FANCY A FREE DOWNLOAD? SIGN UP WITH JUST FLIGHT AND JUST TRAINS TO START WINNING

Get the newsletter – you’ve got to be in it to win it!

Just Flight is pleased to announce that the first instalment of its regular newsletter will be winging its way by e-mail to Just Flight customers very soon. As well as the inside track on all the latest products in the Just Flight hangar and Just Trains shed, there is also going to be a super prize competition in each issue and ten lucky recipients, drawn at random, will win a free download product of their choice from the Just Flight or Just Trains range.

Readers of the newsletter will also get links to exclusive offers on the Just Flight and Just Trains sites as well as exclusive previews, demos and videos of forthcoming products.

If you already receive e-shots from Just Flight or Just Trains then you don’t need to do anything – just check your inbox! However, if you haven’t signed up to receive the newsletter then simply visit the Just Flight or Just Trains sites, follow the ‘subscribe’ button, enter your e-mail address and you’re done.

There’s no need to worry about unleashing a flood of spam - at Just Flight and Just Trains we obey three simple rules:

1) We will not send you any e-mail information unless you have asked us to do so.
2) We guarantee that none of your details will ever be sold or passed on to any third party.
3) You can unsubscribe from this service at any time.

So, make sure you’ve signed up and have a think about what you’d like to download if you win!

About Just Flight and Just Trains

Just Flight, part of the Mastertronic Group, is the world's leading flight simulation specialist, publishing a wide variety of digital aviation products. Their range comprises a multitude of different titles, including stand alone flight simulations as well as add-ons for Microsoft’s multi-million selling Flight Simulator and Combat Flight Simulator. Just Flight’s sister label, Just Trains, is a specialist publisher and developer devoted to stand alone train simulators as well as add-ons for Rail Simulator, Trainz and the ever-popular Microsoft Train Simulator.

A British company, based in Huntingdon, Just Flight has been established for over twelve years. It prides itself on quality, value and customer service, which it backs up with a unique money-back guarantee on all its products.

Grand Theft Auto IV Breaks Guinness World Records

The Popular Franchise Trumps All Other Entertainment Title Sales

The famed Grand Theft Auto series has made headlines yet again! As newly-released sales figures show, Grand Theft Auto IV has crushed the competition by selling 3.6 million units and earning $310 million in its first day of release, earning Guinness World Records™ for the Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours and the Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours. These records establish GTA IV as the most profitable entertainment release of all-time, far surpassing other video game, film and book releases. According to Guinness World Records, this is how the game stacks up against the competition:

• Fastest-selling video game in 24 hours: Halo 3 at $170 million
  
• Fastest-selling theatrical movie in 24 hours: Spider-Man 3 at $60 million
  
• Fastest-selling book in 24 hours: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows at $220 million
  

For more spectacular gaming records see Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008 (RRP £15), the first Guinness World Records book devoted solely to the world of gaming, is on shelves now and bursting with new records, high score statistics and fascinating facts.

CHARTTRACK WEEKLY UK CHARTS

All formats

(Full price) Week ending 10 May 2008

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV ROCKSTAR
2 WII FIT NINTENDO
3 MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES SEGA
4 IRON MAN: THE OFFICIAL VIDEOGAME SEGA
5 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ACTIVISION
6 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2008 KONAMI
7 MARIO KART WII NINTENDO
8 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK REDOCTANE
9 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 2 RED STORM
10 COOKING MAMA 2 505 GAMES
11 FIFA 08 EA SPORTS
12 UEFA EURO 2008 AUSTRIA-SWITZERLAND EA SPORTS
13 HALO 3 MICROSOFT
14 SEGA SUPERSTARS TENNIS SEGA
15 NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. NINTENDO
16 MARIO KART DS NINTENDO
17 ASSASSIN'S CREED UBISOFT
18 LEGO STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA LUCASARTS
19 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2008 SEGA
20 SUPER MARIO GALAXY NINTENDO

Get physical with - Family Trainer on Nintendo Wii

- Active Fun for Everyone with Total Body Gameplay Coming to Europe in September 2008 Exclusively for Wii -

Atari today announced the forthcoming European release of NAMCO BANDAI Games’ Family Trainer exclusively for Wii. Family Trainer lets all the family and friends get physical by engaging the whole body in a variety of easy-to-understand, fast-paced and wildly entertaining activities. Family Trainer is scheduled for European release in September 2008.

