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Today's Press Releases PC Games: Combat Arms Nexon America Inc. (www.nexon.net), a world leader in free online games, today announced it will debut "Nut Shot," a new interactive feature for its widely popular first-person shooter game Combat Arms. "Nut Shot," which went live today, allows players to earn score instant kills for shooting the nether regions of their male opponents. Players can download Combat Arms for free at http://combatarms.nexon.net and take their shot at cracking a few nuts. "We are constantly striving to bring new and exciting game elements to our fans, elements that resonate beyond traditional FPS game play," said Min Kim, vice president of marketing for Nexon America. "Nut Shot is an amusing and challenging addition to the arsenal of features in Combat Arms - designed to enhance the gaming experience through increased interactivity, exceptional entertainment value, and of course, humor." Providing Combat Arms with a unique, comical dimension, Nut Shots are celebrated in game with a large graphic of exploding walnuts. Other players are made aware with a corresponding icon in the upper left-hand corner kill display featuring a golden squirrel, similar to the golden skull that denotes a head shot. Female characters who succeed in unloading a Nut Shot giggle at their accomplishment, while male characters laugh heartily after hitting the target. The Nut Shot is gender specific, which means female characters don't suffer the humiliation. Surpassing the two-million user mark before completing its first year of service, Combat Arms excels by offering players a variety of combat styles and game maps, complete with eye-catching graphics, customized characters, and more. Combat Arms also features a high level of socialization with its Buddy Lists, Community Support, In-game Clan System and more. This essential mix of elements represents a truly unique offering in the world of first-person shooters: a dynamic, ever-evolving game that encourages both friendly competition and individual expression. - The Magic Toy Chest Physics fans rejoice! Graduate Games, an independent game developmer, announces that The Magic Toy Chest, a classic-inspired physics puzzle game is now available for the PC and Windows Platform. The Magic Toy Chest is inspired by the classic PC game series, The Incredible Machine, and is great fun for the whole family. The object of the game is to pick up your toys strewn about the house. Using wacky physics and unique toys, Players set up Rube Golberg inspired solutions to the many puzzles throughout the game. Who knew picking up could be such fun! The player plays the role of a child who has made a mess of the house and their parents are having a dinner party and need the house cleaned up. There are 8 rooms that need picking up and over 80 chores to complete. The game features sandbox style gameplay and encourages players to experiment and use their imaginations. The game features an interactive tutorial that teaches you how to play and the puzzles and levels can be approached in any order and unlock based on a player’s skill level. Download the Free Demo Today! The Full Version Features: - Over 100 Puzzles across 8 Distinct Rooms of the House - An Interactive Tutorial that explains the simple point and click controls - Beautiful and Colorful 2D graphics - Over 16 Different Toys and abilities to Experiment With - Sandbox Physics Gameplay which allows for Multiple and Imaginative Puzzle Solutions - A fully featured Level Editor allows players to create and share their own levels - 15 Trophies / Achievements to Unlock - Cue Online San Jose-based online game publisher, GamesCampus.com (www.GamesCampus.com, run by OnNet USA), announced today that it will publish Cue Online, a free, item-based realistic online pool simulation game. Nominated as “Best Game of the Month” by the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the game is developed by Happy Nation, and will be available at http://cueonline.gamescampus.com/ later this spring. Cue Online focuses on competitive billiards games like straight pool, nine-ball, eight-ball, carom and three-cushion billiards. “Adding a high quality sports game such as Cue Online to our online game lineup is very much in keeping with our corporate commitment to the sports gaming genre,” said David Chang, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for GamesCampus.com. “Cue Online’s truly realistic pool experience is the result of Happy Nation’s years spent designing an engine that captures the most realistic ball movement possible. With an amazing straight line of sight aiming to the ball, precision strokes, and an extensive training and skills system, Cue Online is an online pool experience like no other.” Happy Nation’s exclusive engine was designed to create as realistic of an environment as possible. Each ball’s movement will depend on each player’s style, including stroke power, table contact, spin and strike quality with other balls, the cloth friction of the table and more. Thanks to the development team’s many years of research and