PC game Robotopia's Robots Get Upgrades

Robotopia gets an Upgrade, as your Robo's level grows you will be able to select from five new classes. The "Tank" class provides the ability to reflect a high percentage of enemy bullets off your robot, the "Ninja" class is capable of leaping into shadows and appearing out of nowhere, the "Bomber" class drops three vertical bombs whilst somersaulting and the "Knight" class will give you the cutting edge when it comes to dealing out saber damage! These Robo upgrades can be purchased once your robot reaches the appropriate level. Can you reach the ultimate level 200 "Guardian" class robot!? The New Classes can be used in both the one player Campaigns as well as in Online Fragfest play!



Robotopia is an all action, fast paced shooter that takes you online to stage epic battles that span across a beautiful multi-scrolling world. Here you can play flag games where players battle to hold points across the landscape. Or play as bounty hunter where allegiances can be made as players fight for robo currency. Either way you are going to be caught up in some intense action making strong allies and fierce enemies.



If going online immediately seems a bit daunting, get stuck into the one player game that is designed to train you in the art or robo destruction. Here you will meet a variety of drones and soldiers who will test your skills and increase your robot's performance through an RPG style experience system. Download today to enjoy free online play, Register the game to upgrade your Robo past level 10 and enjoy all the features!

Wireless Guitar Controller and Wireless Nunchuck set before the Vegas show

New Products For Wii, PS3, and PSP Slim Headed To Retail This Summer

Nyko Technologies, a premier peripherals manufacturer, today unveiled their line-up of new accessories that will debut at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The line-up includes new products for the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Sony PSP-2000 series (slim), including a new version of the popular Frontman Wireless Guitar Controller for the Wii and PS3, as well as all-new products such as the Wireless Nunchuck for the Wii, and the Charger Grip and TV-Link for the PSP-2000 series. All products are currently slated to ship to retail in early 2008.

For the ultimate in unrestrictive cord-free Wii gaming, Nyko introduces the Wireless Nunchuck. The unit's dongle attaches easily to the bottom of the Wii remote, eliminating the restrictive cord for complete freedom while playing. The Wireless Nunchuck features full accelerometer support for motion-based gameplay, and is compatible with all games that require the Nunchuck controller attachment. The Nunchuck's ergonomic design is perfect for both left and right-handed gamers. Two AAA batteries (included) provide up to 30 hours of gameplay. The Wireless Nunchuck for the Wii will be available in the first quarter of 2008 for a suggested price of $29.99.

Nyko will also introduce the most convenient charging solution for keeping Xbox 360 wireless controllers powered up and ready to go with the Charge Base 360. The Charge Base 360 comes with 2 custom-designed NiMH batteries with additional contact points allowing for easy drop-in and charge functionality. The included docking station organizes and rapidly charges 2 wireless controllers simultaneously through any standard power outlet, and provides up to 25 hours of play time on each battery. The Charge Base 360 will be available in Q1 2008 for a suggested retail price of $29.99.

The latest installment of Nyko's popular line of wireless guitar controllers, The Frontman for the Wii and PS3 brings the excitement of cord-free rock 'n' roll gaming to the living room. The Frontman features a built-in tilt sensor, responsive whammy bar, fret buttons, and a bi-directional strum bar that offer spot-on accuracy and responsiveness. Additionally, the Frontman includes interchangeable pick guards for personalizing your controller. The Frontman for the Wii is fully compatible with "Guitar Hero IIITM," while the PS3 version is compatible with both "Guitar Hero IIITM" and "Rock BandTM." The Frontman PlayStation 3 and Wii will retail for a MSRP of $59.99 and $49.99 respectively.

Newly redesigned for the improved PSP-2000, Nyko's Charger Grip provides ergonomic grips that emulate the feel of a console controller and reduce strain on hands, while also extending the battery life. The built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery extends the PSP's play time up to 10 hours while the collapsible design makes it easy to carry in a backpack or handbag. The Charger Grip for the PSP-2000 series will be available in the first quarter of 2008 for a suggested price of $29.99.

Experience UMD movies and games on the big screen with the TV-Link for the PSP-2000. The TV-Link high-definition component cable enables you to enjoy all your PSP games, UMD movies, videos and photos at home in front of the TV. The cable's gold-tipped connectors and shielding assure an interference-free, superior connection for the highest audio and video quality possible. The TV-Link for the PSP-2000 will be available in the first quarter of 2008 for a suggested price of $14.99.

