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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Cellufun Launches "Merry Mobile', A Christmas Gaming Experience in the Cellphone Virtual World


Today, Cellufun, Inc., The World’s Mobile Playground, announced its Holiday celebration, “Merry Mobile”: a cooperative, community game where consumers celebrate the holidays in a mobile virtual world. Merry Mobile allows users to decorate their Cellufun homepages, shop for and give away gifts from a Virtual Mall and ring in the New Year all from their mobile phone.

Members of the Cellufun community will find a link on their homepage that invites them to “Spread the Holiday Cheer”. Users can then decorate their homepages with Christmas trees, shop for gifts at the Virtual Mall and compete in giving the most gifts.

Virtual Mall

The Merry Mobile game marks the launch of Cellufun’s Virtual Mall, which will continue for all future Cellufun activities and holiday events. Using their mobile profiles and avatars, players can shop for virtual gifts such as fruitcake from Herr Strudel’s Bakery and SpaceWars ship models from Miss Dolly’s Toy Shoppe, making purchases with Cellupoints. The next busy season in the Virtual Mall will be Valentine’s Day in February.

Cellufun, which had over 40 million page views in November of 2007, brings the virtual world of gift giving to a vibrant mobile community.

“For most of us, the mobile phone has become an extension of self,” said Steve Dacek, Cellufun’s CTO. “At the same time, virtual worlds and social networks have redefined our sense of community. So it made perfect sense to bring the virtual world experience to the phone, and to do it around the holidays. The gifts are virtual, but the joy of giving them is real.”

Virtual Giving… Real Life Charity

In the spirit of the season, the most generous player of the Merry Mobile game will be allowed to spread generosity in the real world. Cellufun will make a $1,000 donation in the most generous player’s name to the registered U.S. 501-c3 charity of their choice. Contest winners will be announced on January 8, 2008.

Learn more at www.cellufun.com

PopCap Offers 50% Discount on All Games through Christmas


Gift Certificate Option Enables 2-for-1 Gifting, With Recipient Choosing the Games; Offer Ends January 4, 2008

PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, announced that beginning today and continuing through 11:59 p.m. (PDT) on January 3, 2008, all of its games can be purchased for 50% off their regular prices at www.popcap.com. When used in tandem with the printable/email-able gift certificate on the site (in the lower left corner of the homepage), the limited-time discount also enables consumers to give the gift of casual games remotely or in printed form while allowing the recipients to choose the games after trying as many as they like for free. During the promotion, games that carry suggested retail prices (SRPs) of US$19.95 will be available for US$9.98, and games with SRPs of $14.95 will be available for US$7.48.

“With the holidays looming and people looking for that last-minute gift or something for the tough-to-buy-for person on their list, we decided it would be a good time to try a sizable discount offer and make it available in multiple forms,” explained John Vechey, co-founder of PopCap and director of online operations. “Whether it’s for the kid sister who’s in one of those ‘nothing is cool’ mindsets or the great-grandmother who already has everything else in the world, a PopCap game is a sure-fire gift that the whole family will enjoy.”

The printable/email-able gift certificate on PopCap’s site is whimsically illustrated with characters and iconic imagery from the company’s biggest hits including Bejeweled, Bookworm, Zuma and Insaniquarium. Using the gift certificate is fast and easy:

- Purchasing the gift certificate takes less than a minute via any major credit card.

- The certificate arrives via email within a few minutes and can be sent directly to the recipient, or forwarded by the purchaser. It can also be printed out and mailed in a card or stuffed in a stocking (standard CD jewel cases won’t fit in most stockings).

- The gift giver doesn’t need to know which game(s) would be most enjoyed by the recipient – the gift certificate can be applied to any of the four dozen games available on PopCap’s Website.

- Even the recipient of the gift certificate doesn’t need to choose a game “blindly” – thanks to PopCap’s “try before you buy” policy, any and all games on the site can be played by the recipient, after which the preferred game(s) can be “purchased” via the gift certificate instantly.