development in optimizing the physics of the game play, even the most demanding and skilled players will be impressed with the realism of their shots when playing Cue Online, when compared to their experience on a real-life pool table. Cue Online offers five different skills that players can increase and improve upon while training. The game’s skills include: Power, Spin, Push, Pull and Masse. Unlike other games where players automatically increase their skills as their average scores increase, Cue Online players will see their skills improve only after they successfully use that skill over time. As a result, two players in the same average score can have different main skills of their own, just like in the real life pool play. GamesCampus is scheduled to begin the closed beta of Cue Online on March 30 and the open beta in late April. - PC Fit Korner Entertainment S.L. announces its agreement with Spanish leading publishing company, Planeta DeAgostini Interactive for PC FIT. The new production company based in Barcelona, Korner Entertainment has signed the worldwide rights (with the exception of Spanish speaking territories and Portugal) for PC FIT, the best PC selling game in Spain last Christmas. The game hit the #1 in Spain last Christmas being a huge phenomenon in the territory. The game has been adapted for international markets and is ready to be sold worldwide. PC Fit is a game that allows everybody keep fit at home, with a personalized training plan, consisting in different exercises and difficulties. You’ll enjoy with a personal trainer that will guide you in your activities and cheer you up. The game includes 5 additional mini games (Simon Steps, Duel Dance, DJ Rhythm, Rodents and Stop the Scape) to be used with the dance mat with family and friends. The games improve the competitiveness among the players and turn PC Fit into something more than a simple sports trainer. They can be played alone as well. “Our vision as company is to bring casual concepts with a close gameplay to players, and it’s a fact with PC FIT. Nobody can enjoy and keep fit in a PC without consider this huge game” says Sergio Rincón, Managing Director of Korner Entertainment. “We’ve got a lot of proposals from international publishers and that’s the reason why we’ve decided to adapt the product and sign this agreement with Korner Entertainment. The company although very young has a huge experience in international markets and will help us to sell the product worldwide”, says Ramón Farell, Managing Director of Planeta DeAgostini Interactive. - Drakensang: The Dark Eye Eidos Interactive can confirm today that Drakensang: The Dark Eye, published by DTP Entertainment and distributed by Eidos Interactive in the UK, will be released nationwide on 27th March 2009. Already a smash hit in Germany, where Drakensang: The Dark Eye (which translates as ‘Dragon song’) is a beautifully crafted, single player role-playing game (RPG) which offers a huge and engrossing campaign plus an intuitive combat system set within the mythical medieval world of Aventuria. Summoned by a letter from an old friend you suddenly find yourself charged with investigating a series of strange ritual murders. But getting to the bottom of this only means scratching the surface of a much bigger, more sinister plot…Only by surrounding yourself with trustworthy companions will you have a chance to prevent a dark conspiracy that threatens to change the world of Aventuria forever! The game’s richly detailed environments are presented from an isometric perspective in which the player must manage a party of adventurers as they struggle to survive successive perilous encounters. From the outset Drakensang: The Dark Eye encourages the player to make as many friends as possible due, in part, to large numbers of enemies skulking in the dark corners of the city of Ferdok. Drakensang’s story has been developed by the origional The Dark Eye (TDE Germany's #1 pen & paper RPG system) authors making the world feel totally authentic. TDE players won’t miss a thing, but RPG fans not familiar with TDE will dive into a medieval world that looks and feels like a trip to centuries-old Central Europe. Players will be able to explore beautiful cities built of framework houses, hunt monsters and creatures such as orks and dwarves in dark woods, search and find treasures in medieval castles and ascend the snow-capped mountains of the Kosh region, where the game takes place. Key Features • Huge, detailed medieval 3D world with authentic looks of historic European architecture • Versatile, round-based combat system that brings tactics back to combat • Talent-based dialogue system • Rich story based on Germany's #1 pen & paper RPG system "The Dark Eye" • Dynamic party size • Individual party skill development • Rich storyline by the authors of the original The Dark Eye books and adventures iPhone and iPod Touch: Bullet Skater Chillingo Ltd, Europe’s premier iPhone publisher announces today at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco their upcoming casual game “Bullet Skater” – a collaboration with US-based development studio Bullet Development. In