LifeSigns: Surgical Unit for Nintendo DS

DreamCatcher Inc. of the JoWooD Group, a leading worldwide publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software, today announced that LifeSigns: Surgical Unit for the Nintendo DS has shipped to retail stores. Find out what it is really like to examine, diagnose and operate on patients as you live the exciting life of a young, motivated doctor in this medical simulation title. LifeSigns: Surgical Unit will sell for a suggested retail price of $29.99 USD.

It’s a matter of life and death in this unique and exciting adventure game where players will strive to become a top-notch intern at one of the country’s best hospitals. As though you were a real doctor, you will be continuously confronted with medical emergencies and personnel issues that require your immediate attention. Communicate and interact with patients, nurses and other doctors in this dramatic medical simulation game where you are the doctor on call! With the unique features of the Nintendo DS, you will use authentic medical techniques and instruments to take pulse rates, make incisions and much more. Experience the medical drama of LifeSigns: Surgical Unit for yourself!

LifeSigns: Surgical Unit is developed by Spike with an ESRB Rating of T for Teen.

Kevin Pietersen endorses 10th year of International Cricket Captain III

10 years at the top for International Cricket captain

Empire are delighted to announce 10 years at the top of the Cricket Strategy league with International Cricket Captain - The world’s most popular cricket management game.

The world’s No. 1 selling cricket management series is endorsed by Hampshire and England hero, KEVIN PIETERSEN. “The games are made by cricket fans for cricket fans. They love the game and it shows,” said Kevin Pietersen MBE.

As the international cricket calendar continues around the world, with England’s tour of Sri Lanka soon to start; plus Pakistan, India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies all in action over the coming weeks, Empire is launching the world’s favourite cricket strategy simulation management game onto new formats for 2007-2008.

“Only International Cricket Captain feels like you are managing tactics and influencing performance of real players in the game of cricket before, during and after each match throughout the domestic and international season”, said Rob Noble Empire Marketing Manager.

The new version of International Cricket Captain also includes the following updates for 2007- 2008.
- Brand new 3D game engine
- Fully motion captured animations; the game captures the essence of watching the match on TV.
- New Ball Tracker instant replays reflect the televisual style
- New PS2 console and PSP versions for the first time
- New commentary from Test Match Special’s Jonathan Agnew

New formats. More choice. Improved quality
- Familiar PC version - Still Cricket Captain as current players know and love
- User interface and game engine brought up-to-date for 2007
- More decision making control during the match and newly modelled environments
- Consumer demand for more realistic visual representation

Who will be interested in the game?
It’s not just English cricket fans who are waiting for their chance to take on the world. Cricket fans from all the test playing nations will pick up International Cricket Captain because you can choose to be captain of any country, not just England. This is another new feature of Cricket Captain III.

The PC version arrived in the shops in July 2007, but new formats are now available.

Now new gaming audiences can captain their way to the top of World cricket. The game is available for the first time on PS2 console and PSP hand held.
– PS2 players for the all new fully motion captured player animations, 3D highlights engine and Tracker Cam all wrapped in TV presentation style. Available on PlayStation 2 for first time.
– PSP players for the short form games like Twenty20 and two player matches over WiFi connections. First time on a handheld.

What’s it like to play and what can you do?
International Cricket Captain allows you to manage tactics and influence performance of real players in the game of cricket before, during and after each match throughout the domestic and international seasons.

Everything that you could affect as a captain; from team selection, coaching, nurturing young talent and making the vital decisions in the match can make the difference between a great winning team and a poor season.

Take charge of a domestic or international team and steer them to victory through every match of the season.

You control all aspects of the team’s progress; from transfers, team selection and training, to detailed match tactics.

Choose your bowlers, plan their line of attack, set their fields and then watch the highlights to see if you get that vital breakthrough.

Ask your batsmen to make hay while the sun shines or defend through the fading light.

Match Modes
- Exhibition Match: go straight into a one off match with two international teams in either T20 or a One Day International (ODI) match
- Match Series: create a Test or One Day series of your choice with any two international teams
- County & International Career: captain both the county team of your choice and international team from the start of the game
- World Cup Series: replay the World Cup tournament in the West Indies or choose from historical World Cups

PS2
All the action comes to you with TV style replays in the all new 3D highlights. Fully motion captured animations, Ball Tracker cam analysis and all the tension, stress and pressure of coaching your team to ultimate success. Are you up for the challenge?

PSP
Get the action underway with specially created short forms of the game in exhibition matches, like 20/20 presented in TV style replays to get into International Cricket Captain on-the-go. Pick up, play, win. Are you up for the challenge?