- To redeem the gift certificate, the recipient simply enters the certificate code during the normal check-out process on PopCap.com.

No special coupon or code is required to take advantage of the 50% discount offer; all purchases of downloadable games for PC and Mac computers made on the site (via credit card or gift certificate redemption) will occur at half the regular price. Purchasers should bear in mind that gift certificates redeemed after January 3, 2008 will not be eligible for the 50% discount – note also that the gift certificates are not directly tied to the 50% promotion and thus never expire. Further, a gift certificate is not required in order to take advantage of the 50% discount during the promotional period. Versions of PopCap’s games for cell phones and other mobile devices are not eligible for the discount nor can they be purchased via gift certificate redemption. No other discount codes are eligible for use on the same purchases during this holiday promotion*.

About PopCap

PopCap Games (www.popcap.com) is the leading multi-platform provider of “casual games” — fun, easy-to-learn, captivating computer games that appeal to everyone from age 6 to 106. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 and has a worldwide staff of over 160 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, B.C. and Dublin. Its games have been downloaded more than 1 billion times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship title, Bejeweled, has sold more than 10 million units across all platforms. Constantly acclaimed by consumers and critics, PopCap’s games are played on the Web, desktop computers, myriad mobile devices (cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, iPod and more), popular game consoles (such as Xbox), and in-flight entertainment systems. PopCap is the only casual games developer with leading market share across all major sales channels, including Web portals, retail stores, mobile operators and developers, and game device manufacturers.

SPACE EMPIRES V - STRATEGY FIRST RELEASES PATCH v1.66


Software Publisher Strategy First Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Silverstar Holdings, Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSTR), is releasing a new Patch for “Space Empires V.” The Space Empires V patch version 1.66 will update the English U.S. version of “Space Empires V” to version 1.66. See the history.txt file for a complete list of the changes and fixes included in the patch. The new Space Empires V patch will also be available to Steam users to download via Steam.

Download the patch today directly from the Space Empires website at: http://spaceempires5.com/files/se5patch_v166.exe

The history file can also be downloaded directly from the Space Empires website at: http://spaceempires5.com/files/se5patch_v166.txt

About Space Empires V

“Space Empires V” is the new edition in the Space Empires series. This new chapter’s completely updated UI takes the player into a real-time rendered 3D universe. Watch space battles played out with incredible detail and realistic effects. Expand, Explore, Exploit, and Exterminate in a huge living and breathing galaxy. New features abound, with political alliances between multiple empires, top-down ship design systems, hexagonal movement grids, and much more.

Space Empire V is rated E for Everyone by ESRB. For more info on “Space Empire V” or to purchase directly from Strategy First visit: http://www.strategyfirst.com/en/games/SpaceEmpiresV/

About Malfador Machinations

Malfador Machinations, founded in 1995, is a noted developer of PC strategy games. Its previous titles include “Space Empires Series”, and “Dungeon Odyssey”. Malfador Machinations’ is based out of Santa Rosa, CA. www.malfador.com

THIRD BOMB-UP ADD-ON PACK FOR BOMBERMAN video game on XBox Live


Hudson Ups the Arsenal for Bomberman LIVE with Bomb-Up Pack 3

Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm for Hudson Soft, today announced that they are releasing Bomb-Up Pack 3, the third add-on pack for their “IGN Editor’s Choice Award”-winning Bomberman LIVE game for Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. This new add-on pack will add more than a dozen new features, including ten new characters, two additional levels, two new leaderboards, and a brand new game mode. Bomb-Up Pack 3 is expected to launch on December 26 and will cost 250 Microsoft Points.

With these latest additions, players will be able to further enjoy the non-stop, explosive action of Bomberman LIVE in new arenas, including “Cavity Land,” a delicious candy land, and the fully-automated assembly lines of “Robot Factory.”

“We’ve enjoyed great success with Bomberman LIVE and all of its additional downloadable content,” said John Greiner, President and CEO of Hudson Entertainment. “We strive to give gamers what they want, including tournaments, and providing content via Xbox LIVE is a great way to do so.”