Bullet Skater, the goal is to dodge circulating bullets by tilting the Phone and tapping to jump – an adrenaline packed ride through forty levels. All bullets cause the skater damage with the exception of green, which restores the skater’s health back up. Bullet Skater features tilt and tap game play utilising the multi-touch and accelerometer capabilities of the device. “Bullet Skater is a fun pick up and play title, superb byte size entertainment – perfect for the iPhone.” says Chris Byatte, co-Founder and Managing Director for Chillingo. Chillingo are the publishers of popular iPhone titles including the award winning Zen Bound™ that has won mutilple awards in the recent Independent Games Festival (IGF) Mobile 2009 and the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA). Their recent title “iDracula – Undead Awakening” zoomed up the App Store charts days after its release. “We wanted to create a casual game that everyone could get into, which was fun to play and makes full use of the hardware features of the iPhone. It has been a blast to create Bullet Skater and we are particularly excited about our partnership with Chillingo to help us market and bring this title to market in the Apple App Store. ” said James Foote, CEO of Bullet Development. - Touch KO Chillingo also announced the imminent launch of their upcoming 3D virtual boxing game for the iPhone and iPod Touch - Touch KO. The brainchild of US-based computer games designers Adam and Matt Mechtley, Touch KO gives the gamer a chance to advance through a boxing career, starting from humble beginnings in a run-down gym, all the way to the glamorous grand arena for the title fight. The game allows for full 3D customization of the virtual fighter including facial and body, clothing and even tattoos. It features innovative game play making use of the unique multi-touch and accelerometer capabilities of the device. “This Fight Night inspired game is going to be a real knock-out when it debuts in Q2 this year. The Mechtley brothers are very passionate in what they do, and Touch KO is the ultimate showcase for innovation of a touch-screen based 3D boxing game.” says Chris Byatte, co-Founder and Managing Director for Chillingo. Chillingo are the publishers of popular iPhone titles including the award winning Zen Bound™ that has won mutilple awards in the recent Independent Games Festival (IGF) Mobile 2009 and the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA). Their recent title “iDracula – Undead Awakening” zoomed up the App Store charts days after its release. “With over 25,000 apps in the Apple App Store, it is a very competitive marketplace. We are proud to be working with Chillingo to leverage on their brand and expertise in order to maximize the chances of Touch KO’s commercial success when it goes live.” said Adam Mechtley. Pricing of Touch KO has yet to be confirmed. - Karmastar Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced KarmaStar for the iPhone™ and iPod® Touch. Developed by acclaimed game designer Harvey Smith (Deus Ex), the game is a tactical card game and features a quirky, signature art style. A light-hearted strategy game that lasts about 10 minutes, KarmaStar challenges players to maneuver through life against two opponents in just eight turns to build up personal traits and make opportunistic use of Wildcards and Bonus Scores. Just like real life, the game supports different paths to victory. “The iPhone and iPod Touch have effectively reinvigorated mobile gaming, allowing publishers to offer a truly rich and immersive play experience never before seen on a mobile device,” said Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco Entertainment. “With titles such as KarmaStar, Majesco is continuing to expand our reach to new platforms where we can offer the most enjoyable casual gaming experience to everyone.” “Working on KarmaStar was exciting for several reasons,” added Harvey Smith. “While my primary project is a console/PC game, I love the iPhone. It's an amazing device and working with a tiny team allowed me to touch many aspects of the project. Majesco was supportive as we experimented with our game mechanics, which was critical since KarmaStar is a card-game/board-game hybrid. In general, my respect for strategy game designers just went through the roof. I'm really glad I got the chance to work on a game like this.” As players advance through each stage in KarmaStar, they must build up five personal traits – Health, Mind, People, Love, and Money – and overcome obstacles from each phase of human existence. The game is a combination of immediate tactics, longer-term planning and luck. All the while, players must make decisions about how they treat other players when faced with an assortment of life’s most embarrassing and triumphant moments. Building traits early can pay off later and players will learn that sacrifices can sometimes lead to greater rewards. Combining a host of technical features – including the ability to play alone against the game’s AI or with two other players via WiFi – KarmaStar offers silky smooth animations and frame rate to make the playing