For the ultimate solution in PS3 gaming, the Zero Wireless Controller is the final word in high-end wireless controllers. Continuing the popularity of Nyko's Zero controller line, the PS3 Zero features a unique metal polymer hybrid design, putting the most advanced controller into the hands of PS3 gamers. Able to provide up to 25 hours of continuous play with the included removable, rechargeable NiMH battery, the Zero also features a revolutionary wireless chipset that provides a reliable and accurate range of up to 30 feet. Backlit LED buttons, precision analog sticks, durable buttons, and curved triggers also come standard. The controller is also equipped with a precise accelerometer that detects six different directions of motion as well as dual vibration motors. Zero is available in three distinct color schemes to match the tastes of any gamer. The Zero Wireless Controller for the PS3 will be available in the first quarter of 2008 for a suggested price of $59.99.

"Nyko is pleased to add a plethora of new and unique gaming accessories to our constantly expanding library of innovative peripherals," said Chris Arbogast, Director of Marketing at Nyko Technologies. "We're constantly striving to provide everyone from the casual to the hardcore gamer with high-quality feature-rich products that provide unequaled flexibility and convenience."

Nyko will offer hands-on demos of all their upcoming products, including their Online-Link Cat5/RJ45 Ethernet cable and their 32 MB Memory Card for the PS2. They will also have recently released products available for hands-on demos, including the highly regarded Perfect Shot for the Wii and the newly redesigned ChargeBase 2 for the PS3, at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Press demos will be taking place at the Las Vegas Hilton in suite No15119 from January 7th through the 9th.

Omega Five and Tron on Microsoft Xbox LIVE Arcade

Fly through treacherous 3D environments with “Omega Five,” a graphically explosive next-generation shooter firing its way onto Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360. Also this week, Disney Interactive Studios and Backbone Entertainment bring back an arcade classic, “Tron.” Both games will be available this Wednesday, 9th January, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. GMT.



Hardcore and casual gamers alike will love “Omega Five,” a new high-definition shooter with awe-inspiring graphics. “Omega Five” features a gorgeous and challenging environment, with enemies coming at players from all angles, even the background. Battle enemies as Ruby, Tempest or other unlockable characters and simply add another controller to play local co-op with a friend. “Omega Five” features the highest quality visuals available on an Xbox LIVE Arcade shooter and offers multiple levels of difficulty including “++Mode” where players are only allowed one hit.



Featuring the familiar gameplay from the original, players battle as the mighty warrior Tron against the insidious Master Control Program and his ruthless right-hand man, Sark. “Tron” offers a four-part retro-futuristic test of skills, including racing light cycles, battling Sark’s tanks, fighting to enter the MCP cone and dodging grid bugs. “Tron” offers both the original arcade game and an enhanced version with new graphics, improved sound and two-person multiplayer. It’s the perfect re-creation of the original game based on the pioneering computer animated Walt Disney Pictures’ 1982 feature film, “Tron.” Plus, the Xbox LIVE Arcade version is the first version of “Tron” with two-person multi-player functionality of co-op and versus.

Where can I get “Omega Five” and “Tron “ from?

Omega Five: available for 800 MS Points from 9:00 a.m. GMT, Wednesday 9th January 2008

Tron: available for 400 MS Points from 9:00 a.m. GMT, Wednesday 9th January 2008

They are rated 3+.

More information is available at http://www.xbox.com/games/livearcade.

Sony PlayStation Hardware Sales Exceeding 3.9 Million in US

1.2 Million Consumers Join PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) Family since Black Friday

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today announced PlayStation hardware retail sales reached more than 3.9 million units in North America during the critical holiday sales window (Friday, November 23, 2007 to December 31, 2007). This accounts for SCEA’s three systems currently in the market PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3), PSP (PlayStationPortable) and PlayStation 2 (PS2). PS3 retail sales reached 1.2 million hardware units during this holiday timeframe.

“The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008. We are particularly pleased to have sold through 1.2 million units of PS3 during the holiday selling season,” said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. “The strong PS3 sales also further establish Blu-ray’s dominant position as the high-definition medium of choice for games and movies. Consumers are clearly responding to the expanding multimedia capabilities and a great line-up of over 200 games.”

Sales of PSP reached 1.4 million units during this same timeframe. The success of the recently introduced Daxter PSP Entertainment Pack and Star Wars Battlefront PSP Entertainment Pack have continued to swell the PSP install base. Upcoming platform defining software such as God of War: Chains of Olympus and Final Fantasy: Crisis Core will further increase PSP momentum in 2008.

