Ski Challenge 08 ready to take off soon

Greentube´s most successfull 3D game and the flagship product of its free downloadable eSport series, "Ski Challenge" will be commencing its 4th season from early December 07 on. The game has attracted more than 3 million players worldwide and is expected to grow to a gamers-base of between 4 and 5 million players in the upcoming winter season.

The world´s most successfull game, fully financed via in-game advertising, will be licensed to between 7 and 10 media-partners worldwide, generating a two-digit million-Euro advertising value for the sponsors participating in the game.

About Greentube AG
Greentube AG, located in Vienna, Austria, is among the leading developers and providers of skill games for the Internet, mobile devices and iTV. Moreover, the company has caused an international frenzy in recent years with its cross-media formats for the PC and TV.

Founded in 1997, floated in 2000 and owned by a majority stake and managed by the original team, the 70-employee-strong company has since delivered a collection of well-know portals and gaming websites with skill gaming technology. Greentube is currently undertaking worldwide expansion, focussing on the development of individual gaming portals in the look and feel of the customer.

More information at www.greentube.com

Mario parties on in Japan

Heavenly Sword shifts just 15,000 in its first week

Mario Party DS continued to sell well in Japan last week, with 116,000 units of the Nintendo title flying off shelves to keep it top of the software chart.

Sales information from Media Create for the week ending November 18 put the latest Resident Evil title for the Wii - Umbrella Chronicles - at number two, shifting 83,000 copies in its first week.

Shin Sangoku Musou 5 for the PlayStation 3 was third, while new entries Pro Baseball Family Stadium DS and Game Center CX: Arino's Challenge were fourth and fifth respectively.

One surprise in the chart was that the much-hyped Heavenly Sword, only released in Japan on November 15, sold just 15,000 copies - over 100,000 less that Mario Party DS, and only 2000 more than old-timer Wii Sports.

The full software top ten for Japan is as follows:

1. Mario Party DS (DS)
2. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)
3. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (PS3)
4. Pro Baseball Family Stadium DS (DS)
5. Game Center CX: Arino's Challenge (DS)
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
7. Heavenly Sword (PS3)
8. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS)
9. Wii Sports (Wii)
10. Armored Soldiers: Votoms (PS2)

Sony rubbishes PS Phone claims

Company "not currently working" on project

A Sony representative has told GamesIndustry.biz that reports of a PlayStation Phone are wide of the mark.

This comes after a story in the Economic Times of India which claimed that Sony Computer Entertainment might be working with Sony Ericsson on the project - following the launch of a Bravia-branded handset.

SCE's co-chief operating officer, Jim Ryan, had apparently told the publication: "The PlayStation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson. Convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible."

But now a company spokesperson has denied the two brands are colluding.

"Jim Ryan was in fact misquoted by the Economic Times of India about this issue. We are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone."

There was no indication given as to whether such a collaboration was planned at any point in the future.

Here's a fun game: Try to buy a Wii

As shopping season kicks off, store-stalkers turn to Internet

A year after the Nintendo Wii started out a distant third to Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 in the video game hype wars, the tables have turned.

Savvy shoppers are resorting to special tactics to track down the hard-to-find Wiis, which have benefited from a year's worth of word-of-mouth marketing to remain at the top of wish lists as the holiday shopping season formally kicks off today.

Although Nintendo of America spokeswoman Anka Dolecki said the company will have twice as many Wiis available as it did at the product's launch last November, desperation is likely to grow as demand is expected to match supply between now and Christmas.

As of Wednesday, Wii shelves were empty at Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, Toys R Us and GameStop stores, according to WiiTracker.com, which updates supplies at online retailers. Wal-Mart had the consoles in stock but only as a bundle with games and other accessories for more than $600. The console alone retails for $250.

Nintendo has sold more than 5.5 million units in the United States over the last 12 months. Local stores say they will get more shipments before Christmas, but they don't know when or how many.

Employing new techniques

While many shoppers will rely on the store-stalking technique they used to find elusive Cabbage Patch Kids and Tickle Me Elmo dolls of holidays past, they're also turning to the Internet. Sites like WiiTracker.com, WiiHunter.com and OuttaStock.com monitor online inventories at major retailers.
And of course Wiis are available through various classified ads and online auction sites — for premium prices.

"I check Craig's List at this time of year at least 10 times a day," said Valerie Bergeron, a personal shopper in Houston who is currently on the hunt for three Wiis.

"If you waited this long, you're going to have to pay," she said. "That's pretty much the bottom line."

