Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond joins digital cast of Guitar Hero

Having united forces with rock ‘n’ roll legends Metallica for encore performances and recordings throughout the years, GRAMMY Award-nominated heavy metal vocalist and Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond will take to the cyber-stage with Metallica this spring in Activision Publishing Inc.’s Guitar Hero Metallica.

Fans, stagehands and groupies alike will have the opportunity to shred and drum with or wail as the digital King Diamond during performances of “Evil.” The song, which originally was recorded in 1983 and is one of the Mercyful Fate songs that comprise Metallica’s “Mercyful Fate” medley, was re-recorded by four of the five original band members for Guitar Hero Metallica. The recording session was overseen by guitarist Hank Shermann in the band’s native Denmark; after which King Diamond laid down his vocals in Dallas, Texas, and mixed the song with J.T. Longoria.

“It's been absolutely amazing to be a part of this Guitar Hero experience. It was quite a trip to re-record the song ‘Evil’ almost 25 years after the original recording took place. The end result with four out of the five original musicians turned out so much better than I would ever have hoped for,” said King Diamond. “Seeing my animated character take form was totally eerie in a very good way. It's so strange to see yourself animated in such perfect detail - cross bone microphone, Eye necklace and all. This game looks and sounds METAL all the way. HORNS UP!!!”

“Ride the Lightning” with musical icons Metallica and 21 other rockin’ acts in an all new Guitar Hero experience – Guitar Hero Metallica. Enter the world of Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo and experience the intensity and skill of one of the greatest bands of all time. Shred on the guitar controller, rip on the drum kit controller and wail on the mic to a set list featuring over 45 explosive hits from Metallica’s illustrious career and a wide variety of other legendary artists personally selected by the band, such as Alice In Chains, Bob Seger, Foo Fighters, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Queen. Fans will be able to rock as Metallica while performing in venues reminiscent of the band’s epic album covers, themes from their music and real world locales.

Crimson Gem Saga on PSP PlayStation Portable out in US

Atlus U.S.A., Inc. and SK Telecom today announced their partnership efforts in bringing Crimson Gem Saga, a roleplaying game for PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, to gamers in North America.

The game, a lovingly crafted exploration into the fundamentals of RPG fun, delivers lush hand-drawn visuals, an engaging fantasy tale, and an easy-to-use interface.

"We are very excited to be able to work with Atlus because of their exceptional reputation in the field of localization," stated Mr. Jung Il Lee, Console Development Division Director of IRONNOS.

"We are pleased that our game will be getting the care and attention it deserves, and eagerly look forward to its release into the North American market."

Crimson Gem Saga is scheduled for release on May 26, 2009 with an MSRP of $29.99.

Crimson Gem Saga has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Microsoft responds to Xbox Live denial-of-service attack

Microsoft says Xbox 360 owners affected by denial-of-service attacks should contact their Internet provider, although they're threatening the malicious standard of banning any and all hackers. This is a new front in the war against talented players.


Beating someone over Xbox Live usually results in nothing more than a string of expletives, but some users are reporting that they're now getting kicked off the network by sore losers using a denial-of-service attack, which bombards your Internet connection with bogus data until it drops out.

Source: Ars Technica

Nintendo send out Wii Pikmin plants - they grow on you!

Nintendo sent a message plant to Kotaku Tower today along with a postcard from Pikmin's Captain Olimar to tease the upcoming North American Release of New Play Control! Pikmin.


The plant will, in a week or so, unfurl to reveal a single word. Probably Pikmin!

Source: Kotaku

The cars debut Album now on Rock band Wii music store

Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the addition of eight remaining tracks from The Cars’ self-titled 1978 debut album to the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content for Nintendo Wii home videogame console from Nintendo.

The lineup includes classic rock hits “Good Times Roll,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “I’m in Touch with Your World,” “Don’t Cha Stop,” “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight,” “Bye Bye Love,” “Moving in Stereo” and “All Mixed Up.” “Just What I Needed,” also featured on The Cars album, was released to the Rock Band Wii music catalog in January.

This week’s offering comes from the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content already released to owners of Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system. Wii fans can expect a rollout of the previously released downloadable content until the entire back catalogue of more than 570 songs is available. In addition, the regularly scheduled future DLC releases for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 system will also be available for Rock Band 2 Wii owners soon.

Release Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tracks: The Cars Good Times Roll
The Cars My Best Friend’s Girl
The Cars I’m in Touch with Your World
The Cars Don’t Cha Stop
The Cars You’re All I’ve Got Tonight
The Cars Bye Bye Love
The Cars Moving in Stereo
The Cars All Mixed Up

(All tracks are original master recordings)

Price: $2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track

Location: In-game Rock Band 2 Music Store
(Wii Points must be through the Nintendo Wii Shop Channel)

Chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Dark Xbox Live and PlayStation demos in March

Chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Dark out April 7 in Us and April 24th in Europe

Featuring the brand new full-length ‘Assault on Dark Athena’ campaign, an HD remake of the classic ‘Escape from Butcher Bay’ and multiplayer options including the unique Pitch Black mode all on one disk The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will deliver an incredibly rich experience to gamers following its worldwide release this coming April.

