Microsoft Xbox 360 games tackle drink driving - Scottish Government to spend £10,000 on in-game advertising

Anti-drink driving adverts are to be inserted into computer games amid concern at the number of youngsters who consume alcohol before driving.
Police said they had caught almost 150 people under the age of 25 in their annual festive drink driving blitz.

The Scottish Government is to spend £10,000 on adverts on the virtual billboards within Xbox 360 games.

Campaigners said it was vital to look beyond conventional methods of communicating with young people.

The adverts will be seen by Scottish Xbox 360 gamers playing the online versions of titles including Need for Speed: Carbon, Project Gotham Racing 4 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008.

If the trial is successful, the same technology could be used to deliver a wide range of road safety messages.

More from the BBC

Nintendo Wii shopping channel add - BLADES OF STEEL - Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble - Rolling Thunder 2

This week's merry Wii Shop Channel lineup includes a classic adventure title to entertain every reveler in your household, from the nicest to the naughtiest. Plus, you'll find a wicked-cool dose of ice hockey action and a thrilling secret-agent sequel to help keep spirits bright all winter long.

Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. 

This week's new games are:

BLADES OF STEEL (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Violence, 500 Wii Points):

With stick in hand and confidence brimming, you are looking to bring home the cup, win the MVP award, get on the covers of major sports magazines and date a beautiful model (not necessarily in that order). 

But soon you will learn that, in this league, nothing is ever given to you, and before you can reach your goals, you'll have to put the puck in the net and score some.

You'll need both the artful skills of a finesse player and the bone-crushing brutality of an enforcer. Defend your own goal against unrelenting power plays, or put the pressure on your opponent's goalie and try a slap shot of your own. 

Don't forget to defend yourself when anger flares because the gloves come off and fists start flying. So strap on blades of steel and prepare to either make a name for yourself or be put on ice.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Super NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points):

Revisit Donkey Kong Island and join the Kong family for their latest adventure. The Kremlings have a mysterious new leader named KAOS and are up to their usual mischief, even capturing Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.

Now it's up to Dixie Kong and the newest Kong, a giant infant named Kiddy, to rescue the two missing apes.

They'll travel across previously unseen parts of the island in their search, and even take to the skies in a rocket at one point. Lucky for them, Dixie and Kiddy's powers complement each other (including Kiddy's talent for rolling like a barrel), so they form a powerful team capable of major Kremling damage. 

They're not completely on their own, either, since returning favorites like Funky Kong and Enguarde the swordfish provide help along the way. And in a series known for its abundance of secrets and high replay value, this entry doesn't disappoint, with enough hours of game play to satisfy Donkey Kong himself. 

Anyone else have a sudden urge for some bananas?

Rolling Thunder 2 (Genesis, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone-Violence, 800 Wii Points):

In this follow-up to the original classic, you are once again a member of Interpol's Rolling Thunder task force, and it's up to you to stop the return of the evil Geldra organization. 

Now known as Neo-Geldra and led by a newcomer named Gimdo, the bad guys are bent on destroying several valuable outer-space satellites. 

In this one- or two-player game, you can play as Leila or Albatross-both characters from the original-as you venture through several different levels, trying to put a stop to the nefarious efforts of Gimdo and the rest of Neo-Geldra. 

Use your bullets wisely and make Rolling Thunder proud.

For more information about Wii, please visit wii.com.

Santa Spotted Playing Toki Tori

Santa Claus was recently spotted playing Toki Tori in his North Pole residence. The problem is... he doesn’t seem to be doing anything else!

Eyewitnesses have confirmed that Santa Claus has in fact been playing Toki Tori non-stop since he received his pre-release copy of the game. Evidence can be found at http://www.twotribes.com/santa. Industry analysts have already expressed concerns; with some even claiming Santa will not be able to deliver his products on schedule before the end of his fiscal year, ending December 25th.

Collin van Ginkel, Creative Director at Two Tribes - the development house behind Toki Tori – commented: "Santa usually receives games well in advance of their release to make sure they are suitable for the people he delivers presents to. But in hindsight it might have been better to wait until after Christmas, we hope this will not affect his delivery schedule."

“It’s unfortunate this image was leaked to the press”, said Martijn Reuvers, Managing Director at Two Tribes, adding: “Since the game hasn’t officially been announced for a specific platform yet, we’re happy this image doesn’t reveal too much.”

When contacted about this situation, Santa was reported to shout: “There are not enough Telewarps! And where is that last egg?!” We’ll take that as a ‘No Comment’ for the time being.

Two tribes games...

Pirate Quest video game 20% Christmas Discount on download

Spell of Play Studios are offering a 20% Christmas Discount on their game Pirate Quest for all old and new Spell of Play Gaming Community members.

The Spell of Play Gaming Community

The Spell of Play gaming community is free and open for all people interested in gaming. The community provides valuable feedback in the development of games. As a community member you get special benefits and first hand information on game releases.

Pirate Quest

Take your parrot and your pegleg and go treasurehunting in this superfun puzzlegame!

Search for treasures from sunken ships, chests full of gold and ancient loot is just waiting for a captain brave enough to find it!

Game Features:

• 100 levels


• 5 maps to explore


• 10 treasures and game features to unlock


• Relaxing Arcade mode


• Treasure Room


• Become the most infamous pirate in the online hall of fame

System Requirements:
DirectX 9 compatible graphics card
DirectX 9 compatible sound card
Windows XP, Windows Vista

Pricing and Availability:
The Pirate Quest Demo is available via our web site: www.spellofplay.com/play-games

You can currently buy the full version for 11.99 (+vat) and get all future versions for free.