Or get lucky. And there are some ways to increase your odds when seeking Wiis or any other items that might emerge as hard-to-find must-gets. But just like in Las Vegas, the odds are against you.

Houstonian Elaine Gayle calls every area Best Buy store at least once a week. She not only checks whether they have any currently in stock but also when the next delivery is expected and whether they'll open it that day.

"Basically, I stalk them," she said.

Her boyfriend recently got lucky at a Wal-Mart store. There weren't any Wiis on the shelf, but he took the extra step of asking a clerk whether they had any in back. And they had one. The couple is still looking for two more before Christmas.

Gayle is doing all the right things, said Greg Rundell, general manager at the Best Buy near The Galleria.

"The relationship you build with the staff is going to help," he said.

Jennifer Castillo has been using similar tactics at area Target stores.

"I've been stalking Target on a weekly basis," said the Houston mother who wants to buy a Wii for her two sons. "I've been to multiple Targets in the last two weeks."

A waiting game

A clerk at one Houston Target said the store is more likely to have Wiis available on a Sunday because that's when its inserts run in the newspaper.
Castillo also enlisted the help of her sister, who lives in a smaller city in Michigan. She's hoping there will be less demand for the Wii there.

Bergeron said she has beaten the odds and found hard-to-find gifts by going to big-box stores in smaller towns, but it still requires luck. Small-town stores may have fewer competing shoppers, but they're also likely to have a wee Wii supply to begin with, she said.

Knowing a store's delivery and advertising schedules can help, but unless a shopper has enough free time to hang out and wait for the UPS shipments, it's still going to come down to luck, said Rundell.

"It's really hit or miss," he said. "We're going to have an ad (timed to a delivery) in December. We just don't know when it's going to be."

Or you can follow personal shopper Bergeron's other tip: "Hire a personal shopper."

X-Arcade: ultimate Nintendo Wii and Gamecube Joystick

Bring The Arcade Experience Into Your Home Today.
The X-Arcade brings a lifelike arcade experience to your fighting, arcade and sports games on your Nintendo Wii & Gamecube for breakthrough control of your games.

The X-Arcade uses the highest quality commercial grade arcade parts available and will provide you with a truly unfair advantage in your gaming battles. Nintendo Wii game support is available on Virtual Console games via Gamecube controller connection. Current game support on Wii is 30 titles.

More info here

Wii are the champions...

Nintendo Wii Mario Galaxy Bundle Coming?

According to a distributor in the UK, Nintendo Europe is getting ready to launch a new Wii bundle which will include Wii Sports and Super Mario Galaxy.

This would be big news as it would make it by far the best value in the gaming industry as two pack-in games is almost unheard of, especially when you factor in that retailers cannot even keep the system stocked for more than an hour or so before selling out.

Wii Sports has been the standard pack-in game for Nintendo since launch though so it is possible that Nintendo wants to change things up and include Super Mario Galaxy as well.

This comes as Galaxy had one of the best software launches of the year selling very well in North America as well as Japan.

The bundle would likely be priced a bit higher but as stated would include the Wii, Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy, and an Official Nintendo carry bag.

Wii closes in on game console sales record

The Nintendo Wii is well on the road to becoming the most successful games console ever after reaching 200,000 unit sales in just 50 weeks.

The enduring Playstation 2, which will soon celebrate its seventh birthday, and the market-leading Nintendo DS handheld, both took 55 weeks to hit 200,000 units.

Andrew Milgate, games analyst at market-watcher GfK, said if Nintendo kept selling the Wii at a similar rate it would become the fastest-selling console of all time.

The $399 Wii, which launched in December last year, brought video games to the masses by pioneering social gaming experiences.

Whereas console gaming traditionally involved sitting hunched in front of the TV with a control pad, the Wii and its motion-sensitive remote made games accessible to a broad mainstream audience. Even nursing homes have installed them as a way of keeping residents mentally and physically stimulated.

"Australia's a very casual [gamer] market and you can see that in the top 10 [sales] lists every week with games like Singstar, Nintendogs and Brain Training," Milgate said.

But Sony is refusing to give the Wii a free ride this Christmas, pitching the PlayStation 2, which now sells for $199.95, as a direct competitor. Further, the low-end version of the Xbox 360 now costs the same as a Wii.

"We will be selling PS2 globally and in Australia at least through 2008 with the likelihood of 2009," Sony Computer Entertainment Australia managing director Michael Ephraim said in an interview.

"It is the most successful console ever, backed by the largest collection of games which third parties are still supporting, plus all of the social games that we have."