This Bomberman LIVE add-on pack will add the following features:


  • Ten New Characters – With new characters like “Shinobi Bomb” the ninja and “Bomb2-D2” the robot, players can customize their in-game Bomberman in even more new ways.


  • Two Additional Levels – New arenas include “Cavity Land,” a sugary sweet candy land, and the industrial “Robot Factory.” Both levels allow users to select any gimmick to use.


  • One New Game Mode – In “Friendly Fire,” there’s no place to hide as you race to get the most frags. Players start with the “power bomb” power-up and hard blocks are replaced by holes, leaving nothing to stop explosions, except Bombermen!


  • Two New Leaderboards – Gaze down upon the Bomberman masses from atop two new ranking systems on the Xbox LIVE network. The new leaderboards will track performance on both a weekly and an all-time basis for the new “Friendly Fire” game mode.


About Bomberman

Originally launched in the US in 1987, the game captured gamers’ hearts with its simple yet challenging gameplay. With over 60 iterations on nearly all major consoles since then, and over 10 million units sold, winning accolades as the best multiplayer game of all time, this classic game has stood the test of time. The overall design appeals to gamers of all ages, and to both men and women. The game is simple enough: from a top-down perspective, you compete against other players in a grid-like arena. Your only weapon is a bomb, which you can drop to clear out obstacles or to knock out your opponents. Players can pick up upgrades, which become available when they clear obstacles, to increase their chances of winning. The game is fun, yet frantic, and brings out the most competitive spirit in all of us!

SAMURAI WARRIORS: KATANA FOR NINTENDO Wii goes GOLD


KOEI's First-Person Action-Adventure Will Ship to North American Retailers on January 15, 2008

KOEI, recognized worldwide as the premier brand of strategy and action games, today announced that Samurai Warriors: KATANA for Nintendo Wii has reached gold status and is set to ship to North American retailers starting on January 15, 2008. Players can pre-order the game now at GameStop.com, EBGames.com and Amazon.com.

KOEI has also launched the official minisite for Samurai Warriors: KATANA at: www.koei.com/katana. On the site players can learn more about the game, watch exclusive movies and more.

About Samurai Warriors: KATANA

Using an exhilarating first-person perspective, Samurai Warriors: KATANA is based on the hugely popular Samurai Warriors series and delivers total arcade-style action right into your own home. By mastering different weapons using the motion-sensitive Wii Remote™, veteran and first-time players alike will discover a whole new dimension of excitement to the Samurai Warriors series of games.

On each mission, legendary samurai and allies will serve as your guide. Prevent pirates from invading your ships, rescue maidens from a burning castle, and explore mysterious caverns stalked by ninjas. These and many more challenging missions require quick reflexes, fast thinking, and precision marksmanship.

On the battlefield ninja assassins will be poised to strike at your every turn, but with close-range and long-range weapons, you’ll be well equipped for your counterattack. Combat gets up close and personal with the classic samurai sword, spear, and mighty war hammer, but you can still target enemy soldiers in the distance using a bow and arrow, a gun, and even a cannon.

Samurai Warriors: KATANA offers three different modes of play. Action-packed with nearly 30 hours of game play, Musou Mode takes you on an incredible adventure through Feudal Japan. Samurai-in-training can prepare for battle with a multitude of challenges in Trial Mode. Here you’ll earn gold which can be used to purchase weapons and precious items. And in Vs. Mode, you can go head-to-head with a friend in eight exciting mini games.

Developed by KOEI’s award-winning internal team, Omega Force, Samurai Warriors: KATANA is rated “T” (Teen – Mild Language, Violence) by the ESRB. Samurai Warriors: KATANA has three difficulty levels for players of all skill levels, and is for up to 2 players (in Vs. mode). This game features Dolby Pro Logic II audio. Media can find watermark-free assets at gamespress.com. For more information about Samurai Warriors: KATANA, visit www.koei.com/katana.