The game includes the specially designed Family Trainer mat controller which, when combined with the Wii Remote, lets players get totally physical in a series of crazed challenges. Unlike other games for the Wii which only focus on the arms, Family Trainer gets the feet involved too for total body gameplay. Simple controls and intuitive play make the game easy to just pick up and play, and let players of any age get involved, get physical and have maximum fun.

There are over a dozen frantic single and multiplayer challenges to choose from all based on outdoor challenges amusingly interpreted for the world of Family Trainer, such as river rafting, mine karting, log jumping, rope skipping and much more. The activities take place in a variety of colourful locations including jungle forests full of ancient ruins, a haunted mansion complete with hordes of zombies, and a fairytale world where riding on toys and floating amongst the clouds is the order of the day.

Players can challenge friends or family members on the same mat, or cooperate together, for example trying to balance a runaway mine kart as it hurtles round a gravity defying track. Players can track their progress and set new records for their friends and family to beat, bringing a dose of healthy competition into the madcap mix.

Family Trainer is scheduled for European release in September 2008 exclusively for Wii.

Alone in the Dark - Developers Diary 3

Hervé Sliwa, Lead Designer, Eden Games

Technology, Iteration and Central Park

To build all this variety of gameplay elements and features in Alone in the Dark we built our own technology. There is a full R&D department working on the tool we use at Eden – it’s an in-house tool called Twilight 2. The interesting thing about Twilight 2 is it’s the same tool we used for TDU. It was so flexible that with updates on it we can make all that we need for Alone in the Dark.

There is another technical team working on the game engine specifically for all the different platforms to run everything in the game. We had the chance to develop a very open engine to bring together everything in the game – I don’t know if it would have been possible with another engine. The great thing for the designers is that everything has been thought of like Lego blocks, so if you have an idea you can pick a little part of the engine, add another part, meld them together and you have what you expect to have. After that you can play with it inside the game and build some specific situations or puzzles. The designers were able to prototype the game mechanics themselves and the engine helped us a lot to do that.

How we managed to balance the innovation with fun in the game is by working nights (a lot) and the key word is iteration. You don’t have any other method. If something was never done before you need to build it, test it, see what goes well, what goes wrong, and you need to improve it and improve it, test it, improve it. We do this for all the features in the game, lots of iteration, iteration, iteration.

It was fun because when we talked together about some gameplay situations in the game after some discussion we realised that nobody in the development team played the same situation the same way. Sometimes we talked about it and someone would say “we need to improve that because when you use this object to fight these monsters and…” I would say, “but you used that object to fight these monsters? You’re supposed to do that!” “No, no you can combine this with that and it gives you this result”, and I’d realise that yes it’s logical. We had lots of unexpected situations just from the creativity of the player – that was really, really interesting.

On the other hand, it was difficult to manage lots of people on the project, and the new generation of game console brought lots of new issues. The team grew so fast that we needed to re-think all our processes to build a game. With this new type of content it created a new type of issue so our everyday work was re-thinking everything, which was very, very hard.

The choice of Central Park is important, because what we want with Central Park is to give to the player some realistic environments to put all the extraordinary things in perspective. If you have a realistic environment everything not normal seems very, very weird. If you are in a completely weird environment the weirdness is normal, so what we want is to use the park to give the perspective on all the paranormal activity.

Of course the park is also very useful in terms of environment because it’s very rich in terms of variety, there are plenty of buildings, there is a huge museum, lots of lakes, there are some parts which are very cute and charming and there are some more wild forest parts, and you have lots of bridges and roads.