experience that much more rewarding. Whether playing alone or against others, KarmaStar also tracks the player’s achievements, career high score, wins and losses, while giving players the option to listen to music from their iPod music library during play. KarmaStar is now available for purchase through Apple’s iTunes Store for £2.99. - Word Smith Tiger Shark Games is pleased to officially announce both the creation of their studio and the release of their first title: Word Smith. A word puzzle game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Word Smith features several game types based around the same addictive gameplay: find as many words in a single grid as quickly as possible! Offering four distinct modes of play, a fully-featured achievements system, and the ability to upload local highscores onto a global leaderboard, Word Smith is a fun, frantic and feature-rich experience for all ages. Tiger Shark also teased at the development of their second title, already underway at the studio. “We are planning on putting the 'Strategy' back in to Real-Time Strategy,” said Creative Director Kevin Fairbairn. “We will be making several announcements over the coming months, but suffice to say we are all very excited about the scope and direction of the next project.” - Boulder Dash Chillingo Ltd (Do they ever sleep? - ed), Europe’s premier iPhone publisher and First Star Software, Inc. have announced today at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco that they have signed a worldwide deal to co-publish the iPhone and iPod Touch version of the original game in the multi-million unit selling Boulder Dash® series. Boulder Dash® for iPhone and iPod Touch contains all 80 caves (levels) of the original cult classic as well as the 4 original bonus caves. Now celebrating its 25th year anniversary, this world-renowned tricky puzzle and dexterity game first made its debut in the early 80s across several personal computer platforms, including Atari, Commodore 64 and DOS. It is one of the few gaming titles to be ported from a personal computer game to a coin-operated arcade game, four different times in fact, and still enjoys a large loyal fan base today. The hit game’s principle remains: players have to collect sparkling diamonds whilst avoiding numerous traps and enemies, all the while watching out for falling boulders, in a race against time. “We are very honoured to be adding one of the classic brands in gaming history to our product catalogue. Working on the Boulder Dash® franchise is an exciting challenge.” says Chris Byatte, Managing Director and co-Founder for Chillingo. He added: “We are looking forward to working with First Star Software to launching this great title on the iPhone”. First Star Software’s president, Richard M. Spitalny said, “We are particularly excited about working with Chillingo in making Boulder Dash® available across all Apple App Stores worldwide. We have re-engineered Boulder Dash® for iPhone and iPod Touch from the ground up to make use of multi-touch; ‘pinch’ zoom; the ability to switch between portrait and landscape modes on the fly; and other features of the iPhone, whilst retaining the playability and spirit of the original game.” The game will debut early in Q2 of 2009. - Touch and Go The Game Creators have released Touch & Go, the new game application that uses iPhone’s touch facility to the max! Touch & Go takes a familiar game format and adds a new level of interactivity, in which the gameplay is entirely based on the touch and motion features of the iPhone. Block-based games have never been this immersive! The concept is a familiar one and very easy to pick up; match 3 blocks of the same colour to score points and remove them from the playing area. However in Touch & Go you take control, dragging the blocks into position and clearing the levels in an explosive fashion. Based on real-world physics, players will find it easy and great fun to throw the blocks around and amass mayhem in a bid to better previous achievements. Building on the great features of the iPhone, it's even possible to tilt the game and shake up the chances of making it to the next level. Of course any game of this genre needs power-ups and rewards for skillful play; Touch & Go is no exception. Players will find themselves drawn to the multi-block special power-ups that introduce quick, explosive and visually stunning ways to clear the levels. Rewards for maintaining the pace will ensure there is no time to step back from the action, for those looking to perfect their skills and impress their friends and family. It stands to reason that this is an application to be shared, competing for the top spot on the leader board. “Having been part of the casual games industry long before the term was coined, we strive to include elements that keep games simple yet addictive” says Rick Vanner, Financial Director of The Game Creators. Touch & Go is available to purchase now in the Apple App Store. - Space Trader: Moon Madness and Space Trader Wars Fans rejoice as HermitWorks Entertainment dishes out two new additions to their classic Space Trader ® franchise, Space