Nintendo trio of awards plus Assassins Creed Halo 3 and Cooking Mama celebrate

MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2008: Winners Announced

The games industry's most prestigious accolades unveiled; Nintendo bags unique hat-trick; Assassins Creed, Halo 3 and Cooking Mama also celebrated.

The sixth annual MCV Industry Excellence Awards were unveiled last night, as over 600 industry executives gathered at the Brewery, London, to celebrate the best gaming achievements of the past 12 months.

Hosted by industry news bibles MCV and MCVUK.com and presented by Simon Amstell, the BAFTA nominated comedian, the MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2008 saw Nintendo grab three honours (Games Publisher, PR Team and the prestigious Grand Prix Award). Other big winners included Assassins Creed as new Games Brand, GAME as Specialist Retailer, Play.com as Online Retailer and Cooking Mama as Sales Triumph.

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards are voted for by a panel of over 100 of the industry’s most influential executives. The judges are spread across all areas of the business, offering an unprecedented pool of knowledge and influence.

If Nintendo’s trio of awards wasn’t success enough, this is also the third time the publisher has bagged the ridiculously-prestigious Grand Prix Award: awarded by the magazine’s editorial team to the firm or individual they feel has contributed the most to the business in the previous 12 months.

“The last 12 months has been an amazing – and often unpredictable – ride for the games industry,” says Stuart Dinsey, managing director of Intent Media, publisher of MCV and MCUK.com. “From the departure of Ken Kutaragi in April 2007, to this month’s launch of Wii Fit, it’s been an incredible year – and it’s been an honour for MCV to be right at the heart of the business yet again. The winners of a 2008 Industry Excellence Award can quite rightly claim to have been at the very top of their game – during gaming’s biggest ever year.”

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards Winners in full:

INDEPENDENT RETAILER

Winner: Grainger Games
Finalists: Playtime Video Games, Console Connections, Powerplay, Ninja Games

SPECIALIST RETAILER

Winner: GAME
Finalists: Gamestation, CHIPS, Gameseek, Gamestop

ENTERTAINMENT RETAILER

Winner: HMV
Finalists: Zavvi, Woolworths, Blockbuster, Asda

ONLINE RETAILER

Winner: PLAY.COM
Finalists: Amazon, Gameseek, Shopto.com, Tgrav.com

STAR STORE

Winner: ZAVVI, OXFORD STREET
Finalists: Gamestation (Hull), Playtime Video Games (Doncaster), Gamestation (Birmingham), HMV (Trocadero)

PR TEAM

Winner: NINTENDO/RED
Finalists: Microsoft/JCPR, EA/Shine, SCE/Shine, Vivendi/Indigo Pearl

GAME CAMPAIGN

Winner: HALO 3 (MICROSOFT)
Finalists: Touch! Generations range (Nintendo), FIFA ’08 (Electronic Arts),
Mario & Sonic (Sega), Call of Duty 4 (Activision)

NEW GAME BRAND

Winner: ASSASSINS CREED (UBISOFT)
Finalists: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (SCE), Mario & Sonic (Sega), Bioshock (2K Games), Mass Effect (Microsoft)

TRADE MARKETING TEAM

Winner: ELECTRONIC ARTS
Finalists: Sony Computer Entertainment, Activision, THQ, Microsoft

MARKETING TEAM

Winner: NINTENDO
Finalists: Microsoft, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment

UK DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Winner: CODEMASTERS
Finalists: Bizarre Creations, Sports Interactive, Criterion, Rebellion

DISTRIBUTION TEAM

Winner: CENTRESOFT
Finalists: Koch Media, Gem, Advantage, Trilogy

SALES TRIUMPH

Winner: COOKING MAMA (505 GAMES)
Finalists: HSM: Sing It! – Disney Interactive Studios, Mario & Sonic – Sega,
Assassin’s Creed – Ubisoft, Devil May Cry 4 - Capcom

SALES TEAM

Winner: UBISOFT
Finalists: Activision, THQ, Electronic Arts, Nintendo

GAMES PUBLISHER

Winner: NINTENDO
Finalists: Ubisoft, Activision, Electronic Arts, Microsoft

RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD: SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Winner: PAUL DONNELLY (GEM)
Finalists: Rob Gross, Dave Gould (Vivendi Games), Jonathan Grimes (Microsoft),
Penny Humphrey (Electronic Arts), Rosemary Buahin (Sony Computer Entertainment)

GRAND PRIX

Winner: NINTENDO

Crysis launcher v0.8 mod for PC download

From: Clivey
Filename: CrysisLauncher0.8.zip
Size: 154KB
Posted: Apr 10, 2008

This mod allows you to view all your mods and maps in the mod/map folders, launch Crysis with selected mod/map, and more.