When we went to Central Park to do some research in terms of environments, we took tons of photography and we walked miles and miles. When we saw something we stopped and said oh, we can have something here, and we thought about how to build specific situations. Sometimes we simulated the situations of the game in the park, so it was quite dangerous sometimes, but it was interesting!

More than 1 million sign up for the Age of Conan beta!

- More than 5 million unique visitors to the official Age of Conan website in 2008 -

Funcom and Eidos are proud to confirm some of the impressive figures powering the Age of Conan launch, and the two companies are happy to reveal that the Age of Conan Beta has passed 1 million sign-ups! As one of the most anticipated MMO’s ever, the 1 million mark confirms the amazing interest in the game.

“Funcom has not been able to find any higher beta numbers for MMOs in the western world,” said Morten Larssen, VP of Funcom Sales and Marketing. “We believe it represents the largest ever beta sign-up figure in the history of the genre.”

In addition to the incredible beta numbers, Funcom confirms that almost 800.000 gamers have signed up for the Clan of Conan newsletter. The hundreds of thousands following the development of the game have moreover resulted in a rapidly growing forum community. Last week Funcom registered over 115.000 posts on the official forums, across four languages. This comes in addition to Age of Conan discussions on external forums and in other languages.

In 2008, Funcom has also seen a tremendous growth in the amount of people who visit the official Age of Conan websites. Since January 2008, Funcom has registered more than 5 million unique visitors, from more than 200 countries. Last week alone over 725.000 unique visitors came to the Age of Conan sites.

The coverage and interest on external gaming sites has skyrocketed as a result of the growing anticipation. Age of Conan has topped numerous charts as the most read about, most popular and most anticipated PC game in development. As an example, GameSpot.com has Age of Conan as the No1 most read about upcoming game over the last month, on any format. The game has seen a similar interest on genre specific sites, including being the No1 most popular MMO over the last 12 months on MMORPG.com. Print gaming publications have also covered the game widely, and the game now has over 20 covers, including the coveted cover of PC Gamer US.

“How all of our strong figures convert into later sales and subscription figures is still unknown,” continued Larssen. “But our pre-order numbers in some important retail chains track as among the highest for any MMO launched.”

Age of Conan launches 20th of May in North America / Oceania and 23rd of May in Europe.

To celebrate the amazing community figures surrounding Age of Conan Funcom and Eidos today unveils a brand new trailer. Aptly called the Femme Fatale trailer, the new video can be downloaded in HD quality from the media section at http://community.ageofconan.com. For more information or to pre-order Age of Conan – either in English, German, French or Spanish – please visit the official websites.

Rake In Grass is proud to present the release of a horror action game Larva Mortus

Larva Mortus is an action horror game, in a dark atmosphere, about hunting supernatural monsters. Full of undead, terrifying and demonic nightmares.

At the end of 19th Century, dark forces shade the world once again. A brave agent, experienced in exorcism and combat, comes to face the oncoming evil, and fight loathsome supernatural monsters and horrific spawns of black magic. It's your quest, in a role of a hard boiled combat, to face a dark warlock of the ancient times and stop his plan to capture powerful artifact of black magic.

Larva Mortus offers fast and entertaining monster-hunting game play. A horrific atmosphere goes hand in hand with furious action packed splatter fest. Everything accompanied by creepy, first class soundtrack!

Larva Mortus is available in a Windows PC version with OpenGL and DirectX support and in a Mac OS X version.

The main features are:

- 30 frightening supernatural monsters to destroy. Vampires, undead, werewolves and more!
- A dark and horrifying atmosphere! With mysterious storyline quests!
- Solid arsenal varying from classic pistols and shotgun to the fancy "Dynamo Gun"
- Randomly generated missions for high replay value
- Main character development through a set of RPG-like features
- Many environments - from spooky manors and catacombs to dark forests and lonely deserts
- A dark horror orchestral musical score

Penumbra - Black Plague for Mac OS X & Linux released!