Genre: Sports strategy management
Players: PS2 1/2, PSP 1/Wireless, (PC 1/2/Network)
Launch date: 16 Nov 2007
Formats: PlayStation 2, PSP, (PC CD-ROM released July 2007)
Publisher: Empire Interactive
Developer: Childish Things / Atomic Planet
Rating: PEGI rating 3+
SRP: £19.99

Tony Hawk's £1000 prize

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, out 2nd November, is available on X360, PS2, PS3, Wii and DS.

Every skater has a different story. In Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, you have the freedom to create yours. Experience a Tony Hawk game that lets you create and share your own lifestyle, where the choices you make impact how your character develops and the story unfolds. Take the risks, face the challenges and reap the rewards.

But that's not all! Grind on over to the official Tony Hawk Proving Ground You Tube channel and tell us your skate stories for a chance to win a £1000 cash. The options are limitless, just be totally creative - get out there with your phone or video camera and create your story for a chance to win £1000 cash.

To enter simply upload your video to the Tony Hawk Proving Ground Group at http://www.youtube.com/group/thpg. We will then approve your movie and post it here.
The movie with the most views by 31st December 2007 wins £1000 cash, Quicksilver and Vans gear, a console and a copy of the game. The next 5 most viewed get Quicksilver and Vans gear and a copy of the game plus we have 50 games for the next top 50 viewed.

Just remember there are some crazy ass moves in the game so don't try this at home, plus don't use any licensed music, brands and games (we won't mention any names).

Every skater has a story. Create yours.

PS3 closing gap on Japanese Wii sales

The Nintendo Wii is still outselling the PlayStation 3 by 2-to-1 in Japan, although the gap between the rival formats has closed for the fourth consecutive month.

The latest figures released by Enterbrain and reported by Reuters show that Nintendo shifted 110,415 units in the four weeks to October 28, while Sony sold 47,183 PlayStation 3 units.

Microsoft continues to struggle in the region, with sales of the Xbox 360 reaching 18,717 units for the same period.

Maybe due to short supply - see post below...

Midway blames Wii shortages for slow software roll-out

Midway has has said that manufacturing delays of Nintendo's Wii has had a direct effect on the company's roll-out of software to support the machine.

In a conference call following the release of the company's Q3 financial results, vice president of publishing Miguel Iribarren said that products for the busy Christmas period have had longer lead times than necessary

"The demand for Wii product has put a pretty big strain on Nintendo's production capacity, and that has in turn, for us, turned into longer lead times for some of our Wii products," commented Iribarren.

"And that, during the holidays – given product coming out in a short timeframe – has resulted, for us, in reduced ability to get product to shelves."

In the same call the publisher admitted that it had faced some technical issues with its first products for PlayStation 3 – including the best-selling Stranglehold – but that it was now over any architecture problems.

"We ran into some technical issues developing for the PlayStation 3 that have taken more time to finalise than we expected," admitted David Zucker, CEO of Midway.

"We do believe these technical issues are now complete at a core level in our engine," added Zucker, and that he expects all SKUs of multiformat titles to ship "day and date."

Source: Games Industry

DDR Dances on to Nintendo Wii

The Dance, Dance Revolution series, which challenges energetic dancers to tap their toes on a dance mat to the beat of popular music, has been solid gold for Konami. Numerous DDR titles exist and a new one with a different array of tunes seems to come out every few months.

Newest on the scene is Hottest Party, the first DDR game to boogie onto the Nintendo Wii's virtual dance floor. Unlike other versions of the game, the Wii waltz requires players to move their hands as well as their feet to match the visual clues that pop up on the screen. But it doesn't add much to the experience because the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers are used to capture only basic left and right movements.

The single-player Groove Circuit mode plops a competitor in a series of discos where they must outperform computer dancers to advance. Workout mode encourages gamers to - horror of horrors - break a sweat by dancing until a certain number of calories are burned.

PS3 network enters record books

A project that harnesses the spare processing power of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) to help understand the cause of diseases has entered the record books.

Guinness World Records has recognised folding@home (FAH) as the world's most powerful distributed computing network.

FAH has signed up nearly 700,000 PS3s to examine how the shape of proteins affect diseases such as Alzheimer's.

The network has more than one petaflop of computing power - the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second.

More from the BBC

QUAKE Wars games announced

9-Week Game Night/Ladder at 50+ Intel Program Centers $5,000 in Cash Prizes in the Balance, Including 2 Weekly Drawings for All Participants

iGames, the world’s leading game centre organization, today announced Xtreme Quest $5K Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Presented by Intel, a 9-week series of Game Nights and special competitions, beginning Thursday, November 1. The series will showcase id Software’s critically acclaimed team-based multiplayer in a variety of different contexts for gamers of all skill levels, from hardcore competitors to more casual players.

