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Saturday, March 01, 2008

Game Crazy Hosts Knock Down, Drag Out, Video Game Fun, with Super Smash Bros. Brawl Launch Parties

Game Crazy, a leading video game retailer, is giving fans the ultimate opportunity to punch, kick and smash their way to game-related prizes at launch parties for the eagerly awaited third installment of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series.

Beginning at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 8th, Game Crazy stores across the country are staying open late for fans who want to be among the first to get their hands on the highly anticipated Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii system. The new game goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, March 9th.

To celebrate the launch of the new game, Game Crazy is encouraging fans of all ages to come dressed as their favorite video game character. Many stores will be hosting Super Smash Melee and Wii Sports tournaments for prizes while fans wait for the new game to officially go on sale. Game Crazy is also holding a text-to-win contest in which customers can win a $250 gift card.

“We’ve had a lot of pre-orders for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and from what we’ve seen of the game already we know it’s going to be one of the most innovative and entertaining titles to come out in a long time,” said Dave Hulegaard, game enthusiast and buyer for Game Crazy. “This game features an incredible number of hall of fame characters. Finally Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Pikachu and many others can duke it out for the ultimate bragging rights. It’s also infinitely customizable so you can replay the game over and over and never have exactly the same experience.”

Hulegaard believes fans will be most excited about a sprawling adventure mode in the game called “The Subspace Emissary.” “It’s a full game in itself,” he said. “Players jump and brawl their way through enemy-packed side-scrolling levels, meeting up with other characters, watching incredible cinematics and taking on massive bosses. What makes this mode even cooler is that Super Smash Bros. Brawl has Wi-Fi capability so up to four players can brawl against each other remotely.”

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is rated T for teen audiences. Fans looking for more information about Game Crazy’s launch parties in their area can go to www.gamecrazy.com.

Source: Business Wire

SCI Entertainment announced steep losses and cut 25% of their staff

SCI Entertainment, the owner of the Tomb Raider games, has announced steep losses and a major business revamp.
The computer games maker said losses in the six months to the end of December were £81.4m ($161.6m) compared with a £17.9m loss a year ago.

New chief executive Phil Rogers cancelled 14 projects and announced 260 job losses - 25% of the firm's staff.

He also said the revamp could cost up to £55m and added that it might have to sell shares to cover the cost.

More from the BBC

Weekly Microsoft XBox 360 Rock Band Downloadable Content (Week 10)

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that the Grateful Dead will be featured in the next batch of downloadable tracks available for Rock Band. Starting the week of March 4, 2008, players will be able grab any or all of the six classic tracks—including Truckin', Casey Jones and I Need A Miracle —from the famous Northern California jam band that featured Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and others.

Additionally, the companies claimed that the game's fans can expect to see more from the group: “Over the next several months, the iconic group will make a total of 18 master recordings from its diverse catalog available as digitally distributed game levels for Rock Band.”

Details are as follows:

Release date:
March 4, 2008 (Xbox Live Marketplace)
March 6, 2008 (PlayStationStore)

Tracks:
Grateful Dead Pack
China Cat Sunflower
Casey Jones
Sugar Magnolia
Truckin’
Franklin’s Tower
I Need A Miracle
(All six tracks utilize the original master recordings)

Price: $9.99 (880 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per pack or
$1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track

Locations: Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store
** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Source: Team XBox

ENEMY TERRITORY: QUAKE WARS 1.5 PATCH DOWNLOAD

Feeling lucky? Splash Damage has released a beta patch for Quake Wars today. Here's the poop:

Good news: There's light at the end of the license tunnel! We've at last received the proper license files for both the Competition Mod and the 1.5 game update. With that in mind, we're now prepping them for release and hope to get them out as soon as possible (for real!).

Since we want to make sure that both releases are as solid as can be, we've decided to run public beta phases for them - this will allow us to iron out any remaining stability issues and also make sure that the backend infrastructure is working properly. Both of these are the most difficult things to test for and since we've had a few issues crop up in 1.4 that didn't surface during our testing, we feel that a public beta phase is in the best interest of the game and the players.