Penumbra: Black Plague for Mac OS X & Linux released!
Regardless of your computer platform of choice it is now possible to enjoy the full Penumbra: Black Plague experience. Following up on the release of the demo two weeks ago the full versions are now available for $19.99 and can be obtained from here.

Mac minimum requirements
OS: Mac OS X 10.4 or newer
Processor: 1.5Ghz
Memory: 512MB
Video Card: Radeon 9600/GeForce 4(GeForce4MX not supported)

Linux minimum requirements
Processor: 1 Ghz
Memory: 256MB
Video Card: Radeon 8500/GeForce 3(GeForce4MX not supported)
Misc: Kernel 2.6 or higher
, glibc 2.3
 ,X11R6 with 3D acceleration, For x86_64 CPU, 32-bit environment must be installed

If you have not played the prequel, Penumbra: Overture, we would recommend it before trying Black Plague. Of course Overture is available for Mac & Linux and can be found at http://www.penumbra-overture.com.

A look into the past released

To all dear Windows users,

Before creating Penumbra and before founding Frictional Games, Thomas Grip worked on a game called Unbirth, unfortunately this game was never finished due to various issues. Unbirth was a game much like Penumbra, a first person real-time rendered adventure horror game, but without the nifty physics. During the past two years, players of Penumbra has continually asked if it would be possible to release any working code of the game, and well, Thomas decided that it actually is possible!

An alpha version of the game is now released at http://unbirth.frictionalgames.com as well as a short presentation about the game, how it was made and why it was, sadly, never finished. It is an unstable, but working demonstration and gives an insight into the history of the ideas and design choices that was an inspirational source in the creation of Penumbra.

Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.1 coming to PlayStation 2

SNK Playmore and Ignition Entertainment are pleased to announce the European release of the Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.1 for PlayStation 2.

Released in 1991, the original Fatal Fury introduced 3 of SNK’s most iconic characters, the brothers Bogard (Terry and Andy) and Joe Higashi, and chronicled their fight against Southtowns criminal kingpin, Geese Howard.

Fatal Fury was SNK’s first 2D fighting game to grace the popular NEOGEO AES system and spawned many sequels. It was due to the success of these and the unique gameplay elements they contained (inclusion of hidden characters from other franchises), that the massively successful The King of Fighters series was born.

The first volume of the Fatal Fury collection will contain Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory. The popularity of this franchise has seen many of its characters cross over into many of SNK’s other gaming franchises.

‘The Fatal Fury franchise contains a real piece of SNK’s history.’ says Peter Rollinson, Product Manager, Ignition Entertainment. ‘It was these games that helped mould the successful gaming track record that SNK enjoys.’

Key Features:

• Arcade Perfect conversions
• 4 games on 1 action packed disc
• 2 Player Co-op fighting
• Use your hidden abilities to inflict massive damage
• The first to incorporate two-plane fighting in a 2D setting
• Contains newly arranged soundtracks
• Bonus playable character – Ryo Sakazaki!!
• Colour Edit mode – Customise your favourite character

Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.1 for the PlayStation 2 is scheduled for release August ’08. Further SNK gaming announcements due soon.

Agetec to defend the innocent in - Falling Stars on Sony PlayStation 3

Monsters And Evil Forces Cower In Fear Of Agetec's Newest RPG Adventure Game

Agetec, Inc. today announced that it will be releasing - Falling Stars for PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. A fun and adventurous role playing game, Falling Stars will be released early summer 2008.

Players star as Luna, a young girl living in Dazzleon, who longs for something more. One day, her uncle, Matt visits and discovers a mine that seems to possess odd powers. He becomes so intrigued that he decides to stay and investigate. Soon, to the horror of Luna and her neighbors, he becomes obsessed with the mine as it starts to possess him (so much that it turns his skin green!). He begins to experiment on his pets and in the process, turns them into evil monsters. Because it’s her uncle, Luna feels responsible for his actions and desperately looks for a solution. She comes across one when she finds and adopts her uncle’s lost pet. She decides to train her pet in order to challenge her uncle to the ultimate battle to restore Dazzleon back to its original, peaceful village.

