Bejeweled 2 for Palm OS and Windows Mobile - major update!

Bejeweled 2 for Palm OS and Windows Mobile gets a major update!

Astraware and PopCap Games are very excited to announce a major update to PopCap's best-selling, flagship game, Bejeweled 2.

In version 1.30, Bejeweled 2 adds much-requested support for 240x240 square screen Windows Mobile devices such as Palm TreoTM smartphones and includes support for 320x320 Windows Mobile Professional and Classic devices such as Samsung's SGH-i780 smartphone.


This update also sees the very first release on Windows Mobile Standard devices. Bejeweled 2, version 1.30, supports 240x320 and 320x240 resolution non-touchscreen devices including the HTC S710, HTC StrTrk, Samsung Blackjack & Blackjack II, and Motorola Q and Q9.

The game has been brought fully up-to-date on Astraware's current games framework and controls have been optimized for play with either 5-way or stylus. Bejeweled 2 is recognised by both public and media as the must-have puzzle game for your Palm OS or Windows Mobile device, and this update supports an even wider range of devices than ever before!

Bejeweled 2, version 1.30, is a completely FREE update for registered users. Players who haven't yet experienced this award-winning classic can purchase a copy, priced $19.95, from the Astraware website: http://www.astraware.com/bejeweled2

Flyboys Squadron PC video game available now from Matrix Games

Flyboys Squadron Now Available from Matrix Games

Fly the legend... Flyboys Squadron thunders off the runway and onto hard drives everywhere!

Matrix Games and Interactive Magic are pleased to announce that Flyboys Squadron is now available for purchase from Matrix Games in a new special combined bundle that also includes Warbirds as a bonus game. Now gamers can experience the intensity of WWI aerial combat with a blend of historical accuracy and fantastic action, including both single player and online subscription-based play.

As an added bonus, Flyboys Squadron comes with a free one month of online play for both Flyboys Squadron and Warbirds, a World War II air combat simulator with over 100 aircraft and ground vehicles!

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said “Whether its manning the gunner’s seat and fending off another wave of enemy aircraft or piloting a legendary Nieuport 17 yourself, Flyboys Squadron brings good fun and plenty of action in a conflict that isn’t covered nearly enough. We’re pleased to offer this new bundle with two classic Interactive Magic air combat titles, which offer both World War I and World War II air combat in a package geared for online play.”

Join the brave knights of the skies in this World War I flight combat simulation, developed by Interactive Magic. Fast, fun and furious action takes you to the skies above no man’s land in the first air war in history, where you’ll exchange machine gun fire with enemy pilots in desperate turning dogfights. Based on the motion picture “Flyboys”, a twelve mission campaign will take you through the immersive single player storyline and prepare you for the next step – online play.

Forge a mighty tradition of strength and courage for your air squadron by besting opponents in over 10 authentic World War I aircraft and prove you’re the best in the world by surviving the infamous close range dogfights over Western Europe. In the rugged French Nieuport 17 biplane players must protect the homeland as either the pilot or rear gunner and use teamwork and sheer courage over 12 single player battles and several hidden missions.

Flyboys Squadron is part of the Warbirds community of massively multiplayer online flight simulations and comes with a month of free subscription time, after which further online play requires a paid subscription. Once you connect to the online community, you’ll find a virtual world with dynamic online missions and events. Ranks, points and medals will track your performance against human and AI pilots as you rise from rookie aviator to the “Ace” and Squadron Commander.

EA REVEALS FIRST DETAILS OF SIMS 3 FLAGSHIP PC GAME

EA REVEALS FIRST DETAILS OF NEXT-GENERATION FLAGSHIP PC GAME, 

COMING IN 2009

The Sims 3 Gives You Complete Freedom, Inspiring You With Endless Creative Possibilities

Electronic Arts announced today the first details on one of interactive entertainment’s most anticipated games, The Sims 3. Featuring a brand new engine that has been in development for nearly three years, The Sims 3 allows you to immerse your unique Sims in an open living neighbourhood right outside their door. The initial feature-set unveiled includes the new seamless, open neighbourhood, new Create-A-Sim, new realistic personalities and new unlimited customization. The Sims 3 will launch globally in 2009.

The Sims franchise has long been recognized for its appeal to a universal audience, both male and female, and at any age. Its broad appeal and loyal The Sims community has vaulted the franchise to an impressive 98 million games sold around the world and translated into 22 different languages. Celebrated for its creativity, humour, and community, The Sims franchise has become a global and cultural phenomenon since its inception in 2000.

Now, The Sims 3 is being designed to be the next-generation flagship game from The Sims Label.