Links:

Spell of Play Studios web site:
www.spellofplay.com

Pirate Quest web page with new screen shots:
www.spellofplay.com/games/pirate-quest

v1.02 Patch for Strategic Command 2 Weapons and Warfare

Merry Christmas all! This is a busy season for everyone and to help celebrate a little early we are releasing the latest Strategic Command 2 Weapons and Warfare Expansion v1.02 Patch. This patch improves the various aspects of Amphibous Transport units and warfare as well as adding other improvements and fixes noticed since the expansion was released including an important tweak to the road network system. This Command 2 Weapons and Warfare Expansion v1.02 Patch also includes all the previous fixes from the first v1.01 patch.

Strategic Command 2 Weapons and Warfare Expansion v1.02 Patch

Download Page:
http://www.battlefront.com/products/sc2/sc2_wwe/patch.html
Filesize: 124Mb

v1.02 Patch Notes

Please note, this is a PATCH for the Strategic Command 2 Weapons and Warfare Expansion and will only work for the Battlefront.com English language version. This patch will not work with any non-English version of Strategic Command 2 Weapons and Warfare Expansion at this time. This patch can be applied to either the original v1.0 version of the game or one that was already patched up to version 1.01.

Separate patches for the other language versions will be released in the future.

v1.02

GAME ENGINE CHANGES
- fixed an Amphibious Warfare research upgrade error - fixed an Amphibious Transport properties display error when Amphibious Warfare Research Levels are less than 0
- fixed an AI unit upgrade error
- Amphibious Transports that end their move adjacent to an enemy Battleship, Cruiser, Destroyer or Carrier will now
be automatically attacked regardless if it was hidden or not under Fog of War. Note, unloading after the automatic
defensive naval fire, will still be possible if the Transport is stopped adjacent a valid debarkation tile
- FREE UNIT script now called when a SURRENDER 2 event is triggered
- fixed a combat error that caused a CTD when a hidden rocket attacked a defending unit on a resource
- roads now eliminate supply range penalties over rough terrain such as mountains, marshes etc.
- fixed an AI upgrade error
- fixed a SUPPLY SCRIPT error that targeted resources such as Fortresses that were set to 'Destroy On Overrun'
- subs that dive and move will now move in a more random directional pattern

EDITOR RELATED CHANGES
- fixed an Amphibious Warfare research upgrade error
- added NAVAL DEFENSE= entry to localization.txt
- Build Limits can now be set to (None) and this will subsequently delist them from purchase in the Purchase
Unit dialog, i.e. useful for modding when you want to eliminate certain unit types from in game purchase
- updated several FLEET events for the UK to take better advantage of the modified Amphibious Transport rules
- updated several bitmapped flags
- added some Axis AI UNIT script and GARRISON enhancements for the post D-Day period
- fixed a railway disconnect between Narvik and the adjacent mine
- made an adjustment to an ACTIVATION No:2 event checking for UK aggression in Norway, it now checks to see if Norway has
surrendered to the Allies and not the case where the UK is attempting to liberate Norway
- updated the North African campaign flags for Malta as well as for the Commonwealth

Version History

v1.01

GAME ENGINE CHANGES
- fixed an AI destroyer unit combat error
- fixed an AI upgrade unit error
- fixed an animation replay error
- fixed a MINOR country Corps purchase error
- paratroops that are preparing and engineers that are fortifying are no longer hidden under FoW
- subs caught in sea ice no longer raid convoy lanes until sea ice clears
- subs now use the following rules:
- Silent
- Sub can pass through hidden enemy units except for a Destroyer under FoW
- Sub cannot attack convoy lanes
- Hunt
- Sub cannot pass through hidden enemy units under FoW
- Sub can attack convoy lanes
- Note, a Sub will dive (if a dive is successful) when atta cked and move away under either Silent or Hunt mode
- transfer of capitals now reduces that country's morale the same as it would if an ally were to surrender
- transfer of capitals now increase occupier's morale the same as it would if it forced the surrender of a country
- any country that has a capital transferred to a disconnected area loses its current production/queue items
(complete wipe out) unless the transfer location is connected to the current location of the capital (pre-transfer) or
to any of the Industrial Center locations for that country
- fixed a script handling error for CONDITION POSITIONs
- fixed a Paratroop glider sound error when playing under Military unit icons mode
- fixed a Paratroop drop and new unit selection error when Fortifications are destroyed or a Paratroop unit takes
landing casualties
- surprise encounters will now only apply the 'Hidden Attacker Readiness Bonu s' to decrease attacker losses and not to also
increase defender losses as was previously the case
- fixed an 'add_unit' bug when minors are activated
- fixed a resource mpp calculation error that did not include Fortresses if a value was assigned to them
- fixed a bug where custom combat supply loss values via the Editor were not being read in game

EDITOR RELATED CHANGES
- fixed the military unit bitmaps to show some differentiation between tactical bombers and strategic bombers
- replaced Manstein with Bittrich in the Wacht Am Rhein scenario
- removed all incorrect references to O'Conner in the 1939 and 1940 campaigns and replaced them with O'Connor
- fixed a SURRENDER_2 script error for the surrender of Italy
- added several new Axis Middle East OFFENSIVE events
- added several new Axis Middle East TRANSPORT events
- added several new Axis Middle East GARRISON events
- added several new ACTIVATION No:3 events
- added PRODUCTION LOST= entry to localization.txt
- fixed a Polish campaign victory condition error
- fixed several Spanish Civil War campaign errors
- updated Manual with several new entries regarding changes in Weapons and Warfare