Trader: Moon Madness for iPhone and the browser-based Space Trader Wars. During the Game Developers Conference (GDC), HermitWorks will showcase its forthcoming games to press and show attendees at the Government of Alberta Booth, number 5019, in the North Hall. Space Trader: Moon Madness is a 3D trading game set in a science-fiction universe. The game features fully interactive and explorable environments, innovative first person controls and challenges that make each mission an amazing experience. In Space Trader: Moon Madness the gamer takes on the role of a Space Trader trying to make a profit buying trading and selling over 30 price-fluctuating commodities, everything from medical supplies to food and precious metals as they travel between three interstellar locations. The goal is to make as much money as possible within the allotted time limit. Players jump between the Moon, a traveling convoy ship and planet Earth in search of the best deal. Numerous side quests help gamers achieve the highest score. The game uses a heavily modified version of the open source iD Tech 3 Engine, also known as Quake 3 engine. Customized for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the Tech 3 engine delivers groundbreaking 3D visuals and intense on-screen action with a consistently smooth frame rate. “Space Trader: Moon Madness is a full size game on a bite-size device. We’ve taken the tried and true, beloved elements from classic games and we’ve added everything you’d expect out of a next-gen title. Each game is a new experience and offers hours of entertainment. The player will enjoy exploring the environment, meeting new characters and trying out new missions,” said Cameron Tofer, CEO and founder of HermitWorks Entertainment. “As commodities rise and fall, and planets orbit, the player will have to develop new strategies each time they play to achieve the high score. We’re excited to be able to offer such a compelling gaming experience and expect that the upcoming updates will further expand the Space Trader: Moon Madness universe and community.” The game will be released in coming weeks at a $0.99 introductory price point. Several subsequent updates will take place after the initial release. These updates will add new gameplay elements, such new levels, game modes and achievements. The most notable new game play mode will be combat missions. The combat feature will bring new ways to get missions done and earn extra cash. The release of the iPhone OS 3.0 will offer the possibility of a multiplayer mode. Additionally, HermitWorks Entertainment will showcase its upcoming fully 3D, browser-based Space Trader Wars, an action packed, intense multiplayer first person shooter. Space Trader Wars demonstrates how HermitWorks continues to meet the ever-increasing gamer appetite for more hardcore action game. Space Trader Wars will be hosted by XGen Studios. Within seconds of visiting their site, Space Trader Wars’ players will be directly battling with other online gamers, fighting it out with live ammo and holding nothing back. The game features advanced 3D graphics, fully customizable characters, 6 unique weapons and 5 different arenas. The Space Trader Wars availability will be announced soon. HermitWorks will showcase its new gaming assets during the run of GDC, March 25 though 27th, 2009. If you’d like to play the games for yourself, please join them in the North Hall, #5019. MAC Games: LEGO Batman Feral Interactive has today announced it will ship the Mac version of the fast-paced action adventure title LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame on Thursday, April 9, 2009. Developed by TT Games©™, the title brings the world of DC Comics’ Caped Crusader to life in an entirely new way. Players can explore a richly interactive LEGO Gotham City as Batman and Robin, capturing infamous villains – and even take control of the villains themselves. LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame features a completely original storyline, encompassing the lighthearted charm of LEGO minifigures and the multifaceted lore of Gotham City. The story unfolds with Batman’s greatest foes escaping from Arkham Asylum and creating mayhem throughout Gotham City. Tracking criminals, including The Joker and The Penguin, players will utilize Batman’s gadgets as well as build and operate fantastic vehicles. "LEGO Batman is a brilliantly realized game, an instant classic that we are sure will have a very warm reception on the Mac” said Feral Interactive’s David Stephen. “We are thrilled with the playability and quality of the LEGO Batman game when it was released on other platforms, and we are delighted to be working with Feral again to bring it to life on the Mac,” said Garry Edwards, Business Development Director of TT Games. The game will retail in North America for US $39.95, £29.95 (inc VAT) in the UK and €39.95 (inc VAT) throughout Europe. It is currently available to pre-order from Feral's online store (http://www.feralinteractive.com/?section=buy&language=english). Minimum system requirements call for a 1.8GHz Intel Mac only, 512MB RAM, 128MB graphics card, DVD drive and Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later. This game runs on all Macs with Intel processors including all Intel-based Mac minis and MacBook models. PSP: Valhalla Knights 2 Sequel to the popular Valhalla Knights, Valhalla Knights 2 features a vast and expansive world to explore as well as customisation tools to create the ultimate battle party. Featuring new races, job classes, weapons and many more, Valhalla Knights 2 builds upon the foundations laid down in the first game along with an intriguing and expansive story arc. Controlling and choosing character aspects such as skills, race, and appearance, players can engage in real-time 6-on-6 battles, reliant on tactical combat strategies to achieve success. Supporting 2 player ad-hoc network play, gamers can engage in Co-op and Versus modes with friends, or simply trade items and weapons Intense real-time 6-on-6 battles requiring tactical combat strategies and controlling various party members rather than button mashing Increased customisation gives each player a unique experience, allowing players to change skills, race and appearance with over 100,000 possible combinations Encounter up to 245 different types of monsters including Samurai, Zombies, Gargoyles, Dragons and Minotaur Play online with friends for two-player Co-op adventures and Versus battles or trade items and weapons Improvements to the Quest system with an increased number of quests and the ability to suspend or cancel quests
Wii Games: Final Fantasy Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) announced today at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the forthcoming releases of new downloadable titles including Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord for WiiWare, as well as the Final Fantasy series for the Virtual Console for Wii. The release of these new downloadable titles represent Square Enix’s recognition of the growing demand for online distribution of content/services, and the commitment they have made to provide content/services that match the needs of their customers. Square Enix will be offering two new releases for WiiWare: Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord. Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, is an RPG that continues the story that began in the 1991 Super Famicom™ title Final Fantasy IV. In Japan, this title was released as a downloadable cellular phone application in February 2008. It has since been lauded for its deep storytelling, and a year after its release, has been downloaded over 3 million times. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord is the newest instalment in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series, which has shipped over 2 million copies worldwide and is set to grow further in 2009. This title will be a sequel to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King™, which launched simultaneously with the WiiWare service in May of 2008. In addition, the Virtual Console allows Wii users to download and play classic titles released on previous game consoles, and now for the first time ever, the Final Fantasy series will be made available via home console download. The first instalment of the series will be Final Fantasy, originally released for the Famicom™ in Japan in 1987, which will be available for download in May 2009 in Japan. The release date for PAL region will be in 2009. - Case Closed: One Truth Prevails Case Closed: One Truth Prevails is a new anime/manga style police investigation game for the Nintendo Wii due for release on 1st May 2009 from Nobilis and Ascaron Entertainment. Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan, is a successful anime series from Japan and is now coming to the Nintendo Wii. In Case Closed: One Truth Prevails the lead character is 17 year old Shichi Kudo, a very intuitive high school detective, well known in Japan as a modern day Sherlock Holmes. Shichi is on a mission to infiltrate a secret group known as the Black Organisation when he is drugged with a poison that was meant to kill him, but instead transforms him into a seven year old boy. In his new body, Shichi adopts the alias Conan Edogawa and pretends to be a child whilst continuing to secretly solve cases. Players can use a number of special detective tools that feature in the Japanese TV series of Case Closed, including a voice changing bow tie and a solar powered skateboard. The Wii remote is used to touch or manipulate objects and also can also be used as a magnifying glass when players lead Shichi undercover to investigate crime scenes and search for clues. Providing fun and challenges for a young audience, Case Closed: One Truth Prevails will be released on Nintendo Wii on 1st May 2009 by Nobilis and Ascaron Entertainment. Xbox: Tales of Vesperia NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe today announced that acclaimed role-playing title Tales of Vesperia is heading to Europe and PAL regions in June 2009 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Tales of Vesperia delivers majestic storytelling and compelling gameplay on a massive scale as players embark on a grand