PS2 sales exceeded 1.3 million units during its eighth holiday season. The industry’s most successful platform is poised for another great year in 2008 with the continued success of the critically-acclaimed Buzz and SingStar franchises.

Dungeon Explorer on Sony PSP and Nintendo DS

Hudson Entertainment Releases New Screens for Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts on Nintendo DS and PSP (PlayStationPortable) System

Today Hudson Entertainment announced that new screens for Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts on the PSP (PlayStationPortable) system and the Nintendo DS are now available.



Both versions are scheduled to launch in mid-February 2008. Each game features a unique story with epic battles, an all new assortment of weapons and many unique fighting styles. Like the classic game, the new versions will feature deep and customizable multiplayer adventuring.

In the game for the PSP system, players are trained in weaponry and mystical forces as Warriors of Ancient Arts. On a quest and ready to uncover the fate of a legendary kingdom, gamers will prepare to battle demonic forces and monstrous creatures. Unique for the PSP system, players have the ability to choose their warfare style with more than 150 different kinds of fighting arts, including Big Bang Arts, allowing three players to team up to triple their destructive power in Ad-Hoc Multiplayer mode.

In the DS version, gamers find themselves in a land plagued by a legion of undead, monstrous soldiers. The story takes place centuries after the events of the PSP version, as a legend foretells of a hero who will rise to face the threat. With more than 60 different fighting arts across 8 lost Ancient Fighting Art schools, players can become a skilled warrior to successfully wage battle against dangerous enemies such as the Demon God's undead soldiers, mutated monsters, and an army of ancient automatons. To assist in battle, the game offers hundreds of weapons, armor and equipment; all can be upgraded along the way.

For a group effort, 3 players can join forces to battle the Demon god's minions via Nintendo's Wireless Connection.

www.HudsonEnt.com

Wallpapers available for AGEOD's American Civil War: 1861-1865 – The Blue and The Gray

cdv Software Entertainment USA, a leading publisher of strategy gaming titles in North America, is pleased to release several new wallpapers from their upcoming game – AGEOD’s American Civil War: 1861-1865 – The Blue and The Gray.

The upcoming game, created by acclaimed Europa Universalis designer Philippe Thibaut, will challenge gamers as they battle their way through a historically accurate re-enactment of the American Civil War, while taking on the roles of politicians, logisticians and military strategists.



More information about AGEOD’s American Civil War: 1861-1865 – The Blue and The Gray is available at http://www.cdvus.com.

Nintendo Wii - Our House - The Facts

Publisher: Majesco Entertainment
Developer: Budcat Creations
Platforms: Wii
Genre: Action/Simulation

Overview
Design your custom house, shop for raw materials, build your dwelling and decorate the interior to your liking, then unveil your creation to the neighborhood! In Our House, you and your friends will race against the clock and each other to buy the best materials in the ultimate home improvement store! But that’s only half the fun because after the mad rush, you’ll construct your dream house with your purchases. Use your Wii Remote to hammer, saw, paint and much more as you assemble your house from the ground up. Show off your creative flair by tastefully decorating your dwelling while showing up your friends by designing the most valued house in your community!

Features

• The only game that lets you build or remodel your home and turn it into a unique creation! True modular house construction enables endless combinations that create personalized trophy homes with countless upgrades


• Shop for materials in the Home Store, build your house, then decorate it to add the most value to your house before your friends maximize their own house value


• Earn money for materials and build your dream house by using the Wii Remote to play games related to six Home Store departments


• Party Mode lets you jump right in and play all of the games without the actual construction


• Supports 4 player gameplay for hours of family fun!


• Features Wii Connect 24 support for the literal community-building within The Neighborhood Mode

Our House - The First Home Design Game Exclusively on Nintendo Wii

If you can dream it, you can build it as Majesco Entertainment, an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced Our House for the Wii home video game system. Developed by Budcat Creations, Our House turns the Wii Remote into the ultimate creation tool that lets players design, build and decorate their own personalized trophy home they can share with others in an online neighborhood.

“Few things are as exciting as building and personalizing a home of your own, and only the innovative Wii Remote makes it possible to hammer every nail and paint every wall,” said John Merchant, Marketing Manager, Majesco Europe. “We believe Our House’s combination of unique subject matter, endless creativity and competitive multiplayer fun will resonate with players of all ages.”

