 th 2010. Complex skills such as playing an instrument, driving or learning a new sport, require a coach or tutor as an integral part of the learning process ... so why not video games?
First Person Shooters (FPS’s) are one of the largest and fastest growing game genres with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for example, achieving sales of $550m in a single week. There is a growing hardcore professional gaming community for FPS games, with regular prizes in excess of $1m. This highly competitive “eSports” arena is a global phenomenon and may one day become a mainstream sporting event, such as football or Formula 1.
However, these games remain fairly inaccessible to casual players. Only 30-40% of Modern Warfare 2 players have ever played online against other people. This is due to the complex hand-eye co-ordination, strategic skills required to play them competitively and the capability of players already experienced in multiplayer games of this type.
Play2Improve is developing FPS Trainer ; a game with their highly innovative Artificial Intelligence-based coaching technology, targeted at improving such FPS skills. FPS Trainer provides real-time coaching feedback as you play. The equivalent of having an expert gamer, sitting next to you, analysing your performance and giving you personalised help, tuition and advice.
The in-depth coaching content for FPS Trainer is being designed by an eSports legend, Paul “astz!” McGarrity. Paul has a history of success within competitive gaming, winning dozens of global online and LAN trophies for the hugely popular Unreal Tournament series.
“FPS Trainer is an opportunity for me to convey the complex layers of strategy that aren’t always obvious or available to new players of online FPS games, in an intuitive and understandable way. It’s a chance to teach the new generation of gamers the right ways to practice and how to compete effectively”.
The initial release is played via a web-browser and includes Facebook integration, allowing matches against friends to be organised and results posted to the user's wall.
Professional gamers, such as astz!, are able to provide personalised coaching services through the game. The www.fpstrainer.com website will offer a range of options for any player, of any skill level, who wishes to raise their game.
Play2Improve will have an exclusive preview of the FPS Trainer product at the NeoN Digital Arts Festival in Dundee on the 11 th & 12 th November from 10am in The Centre for Excellence in Computer Games Education, where the company is running a knock-out tournament. The participants will play against astz!, receive personalised one-on-one coaching and compete to win a number of FPS-related prizes.
About Play2Improve
Play2Improve was founded in 2009 by Matt Seeney, a pioneer of the Serious Games sector. Based within the University of Abertay, Dundee's new Centre of Excellence for Gaming, Play2Improve has a team of 10 developers, including several highly experienced industry veterans, working alongside recent Abertay graduates and current students. The company was recently awarded a SMART Feasibility Study grant from Scottish Enterprise, to build the FPS Trainer proof-of-concept. Paul McGarrity, FPS Trainer’s Product Manager, is based in Edinburgh and is Scotland’s most successful professional gamer.
Contacts
Brian Baglow, Head of Interactive Entertainment, Revolver PR, ++44(0)7747 792247
Matt Seeney, CEO Play2Improve, matt@play2improve.com, ++44(0)7947 201575
Paul McGarrity, FPS Trainer Product Manager, paul@play2improve.com, ++44(0)7794 805215
Photo Call /Interview Opportunity
Unique opportunity to play against world-champion gamer. Photographers and reporters are welcome to attend at any time. There will be a photo call at 3pm on Thursday 11 th November, Abertay University Centre for Excellence.
Please contact Matt Seeney for any further details.