Download here

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: 1.65 Million Copies Sold

From Ukraine to the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. forums, to Google Translate to Dozerking, to me:

The poster translated the article, saying the CEO of GSC, Sergei Grigorovich, reported sales of 950,000 units in CIS, while selling 700,000 units in the rest of the world, almost all at full price. That would total about 1.65 Million copies plus, since the interview.

GSC proves, once again, that PC gaming isn't dead.

Source: IGN Voodoo Extreme

VE3D Video for Worms: A Space Oddity (Wii) - Trailer

Watch it on ve3d

New shots for the Wii version of Worms have emerged online, pointing to some variations within the traditional gameplay.

Meteor showers seem to replace the air strike option, whilst flying saucers deliver power-ups and crates containing health packs.

The last shot particularly confuses us, as it looks like an alien spaceship is actively firing on the worms. How can that be fair?

Activision say half a billion dollars plus to take on World of Warcraft

Speaking at an investor meeting, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has said that he thinks it would take an investment of half a billion to a billion dollars to take on World of Warcraft - and even then, success isn't guaranteed.

"We don't think that even if we made the USD 500 million or billion-dollar investment to get a product out [to compete with WOW] that we would even be successful doing it," he said.

Late last year, Activision took a different route, merging with Warcraft owners Vivendi to create Activision Blizzard.

"When we first started looking at it, it appeared to us like a game in an insurmountable product category... EA, Microsoft, Sony and scores of venture capital investments had been put to work unsuccessfully in trying to develop massively multiplayer games as a product opportunity," Kotick said.

"When you... Look at all the money that's already gone to these businesses that have failed, there didn't seem a likelihood that even a well-managed company like Activision would have the prospect for profit any time soon in this category."

Kotick also paid tribute to the talent at WOW developers Blizzard. "They have a model that is very well-developed, they have a very keen understanding of their audiences, and they're just scratching the surface of opportunity in a lot of areas... These guys are among the best in the world of game development."

Kotick was speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium 2008 Conference on Tuesday this week.

Source: Games Industry

Activision Trademarks the DJ Hero name to add to Guitar Hero line up

Activision has been hitting it big with the Guitar Hero franchise, and we know it's looking to expand what it can do with the series. I don't think anyone is going to be surprised by this next bit of news: on February 8, Activision filed to trademark the name DJ Hero.

The trademark refers to "computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit; interactive video game programs; computer game discs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games; video game controllers; interactive video game comprised of a CD or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller." It looks like your guitar is going to get a friend.

This isn't a new idea; Beatmania has been around for quite a while. Of course, Guitar Hero is simply a refined version of Guitar Freaks, so this won't be the first time Red Octane and Activision mine an area Konami has had some success in. There is no other information at this time, but it shouldn't be that difficult to adjust the Guitar Hero formula to a DJ set up.

We'll be watching for more information, but it's safe to say that this is the last Hero game we'll be hearing about.

Source: Arstechnica

New video games in store this week for PlayStation Wii and XBox 360

Sony PlayStation Portable owners get some off-the-wall treats in Sony's Patapon and Majesco's Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship.

War breaks out in Codemasters' Turning Point: Fall of Liberty on Microsoft XBox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 and THQ's Frontlines: Fuel of War on Microsoft XBox 360.

More mysteries await the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 in Ubisoft's Lost: Via Domus on Microsoft XBox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3.

The Nintendo Wii has a little something for everyone, with the Adventure Co.'s Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None, THQ's Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed and Sega Bass Fishing play now on Nintendo Wii

Enjoy...

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil on Microsoft XBox Live March 4 and Sony PlayStation Network March 5

Rocketmen To Rid Live Arcade, PlayStation Network Of Evil

Well, it's going to try. Capcom is bringing Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, based on the WizKids property of the same name, to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network next week, resulting in, I assume, either the removal of evil or a severe tilting of the titular axis.

Announced early last year, the top down shooter from A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games ticks off all the right features—multiple classes, online multiplayer, character customization, HD graphics.

We've yet to go hands-on with it, but if you feel like taking a shot for the respectable price of ten bucks, Rocketmen hits XBLA on Wednesday, March 5, arriving on PSN the day after.

Source: Kotaku

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Saturday, March 01, 2008