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.

GameStop / EB to open 600 new games stores

GameStop reported the rise of its quarterly profit due to solid sales of games software, and said it plans to open up to 600 stores.

GameStop, whose headquarters are in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas ) is the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer. The company operates 5,000 retail stores throughout U.S., Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Austria, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Portugal and Sweden.

Retail stores operate primarily under the GameStop and EB Games brands. In addition, the company runs two e-commerce websites, GameStop.com and EBgames.com, and also Game Informer magazine, GameStop's proprietary video and computer game publication.

In addition to video and computer games, GameStop sells magazines, strategy guides, entertainment DVDs, and other related merchandise. A major source of the company's profit is also buying used games and movies from its customers and selling them back at an increase. A new store concept called MovieStop, which focuses on selling movies rather than games, is currently building and operating stores in the Southeastern United States, including the Dallas area.

The company's net earnings were $189.8 million, or $1.14 a share for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Feb. 2, up from $129.8 million, or 81 cents per share, a year earlier

Revenue rose 24.4 percent to $2.87 billion from $2.30 billion.

No escaping adverts inserted into Microsoft XBox 360 or Windows PC games via Internet

There's no way for online video game players to avoid these ads.

The ads are integrated into games for XBox 360 and Windows-based PC platforms and can be specifically timed and tailored as the games are played online.

Known as "dynamic in-game advertising," it's a fairly new trend that advertisers are hoping will reach the target audience of 18-to-34-year-old men, a demographic that is often hard to reach.

"Ads are geared to the type of game," said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive Inc., an in-game advertising firm owned by Microsoft Corp.

Massive Inc. announced Tuesday it has a two-year extension of its deal with California-based Electronic Arts Inc. to offer dynamic in-game advertising for EA video games.

Electronic Arts is the publisher of the "Madden" and "Need for Speed" series, among other game franchises.

Massive says video games are the medium of choice for young men. The gamers could see ads for upcoming movies, or a Coke machine, or a billboard for Castrol motor oil, all blending in with the scenery as part of the gaming experience. They could also see ads in a football stadium or on a racing track in video games.

"It's a lean-forward experience," Van Arsdale said from Seattle. "Users don't pause or fast forward or go get a snack or go to the restroom during the ads."

Van Arsdale said that when a user connects to the XBox Live online platform, Massive can download ads to be inserted into a game, and can change those ads often.

If a gamer buys a game and doesn't connect to the Internet to play, ads in the game don't change, but Arsdale noted that an increasingly large percentage of gamers play online.

Digital media expert Ian Bogost said that while the ads can make the gaming environment realistic, it's not certain they are having any affect on the young gamers' habits as consumers.

"It would sort of be the same thing as asking the football player or the NASCAR driver in the real world, 'Gee what did you think of that ad?' "said Bogost.

"They are going to tell you: 'I am playing my game. I am racing my race. I am not thinking about that,' " said Bogost, who teaches at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

"I think that the dynamic ads are a kind of hopeful fantasy of the advertising industry that don't really connect yet to the way that video games work, and especially the way that they work differently than print or even than television."

Van Arsdale defends the ads, saying gamers find the video games' environments less realistic without them.

Massive says its Canadian clients include the Rogers Sportsnet and Rogers Wireless divisions of Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Telus) and Bell Sympatico. American and European clients include 20th Century Fox, General Motors and Puma.

The agreement with Electronic Arts will also include more titles and the next two releases of EA Sports franchises, including "Madden NFL" football, "NBA Live" basketball, "NASCAR" racing and "NHL" hockey that would be available to advertisers.
Dynamic in-game advertising in PC, console, mobile and casual games is expected to grow to 84 per cent of the overall in-game advertising market in 2012, up from 27 per cent in 2006, says U.S. based Parks Associates, a market research and consulting firm.

In-game advertising will experience the highest growth rate among the various categories of game advertising forecasted, increasing to more than $800 million in 2012 from $55 million in 2006, according to Parks Associates.
While in-game branding has been around since the 1980s, Massive says it pioneered dynamic in-game advertising and served its first ads three years ago.

Analyst James Belcher there will be resistance to this kind of advertising by hardcore gamers.
"It's a huge group," said Belcher, senior writer at New York-based EMarketer, which publishes Internet market research.

"The word 'sucks' will be used a lot. Count on it."

Belcher said Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced the creation of a new in-game advertising business unit.

Source: Canadian Press