Giant GameBoy with tetris game for sale

Item for sale is an extremely rare Game Boy Display Station for stores to demo the original Game Boy during its release years. The Display Station plays Tetris and displays it (as pictured) on the large screen as well as on the Game Boy itself. The sound comes out strongly from the working speakers built into the station. The Tetris game, including all buttons, work great without any set time interruption/undesired resetting. There is a red "reset" button. There is no on/off switch. As soon as the 3-prong (standard) plug is plugged in, the Display Station turns on.


The screen quality is great, considering how old this unit is.

I have not had the unit on for over two hours in order to preserve the life of this historic piece.

The screen quality looks better than the pictures can capture. The figures are not as fuzzy as Picture 2 represents. That "bright line" or "discoloration" that you may be able to see in Picture 2 appears there because of the effect of taking a screenshot with a camera.

Since I don't have the key to open the lock (pictured) I cannot interchange the games. Even with the key I'm not sure if you can interchange the games. But I'm pretty sure that if you can operate a screwdriver you can change out the games, assuming that you have a key made by a locksmith. Using an allen wrench, I unscrewed the unit from the stand to show that unit can be picked up in a normal size car.

2008 video games we most want to see ...


Supreme Commander ^ - coming to XBox 360


Alone in the Dark ^


Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution ^


Hail to the Chimp ^


Culdcept Saga ^


Halo Wars ^


Universe at War: Earth Assault ^


Brütal Legend ^


Silent Hill 5 ^


Tom Clancy’s EndWar ^


World in Conflict ^


Too Human ^

Free Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Demo on Microsoft XBox 360 Live

Just look at the traffic on those roads....

A demo for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men has surfaced on Xbox Live, provided you have a gold membership and want to download it this week.

It comes in at 520 megs of pure naughtiness.

[ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD,DRUG REFERENCE,INTENSE VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE]
A flawed mercenary and medicated psychopath in a brutal tale of hate, loss and revenge.
Featuring hard-edged criminal action, co-op play explosive squad-based combat and back-stabbing online multiplayer experience that will blow you away.

Atari - Driver - GTO model car - press gift on EBay

Promotional only GTO for the Driver Parallel Lines game by Atari.

Excellent condition.

Buyer pays $15 shipping.

Given out only to freelancer and video game magazine editors!


Sales in Japan: Nintendo Wii Fit Beats the other Wii Games Up


The weekly software sales in Japan are in, and it seems as if Nintendo's exercise game Wii Fit is not only causing a run on Wii hardware: It's significantly spiking sales of other Wii games, too.

Did you think Wii sales were on the decline in Japan? Did you think Super Mario Galaxy was going to tank outright? I myself was guilty of these transgressions, but I stand corrected.

Two weeks ago, Super Mario Galaxy only clocked in at No:11 on the charts, selling fewer than 34,000 copies. But look at the numbers now:



01 Mario Party DS (Nintendo) - 180,000 / 826,000
02 Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 124,000 / 535,000
03 Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Sony) - 116,000 / NEW
04 Prof. Layton and Pandora's Box (Level 5) - 74,000 / 444,000
05 Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo) - 74,000 / 550,000

It's pandemonium. Especially when you consider the second half of the chart:

06 Dragon Quest IV (Square-Enix) - 73,000 / 868,000
07 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo) - 64,000 / 212,000
08 Wii Sports (Nintendo) - 55,000 / 2,341,000
09 Wii Play (Nintendo) - 55,000 / 1,921,000
10 Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: the Labyrinth of Forgotten Time (Square-Enix) - 41,000 / NEW

Yep, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Mario and Sonic both pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and sold tens of thousands more copies than they did over the last couple of reporting periods. Near as I can tell, Wii Fit is causing more people to go out and buy Wii, and they're picking up a couple few games with it, too.

There's also just the general year-end excitement that happens 'round this time, and we'll see more boosts in sales overall as the week goes on. I wonder what kinds of legs Mario Galaxy et al will have throughout the year.

Will Mario drop off after New Year's, or will it soldier on at 30,000 copies per week? Has it finally caught on with Wii owners? Are traditional video games dead, or were they just waiting for Mario to come back?

Not one XBox game made the chart.