Renowned developer Starbreeze Studios has effectively combined stealth, vicious hand-to-hand combat and ferocious gunplay in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, creating an irresistible game with something for all fans of action gaming. With playable demos coming in March to both Xbox Live® and PLAYSTATION® Network, fans won’t have to wait long to take their first steps as the galaxy’s most notorious bad-ass, Riddick.
Featuring the brand new full-length ‘Assault on Dark Athena’ campaign, an HD remake of the classic ‘Escape from Butcher Bay’ and multiplayer options including the unique Pitch Black mode all on one disk, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will deliver an incredibly rich experience to gamers following its worldwide release this coming April.

Renowned developer Starbreeze Studios has effectively combined stealth, vicious hand-to-hand combat and ferocious gunplay in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, creating an irresistible game with something for all fans of action gaming. With playable demos coming in March to both Xbox Live and PLAYSTATION Network, fans won’t have to wait long to take their first steps as the galaxy’s most notorious bad-ass, Riddick.

Xbox Live and PLAYSTATION Network Demos Coming March, Official Website Now Live

Featuring the brand new full-length ‘Assault on Dark Athena’ campaign, an HD remake of the classic ‘Escape from Butcher Bay’ and multiplayer options including the unique Pitch Black mode all on one disk, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will deliver an incredibly rich experience to gamers following its worldwide release this coming April.

Renowned developer Starbreeze Studios has effectively combined stealth, vicious hand-to-hand combat and ferocious gunplay in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, creating an irresistible game with something for all fans of action gaming. With playable demos coming in March to both Xbox Live and PLAYSTATION Network, fans won’t have to wait long to take their first steps as the galaxy’s most notorious bad-ass, Riddick.

Age of Conan video game for Russia and Poland

Age of Conan launches in Russia and Poland

The third best-selling US PC title of 2008 now available in six languages, with Korea to come

Funcom is proud to announce that Age of Conan has launched in Russia, and Poland. As the game gets ready for full service in two new languages, Funcom has seen a clear trend towards strengthened feedback from the current player community, which praises the many improvements to the game.

The Russian and Polish versions of Age of Conan mark the first time Funcom works directly with an external publisher who take care of all service aspects related to the running of a MMO. The partners 1C and CD Projekt are responsible for localization, customer service and community management, as well as sales and marketing.

“Eastern Europe is quickly becoming one of the most important markets for massive online games, and it will be a continued focus for Funcom to strengthen our presence there. Together with our partners we will therefore focus on making the game a success for many years to come,” says Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. “Since we launched Age of Conan last year, the game has taken large strides. This means that all new customers get a fuller Conan experience and nothing pleases us more.”

Launched in May last year, ‘Age of Conan’ quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1,2 million copies around the world. In North America, the most prominent online gaming market in the west, Age of Conan became the third best-selling PC title of 2008, only beaten by ‘World of Warcraft’ and ‘Spore’. In the weeks after launch, Age of Conan simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, even in some all-format lists. This showed the enormous marked demand for brutal, barbaric MMO fun. This was further highlighted by the 15 million unique visitors to the Age of Conan website during 2008.

After having lower customer retention than anticipated in 2008, Funcom is now seeing a distinct turn of events when it comes to Age of Conan. Not only has the company seen a significant improvement in subscription retention, the trend is also that the players spends more time in-game. As a result Funcom continues to invest heavily in the game, and currently more than 120 people are working on adding new content.

Funcom sees that the challenges from 2008 are now turning into positive opportunities going forward, and the many content updates since launch have resulted in a better gaming experience. This is evident not only from the feedback in Eastern Europe, but also through the current word of mouth among the many active players of the game.

With launch in new markets, an upcoming expansion pack, consistent content updates and numerous marketing initiatives Funcom is excited about the outlook for Age of Conan.

For more information on the local Russian version of ‘Age of Conan’ please visit http://ageofconan.1c.ru/
For more information on the local Polish version of ‘Age of Conan’ please visit http://www.aoc2009.pl/

House of the Dead: Overkill soundtrack - Plus Online poster creator

PitStop Productions receive critical acclaim for their House of the Dead: Overkill soundtrack

Online poster creator site

A game’s sound doesn’t often grab the headlines, but with the release of the SEGA blockbuster, House of the Dead: Overkill, PitStop Productions have placed themselves firmly in the top tier of Game Audio. The developer, Headstrong Games approached PitStop to provide script development, sound design and voice production for the zombie gore-fest. The results speak for themselves:

“..brilliant writing and voice acting”
Gamespot

“And the music is fabulous, surely a soundtrack of the year candidate; note-perfect parodies of vintage funk and rockabilly, with thumping, dirty electro remixes for the boss battles.”
Eurogamer

“Sound: 10/10 - The voice work is hilarious and the music is an orgasm for the ears”
Cubed3

“Because we were asked to produce the script as well as the music voice and sound design for House of the Dead, we were able to make sure that the audio was an integrated part of the game – the feel of the music, the voices, the sound design, they all fit together.”
John Sanderson
Managing Director

So what makes Pit Stop so different? Fresh thinking. Without the overheads of large central London facilities, Pit Stop are able to provide top quality assets at realistic prices. With two in-house composers, and experience ranging from west end musicals to chart topping dance tunes Pit Stop are the UK’s leading provider of bespoke, royalty free music. Because Pit Stop’s composers are not affiliated to the MCPS/PRS alliance, when you buy music from Pit Stop, you own it – to use however you like.