In Falling Stars, players will be able to help Luna’s neighbors by completing quests, playing mini games, training and battling with their pet, and delving deeper into the mystery that surrounds Dazzleon.

Falling Stars brings on a whole different genre of adventure RPG,” says producer Mark Johnson, Agetec.

“Gameplay has been designed with young girls and boys in mind; with cute characters, fun mini games, and simplified controls. These features encourage the younger crowd to play and fall in love with their first RPG.”

“The best part about this game is not only does it have the usual RPG elements: intriguing storyline, quests, missions, battles, and so forth, but it gives you an opportunity to be creative and customize Luna’s attire,”

says Ivolgamus. “The dress-up portion is what really makes the game stand out; not only can you dress Luna to your liking, but what you wear will also affect how neighbors will treat you. If neighbors like the way you dress, they will start offering you missions, quests, mini-games – they’ll even offer you better prices and trades; however, if they don’t like the way you dress, they might not even talk to you!”

SEGA report loss after disappointing year

Sales for the year ended at £2.32 billion compared to £2.62 billion in the year. As a result the company made an operating loss of £28.92 million last year it made an operating profit of £386.47 million.

SEGA confirmed that it has dropped plans to develop a new amusement centre in Yokohama. The company also confirmed that it has dissolved SEGA Amusements Singapore and Korea as a means to reviewing its operations.

Continuing uncertainty surrounding the Pachinko parlour business suggests the Japanese company will face a difficult year. The company suggests it will generate revenue in the consumer business by selling licensed film titles overseas and focus on a revision of its Japanese line-up.

For the year ended March 31st 2009, SEGA-Sammy predicts net sales to reach £2.37 billion, representing almost a 3% increase.

PixelJunk Monsters Encore - PlayStation 3 Fact sheet

FACT SHEET

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Developer: Q-Games Ltd.
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system / PLAYSTATION Network (PSN)
Genre: Action Strategy
Rating: “E” for Everyone
Target Release: MAY 8, 2008

OVERVIEW
It’s time to collect those shiny coins and gems and fire up the cannons - the Monsters are back! Available now on PSN, PixelJunk Monsters Encore adds 15 levels to the addictive real-time strategy game from Japan’s Q-Games. Keeping the same attractive style of meticulously hand-drawn 2D art, PixelJunk™ Monsters Encore recreates the look of a classic with crisp graphics designed for optimal viewing in Full 1080p HD.

In PixelJunk Monsters Encore, the player controls a defender-of-the-forest character in a lush forest environment. The player’s goal is to strategically defend the pathway to his homebase from an onslaught of various threatening monsters. In between waves of monster attacks, the player scrambles to reinforce his defenses by collecting gold coins and jewels from fallen enemies to finance new towers and research deadlier weapons. Eventually, the player can harness the elements throughout the 15 different stages to cast lightning storms across the forest. Gamers can enjoy PixelJunk Monsters Encore with a friend in offline co-op mode, which requires careful strategy and communication. Additionally, PixelJunk™ Monsters Encore will support online leaderboards for both 1p and 2p co-op.

KEY FEATURES

• New Maps - 15 new levels on “Toki Island” give players plenty of the addictive “tower defense” style that made PixelJunk™ Monsters a cult classic.
  
• Simple But Deep – 15 new levels on “Toki Island” Simple controls PixelJunk Monsters Encore easy to learn. But mastering the challenges of tower upgrade and placement requires deep strategic thinking, leading to hours of addictive gameplay.
  
• Visually Charming – PixelJunk Monsters Encore features a unique hand-drawn art style with 15 new stages and weather effects brought to life in 1080p HD.
  
• Distinctive Music – Features new original music and sound by Japanese ambient techno group Otograph
  
• Online Leaderboards – For tracking both single player and co-op high scores.
  