Description:
A Mod/map/Screenshot launcher and Creater.

This product will be updated every few days, so keep checking for updates.


Features:

• It automatically detects all mods in the Mods folder and lists them
  


• It allows you to Launch Crysis or the Editor with the selected Mod/Levels in the list


•  It will Zip up your seleted Mod from the list and make a backup with an incremented date/time stamp as the file name i.e I just clicked the Clivey mod and selected zip and it created clivey17112007 2320.zip and placed this in the mods folder. It means you will always have backups that wont overwrite each other and can go back and find a good working version of your mod. No external zip program required as its hard coded.


• It automatically detects all Maps in the Levels folder and lists them and allow you to launch a selected map in the editor or Crysis.


• Note: It will scan the map you select for a cry file, regardless if the name of the file matches the folder name.


• Added screenshot browser
  


• Added different map launchers for gametypes


• Added the ability to launch/edit a level for a specific mod

Changelog: 0.7: Changed Interface and added -DEVMODE to correctly launch mod

Changelog: 0.6 is a regression for a feature added in 0.5 that doesnt work with
Crysis currently.

Installation guide:

•  Execute the Crysislauncher.exe and follow the instructions
  

Download from Gamespot (free members download)

Caroline's Garden - Casual business sim aimed at lady gamers.

New casual PC game from Xing Interactive: Caroline's Garden

Dutch developers and publishers Xing Interactive are proud to announce the pending release of a new casual PC title in their Female Games range, which is aiming at the large demographic of women who play casual games.

Caroline's Garden is a story driven game in which Nano, a young gardener, has to help Caroline to grow the most beautiful flowers and sell them for a profit. Trying to win the Alun Alun flower festival is a challenging side quest and it is vital to keep developing new types of flowers by doing research and gathering information down the pub (always a good place to come up with a great idea afterall). Unlock new gardens as you go along and keep an eye on your energy and nutrition values while you work hard to complete each mission.

Caroline's Garden is Vista compatible and will be available in English/Dutch language DVD case packaging.

Toki Tori coming to Nintendo Wii - WiiWare

Two Tribes Announces Toki Tori For WiiWare

Two Tribes, the Dutch game developer behind “Worms: Open Warfare 2“ for Nintendo DS, today announces the imminent release of Toki Tori for Nintendo Wii. The game is to be made available through the upcoming WiiWare downloadable game service.

Toki Tori for Nintendo Wii marks the entry of Two Tribes into the world of home-console games. Based on the critically acclaimed Game Boy Color game, this update improves the original on every front. Sporting a new look, updated content and a completely overhauled Wii Remote control scheme, the game offers players of all ages a classic gaming experience while making the most out of Nintendo's Wii console.

The gameplay in Toki Tori is a blend of two genres. While it looks like a platform game, it's a puzzle game by heart. Players will have to look and plan ahead carefully while using a variety of items, such as the Telewarp, Freeze-o-Matic and InstantRockTM to name but a few.

Toki Tori will be made available through Nintendo's WiiWare service, which is scheduled to launch on the 12th of May in the USA. Availability in Europe and Australia will depend on the roll-out of WiiWare in those territories.

Other WiiWare stories on Gamezplay

Mario Kart Wii out tomorrow - grab your steering wheel and get going...

Mario and all his pals make a spectacular return in this definitive version of 'Mario Kart' on Wii, providing the most action-packed, adrenaline-filled racing fun ever seen in the series. Players will have to master a host of 16 exciting new tracks in addition to 16 classic tracks from previous Mario Kart games.

For the first time ever players have the option of racing with karts or a brand new mode of transport – Bikes. Using bikes as your chosen method offers up some interesting and different gameplay possibilities such as carrying out a wheelie, which in turn will give you a small boost that could be crucial and make that all important difference at the finishing line.

Players are also able to hit the road as their own personalized Mii caricatures in addition to many classic and even some never-before seen characters in Mario Kart games. True to the series, 'Mario Kart Wii' features adrenaline pumping racing action, a plethora of power-ups and masses of objects for players to use to slow down their rivals. Also with 10 battle arenas, players are sure to be kept busy between trips around the circuit.