adventure of discovery and intrigue. The world of Terca Lumireis is in transition. Ten years of peace have led to an uneasy truce between the Empire and guilds, which desire to live by their own rules. Controlling the ancient technology known as “blastia,” the Empire has provided safety and prosperity to its citizens, but the people have grown uneasy with the heavy hand of their government. As former Imperial Knight Yuri Lowell, players will explore the complex relationship between blastia, the government and its people, setting foot outside the safe confines of the cities to explore a mysterious and dangerous world. The first high-definition installment of the renowned Tales role-playing series, Tales of Vesperia brings a decade of gameplay heritage and storytelling pedigree to Xbox 360. Featuring an action-packed real-time battle system, players can chain together powerful attacks to create combos on the fly and give detailed commands to the rest of their party to create cohesive battle strategies. All-new battle features such as Fatal Strikes, Burst Artes and a multi-stage Over Limit provide more tactical depth to each encounter, while series traditions such as cooking and skits return with new twists to delight longtime fans. - Halfbrick Blast Off Halfbrick takes casual development to a professional level with four Xbox Live Community Games Acclaimed Australian game developer Halfbrick today announced its official projects for the highly popular Xbox Live Community Games service. The studio also revealed that each game will become part of the new Halfbrick Fridays series, which focuses on smaller, more casual games for a whole range of players. A total of four Halfbrick Fridays games will be released within the next three months: Halfbrick Blast Off, Halfbrick Echoes, Halfbrick Thrusts and Halfbrick Zombies are coming! That's a lot of Halfbrick, and the team couldn't be happier. "We don't want to sit back and quietly throw out a community game every so often," Halfbrick CEO Shainiel Deo explains. "We're operating as a business with many full retail games under our belt, with many more to come, but we are also part of the global gaming community. That's why we've all committed the time and effort outside of our normal work at the studio to make these great games and really show the world who we are. When we release a game for the community, Halfbrick is a brand that everyone can recognize as a seal of quality." The first title to hit the Xbox will be Halfbrick Blast Off, to be submitted to the Xbox Live Community Games service on Friday, March 27th. Players will take control of a rocket ship and rescue lost astronauts by navigating many levels of planets and asteroids - complete with unique gravity-based gameplay. The core concept involves using a combination of your rocket's own power and the gravitational pull of objects surrounding you. Halfbrick Blast Off in an easy to learn, hard to master adventure with subtlety and class in the middle of space. Check out the trailer
Multi-Platform Games: Coraline Based on the exciting new movie Coraline – the first-ever stop-motion animated feature to be made in 3-D – from Focus Features and LAIKA, the Coraline videogame is coming from D3Publisher (D3P). The game will let players take on the role of the adventurous heroine Coraline and interact with the wondrous characters from the movie while navigating the scheming Other Mother’s web of deceit in a fantastical adventure through two distinct and interactive worlds. Coraline is due for release on the Wii™ console, Nintendo DS™ and the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system in May 2009. “The Coraline movie is absolutely mesmerizing and we feel that the visual style and tone of the game will bring the amazing stop-motion animated film and thrilling storyline to life for players,” said Bill Anker, vice president of business development, D3P. “We’re confident that Coraline will offer a truly immersive and interactive gameplay experience that gamers as well as fans of the movie and best-selling book will enjoy.” The only videogame based on the upcoming movie, Coraline will allow players to explore and interact with such immersive 3-D environments from the movie as the Pink Palace, its nooks and crannies and apartments, and the unpredictable Other World. Players will engage in unique mini-games and adventures with Coraline’s friends Wybie and Cat as they collect items that will unlock the mysteries of the Other World. Coraline is under development for Wii and the PlayStation®2 system by Papaya Studios and by Art Co. Ltd., for Nintendo DS. - MechScape Jagex, Ltd., the largest independent game developer in United Kingdom, has achieved rapid acceleration in its business as 2009 progresses, emerging from the two most profitable quarters in company history and growth among its existing game properties, RuneScape and FunOrb. On the heels of this momentum, Jagex will be launching its second, highly anticipated massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) later this year. The game - under the code name MechScape - has already generated significant buzz among