Pet Pals: Animal Doctor - For The Nintendo DS

New Game Incorporates Medical Cases from Real Veterinarians

Majesco Entertainment, an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced Pet Pals: Animal Doctor for the Nintendo DS™. Developed by Legacy Interactive and Frontline Studios, Pet Pals: Animal Doctor invites players to step into the challenging world of veterinary medicine as they diagnose and treat 30 different medical cases created by real-life veterinarians.

“Millions of people are pet owners but few have in-depth knowledge of the behind-the-scenes care required to keep our beloved animals healthy,” said Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco. “Pet Pals: Animal Doctor is a fun, challenging game that will give DS owners a better understanding of veterinary medicine as they treat animals via realistic Touch Screen procedures.”

In Pet Pals: Animal Doctor, players will learn the techniques required to diagnose and treat 23 different lovable pets, including a Yorkshire terrier, python, turtle, parakeet, rabbit, Siamese cat and hamster. To do so, players must successfully administer more than 40 Touch Screen tests while interacting with stressed patients and concerned pet owners. Thirty different medical cases, from hairballs to infections to broken bones, were created by real veterinarians and lend authenticity to the game play. After treatment, players can feed, clean and play with their patients in the Recovery Room to help improve each animal’s spirits as it heals.

Pet Pals: Animal Doctor will launch in early 2008 for a suggested retail price of $19.99. For additional information on this game as well as Majesco’s exciting line of products, please visit www.majescoentertainment.com.

TimeShiftTM Xbox 360 Demo Available On November 14

Sierra Entertainment announced today that a multiplayer demo for TimeShift™ will be available via Xbox Live® download.

Developed by Saber Interactive and published by Sierra Entertainment, TimeShift is a first-person shooter (FPS) video game that allows players to master the flow of time, to become the ultimate weapon in war-torn environments. Armed with the experimental time-manipulating Beta Suit and a huge arsenal of weaponry and vehicles, players have the ability to slow, stop and reverse the flow of time, allowing them to control several aspects of each battle sequence. Intuitive time controls give the player the ultimate advantage in avoiding attacks, correcting mistakes and outsmarting the enemy.

With a comprehensive online 16-player multiplayer mode, featuring time grenades, 14 different maps and over 40 different features, TimeShift gears itself to the players' unique style of gameplay by allowing matches to be completely customizable. Players can battle it out in a tight, well-balanced multiplayer experience that implements several aspects of the time-manipulating gameplay element found in the single-player campaign.

TimeShift has an ESRB "M" for Mature rating. For more information, please visit the game's official website at www.timeshiftgame.com.

Release Of The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack

FROM THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCH IN HISTORY, COMES THE MOST ANTICIPATED VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK OF THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Sumthing Else Music Works, Inc., through its licensing relationship with Microsoft Game Studios, proudly presents Halo® 3 Original Soundtrack. The highly anticipated original soundtrack comes in a 2-CD set featuring the game’s original music score and will be released on November 20th to US retail outlets through Nile Rodgers’ Sumthing Else Music Works label www.sumthing.com and via digital download at Sumthing Digital www.sumthingdigital.com.

Halo 3 is the conclusion to the epic trilogy and picks up where Halo 2 left off, answering questions about the fates of the beloved protagonist Master Chief™ and his artificial intelligence sidekick Cortana as they struggle to save humankind from destruction at the hands of the alien coalition known as the Covenant.

The official Halo 3 Original Soundtrack features the new symphonic compositions by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, the award-winning composers behind the best-selling Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 Volume One and Halo 2 Volume Two soundtracks. In addition to new original tracks written for the Halo 3 video game, the Halo 3 Original Soundtrack also includes new arrangements of the game’s musical themes that Bungie’s audio director and composer Martin O’Donnell recorded with a full live orchestra and chorus. The 2-CD set amounts to two hours of original music from the game Halo 3.

Developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios, the critically acclaimed Xbox 360® exclusive, which was released worldwide on Tuesday, Sept. 25, is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history. The Xbox 360 title beat previous U.S. sales records set by blockbuster openings for entertainment events such as the release of “Spider-Man 3” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” Halo 3 was released in 37 countries and 17 languages. To date, more than 20 million copies of the games in the Halo trilogy have been sold worldwide. For more information visit www.halo3.com.

Game animator masters art of fun

Roberta Browne says she grew up on "a steady diet of Looney Tunes cartoons and 'The Wonderful World of Disney.' " All her spare time in high school was spent drawing cartoon characters.

After getting a commercial-illustration degree at Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, she tried her hand at freelance illustration for two years and wound up earning the bulk of her income by waitressing and bartending.

Feeling off her game, she returned to school for animation and, upon graduating, landed her first job as an animator. A decade later, Browne joined Bungie Studios in Kirkland last May, where she works as a lead animator, a job that involves everything from 3-D software to brainstorming sessions to pratfalls.

Q. How did you land your first game animation gig?

A. I studied animation at Sheridan College in Ontario. Every year the school would hold an open house to showcase the work of the graduating students. There was usually a big industry presence, with representatives ranging from small post-production shops to big movie houses to game companies from both Canada and the United States.

After graduation, I got a job at a small post-production house in Toronto, creating animations and effects for TV shows.

I was contacted a few months later by Broderbund, a game company in the San Francisco area. One of their lead animators had attended the open house and seen my reel. I have to admit, the initial draw of living in California overshadowed the opportunity to work in games. I wasn't sure what was involved in being a game animator but thought I could figure it out. What I discovered is it is an exciting, challenging and extremely rewarding job.

I worked at a couple of California game companies before moving to Seattle in 2003. Over the years, I worked my way through the ranks, starting as an animator, working up to senior animator and then finally to lead animator. I have worked on seven released games as well as a few prototypes that did not make it to market. Some of the more notable are "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (Xbox), "Shadowrun" (Xbox 360/Vista) and, of course, "Halo 3."

Q. What does a lead animator do?

A. My role has changed from creating animation content to managing. I oversee a team of five animators. Most of my time is spent planning, problem-solving, coordinating with other functional groups and working with the animation team to ensure they have everything they need to create animation content.

I participate in [their] reviews of content so far, brainstorming and acting sessions. Acting sessions involve falling onto mats, jumping, punching and so on. We hand-animate, so there's no motion-capture technology involved. We're old school in that regard.

I try to get in a bit of animation here and there but it is very limited. It was an interesting transition from creating animation to helping others create. animation.

Q. What software does your team use?

A. Maya, a 3-D application produced by Autodesk. There is a wide variety of software packages and many offer free downloadable learning versions. It is more important to learn the basic animation principles, rather than becoming an expert on one software package. But it's a good idea for people interested in computer animation to take a look at the various learning editions available.

Q. How does game animation differ from film animation?

A. With games, animators create a bunch of smaller pieces of content that are then combined in the game engine. In film, animators work on shots or scenes and animate all the motion from start to finish. So a game animator needs to collaborate with other disciplines. That's what I love — it takes art, design and engineering working together to fully realize and bring a game character to life.

Q. What's the Bungie office like?

A. The studio has an open floor plan. Each group has its own unique work style, with some preferring to work in silence and others, such as the animators, requiring creative bursts of energy to get inspired. And while there may be the odd outbreak of "inspirational shenanigans," everyone here is extremely passionate about their job and the games we make.

Q. What hours do you keep?

A. That depends on where we are in the production cycle. On average, a cycle ranges from two to three years.

During preproduction and early production, hours are pretty normal. For me, normal is 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., give or take an hour. This changes as you get close to shipping a product.

Making games is such an organic process. No matter how much you plan, there is always the feeling there is more work to do than time available. You still want to make sure you have time to spend with family and friends, but at the same time you want to work as much as you can to make the game as good as possible.

Q. Are you a gamer yourself?

A. I play games outside of work, about three to five hours a week. But I do not consider myself an avid gamer. My passion lies with animation and bringing characters to life. A lot of my free time is spent taking figure-drawing and figure-sculpting classes. This keeps my observational eye sharp.