Includes the Wii Wheel - makes 'Mario Kart Wii' one of the most accessible Mario Kart games to date and allows complete novices to compete with ease and comfort, ensuring no one is left in the dust.

See all Gamezplay Mario Kart postings here...

YO! SUSHI SERVES UP NINTENDO DS and COOKING MAMA - PLAY FREE WITH YOUR MEAL

YO! Sushi to offer its diners the opportunity to play Cooking Mama 2 for free through DS consoles placed on the restaurant chain’s iconic conveyor belts - or kaiten, as they are known in Japan.

The sushi restaurant sampling campaign, a games industry first, will see free DS consoles preloaded with Cooking Mama 2 being offered to YO! Sushi customers for the duration of their meal in the Farringdon Road and Poland Street restaurants in London from Monday 14th April, with many more of the chain’s 30 UK restaurants following suit over the coming months.

Cooking Mama 2 is the recently released sequel to the best-selling cooking simulation game Cooking Mama, and promises more culinary fun and even tastier gameplay as players chop, slice, dice, fry, grate, mash, mix, peel and roll ingredients using the DS stylus. Multiplayer gameplay ensures budding sushi chefs can challenge each other wirelessly over the restaurant floor and blowing on the in-built DS microphone will even cool a hot dish down!

“We’re overwhelmed with YO! Sushi’s enthusiasm and support for our Cooking Mama 2 campaign,” commented Ian Howe, Managing Director, 505 Games. “The YO! Sushi brand is colourful, cool, fun and essentially Japanese, which are all values shared with our Tokyo-developed Cooking Mama series. This is going to be an exciting and creative campaign and we’re looking forward to getting some great feedback from family sushi diners across the UK.”

Furthermore, My Ly, Marketing Manager for YO! Sushi adds “As well as offering delicious and healthy Japanese inspired dishes, we are always looking to provide something extra for our customers - and this is a perfect way in adding value to their dining experience. We are delighted to be working with Cooking Mama on this exciting and innovative promotion.”

Cooking Mama is an original and fun title that boasts immediate ‘pick up and play’ kitchen action, to ensure that players of any age or skill level are able to enjoy its wholesome wholemeal gameplay. Over one million Nintendo DS and Wii copies of the original game have shipped to-date, making it the biggest selling third party DS title ever released, and Cooking Mama 2 looks all set to break that record over 2008.

As part of the campaign, 505 Games will also be offering YO! Sushi customers the opportunity to win DS and Wii consoles and copies of Cooking Mama 2.

Cooking Mama 2 is available to play for free in the Poland Street and Farringdon Road YO! Sushi restaurants from Monday 14th April.

Nintendo named world's most successful games development studio

NINTENDO TOPPLES EA WHILE EUROPE POWERS AHEAD IN THE ONLY RANKING OF GAME DEVELOPERS COMMERCIAL PROWESS

Annual Develop 100 Report Names And Numbers The World's Most Successful Studios

The fourth annual Develop 100, which ranks the world’s games development studios according to the sales of their games at UK retail.

The book is published, in association with Sheridans and amBX, by the editorial team behind Develop magazine – the leading international publication for games developers.

Nintendo takes the number one spot in the 2008 edition of the Develop 100, knocking down EA Canada, which held the top place in the previous three editions of the list. Games made by the firm’s Kyoto and Tokyo-based development teams, which include Brain Training and Super Mario Galaxy, generated £129.83m in revenue – up almost 200 per cent year-on-year.

But despite the increased success of Nintendo and other Japanese studios – and the widely reported pressures from low-cost development centres in Canada – the Develop 100 shows European studios in good health. Development teams in the UK and mainland Europe claim 36 places in the list between them, having generated £284m at UK retail in 2007 – higher than Canada’s 12 studios and £221m revenues.

The Develop 100 is an invaluable guide that throws light on the real winners in one of the world’s fastest-growing creative industries, tracking the sales of every game released and sold in 2007 at UK retail, the world’s third-largest software market.

"A must-read book for everyone in the games industry, whether studio manager or contract worker, the Develop 100 provides an invaluable barometer of trends and data backed by our incisive analysis," commented Develop editor Michael French.

