Nintendo Hits A Home Run With Mario Super Sluggers on Nintendo Wii

Nintendo Hits A Home Run With Mario Super Sluggers

Nintendo Announces Surprise Addition to Wii Lineup

The ongoing excitement over Nintendo's groundbreaking Wii system gets a surprise springtime boost with the announcement of a new game. Kicking off its semiannual media summit in San Francisco near the company's new sales and marketing offices in Redwood City, Calif., Nintendo of America today revealed plans for Mario Super Sluggers for Wii, giving baseball fans even more reason to root this season.

"Mario is truly a one-of-a-kind character; clearly fans can't get enough of him and his friends," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We're giving Wii users brilliant new ways to enjoy him while expanding our series of active-play games."

In the same spirit as other sports-themed Mario™ games on Wii like Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Kart Wii, Mario Super Sluggers blends richly interactive baseball action with eccentric characters and elements from across the popular Mario universe. Players can swing the wireless Wii Remote™ just like a real bat or wave it toward the plate to deliver a masterful pitch, enjoying the same intuitive, easy-to-learn controls that helped make Wii Sports™ a living room hit. With Mario and his unpredictable pals filling out the roster, imagination and active-play innovation are sure to dominate the diamond in this lively title, scheduled for release later this year.

Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access.

Other Mario posts on Gamezplay

Metal Gear Online - Open Beta in Europe confirmed

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH announced Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta for Kojima Productions' online epic
Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced its plans for a public beta program across Europe for its forthcoming Metal Gear Online title for PLAYSTATION®3. Konami will release Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta via the PlayStation Store from April 17th, with online tests running from April 21st through May 6th. An all-new Metal Gear title specifically designed as a multi-player online experience, Metal Gear Online will be released worldwide as part of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on June 12th.

The beta program will offer players a unique chance to sample the innovative multi-player experience of Metal Gear Online, which emphasizes cooperative team-based play. Those downloading the beta will be invited to explore two maps – “Blood Bath” and “Groznyi Grad” – each of which requires unique strategies in order to achieve victory.

Metal Gear Online will launch as part of Guns of the Patriots in June as a Starter Pack, comprising five unique stages: “Ambush Alley,” where trenches and sandbags litter an arena built for close and medium range combat; “Blood Bath,” a two-tier battle setting; and “Groznyi Grad,” the expansive Shagohod development complex from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater which features human catapults that propel players to different areas of the environment. Rounding out the five stage set are the dusty, Middle Eastern alleyways found in Guns of the Patriots entitled “Midtown Maelstrom,” and the rooftop settings of “Urban Ultimatum.” Konami is committed to the release of additional Expansion Packs to be released throughout the year.

Up to 16 people can play simultaneously, with game worlds created using Guns of the Patriots’s incredible 3D engine. Retaining the classic stealth combat gameplay of the Metal Gear series, players are dropped in a series of war zones wherein different challenges await. Five game modes await players on stages that span the globe and the history of MGS: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture and Base and Sneaking missions. Additional information on Metal Gear Online and the beta program can be found at www.konami-mgo.com.

Frag Dolls Achieve Guinness World Record Following 24 Hours In Sin City

Guinness World Records are delighted to announce the Frag Dolls Guinness World Record achievement for the ‘Longest continuous play of a single FPS’, playing for over 24 hours at the i-33 on March 22. The video evidence has just been reviewed and we can today confirm their Guinness World Records status!

Ubisoft’s Frag Dolls Kitt, Sarin and Jam defied terrorist threat and the evils of Alvarez Cabrero for over 24 hours playing Ubisoft’s latest hit video game ‘Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2’ while gaming fans kept them on their toes through XBOX Live during the arduous feat!

Kitt said of her success: "I can't believe I'm a world record breaker! I'm brimming with pride that we've achieved this. I'd like to thank everyone who supported us, playing with us on Live and donating to Breakthrough Breast Cancer."

A video feature tracing the record attempt from start to finish is available here

The girl’s achievement will be recorded for prosperity in the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2009. Challengers to their title are welcome to apply to apply via http://gamers.guinnessworldrecords.com.

The all new Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2008 is on sale now and is bursting with new records, high score statistics and fascinating facts.

3D Art Contest Battle of the SuperModelers win

As part of our 20th Anniversary celebration, GameRecruiter is pleased to announce the debut of our online 3D art contest, Battle of the SuperModelers! This one-of-a-kind contest is designed for 3D artists in the games community, professional or student.

Here’s your chance to create an original real-time character model of a monster, creature, robot or alien that might be found in a fantasy, sci-fi or horror game and win fantastic prizes! Our winners will include a Grand Prize Winner and three finalists.

Our Grand Prize package features the Area-51 m15x high performance notebook from Alienware, accompanied by a Cintiq 12WX pressure-sensitive tablet from Wacom. Our three finalist winners will each win a Wacom Intuos 3 (6 x 8”) pressure-sensitive tablet.

All four prize packages include a selection of two copies of the following software: Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk MotionBuilder and Autodesk Mudbox™. Each of our four winners will also receive a variety of 3D art instructional DVD’s from the acclaimed Gnomon Workshop.

All art contest entries are to be sent by e-mail. The final four winners will be judged on their final real-time model by a panel of industry judges. Fifty art entries will make it to the finals and be displayed on the GameRecruiter contest gallery page. Deadline to enter is Friday, August 15, 2008. Winners will be announced by September 15, 2008. Learn more about our contest prizes on our prizes page.

Grand Prize Package (one winner)

Our Grand Prize package features the Area-51 m15x high performance notebook from Alienware, accompanied by a Cintiq 12WX pressure-sensitive tablet from Wacom. The Grand Prize packages include a selection of two copies of the following software: Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk MotionBuilder and Autodesk Mudbox, as well as a variety of 3D art instructional DVD’s from Gnomon Workshop.

Finalist Prize Package (three winners)

Our three Finalist winners each win a selection of two copies of the following software: Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk MotionBuilder and Autodesk Mudbox, along with a Wacom Intuos 3 (6 x 8”) pressure-sensitive tablet. Each of our three Finalist winners will also receive a variety of 3D art instructional DVD’s from Gnomon Workshop.

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.