Whatever the project, PitStop take the same pride and attention to detail on every element – from the smallest sound effect to the provision of a full set of audio assets. It’s an approach that has meant that within the last 12 months, Pit Stop has been chosen for projects with SEGA, Sony, Codemasters, Microsoft, Kuju, Rockstar, Climax, Empire, Team 17, Gamerholix, and Blitz.

New website for Dokapon Journey - Nintendo DS video game

Check out the website and trailer to learn more about this friendship-destroying RPG-board game
Atlus U.S.A., Inc. today launched the website (www.atlus.com/dokaponjourney) and trailer for Dokapon Journey for Nintendo DS. Brave adventurers in search of fame and fortune are invited to hit the road... literally. In this RPG-board game, monsters have invaded the Kingdom of Dokapon, and the King has offered his throne and the hand of his daughter to any challenger who would rise to the occasion and save the land. Alas, that kind of offer is bound to attract some very over-determined adventurers...

Alone against devilish AI, or together with up to three of your friends via single- or multi-card local wireless play, sign up to save the Kingdom and win the throne. Just make sure to sabotage the competition at every chance you get!

Dokapon Journey is currently scheduled for release on April 14, 2009 with an MSRP of $29.99.

For more information, please visit the website www.atlus.com/dokaponjourney.

Gel set and match brings Wiggle and Wobble Puzzler to Xbox Live

Unique Puzzle-Action Hybrid Offers Competitive and Cooperative Online Play

Gastronaut Studios LLC, the award-winning developer of video games for Xbox LIVE Arcade, today unveiled its latest title "Gel: Set & Match", featuring character-based puzzle-action gameplay.

With goopy grace and colorful characters, "Gel" delivers a novel experience that mingles brain-bending puzzles with intense side-scrolling action. Players control kooky, customizable characters to compete or cooperate for points by matching four or more wiggly, wobbly colored blocks. When blocks are matched, they dissolve. Tossing melting blocks into other blocks creates chain reactions for even bigger bonuses.

"Gel" offers three distinct game modes in which to raise a ruckus. In Puzzle Mode, players tackle challenges designed to test their mettle. In Action Mode, players rush to defend a tank by clearing debris from the field. In Battle Mode, players engage in arena combat, armed only with a will to survive... and exploding, gelatinous bombs. Each mode provides online competitive and cooperative play over Xbox LIVE.

"'Gel' is the spiritual successor to our first game 'Fuzzee Fever' which launched on the original Xbox in November 2004," said Don Wurster, co-director at Gastronaut Studios. "We've wanted to give fans and uninitiated millions of Xbox LIVE members a chance to enjoy that game today, with a load of improvements, modes, and new ways to play over Xbox LIVE."

"Gel: Set & Match" is rated "E" (Everyone) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) for Animated Blood and Comic Mischief.

NeoFun Games Portal Begins Website Renewal

Free Online Games Portal starts its renewal to become a total community site for gamers.

Lizard Interactive’s Free to play games portal NeoFun begins its renewal process to improve and strengthen the community features. It is a first step of a long-term project carefully planned.

NeoFun has officially opened last October, 2009 to serve as a one stop portal where gamers can enjoy various genres of free to play games. The plan Lizard Interactive is drawing for NeoFun consists of two phases. The first phase is to have a strong line up of free online games. It now has line up of 3 MMORPGs, 1 Casual MMO and has plan to service web-based mini games of Frosmo in the first quarter 2009. With Forum and Support feature renewed last February 19, Neofun is now at its development phase to provide strong community features.
Some of the community features being developed are UCC, Mini blogs, and more. Details of all the features to be added are not yet to be announced, but Lizard Interactive is confident that NeoFun will be the ultimate playground for gamers which will satisfy all the needs of what gamers ever hoped for.

For further information, please visit the website, NeoFun. Always fun and always new.

Cronous - Limited Item Packages Ready for Its Update!

Cronous Item Shop is coming up with new limited and upgraded items!

Cronous, a popular MMORPG developed and published by Lizard Interactive, is preparing limited and upgraded cash items to be sold in its Item Shop.

Starting next week, two Package items will be sold only for two week. First limited edition package Blessing of God 1.8 Package contains 1.8 times EXP, 4 types of weapon enhancement, a 30-day avatar items and the second package item contains Double EXP instead of 1.8 and better enhancement items.

Widely loved cash item also returns next week. New Premium Dice is a random item-generating item that, if you are lucky, you can get a rare item without farming or completing series quests for it. Premium Dice offers armors for 105 level Masters, New Growth Weapons, 4th Hover Weapons and more.

For further information, please visit the website Cronous.