Ephraim expected the PS2's social games like Eyetoy, Singstar and the Buzz quiz titles would make the console a formidable competitor to the Wii this Christmas.

Nintendo Australia's new managing director, Rose Lappin, was equally confident, saying she was certain demand for the Wii would exceed supply this Christmas.

"With some of the other [games] systems and our earlier systems, it would be gamers playing in a room, and it was always a more individual thing; there wasn't as many multiplayer games as there are on the Wii," Lappin said.

"Even the people that are sitting looking on are having fun with the people that are playing, rather than someone sitting there mashing buttons."

Lappin rejected Sony's claims the PS2 offered a comparable social gaming experience to the Wii.

"Playstation 2 doesn't play like Wii does - they may have some social games but it's not as interactive," she said.

Even Microsoft, which save for some classic arcade titles like Pac-Man has always catered almost exclusively to hardcore gamers, is heavily promoting new social games for this Christmas. But the selection isn't nearly as broad as that for the Nintendo and Sony consoles.

Scene It? Lights Camera Action, a movie trivia game for the Xbox 360 played with four wireless button controllers, goes on sale on November 29.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which comes with a wireless Gibson Les Paul guitar controller, is the other social game in Microsoft's Christmas lineup, but it's also available on the Wii, PS2 and PS3.

"Nearly half of gamers in Australia are female and one-in-ten are seniors," said the local Xbox director, David McLean.

"As a result, demand for social party games has increased and so has the spectrum of choice on our shelves to cater for a wider audience."

Games teach aggression, but is that so bad?

Violent games teach aggression but it's not all bad, says a study.

The controversy surrounding the potential effects of violent games has taken a positive turn in the past year; blanket witch burnings appear to have abated and - certainly in the UK with initiatives like the Byron Report - measured analyses are coming from the top-down. While we all wait with bated breath for those results, another voice in the crowd adds to the din.

PhysOrg reports on a study out of at Iowa State University published as "Violent Video Games as Exemplary Teachers: A Conceptual Analysis" which confirms that, indeed, kids learn from games and violent games teach aggression.

While this may be feel like (another) nail in the coffin of the games industry, in fact the researchers aren't hellbent on taking it down. Instead, they promote caution in the design and development of games:

And because learning occurs from video games, regardless of whether the effects are intentional or unintentional, the [researchers] added that this "should make us more thoughtful about designing games and choosing games for children and adolescents to play." ... Because video games were found to be such effective teaching tools, [they] propose greater educational use of today's smarter technology found in those games -- technology that "thinks" along with students, adapting instruction to each student's current skills, strategies or mistakes.

Whether this caution actually trickles down to the consumer technologies we know and love is a whole other story.

Dawn of War: Soulstorm

Shawn Frison, Gameplay Designer, Iron Lore Entertainment

The Warhammer 40,000 universe is amazing, and it’s been a blast getting the chance to work on Dawn of War: Soulstorm. Below I’ll describe some of the exciting Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle units we’re bringing to you in this new chapter of Dawn of War, explaining exactly what makes them tick and how they stand out in a universe full of genetically enhanced super soldiers, undead killing machines, and millions of battle-hardened Orks.

Dark Eldar Archon/Incubi Retinue
Consumed by dark passions and fueled by fury, the Dark Eldar do not submit easily to any master. Yet even amongst such decadence and power, there are those few whose vileness and cunning stand above all. It is these Dark Eldar who, through sheer cruelty and might, bend the will of their fellows to their bidding, forging the reluctant alliances that are the Dark Eldar Kabals. Known as Archons, these lords of malice are fierce combatants, tearing through the ranks of the enemy with terrifying fury and speed. Consuming the souls of his enemies to sustain his immortality, an Archon grows stronger with every battle he survives, becoming nearly godlike in power as the centuries pass by.

Further, the Archon can enhance this innate superiority by drawing upon the ancient weapons of his Kabal to sow his enemy’s destruction. Among these is the Animus Vitae, a twisted device that unleashes psychically charged barbed wire that can ensnare enemies, siphoning away their life force. Another, more terrifying still, is the ancient artifact known as the Crucible of Malediction. Using unfathomable occult arts, the Dark Eldar have captured the tortured souls of enemy Psykers within the Crucible to be unleashed upon the enemy, driving them mad.

Treachery, however, is paramount among the Dark Eldar, and greatness in battle is no guarantee against the assassin’s blade. Guarding against such betrayal, the Archon surrounds himself with a retinue of Incubi, elite warriors unmatched in close combat. Wherever the Archon may go, the Incubi follow. And wherever the Incubi go, death follows.