gaming enthusiasts, and will appeal to both existing RuneScape players and an entirely new audience of online gamers. Games Related News: 3D Reality Video Eyewear Vuzix Corporation, the leader in video eyewear for the mainstream consumer, defence and low vision markets, will showcase a game-changing Augmented Reality Accessory Kit for the popular VR920 Virtual Reality Video iWear. Partnering with metaio, Inc., a world leader in augmented reality software solutions, Vuzix will demonstrate at the 2009 GDC how a simple printed page can be brought to life with 3-D animated characters that literally pop out of the book and fire breathing dragons from a fantasy tale can swoop overhead. Vuzix AR Accessory Kit consists of two main features: • CamAR™, a clip-on USB camera that mounts onto a pair of Vuzix Video iWear. The CamAR not only allows the user to see through to the real world but is also designed to accurately track objects and the user’s position in 3-dimensional space. • PhasAR™, a wireless augmented reality input controller is designed to be used in unison with the CamAR™. The PhasAR™ allows users to interact with virtual, mixed and augmented reality worlds with a revolutionary 6 degree of freedom tracking system that lets the computer know exactly where the user is touching in the virtual and real worlds. Depending on the application, the PhasAR™ can become anything from a powerful virtual magic wand to a 3-D virtual paint brush. The PhasAR™ enables powerful 2-D like mouse support in order to effortlessly control virtual objects in 3-D space. Together, these new devices allow the user to perceive and interact with the real world in ways they have never dreamed of before. “This capability, known as Augmented Reality (AR), will open up new applications in the gaming, education and business sectors,” said Vuzix CEO, Paul Travers. “The applications for gaming and education will range from books that come alive to interactive worlds with 3-D characters that materialise right in your living room.” “You have to ask yourself,” said Travers, “why play video games on your flat panel when it can be brought right into your living room?” If you are visiting GDC, please visit booth number 6420 NH for the opportunity to experience this technology for the first time. Additionally, Vuzix are also happy to set up interviews where available for an in-depth review of this technology. Images available on request. Come and meet Vixuz at The Gadget Show Live at the Birmingham NEC in the UK on the 17-19th April to try out the Vuzix iWear range which offers a big-screen experience from a device that fits in your pocket. Connect with one of many mobile devices and you can enjoy a virtual screen of up to 62” for all of your mobile content including 3D. - Datel Launch Bluetooth PS3 Controller with Programmable Rapid Fire Datel launch the Wildfire Wireless Controller for PS3; the first 3rd party controller in the world to communicate directly with the PS3 over its protected Bluetooth protocol, and complete with a fully programmable Turbo Rapid Fire mode. Until now, all wireless 3rd party PS3 controllers have communicated with the PS3 through some form of USB wireless adapter, a system that has been criticised for reduced performance and convenience compared with original SONY controllers. Made possible by technology from Datel’s Raw Science reverse engineering division, Wildfire is able to communicate directly with the PS3, making for a neater, higher performance solution that behaves exactly like an original SONY controller. Wildfire also addresses other criticisms levelled at 3rd party controllers by featuring accurately calibrated tilt and motion sensors, accurately calibrated analogue inputs, and responsive buttons. The vibration feedback of the DualShock 3 is also present. Wildfire’s secret weapon is its programmable Turbo Rapid Fire function that can be assigned to any one of 8 different buttons. With 3 different speed settings available and the ability to enable or disable rapid fire at any time the feature can be put to devastating use in a wide range of games. Used in first-person-shooters like Call of Duty: World at War single shot weapons like pistols and rifles become automatic weapons capable of emptying a clip in a second. Even fully automatic weapons can benefit from the rapid fire’s slower speed settings where holding down fire will ‘pulse’ the weapon, sparing ammunition and keeping the reticule small to optimise accuracy. Features: • Programmable Turbo Rapid Fire • Redesigned ergonomic shape fits perfectly in the hands • Fully PS3 Bluetooth® compatible (no need for a separate dongle) • Built-in true ‘E-Gyro’ and ‘MEMS’ sensors • Automatic pairing over USB • Vibration feedback • 20ft wireless range • USB connector for automatic sync with the PS3 • Uses 2x AA batteries Pricing/availability: Wildfire has a RRP of just £29.99/$39.99 and is available now from www.codejunkies.com and good independent video game stores. For a limited time, UK customers buying from Codejunkies will get free delivery on their Wildfire controller.
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