• Remote Play – PixelJunk Monsters Encore also supports Remote Play for more Monsters on your PSP!
  

Ten game - Deca Sports for Nintendo Wii out now

Kick Off Summer With Ten Complete Sporting Events

Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm for HUDSON SOFT, today announced that DECA SPORTS™, a unique ten-sport game, exclusive to Wii™, is now available at retail for $29.99 SRP. Combining ten sporting events into one game, players can compete in beach volleyball, snowboard cross, badminton, basketball, curling, figure skating, archery, supercross, soccer and kart racing.

“DECA SPORTS has been a highly anticipated title in the minds of the enthusiast media and consumers alike almost immediately from the time we announced it was coming to the U.S. market,” said John Greiner, President of Hudson Entertainment. “With summer on the horizon, we anticipate DECA SPORTS being a popular choice for those looking for a fun-filled Wii experience.”

DECA SPORTS offers an immersive experience for players of any age, motivating them to get off of the couch and up on their feet for hours of entertainment. The game offers a wide variety of sporting events and activities, some rarely seen in a video game. Designed with pick-up-and-play intuitive controls for the Wii Remote™ and in three sports, the Nunchuk, DECA SPORTS also includes advanced controls for power spikes, curls, and mid air tricks for the gamer!

All ten sports support both single and multiplayer modes. Up to 4 players can compete on one system and in several events, co-op on the same team. Single player modes include Open Match, Tournament (one sport competition between eight teams), Deca League (ten sport decathlon between eight teams) and Deca League (time/point based challenge mode). Team and player management is an important aspect of the game as certain players are better at certain sports. In the Deca League mode gamers must maneuver their players through ten sports as well as manage their fatigue levels through the competition. Awards are also a big part of the game, as the Locker Room feature allows players to keep track of their medals and trophies.

Lineage II - The Chaotic Throne - Hellbound 'Fantasy Isle'

Sheath your weapon and chill-out on Hellbound's Fantasy Isle.

Lineage II enjoys its reputation as one of the most hardcore player vs. player (PvP) massively multiplayer online games in the market today, and its die-hard community reflects this in many ways. New players are coming to the game in greater numbers and enjoy the unrestrained gameplay and intense battles, and our recently released 4th Anniversary Edition box awards the loyalty of our long-term veterans with discounted player services. When our passionate players and clans aren’t involved in long-term castle sieges or fortress battles, what do they do to wind down or just want to have some fun?

That’s what Fantasy Isle is for. We recently added the island to the game as a place for players to explore, socialize, and have some fun. Fantasy Isle is a peace zone, where there is no fighting, except in special areas (like the Underground Coliseum), so all characters can enjoy it without worrying about being stabbed n the back (or worse). It’s essentially a giant amusement park.

The first thing you’ll notice upon arrival is that the Isle is completely different from the rest of the lands of Aden and Elmore. The environment is frequently bright and alive with color, featuring a beautiful town, lush fields of grass, jungles, hills and many other interesting places. As you can imagine, Fantasy Isle is not a small reef of land, but a huge island, steeped in its own mysteries and places to visit. The local people and creatures are all rather small and cute, and fit within the happy themes of the island.

In March we held an event to formally open Fantasy Isle, which we called the “Bunny Money” event. Players could travel to the island and hunt for pieces of various treasure sacks, which would contain various random goodies we were giving away. With a special skill you could discover all sorts of treasure chests, featuring Rabbit Transformation Scrolls and a special magic eye that let you see even more hidden treasure chests. This two-week event gave the players a chance to explore the wonders of the island while scrounging for some great stuff, including S-grade armor and shadow Agathion bracelets.