The Archons have fought their way to domination amidst the vile machinations of the Dark Eldar, the cruelest and most devious of all the known races of the universe. They have conquered through blood and artful manipulation, through subtlety and rage. Only fools would oppose such mastery.

Canoness
The order of the Adepta Sororitas – known commonly as the Sisters of Battle – are among the fiercest of the Imperium’s warriors. Consumed with the fury of their undying Faith, their blessed mission is to root out heresy wherever it is found. Holiest of the Sisters is the Canoness, a battle-hardened veteran whose devotion to the God-Emperor is so supreme that she is able to call upon His aid in battle, invoking miraculous Acts of Faith that can change the face of the battlefield in an eyeblink.

Such terrible powers, though they require great Faith to use, can be awe-inspiring to behold. Legends tell of these abilities, though few alive can confirm the tales. One such story tells of a pure white light that poured from the Heavens, inspiring the devout and searing the eyes of their enemies. Another describes the souls of fallen soldiers ascending from their bodies to take the form of vengeful angels, each burning with the fury of the Emperor and cutting through the enemy ranks like a sickle through corn. Against such manifestations of the Emperor’s wrath, even the greatest of generals will tremble.

Yet even without such powers the Canoness is a force to be reckoned with. Equipped with the mightiest weapons of the Imperium, the Canoness lays waste to all who are foolish enough to oppose her, burning heretics with the devastating Inferno Pistol, or slicing through their ranks with her Power Sword. With such at her disposal, the Canoness’s versatility on the field of battle is unparalleled, allowing her to smite her enemies from near or afar. Attack how you might, no weakness can be found in the armor of the righteous.

So be strong in your faith. Do not waver. For the purging awaits those who doubt.

MapleStory Europe gets loved up for winter

Take your loved one on a trip to the virtual Far East with new items and maps in NEXON's free to play MMORPG MapleStory Europe

World-leading developer of online games, NEXON, continues the rapid expansion of its popular and free to play 2D MMORPG MapleStory Europe with several unique new items to purchase in its innovative Cash Shop and a whole new Japanese-themed area to explore and quest in.

Chief of the new items to appear in the Cash Shop – MapleStory Europe’s in-game market where real cash can be spent on cool upgrades and accessories for your character – are the ‘My Boyfriend’ and ‘My Girlfriend’ Effect items. Designed with MapleStory Europe’s blossoming in-game relationships in mind, when bought and activated a ‘My Boyfriend’ or ‘My Girlfriend’ pointer will float cheerily above your character’s head, showing off to anybody nearby that the person next to you is your other half. It’s the perfect chance to chase away those winter blues by expressing your undying affection for that special someone!

Other major new additions to the Cash Shop include the Mushroom House Elf, a helpful little chap who’ll mind a player’s store in MapleStory’s Free Market area, even if they’re offline, and the Water of Life, which will bring any pets who have expired back to life for a further 90 days. Together with a range of new costume accessories for male and female players alike, MapleStory Europe’s Cash Shop continues to offer a superb range of new and exciting goods.

Expanding the MapleStory Europe world itself is the new and totally free Mushroom Shrine Map, which brings a touch of Asian spice to MapleStory’s already rich and varied range of environments. Set against a backdrop of beautiful cherry blossom trees and misty mountains, the Mushroom Shrine offers a wealth of new quests to complete and fearsome new monsters to overcome, making it the perfect place for experienced Maplers in need of a serious challenge to meet and form parties together.

“Players of MapleStory Europe already get one of the best free-to-play MMORPGs available, but we’re constantly striving to make things even better for them with regular new content,” explained Calvin Yoo, Director of International Business Development at NEXON Europe Ltd. “Innovative new items to the Cash Shop such as the My Boyfriend and My Girlfriend accessories help to capture players’ imagination and build in-game communities while new areas like The Mushroom Shrine add exciting new challenges that really keep people’s interest. Rest assured, we’ve got lots more great updates like these on the way!”

MapleStory originally launched in South Korea in April 2003 and quickly went on to become one of the most successful online games of all time, with over 76million registered accounts across the world. MapleStory Europe, which launched in May 2007, is the latest iteration of the completely free to play franchise, and offers gamers in Europe the chance to play MapleStory in five different languages – English, French, German, Spanish and Dutch.

For further information on MapleStory Europe, and to sign-up to the game, please visit www.mapleeurope.com.