“In The Sims 3, Sims can go beyond the boundaries of their home lot, and immerse themselves in an open, living neighbourhood, interacting with other Sims using our new deeper personality system,” said Rod Humble, Head of The Sims Studio. “It is this type of open-ended gameplay that inspires endless creative possibilities. In addition the new goals and rewards systems will give players of all kinds from core gamers to storytellers the ability to enjoy long-term game play.”

New Seamless, Open Neighbourhood—Explore the Neighbourhood Freely.
See the sights with your Sims! The new seamless neighbourhood architecture allows your Sims to roam freely around the neighbourhood and visit their loved one and friends—or foes. Discovering other Sims homes and families, traveling around to new locations like City Hall or the local park will create a whole new way of life for your Sims. Storytelling options will multiply as your Sims stroll downtown to meet new acquaintances, head across town for lunch, spy on their neighbours and bump into the boss when they least expect it.



New Create A Sim—Create Any Sim You Can Imagine.
In addition to the open, living neighbourhood, the all-new Create-a-Sim interface will feature easy-to-use design tools that allow you to make truly detailed Sims that are more realistic than ever. Create-a-Sim gives you the incredible freedom to customize just about any Sim you can imagine. From thin to full-figured to muscular—everything in between and even the extreme! In addition to determining your Sims body shape and size, you will also be able to fine-tune every feature on their faces, customize their hair style and select their skin tone, all from a vast selection of options. With so many choices to choose from, it is fun to create more realistic characters that look like you, someone you want to look like, or even a famous personality.

New Realistic Personalities—Every Sim Is A Unique Person, With A Distinct Personality
With the innovative and proprietary Realistic Personality System in The Sims 3, you can attribute each character with five distinct personality traits, helping shape your Sims behaviour and how they interact with others and their surroundings. This new system will empower you to create extremely complex and diverse in-game personalities. Will you create the nosy, inappropriate, kleptomaniac grandmother who loves to meddle in other people’s business? Or the commitment-phobic, hot-headed punk rocker whose rude nature and childish disposition keeps him from scoring a date? In The Sims 3, Sims will go beyond the basic set of day-to-day needs to be distinct individuals with multifaceted personalities, who can focus both on short-term opportunities and long-term goals. With a wide selection of personality traits to mix and match, more than 700 million combinations of Sims await. You never know who’ll meet in The Sims 3!



New Unlimited Customization—Everyone Can Customize Everything!
New and accessible creativity tools in The Sims 3 make it simple for anyone to customize anything, anywhere! From floors to flowers, fashions to sofas, wallpaper to window shades and more, The Sims 3 gives you all the flexibility and options you need to be the architect of your dream house or explore your interior design skills to outfit your ultimate home. Your Sims can make home an ultra-deluxe mansion, a cool bachelor pad, family’s dream home or charming cottage. The choice is yours in The Sims 3.

”The new engine and technologies in The Sims 3 are designed to unleash the player’s imagination with realistic looking Sims who have distinct personalities and a seamless living neighborhood for them to discover,” added Ben Bell, Executive Producer on The Sims 3. “Players are going to be thrilled by the level of realism in The Sims 3!”

For more information visit www.TheSims3.com.

METAL GEAR SOLID MOBILE CELLPHONE GAME NOW AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY TO VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS

METAL GEAR SOLID MOBILE NOW AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY TO VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS

Popular Video Game Franchise Hits Verizon Wireless Phones With 3D Graphics and Original Game Play

Verizon Wireless, the leading wireless company with the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, and Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties, today announced Metal Gear Solid Mobile is available for purchase exclusively through Verizon Wireless.

Metal Gear Solid Mobile is an award-winning game, having recently received the Grand Prix and Operator's Choice awards at the 2008 International Mobile Gaming Awards. Metal Gear Solid Mobile features never-before-seen dramatic 3D art displays and camera work that greatly surpass the current standard of mobile games and allows players to shift the viewpoint from first to third person and to control a variety of weapons. The game also takes advantage of the camera functionality - for example, Verizon Wireless customers can use their camera phones to capture images and the game will incorporate the image colors into the players' camouflage system.

Designed by the same team behind the Metal Gear Solid console games, Kojima Productions, and developed in conjunction with Ideaworks3D and utilizing its Airplay™ 3.5 SDK, Metal Gear Solid Mobile is an original game designed specifically for the mobile platform. Players face the same extreme tension of solitary infiltration that fans of the classic tactical espionage action game have come to expect from the Metal Gear Solid series, previously released to the PlayStation® and PlayStation®2.