Our House is the only game that lets you build and remodel your home as you design a unique customized creation. After shopping for raw materials in the Home Store, players will use their Wii Remote to hammer, saw, paint, tile and much more as they assemble and decorate their family dwelling. But the creativity doesn’t end indoors since a home’s overall neighborhood value is based on landscaping and exterior upgrades too. Four-player “build-offs” encourage social play while Wii Connect 24 lets players share their creations with friends via the literal community-building feature of Neighborhood Mode.

PlayStation 3 still not in Profit say Sony

Costs are falling, but Sony won't make solid commitment

Sony's Kaz Hirai has said that the company hopes the next fiscal year will see the PlayStation 3 console business achieve a profit.

Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Hirai said that profitability in the 2008 financial year was not a definite commitment, but something the company was striving for.

"We want to get to the positive side of the equation as quickly as possible," commented Hirai, reports Reuters.

"The next fiscal year starts in April and if we can try to achieve that in the next fiscal year that would be a great thing. We are going through the budgets right now.

"That (profitability) is not a definite commitment, but that is what I would like to try to shoot for," he said.

Sony has just announced sales figures for the PlayStation 3 during the US holiday period reached 1.2 million, although the machine is still being out-sold by Sony's own PlayStation 2 and PSP consoles.

Production costs for the PlayStation 3 are falling noted Hirai, with the recently introduced 40GB model requiring less components than the higher end 60GB and 80GB models.

"Component costs are coming down, and the number of components... we are seeing a reduction.

"The 40 GB PlayStation 3 obviously has fewer components, and uses less power, which means that components required to dissipate heat, for example, can be smaller, so there is some cost reduction there," he added.

Source: Games Industry

New Microsoft Xbox 360 rumour is wide of the mark

Despite weeks of speculation about the possibility of major gaming announcements from Microsoft at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, company head Bill Gates and other senior executives delivered a low-key performance that included little related to gaming.

Rumours of a new Xbox 360 SKU to potentially contain HD-DVD playback, a 320GB hard drive and other wish-list features were laid to rest by Gates and the president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, Robbie Bach, as sentimentality of Gates' closing tenure as corporation boss, a slew of social networking products for Windows, Zune updates and Windows Mobile took precedent over gaming in a presentation that contained little solid detail about existing ranges and few announcements about new ones.

After a video showing how Gates' last day at the office may look before he retires as Microsoft's front man this year and focuses solely on his charity concerns – a piece of film including the likes of Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Steven Spielberg and Bono – Gates told a packed auditorium that Windows Live now has 420 million users and that Windows Mobile is currently the handheld platform of choice for 20 million people.

A demonstration of 'new' Windows features such as a calendar (reminiscent of Google's web calendar), an event and social network tool (that seemed similar to Facebook) and an online video search system were followed by an announcement that Microsoft will be handling all the internet video coverage of this year's Beijing Olympics.

It wasn't until about 40 minutes into the presentation that Robbie Bach appeared on stage, although he didn't have much to say that wasn't already public news. He revealed that Xbox Live has now passed 10 million users, and reiterated the recent announcement that Xbox 360 has sold more than 17 million consoles worldwide.

With 2007's launch of Vista, he said, Windows gaming has continued to "grow and be strong". Non-gaming entertainment – video, specifically – formed the bulk of the conference's new 360 content, with announcements that Disney and ABC are to add TV programmes for download on Live Marketplace, and that MGM is to include movies.

The other major announcements for Xbox 360 concerned "Extender devices" from Samsung and HP, allowing Windows Media Center functionality without an Xbox 360, while HP is going to build Extender functionality into one of its new TVs.

On the media-convergence tip, Bach also confirmed that BT will be the first global telecom provider to allow subscribers to use Xbox 360 as a set-top box. No other details were offered.

"When you look at all this together, what we've done with Xbox and Xbox Live and what we're doing with Media Center and Mediaroom [the company's IPTV and multimedia platform] it's abundantly clear that building great connected TV experiences is not a hobby for Microsoft. This is something that we take quite seriously and we think we can build a great business with great products for ourselves."

Bach went on to laud Microsoft's gaming performance in the US with the claim that up to November 2007 Xbox 360 products had accounted for USD 3.5 billion of business.

"That's a billion dollars more than Nintendo did on the Wii and 2 billion dollars more than Sony did on the PS3," said Bach. "And if you look at the spend on Xbox 360 games, it's more than the spend on Wii and PS3 games combined. So our Xbox business is in a very, very good place."

There was no comparison given of sales in Europe and Japan, however.

The Consumer Electronics Show is taking place in Las Vegas and will continue until January 10.

Source: Games Industry