"While the success of the Wii and DS has helped a number of Japanese firms triumph, it’s good to also see developers in the UK and mainland Europe punching above their weight to claim a huge chunk of the credit for some of last year’s best-selling games."

The listing, from 1 to 100, plus a free digital edition, can be found at www.develop100.com.

Massive pirate operation smashed in UK Sunday market raid

Raid Reveals Illegally Pirated Nintendo DS Discs Containing £6,000-Worth Of Games

Illegally copied Nintendo DS games stored on discs marked ‘Volume 9 DS Games’ (the disc) were recovered as part of an 85,000 disc haul at an East Yorkshire Sunday market raid turned out to be the first of their kind seized in the UK for the Nintendo DS, ELSPA forensic experts today revealed.

Recovered at the Walton Street market, based in Hull, it transpires that the discs contained approximately 200 current games for the Nintendo DS.



According to ELSPA’s forensic experts, the disc is the first of its kind discovered in the UK. It has been appearing for approximately four-to-six weeks, but no Nintendo DS discs such as those seized at Hull’s Walton market have previously been found.

The raid, part of a collaborative effort to clampdown on the increased presence of counterfeited goods at the market, was carried out by officers from Hull CID, Hull Trading Standards, the Riverside NPT (Neighbourhood Patrol Team), ELSPA (the Entertainment Leisure And Software Publishers’ Association) IP Crime Unit, MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society), and representatives from Adidas and Nike worked together to identify illegally copied games, music and counterfeit clothes.

The approximate value of the software on the disc, should a member of the public purchase it in a High Street shop, is £6,000.

A number of people were interviewed by local Trading Standards officers after being found selling counterfeit clothing and footwear and will be prosecuted. Part of the operation involved the confiscation of counterfeited goods from traders who fled from the market, leaving their stalls and stock behind as officers entered the market.

John Hillier, who heads up ELSPA’s crime unit, said: “Piracy costs the games industry dear – just like that of any other entertainment industry. Making good and inventive games is an expensive and creative process, with some titles today costing £20m or more to develop. To make a quality title involves teams of highly skilled professionals, from programmers and graphic artists to voice actors and musicians. When a pirate sells illegally copied games they undermine the viability of our industry. The worst-case scenario is that pirate activity could cost the jobs of some of the creative talent and that would be a catastrophe.

“There are other things which the public should be made aware of about counterfeit games. Some of them will damage hardware, such as PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles. Others will not play in PCs and consoles at all or, if they do, the quality of the graphics or gameplay mechanics may be impaired. Finally, pirated software comes with no quality assurance – so if the games do not play properly then retailers and publishers will not replace them.”

Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA, said: “Walton Street has recently been plagued by criminals selling illegally copied games, music and clothing. ELSPA would like to thank local Trading Standards and all other attending authorities for their efforts in stamping out illegal products from the marketplace and helping protect legitimate traders.”

Det. Sgt Reed of Hull CID, said: “We have made big inroads into the market now and it is our intention to keep raiding it. We’re going to meet with Trading Standards and see whether we can make this a regular thing.”

Mike Pindar, Trading Standards officer for Hull City County Council, said: “Local traders have gone out of business as a result of these counterfeiters and people who buy from them. The people who lose out are the retailers and the public. We’re going to be very active on counterfeiting and it is only a matter of time before these people receive a visit from the police and ourselves.”

A spokesman for entertainment chain HMV said piracy was costing the industry “hundreds of millions of pounds”. He added: “If people visit record stores they will find the price of DVDs and CDs has come down so significantly there is no reason for people to pay a couple of pounds less for pirate copies, which are low quality and support criminals.”

NCsoft steps up battle in the fight against illegal game servers

NCsoft, the world-leading, publisher of massively multiplayer online games such as Guild Wars, Lineage II and City of Heroes, today announced that it was stepping up its fight against the growing menace of intellectual property theft. This action comes as a direct response to the rise of illegal online game servers throughout Eastern Europe, particularly in Greece and Russia where NCsoft’s fantasy-based online role playing game, Lineage II, is extremely popular.

The fraudulent servers in question are being used by players playing at home and in internet cafes, but such unauthorised servers often feature – or require users to download – illegally modified and potentially harmful game data, thereby changing the intended online experience.