Verizon Wireless customers can purchase Metal Gear Solid Mobile in the Get Fun & Games shopping aisle in the Get It Now® virtual store. The game is available for $4.99 monthly access or $10.99 for unlimited use purchase. Verizon Wireless customers can get Metal Gear Solid Mobile on more than 20 popular Get It Now-capable phones, including the Voyager™ by LG and the LG VX8700. Download charges for Get It Now applications vary and airtime or megabyte charges may apply when browsing, downloading and using certain applications. Customers need a Get It Now-enabled handset and Verizon Wireless digital service to access the Get It Now virtual store.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, customers can visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or visit www.verizonwireless.com. For more information about Metal Gear Solid Mobile, please visit www.konamimobile.com.

Big Bang viodeo game explodes onto Nintendo DS

SouthPeak Explode a Big Bang Onto Nintendo DS

Big Bang Mini Announced; Fireworks-Themed Shooter To Bring Explosive Action to Handheld

SouthPeak Games today announced another title for its 2008 Nintendo DS line-up, in the form of fireworks-based shooter Big Bang Mini. Based around filling the night sky with brilliant bursts of fireworks to take out encroaching enemies, Big Bang Mini will be released for Nintendo’s handheld this autumn.

Big Bang Mini’s main objective is to use the stylus to create fireworks in order to deal with waves of enemies that loom overhead. Miss and you’ll be forced to tackle another challenge - avoiding falling sparks created by your missed explosions. The end of each level comes with a unique opportunity for would-be fireworks designers to make the ‘Final Bouquet’ – a one-of-a-kind masterpiece that will proclaim your victory. With over 90 levels to complete, Big Bang Mini offers players huge scope for its special brand of fireworks fun.

“We usually only get to see fireworks displays happening high above us, but with Big Bang Mini you get to make them yourself,” said Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak Interactive. “You’ll also be creating them with each stroke of the stylus and watching your dazzling display unfold across the screen. It’s an amazing experience that is sure to give an adrenaline rush every time players set off a huge display.”

“I have yet to find anyone who doesn’t love fireworks,” said Camille Guermonprez, Managing Director of Arkedo Studio. “With Big Bang Mini, we’re trying to combine the thrill of an intense action shooter with the beauty of a grand fireworks display. If there’s anything players won’t like about the game, it will be that they’re too involved in striking and dodging to appreciate the light show they’re creating.”

Big Bang Mini will be released for Nintendo DS in Autumn 2008.

Microsoft Xbox Price Cut Prompts 40 Percent Sales Boost

Showing a seemingly effective period of lowered prices, the Microsoft Xbox 360 showed a dramatic sales increase, with U.K. sales charts revealing sales numbers going up by 40 percent.

The trend follows the Xbox's announcement of its three console variants, the Arcade, Premium and the Elite, dropping their prices down to $299, $399, and $499. Experts see this as a very favorable response, considering the price cut was announced only a week before.



"Xbox 360 is up 35-40 percent - that's from Friday, when the price cut came into effect, up to midnight Saturday," XBoxer quoted Dorian Bloch, head of the U.K.'s chart producer Chart-Track.

Dorian said the Xbox 360 will now have to continue the trend until Easter in order to reposition itself as a worthy competition in the war of the consoles, where it is pitted against the Sony PlayStation 3, which has outsold the Xbox for two consecutive months, and the Nintendo Wii, which is the console to beat.

Keeping ahead of the PS3, however, comes with the imminent challenge, according to GamesIndustry, in the form of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, set to come out for console.

The game's hype has reportedly led to a million pre-orders, and upon the prediction of analysts, a boost in PS3 sales.

Sony PS3 manufacturer to build Microsoft Xbox 360

Microsoft has signed a deal with Sony's PlayStation 3 manufacturer to build "around 500,000 Xbox 360 consoles a month", according a report by Digitimes.

Asustek-owned manufacturing firms Pegatron and Unihan have signed the deal with Microsoft in an agreement that will see the next-gen console built at bases in China.

Celestica and Flextronics are the current US-based manufacturers of the Xbox 360, but Microsoft recently blamed its American hardware sales defeat on 'supply constraints' and said it was actively looking for a new supplier.

Alienware Area-51 desktop now features the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard and GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics for the ultimate in PC gaming

The Alienware Area-51 desktop now features the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard and GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics for the ultimate in PC gaming

Alienware’s flagship system, the Area-51 7500, has received a full overhaul and has re-launched as the Area-51 desktop. Alienware, the leading manufacturer of high-performance desktop, notebook and entertainment systems, stands for excellence and advancement in the PC gaming and home computer markets, and the Area-51 continues to leads the market in desktop innovation. Now featuring the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI-based motherboard as well as an NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 dual GPU single graphics card, the Area-51 supports the most robust gaming platform in the industry

“The Area-51 is every gamer’s dream system,” said Brian Joyce, Senior Vice President at Alienware, “With support for PCI-Express 2.0, DDR3 memory, a completely open and higher BIOS overclocking than its predecessor and now the industry’s most advanced graphics solution, the Area-51 sets the pace for desktop performance. Everyone else is just trying to keep up.”