The opening of the island is just the start of what’s coming. For the release of Hellbound two new features were added to Fantasy Isle: the Underground Coliseum and the Monster Parade. Featuring a new type of team-battle PvP (essentially team deathmatch), the Underground Coliseum pits teams of players against each other in a series of matches—the team with the most accumulated kills wins. The winning team moves on to the next match, while the losing one has to sit out or enter in another series. Each team has to consist of at least seven players, and there are four different coliseums, split up by level, and one coliseum for players of all levels. Players can access the coliseums from Fantasy Isle, offering up another fun diversion from the normal style of play (or PvP) that regular Lineage II players know.

The Monster Parade occurs four times a day and is a procession of each type of NPC in the game, making its way through the play area of the Isle. Players will be able to see the wide variety of NPCs throughout Aden and Elmore in one place. Some of the participating monsters and NPCs will also show up at the performance area on Fantasy Isle, where they may partake in some special performances, including circus acts and even talent shows.

Of course, that’s just the beginning of what we have in store for Fantasy Isle, not the end. The Isle lets us hold large special events that all players can enjoy at once in one area, which also is a big plus for us. Bunny Money was just the beginning, and shows a fraction of what we’ll be able to do. Also, to keep with the amusement park-style theme, we’re looking to integrate all sorts of mini-games on the island, to keep the area fun, fresh and vibrant. When you’re on Fantasy Isle, we want you to relax and have some stress-free fun.

60% of Grand Theft Auto IV sales on Xbox 360 Microsoft claim

During the first week of sales of Rockstar's GTA IV Microsoft claim 40 per cent of the games were sold with an Xbox 360.

Microsoft claim a significant sales increase for the Xbox 360 with a 54 per cent jump in purchases.

The console can be bought as a package and this has attracted new buyers with the resultant other title sales pushing the Xbox 360 up the charts.

ChartTrack UK say 514,000 Xbox 360 owners bought Grand Theft Auto IV in the first week, while only 413,000 copies of the game were sold on Sony's PlayStation 3 console.

Microsoft Xbox 540 coming in 2009? Xbox upgrade soon?

With TSMC working on a new Valhalla chip that is looking to be a system builder, and numerous other faster, more reliable GPUs coming to creation, the Xbox 360 may be living out its last days. Already.

read more | digg story

Assault Heroes 2 - Exploding on Xbox LIVE Arcade

"Assault Heroes 2," sequel to the award-winning action extravaganza, "Assault Heroes," ramps up the excitement on Xbox LIVE® Arcade this Wednesday, 14th May at 09.00.

"Assault Heroes 2" reveals that the original enemy in "Assault Heroes" is merely a pawn of a more sinister force, which players must now seek out and destroy. Armed with stronger weaponry and the ability to hi-jack more powerful enemy units, players must prepare to face relentless enemies and outrageous bosses in climactic battles, including an all-out skirmish in outer space.

In the sequel, players can experience the full fury of war outside of the safety of their vehicle with even more intense on-foot gameplay, where increased firepower and the new “dodge roll” feature are necessary to survive. Players can choose to fight alone or battle with a friend using the enhanced two-player cooperative mode. Either way, players will travel through diverse and interactive environments on land and in space to overcome the newest enemy and save mankind.

Where can I get this game from?
Developed by Sierra Online, "Assault Heroes 2" will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points.

More information is available at:
• http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/livearcadexbox360 or www.assaultheroes2.com

UK Music Festival "Give It A Name" Smashes Guitar Hero Guinness World Record As GHIII: Legends of Rock Is Performed On Main Stage In Front Of Over 9,6

Two new Guinness World Record holders were crowned at the Give It A Name Festival, Earls Court, London, last night, as they took to the main stage to play Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock in front of over 9,600 fans.

The previous record for “Largest Audience For A Videogame Performance” was set at the Download Festival, Donington, in 2007, when the game was played in front of 3,000 people – so last night’s performance smashed this three times over.

Members of the public competed on the Atticus clothing stand during the day for the right to claim their place in Guitar Hero history – with Renos Georgiou, 16, and Lyndon Jones, 15, winning the chance to perform on the festival’s main stage ahead of headliner 30 Seconds To Mars.