Format:

• 6v6 Ladder: One week of preseason; five weeks of regular ladder play, followed by a, 3- week post-season tournament.

• Weekly Match Play: Intel and Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars to be the featured sponsor and game on Thursday night each week with players having the opportunity to participate for 3-4 hours on that night. Match results will be entered into an ongoing ranking system that provides points for both winning as well as just participating. Players play as much as possible to accumulate ranking points with the goal of earning one of the coveted “top 8” slots for post season play.

Prizes:

• 1st Place (team total) - $1,000

• 2nd Place (team total) - $750

• 3rd Place (team total) - $600

• 4th Place (team total) - $450

• 5th-6th Place (team total) - $300

• 7th-8th Place (team total) - $150

In addition, there will also be 2 weekly drawing prizes of $50 for all participants.

For registration and rules, along with the event schedule and complete list of participating iGames centers, visit www.igames.org/xtremequest/ or contact the iGames events team at Events.

FINAL FANTASY & FINAL FANTASY II on PSP

Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of Square Enix interactive entertainment products in Europe and other PAL territories, today announces that FINAL FANTASY and FINAL FANTASY II will be released separately in the UK and across all PAL territories in early 2008 on the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system.

Experience the classic gameplay, captivating storylines and unforgettable characters that gave birth to the FINAL FANTASY phenomenon. Completely re-mastered exclusively for PSP, FINAL FANTASY and FINAL FANTASY II are the definitive versions of the games that established the biggest RPG brand in the world.

These new editions feature redrawn graphics and character art, exclusive all-new dungeons, full 16:9 widescreen visuals and an updated camera view that gives players a new perspective on these two timeless classics that defined the RPG genre.

John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Ltd. comments, “FINAL FANTASY and FINAL FANTASY II are the foundations of the Square Enix success story. They are the first two steps in the long and distinguished history of the FINAL FANTASY franchise. With these beautiful new versions, fans can now experience the origins of FINAL FANTASY wherever they go.”

About FINAL FANTASY

Story

The tale begins when four young warriors, each possessing a crystal, are summoned to restore the world’s harmonious elemental balance. During their voyage, they discover a nefarious entity has created turmoil in the structure of time in order to take control of the world, causing the heroes to travel to places they never imagined possible.

Features

• The ultimate edition of the game that gave birth to a phenomenon.
• The original game in the amazing FINAL FANTASY series that has sold over 75 million copies worldwide now returns in completely re-mastered form, exclusively for PSP.
• Redrawn graphics and enhanced sound capitalise on the PSP’s impressive audiovisual capabilities.
• Featuring an all-new dungeon, the Labyrinth of Time.
• Art Gallery mode allows you to view the stunning artwork of leading illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.

About FINAL FANTASY II

Story

A malevolent emperor has called upon monsters from a demonic realm to take over the world, ending what seemed to be an eternal period of peace. From the destruction rise four young survivors who will take it upon themselves to stop the merciless ruler and avenge the death of their parents.

Features

• Redrawn graphics and enhanced sound capitalise on the PSP’s impressive audiovisual capabilities.
• Featuring two all-new dungeons: Arcane Labyrinth and Arcane Sanctuary.
• Find and use new equipment, battle new enemies and defeat a new boss, all exclusive to the PSP version.
• Art Gallery mode allows you to view the stunning artwork of leading illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.

Turok to launch on PC

Touchstone Announces Re-Imagined Story-Driven First Person Shooter To Be Released On Windows PC In Spring 2008

Turok, the epic, sci-fi first person shooter, will be released in spring 2008 for Windows PC, Touchstone announced today. Touchstone previously announced that Turok, one of next year’s most anticipated games, will be available for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system. Developed by Propaganda Games, Turok for consoles will be available at retail stores on February 8th, 2008.

“First person shooters have a rich history on the Windows PC platform and are known for having enthusiastic, dedicated fans,” said Josh Holmes, vice president and general manager, Propaganda Games. “Turok will be an unforgettable experience ideal for the Windows PC platform when it becomes available in 2008.”

Turok is an epic, story-driven first-person shooter set on a dark, mysterious planet in the future. Players take on the role of Joseph Turok, a former black ops commando, now part of an elite special forces squad, known as Whiskey Company, which is on a mission to take down a war criminal – Turok’s former mentor, Roland Kane. Set on a planet inhabited by Kane and his Mendel-Gruman Corporation soldiers, Turok must use his elite military training to elude Kane’s well-trained army and the ravenous, unpredictable dinosaurs, huge insects and other massive creatures that populate the environment.

Brought to Windows PC by Aspyr Studios, Turok will feature an engaging, story-driven single player experience and multiplayer modes for up to 16 players per game

Turok is rated M for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

For more information about Turok, log on to www.turok.com.