Q. What advice can you offer hopeful animators?

A. There are so many schools offering animation courses. My advice is, put your focus on learning how to animate. Many schools focus more on teaching different software, and it is fairly easy to get a character to move around. But to have that character act and emote is the real trick.

Look for the schools that offer training in animation principles and acting. Having a solid understanding of the basic principles of animation and acting is the key to being a successful animator.

If you enjoy [computer] games, then play them! Knowing what both looks good and feels good from a game-play point of view is very beneficial for a game animator.

Ultimately, people are going to buy a game because it is fun, not because it has the most amazing animation.

Can a new 'face training' computer game really take years off you?

A new and bizarre beauty treatment is about to hit us in the face - not with a bang, but with a beep-beep-beep.
The computer games company Nintendo, purveyors of Super Mario Brothers and Streets Of Rage 3, has invented a dinky little facial - exercise computer game called Face Training.

Face Training promises that far from sitting slack-jawed in front of your gaming console and drooling, it will, if you spend ten minutes a day playing, give you a kissable face.

"Through a camera and a series of daily exercises the computer helps improve facial muscle tone, improving your appearance," claims Nintendo.

Computer games that make you photogenic are a great idea. But do they actually work?

Face Training isn't available in the UK yet, but it is out in the land of hyper-electronics, Japan, and will apparently be available here before Christmas.

So in the meantime, Nintendo lends me a prototype and I beg my Japanese-speaking friend Paul to translate the instructions.

When it arrives, I open it curiously. The console is a black plastic rectangle, about the size of a Prada wallet. Welcome to the future of beauty, ye uglies.

I switch it on. The console twinkles and starts playing sleazy 1970s music. On the left-hand screen a cartoon head appears and starts talking Japanese; on the right screen a real head and body appear.

The body is wearing a blue top and blue shorts and she has very defined collarbones, possibly because women stuck in games consoles don't eat carbohydrates.

She looks a bit like Posh Spice and I am supposed to follow her movements.

Little coloured buttons float around her, which I have to press with an electronic pen to navigate the system, choosing either a face or body warm-up.

It is very strange, the sort of workout you can imagine Ripley doing in Alien, alone on a vast space ship light years away.

I'm not sure if I feel incredibly post-modern, or incredibly stupid, taking orders from a miniature cartoon woman.

Now, she wants me to do a body warm-up. She rolls her head from side to side in one direction, and the other urges me on in a soothing Japanese voice.

I roll my head around, a slave to the cartoon, holding my DS console and pen, which makes my palms itch slightly.

Then I roll my head in the other direction, move my shoulders up to my ears, and sit in the lotus position, holding my palms upwards in my lap.

Next, I drop the console, and, with the aid of my friend Paul's exhaustive notes, I begin Face Training properly.

The Posh Spice lookalike closes her eyes slowly, down into the "calm" position and I follow her.

This is bizarre - I am working harder to follow the instructions than I am working to "train" my face.

Red down-pointing arrows appear on her cartoon eyes - a bit like wounds - to remind me that I should be closing my eyes.

Her eyes then open slowly (I only realise this because I sneak a look and see that the red arrows are now pointing upwards) and settle into the "surprised" position.

Next we roll our eyeballs together, to the left and the right - I hope no one can see me do this - and then on to our first mouth exercise.

A word of warning: do not do this in public unless you want the men in white coats to confiscate your DS console.

The cartoon pushes her mouth sideways and upwards to the right, as if she is trying to touch her cheekbone with her lips.

Then she opens her mouth very wide into a Disney heroine smile, which falls into a frightening grimace.

Next a sweet 'O' and she opens her eyes very wide.

More twinkling music plays and she disappears. My head now appears on the screen instead, courtesy of the tiny camera attached to the console (ugh!).

Unfortunately, I have to watch myself do this - although ubiquitous cartoon woman is now on the other side, demonstrating.

And somehow, I seem to have gone to a higher level, because the exercises are more challenging.