And Guinness World Records’ records manager Gareth Deaves was on hand to adjudicate and issue Guinness World Record certificates cementing the achievement, giving the duo bragging rights for years to come. Their performance of Guns ‘n Roses’ “Welcome To The Jungle” in Co-Op mode on Expert difficulty will go down in videogame history as the largest audience for a videogame performance to date.

“Seeing two Guitar Hero players, rocking the 9,600 plus people in Earls Court was a genuine jaw-on-the-floor moment, illustrating how far we’ve come as a franchise,” says Ian McClellan, senior brand manager, Guitar Hero. “A few years ago, games were mainly played in bedrooms. Now we’re on the main stage of a massive indoor festival only an hour or so before Jared Leto’s band headlines. It’s incredible.”

“When we launched the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition, we expected some spectacular record attempts – but never imagined we’d see over 9,600 people rocking out to a videogame,” said Gareth Deaves, records manager, Guinness World Record. “It was an amazing spectacle. What’s clear now is that this is a fantastic record to beat – we can’t wait to see where people take it next.”

“I doubt anyone else will enjoy such a meteoric rise to fame,” adds Matt Ash, marketing director, Atticus Clothing. “One minute, Renos and Lyndon were auditioning on the Atticus stand; the next they were playing on stage to over 9,600 people. It made the Arctic Monkeys and Lilly Allen look like proper slowcoaches.”

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 now.

Video Game Review: Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz

With the success of the movie board game Scene It? and it’s exclusive video game on Xbox 360, it was only a matter of time when we’d see a copycat game on another system. Well, thanks to Sony Computer Entertainment of America and it’s hit trivial “Buzz!” games we now have “Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz” for the Playstation 2.

When you first see the display box, the first thing you’ll notice is that it contains four of its own controllers. Each controller has a large red button, much like something you’d see on Family Feud. Bellow that, four small rectangular buttons. Each with it’s own color (blue,orange,green,and yellow). Obviously the goal was to give you a game show feel while playing. Luckily, each controller is connected together to one USB port-meaning you can also play this on the PS3.

When you boot up the game you’ll notice the host looks somewhat like a 3-D Philip from South Park. But less funny and more annoying. A lot like Ryan Seacrest actually. What’s even more upsetting is he’ll say the same thing over and over. Nothing will ever change. This can easily get REALLY annoying. The game in total has seven different rounds with seven different types of games. Some good, and some well…not so good. Here are a few examples:


Faster Finger: Each Contestant studies a photo of either an actor or a scene of a movie. The game will give you four multiple choice answers. The faster you choose the more points you receive. Very meh.

Source: SlashFilm

Gamers skate into action with - Skate It - on Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS

'Skate It' Delivers Popular Flickit Controls and Introduces Support for Wii Balance Board to Deliver Unique Skateboarding Experience

Electronic Arts today announced Skate It, a new game in the award-winning Skate franchise that taps into the heart and soul of being on a skateboard. Designed exclusively for the Wii and Nintendo DS systems, Skate It has Nintendo players riding with the skate pros, owning the best spots in San Vanelona and pulling off the sickest tricks using the popular FlickIt controls. Loaded with all-new gameplay features, Skate It breaks new ground by introducing innovative support for the Wii Balance board which gives players a fresh way to create their own signature skateboarding style.



“We knew it would be an exciting challenge to bring the soul and feel of skateboarding to the Wii and Nintendo DS,” said Scott Blackwood, Executive Producer - Skate franchise. “With fresh new designs and gameplay components built from scratch, we’ve been able to, once again, capture the true experience of skateboarding in a completely innovative way.”

Skate It unleashes the FlickIt revolution on to the Nintendo platforms, letting gamers use the Wii remote or the Nintendo DS stylus to string together their best tricks for the ultimate skate line. The Wii remote becomes a skateboard and reacts to gestures that mirror actual skate flips and moves. Players can also deepen this experience by planting their feet on the Wii Balance board. Skate It brings the hit Skate franchise to a new level of creative ingenuity and gameplay excellence.