The nForce 790i Ultra SLI is the motherboard that gamers and enthusiasts have been waiting for. It is the only nForce platform to support DDR3 memory up to 2GHz for record-breaking memory speeds. Compatible with 1600MHz FSB Intel CPUs, it also provides the Area-51 with the impressive next-generation Intel 45 nanometer CPU capabilities. Best of all, the nForce 790i Ultra SLI allows for NVIDIA 2-way, 3-way and Quad SLI technology for unmatched visual computing.

One of the most exciting editions to the revamped Alienware Area-51 is the inclusion of the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card. Housing dual GeForce 9800 GPUs, the 9800 GX2 delivers SLI power on a single card. Up to 50 percent faster than the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra, the GeForce 9800 GX2 is the fastest consumer graphics solution on the planet. Teamed with the nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard, the 9800 GX2 delivers the most lifelike high definition PC gaming, the highest possible frame rates, and ultra-smooth Blu-ray Disc playback.

“We’re excited about the introduction of the next-generation Alienware Area-51, which incorporates the upper echelon of PC components to deliver the ultimate visual computing experience,” said Ujesh Desai, general manager of the consumer GPU business group at NVIDIA. “The sheer genius of the GeForce 9800 GX2, which sets new performance records for consumer PC graphics, paired with the extremely overclockable nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard, delivers an unbelievable and unbeatable platform for enthusiasts and gamers alike.”

“Alienware users expect top-tier graphics,” said Joyce. “By blending the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 and nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard technology with Alienware’s unique and superior architecture, we can continue to deliver the best each and every time.”

For more information on the Alienware Area-51 desktop, please visit: www.alienware.co.uk/790i

Area-51 Desktop

• Features the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI-based motherboard
• NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 dual GPU single graphics card
• Only nForce platform to support DDR3 memory up to 2GHz for record breaking memory speeds
• Compatible with 1600MHz FSB Intel CPUs
• Allows for NVIDIA 2-way, 3-way and Quad SLI technology for unmatched gaming speeds

Price: Area-51 Desktop from £1,349 Inc VAT and free delivery - Also available on AlienFinance packages.

Wonderland Online - Alpha Test Invitations

Wonderland Online: Alpha Test Invitations

The Wonderland Online Alpha Test will be held at the end of March. This test will be focused on finding and fixing as many bugs as possible. Therefore, IGG will only send out a limited amount of test accounts. IGG would sincerely appreciate any help from game guilds who want to join the test.

Game guilds are alliances of people with similar hardcore gaming habits who often play games together. Players who have a guild and a group of members can sign up for the Alpha Test.

Sign up time:

Mar 18th to Mar 25th
How to sign up:
Send an email to edwin@igg.com
Or post in the Wonderland Forum Guild Zone:
http://wl.igg.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=782

The email should include the following information:

A: Guild name
B: Number of guild members
C: Guild website
D: Number of Guild members participating in the test
E: Contact email

Rewards:

The selected guilds will get these rewards
A: A test account for each member
B: After the test, each guild will get a certain amount of item mall points valued at about 100 US dollars. (IGG will give these points to the guild leader and then the leader will distribute them to their members at their own discretion.)

Notice:

1. All character data will be wiped out after the test.
2. The selected guilds should add the Wonderland Online link and log to their website.
3. IGG will send out an email with the exact time for the test.
4. Selected guilds should make sure all characters reach level 15+, or the guild will not get any rewards.

For more, please visit here: http://wl.igg.com/news/newscontent.php?aid=316

Smash Bros Mario Kart Nintendo Wii dominate Amazon best-sellers

Nintendo Wii products dominated the top rankings in the Video Games division at Amazon.com on strong demand for a range of products.

The fighting title Super Smash Bros. Brawl held the No. 1 rank, followed by the Wii Nunchuk Controller at No. 2, the Wii at No. 3, Mario Kart Wii at No. 4, the Wii Remote Controller at No. 6, and Wii Play with Wii Remote at No. 8.

Nintendo said that Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii home video game system has sold 1.4 million copies in one week at U.S. retail.

The title sold 874,000 on launch day alone and sold at a rate of 120 copies per second between Mar. 9 and Mar. 16.

Additionally, advanced orders for Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel spiked 282,600 percent over the weekend. The racing title, due out Apr. 27, sells for $49.99.

The title will include 16 new courses and 16 classic courses from previous titles, a choice of karts or motorbikes, and the option to place a Mii character in the driver's seat.

NPD Group Inc. this month recorded sales of 432,000 Wii units in Feb. U.S. sales to rank as the No. 2 best-selling video game hardware for the month.