Using the red arrows, the cartoon orders me to close just one eye, then the other, and then to swivel my eyeballs around. It hurts.

We move on to mouth manipulation - up to left, up to right then open wide into an open smile, as if to receive a large slice of pie.

And that seems to be it for today.

The computer will store every movement I make and put it into a computerised calendar so I can plot future workouts and know exactly how many times I opened and closed my eyes and made "O" shapes with my lips on any given day.

The cartoon congratulates me in Japanese and disappears.

I observe my face - it looks exactly the same, perhaps slightly angrier.

Using the pen, I explore the programme, looking for more challenging exercises. I find one where the cartoon sticks her tongue out at me. I retaliate and do the same.

Another seems to want me to push my right nostril up towards my eye. Perhaps this event will make it into the Olympics in 2012.

Roll eyeballs up! Roll eyeballs down! Roll eyeballs north-east! Roll eyeballs north-west! Take the gold medal!

Cartoon woman now resembles Michael Myers from the film Halloween, after being captured by Donald Pleasance.

She squeezes her mouth up to the right, and closes her right eye. She raises her nostrils and closes her eyes.

Then she does something my mother does when she is angry - she pushes her mouth up into a grimace, then into a deepest "O", while waggling her cheeks and raising her eyebrows.

Is my mother moonlighting at Nintendo? I snap the DS shut.

Face Training is only the beginning of computerised exercise.

Soon, no one will ever need to leave the house. Nintendo will launch sight training "to help train visual abilities" later this month, and Wii Fit, a computerised personal trainer that "will turn the living room into a fitness centre for the whole family" is on its way.

Although I know in my heart that this is the sort of thing Yummy Mummies will try, I find the future depressing.

Why turn my living room into a fitness centre? Why not just walk in the woods, among real trees using your real legs breathing in fresh air? And why must I stick my tongue out at a heartless computer?

Isn't that, even in this brave new world, what my friends are for?

Schools use video games to attack youth obesity

The cops appear hot on 14-year-old Alex Dahlquist’s tail, and he’s getting frantic.
Pedaling madly on his stationary bike and staring into the screen before him, the high school freshman shrieks for help as sirens squawk behind his virtual vehicle.

“Oh, my God, I’ve got to get rid of this guy!” he screams.

As he pedals toward escape, Alex seems to forget his fast-pumping legs and the sweat dripping from his forehead — which is the point.

Twice a week Alex heads to the Carol Stream Park District’s foray into tackling childhood obesity — a youth gym called Power Play that is equipped with nothing but interactive fitness machines: video games, flashing colored lights and a symphony of bloops and bleeps.

Alex and his parents think video games were part of what led the 5-foot-9-inch boy to weigh 234 pounds at his tender age, so they figure they might also help slim him down.

During the hours Alex spends after school with a personal trainer, he also heaves weights and glides on an elliptical machine in the traditional exercise room. But his favorite workout comes in the arcade.

“This is more fun because it’s big screens and video games,” Alex said.

It is in this room that his trainer, Gina Gagliardi, sees extra effort.

“The difference with Alex in here is that he wants to do it,” Gagliardi said. “You have to keep it interesting.”

Figuring it is where the kids are spending much of their time anyway, more park districts and schools are using video games and interactive equipment to attack obesity.

Brian Romes, superintendent of recreation for the Carol Stream Park District, said he hatched the idea for Power Play at fitness industry expositions, where one of the current obsessions is youth obesity. The district charges $3 an hour in Power Play, and attendance has been spotty since the June 2 opening. But Romes said they are waiting for word to spread.

“If we can, in a sense, trick them into seeing this as entertainment, it can get them away from the sedentary life,” Romes said.

In addition to the stationary bike, the games spread across the 1,000-square-foot room include “Dance Dance Revolution,” which requires a player to jump around nine squares in rhythm to a song; “Trazer,” for which a user wears a belt to move in sync with a character on a screen, then responds to various dropping or flying objects; and “Makoto,” in which a player stands inside a triangle and lunges back and forth to bash a series of flashing colored lights on the three posts.