NCsoft’s European office has identified several prominent illegal servers across Europe and is in the process of taking action against individuals and corporations deemed to be in breach of international copyright laws. In a lawsuit that was commenced last year in Greece, NCsoft successfully obtained a court order against Internet Cafe business, ‘e-GLOBAL’ following which four of its cafes were raided and illegal software was seized. This led to the shutting down of illegal servers on which pirate copies of Lineage II software was loaded. Georgios Katostaris – Chairman of the Board and Managing Director, Constantinos Zygouras – Vice-Chairman of the Board and Managing Director, Athanassios Dobros – Deputy Managing Director and Dimitrios Koutsoukos – Administrator of the company under the name ‘INTERNET DYNAMICS LLC’ have all been made personal defendants to the proceedings that are continuing in the Greek Courts in which NCsoft is seeking damages as well as criminal remedies.

“Illegal game servers, such as those operating from e-GLOBAL, have a hugely negative impact on both NCsoft Europe and its customers,” commented Max Brown, NCsoft Europe’s Sales & Operations Director. “They seriously affect the player’s experience of our products and rob the company of potential revenue that is used to further enhance the player experience on official servers. NCsoft’s loss in revenue from e-GLOBAL’s operation is estimated in excess of six million Euros. We are defiant in our resolve to stamp out theft of NCsoft’s intellectual properties and are prepared to take the strongest measures to do so.”

NCsoft has a proven track record in combating illegal servers, having worked with the FBI in November 2006 to shut down a substantial unofficial Lineage II server run by US-based website, L2Extreme.com. Following multiple raids across cities throughout the US, L2Extreme’s fraudulent servers – which claimed to support 50,000 active users – were taken offline, as was the L2Extreme.com website.

Log in and play Age of Conan, from Friday April 18th - 20thh

Funcom, Eidos and GameSpot Reveal Unique Age of Conan PvP weekend

- 15,000 gamers get exclusive Age of Conan access from April 18th to April 20th -

Eidos and Funcom is proud to announce a unique Beta partnership with GameSpot.com, one of the world's biggest gaming websites. In a highly exclusive event, 15,000 gamers from across the world can log in and play Age of Conan, non-stop, from Friday April 18th to Sunday April 20th. The unique PvP weekend allows lucky gamers to test a limited part of the PvP functionality of Age of Conan, and the two different PvP mini-games Capture the Skull and Team Annihilation will be available.

To make the weekend even more interesting Eidos and Funcom also includes the engaging Age of Conan character creation system, allowing players to create avatars with strong personalities. All 12 classes in the game, including the barbarian, can be picked and tested, with Funcom transforming each character into a fully specced level 20 death machine. In PvP lobbies players can then chat and socialize, prior to entering PvP matches. Participants are urged to test different classes, and offer any feedback on the forums. There will also be forums on GameSpot.com where people can talk about the event, and Funcom staff will be present to gather feedback.



“The battlefields of Hyboria are craving new, fresh blood,” says an enthusiastic Game Director/Producer Gaute Godager at Funcom. “Throwing newcomers into a fully specced level 20 PVP character is naturally a challenge in this most unforgiving of all MMO environments, but I am confident the players will rise to this challenge. We have spent years fine-tuning the combat system in Age of Conan, and allowing GameSpot readers to be the first to get a small glimpse of this is something we really look forward to.”

The unique PvP weekend marks an escalation in the stress testing for Age of Conan, and aspiring barbarians can now sign up on GameSpot’s website. The 15.000 lucky winners will be then contacted by email on Wednesday the 16th of April, and then they can then start downloading the game. The servers open at 1600 EST Friday the 18th of April and close at 1600 EST on Sunday the 20st of April. Funcom would like to point out that the PvP weekend is still a part of the beta testing process, and that it is a part of the planned stress test escalations towards launch. As of such it is not fully representative of the final product, and players are asked to treat it accordingly. Stress traffic issues may therefore occur.

Age of Conan is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received more than twentyfive covers on high-profile gaming magazines across the globe and more than fifteen major awards, including numerous "Best MMO of E3" awards and the official "Best Online Game" award at the Games Convention 2007. Age of Conan is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, and a showcase title for nVidia. The game is set to launch in several territories on May 20th, 2008.

For more information on Age of Conan – either in English, German, French or Spanish – visit the official website at www.ageofconan.com where you also can access the respective community websites.

To sign up for the unique PvP beta weekend

To post on the Conan PvP weekend forums

To see what GameSpot has previously written about Age of Conan


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