Alex said that he has been trying harder than ever to slim down since he began attending high school this year.

“High school is tougher and more serious,” Alex said. “There’s fitness tests, and I want to be able to do those.”

Guitar Hero III boosts US music sales

DragonForce album jumps 126 per cent

There are early indications that Guitar Hero III has had a significant impact on music sales for bands featured in the game.

The game, subtitled Legends of Rock, was released in the US at the end of October. It will launch in Europe on 23 November.

Hard rock label Roadrunner Records said that sales of DragonForce's album "Inhuman Rampage" increased 126% week-on-week in the wake of Guitar Hero III's release. DragonForce's song "Through the Fire and Flames" is featured as an unlockable bonus track in Guitar Hero III.

Slipknot, another Roadrunner artist featured in the game, also saw its album sales increase.

The news follows comments made by EA's Steve Schnur at Games Convention Asia in September. Schnur asserted that games were now more relevant than radio when it comes to promoting new music.

US sales figures for Guitar Hero III are not yet available, but Activision is expecting the music title to be one of its top sellers this year. Its extensive marketing campaign for the game has included sponsorship of the Sex Pistols' reunion concerts in London last week.

Banjo-Kazooie not cancelled, says Rare

Developer source denies rumours - again

A source at UK developer Rare has told GamesIndustry.biz that its Banjo-Kazooie title for Xbox 360 has not been cancelled, despite rumours to the contrary.

There is speculation that development of a major, first-party Microsoft title has been stopped. But, if true, this is "definitely not" Banjo-Kazooie, says the source at the Microsoft-owned developer.

Rumours have intensified since Shane Bettenhausen, of US magazine EGM, mentioned them on last week's 1up Yours podcast.

"A big Microsoft first-party title that has been in the works for a very long time, that people are very excited for, sounds like it's being cancelled," said Bettenhausen. He added that the story had a "97 per cent chance" of being true, and may break this week.

Much of the subsequent speculation has focused on Banjo-Kazooie. The finger has been pointed at the latest in the popular series of platform games due to the poor sales of Rare's other family-oriented 360 games, Kameo and Viva Pinata.

Source: Games Industry

Why Disney love video games...

Iger aims to apply same strategy as for music

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that he regards videogames as "another promising creative engine" for the company.

Iger is quoted in today's New York Post telling investors that he intends to use a multi-platform approach, similar to Disney's recent music strategy, to push the company's game sales.

"We intend to use it to do exactly what we did in the music business to our video games business, but on a much larger scale," he said.

Tie-ins with popular movie and TV series, such as High School Musical, have seen Disney's music division produce USD 100 million in income. Disney has just launched a High School Musical game.

"We are a publishing company on the outside of the video games business," admitted Iger. "But where they [other companies] may not have a cable channel, or a movie company, or even a record business, or a radio business, or online - we have all of those. We intend to use them fully."

Iger said the company's intention was to focus on games it develops itself. It has increased spending on game development from USD 100 million in 2006 to a projected USD 175 million in 2008.

In July of this year, Disney announced that it had acquired the UK's Climax Racing Studio, and Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios.

Why Disney love video games...

Iger aims to apply same strategy as for music

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that he regards videogames as "another promising creative engine" for the company.

Iger is quoted in today's New York Post telling investors that he intends to use a multi-platform approach, similar to Disney's recent music strategy, to push the company's game sales.

"We intend to use it to do exactly what we did in the music business to our video games business, but on a much larger scale," he said.

Tie-ins with popular movie and TV series, such as High School Musical, have seen Disney's music division produce USD 100 million in income. Disney has just launched a High School Musical game.

"We are a publishing company on the outside of the video games business," admitted Iger. "But where they [other companies] may not have a cable channel, or a movie company, or even a record business, or a radio business, or online - we have all of those. We intend to use them fully."

Iger said the company's intention was to focus on games it develops itself. It has increased spending on game development from USD 100 million in 2006 to a projected USD 175 million in 2008.

In July of this year, Disney announced that it had acquired the UK's Climax Racing Studio, and Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios.