Penny Arcade Adventures - On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One on Xbox LIVE Arcade

Discover the mysteries of New Arcadia with Gabe and Tycho in “Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One,” available on Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday 21st May, 2008 at 09.00.

The first episodic RPG-Adventure game to grace Xbox LIVE Arcade, “Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One” is the result of a collaboration between Hothead Games and Penny Arcade. The first episode sends players to a deranged 1920s comic-book-meets-pulp-horror universe called New Arcadia. Armed with unconventional weaponry, players join forces with Gabe and Tycho of the Startling Developments Detective Agency to make war on bizarre enemies and solve the mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia.

“Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One” offers players the ability to design their own customisable character, a dynamic turn-based combat system and the ability to transfer your customised character’s stats and inventories to future episodes, or start fresh with each episode. Fans of Penny Arcade will appreciate the authenticity of the game, which features distinctive artwork and characters designed by Mike “Gabe” Krahulik and a story and dialogue written by Jerry “Tycho” Holkins.

Where can I get this game from?
Developed by Hothead Games, “Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One” will be available for 1600 Microsoft Points.

UK release dates for computer games in May 2008

• FINAL FANTASY XI: 2008 Edition - PC and Xbox 360 - 21 May
  
• Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Mac , PC, Xbox 360 (online) - 21 May
  
• Rock Band - Xbox 360 - 22 May
  
• Battle of the Bands - Wii - 23 May
  
• Early Years of Flight - PC - 23 May
  
• Haze - PlayStation 3 - 23 May
  
• Let's Ride: Silver Buckle Stables - PlayStation 2 - 23 May
  
• TrackMania United Forever - PC - 23 May
  
• Hannah Montana: Music Jam - Nintendo DS - 29 May
  
• Commando: Steel Disaster - Nintendo DS - 30 May
  
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 - 30 May
  
• LOL - Nintendo DS (online) - 30 May
  
• Monster Jam - Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 - 30 May
  
• Race Driver: GRID - PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 - 30 May
  
• Crazy Machines 2 - PC - 31 May
  

DEKARON - The most anticipated F2P MMO opens its item shop

Hear the war drums: the open beta stage of the famous MMO DEKARON is now ending on May 19th and goes commercial.

The merciless gamers are now able to enter the Dekaron item shop to equip their character and face epic adventures in the world of Trieste.

In the shop you’ll be able to buy:

- new costumes to customize your character,
- pets and mounts to assist you during your journeys
- items such as potions to increase your power, heal yourself, regenerate your mana, extra inventory slots to store your valuable loots and many more!

Enter in it and have a look to all the inventory!

Surprises are not finished! GameTribe will reserve a special gift to all players that have created a character during the closed beta phase and also a new one between the 1st of April up to May 25th!

Dekaron is a fusion-fantasy 3D MMORPG set in a Middle Ages based scenery. Its realistic environment and explosive adventure make this extraordinary game much like watching a fast-paced action movie. You must journey into this magical world with hundreds of other adventurers and explore perilous dungeons and fantastical cities in the world of Trieste.

Are you ready to join the war lasting for millennia?

Run to register to GameTribe! The battle is waiting for you!

PopCap Launches Mystery P.I. – The Vegas Heist Game

New Hidden Object Mystery from SpinTop Studio Jets Players to Las Vegas

SpinTop Games, a division of leading casual game developer and publisher PopCap Games, today announced the immediate availability of Mystery P.I. – The Vegas Heist, a new “hidden object” puzzle game with a Las Vegas storyline. A sequel to the popular Mystery P.I. – The Lottery Ticket launched last year, Mystery P.I. – The Vegas Heist challenges players to solve the crime of the century by exploring dozens of “crime scenes” and other locations for hidden “clues.” Mystery P.I. – The Vegas Heist carries a retail price of US$19.95, and a free trial of the deluxe version is available now for download at www.popcap.com and www.spintop-games.com. The game will also be available on other leading game portals, including RealArcade.com, MSN Gaming Zone and Yahoo! Games, later this quarter.

“There’s no better place than Las Vegas to solve a multibillion-dollar theft via hidden object puzzles – from deep inside a casino’s vault, to the Vegas Strip, hotels, limousines and exclusive country clubs, the locations were all created to transport players to this amazing city,” stated Duncan Magee, co-director and co-founder of SpinTop. “Our entire team rallied behind bringing the visual excitement of Vegas to a casual game. In addition to creating more than two dozen intriguing locations, we focused our efforts on making Mystery PI Vegas a game for all those arm chair detectives out there – players must spot clues and solve riddles to find the money!”

In Mystery P.I. – The Vegas Heist, the theft of the century has just happened! Over $4 billion in cash has been stolen from the state’s newest casino the day before its grand opening, and the casino has hired you to find the money – fast. Your fee will be $50 million if you succeed. Investigate 25 intriguing Vegas locations to find over 2,300 cleverly hidden objects. As your investigation skills improve, your P.I. rank increases. Strive for a Perfect Investigation every time to earn bonus points. The game offers two addictive ways to play: in Vegas Heist mode, you must find clues and piece the clues together to discover the location of the money and return it before the casino’s grand opening. In the unlockable Unlimited Seek & Find mode, you can search for every hidden object in every scene with no time limits.

Key features of Mystery P.I. – The Vegas Heist include:

• Find over 2,300 cleverly hidden objects.
• Investigate 25 lushly rendered Vegas locations to locate and return the stolen money.
• Play 5 unique mini-games: Word Search, Tile Rotation, Tile Swap, Jigsaw and a unique crime-solving puzzle.
• Locate the secret keys and poker chips to unlock Unlimited Seek & Find game mode.
• Go for a Perfect Investigation and speed bonuses to become a Master P.I.

Mabinogi Treks Into Next Generation and Emain Macha

Nexon America extends the fantasy life with latest update

Nexon America Inc. delivers the latest episode to the epic storyline of Mabinogi with Generation 2: Paladin. The evolution of Mabinogi continues with this massive update, which features the new town of Emain Macha, as well as the opportunity to further discover the game’s mysterious world and history through new quests, dungeons and monsters. These fresh additions only augment Mabinogi’s current immense offering of game play choices.

Players will learn new skills, such as the fire ball spell, and acquire new weapons, including the mace and leather long bow, to use in the new dungeons. The update also extends the game’s overarching storyline, enabling players to obtain new Paladin abilities. This Paladin skill gives players enhanced power and come to fruition in the mainstream storyline, which requires players to emerge as Paladin, the Knight of Light, to battle an invading evil force.

With an engrossing narrative, myriad of game play options and unique art style, it’s no wonder players are charmed by Nexon’s latest game. Mabinogi’s distinct combination of learning magic, cooking, shearing sheep and composing music has struck a chord with players. And it’s strategic, real-time combat system continues to provide a breath of fresh air for those who wish to leave the daily grind behind.

As with all of Nexon’s offerings, Mabinogi is free to play. To sign up or learn more, go to http://mabinogi.nexon.net.

Star Soldiers R on WiiWare for Nintendo Wii

Next-Gen Version Of Classic Hudson Shoot 'Em Up Hits Nintendo's Hot New Digital Download Platform Today

Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm of Hudson Soft, today announced that outer space shooter, Star Soldier R for WiiWare on Wii has launched on the digital download platform and is available for 800 Wii Points. Published by Hudson Entertainment, Star Soldier R is rated E for everyone.

This latest version of the classic shooter features next-gen graphics and a top-down perspective like other traditional vertical-scrolling games.

Players fly from the bottom of the screen towards the top, shooting at any ship or environmental elements obstructing their path. Power-ups can be collected as players progress to increase weapon or shield strength. An all-new Force System allows gamers to collect up to five orbiting satellites that can be kept close to the ship for defensive cover or can be sent out for additional firepower.

Star Soldier R is a 2-level game that features a tournament-style approach in its gameplay which challenges players to achieve a high score with either a 2-Minute or 5-Minute Mode. Each mode offers quick and exciting gameplay and gives players just enough time to play through each mode. The 2-Minute Mode features one stage where gamers have 2 minutes to battle through one action-packed level while fighting against one giant boss. In the 5-Minute Mode, players have five minutes to work their way through to fight and defeat another boss through a second level. Though both modes are time-limited, the added competitive and replay value for players comes after they earn their scores, which they can post to the in-game leaderboards and then check out how they compare with other players in the region, nation, or even the world. The goal is for players to replay the game over and over again to beat their high score, improve their ranking, and discover different strategies in order to earn bonus points in the 2-Minute and 5-Minute Modes. If they can collect them all, they might have the honor of boasting the top score in the world!

The Entertainment Software Rating Board has rated Star Soldier R E for Everybody, Fantasy Violence.

2 WiiWare games added to Wii Shop channel

A new phase for the Wii-kly Update. From now on, we'll have all the information about the arrival of both WiiWare and Virtual Console games. So basically you're getting access to the best games of the past and the coolest creations of the present. With this week's releases you can blast space-based enemies with your starfighter, fly the not-always-friendly skies or even corral some cute critters in the barnyard.

Nintendo adds new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:

WiiWare

Critter Round-Up (Konami, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone - Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points): The critters have escaped, and the barnyard is in chaos! It's up to you to quickly corral the animals in this puzzle-action challenge. You'll have to mend fences in a hurry to keep all the critters safe and satisfied. But the fun doesn't stop with the farmland; more than 50 challenging levels take you to several exotic locations, including the outback, the icy Arctic and more. There's even a series of minigames for when the critters get you down: Snowball Soccer, Predator Rampage, Chicken Catch and Fence Trap. Up to four players can compete or cooperate as the critters run wild. So roll up those sleeves and grab a friend-those critters won't catch themselves.

Star Soldier R (Hudson Entertainment, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): Star Soldier R is a new kind of shooter where players aim for the best scores within a two- or five-minute time limit. Develop various scoring strategies, and pump out those points within the breakneck time frame. Assembled in record time to counter the advance of a powerful enemy, the mysterious Brain Forces, the "Caesar" starfighter takes off to fight for the very future of mankind. Shoot down countless enemies, upgrade your ship to the max with power-ups hidden throughout the levels and wage an all-out assault against the core of the enemy fortress. Combining the excitement of shoot-'em-ups with in-depth scoring strategies, this state-of-the-art competitive shooter will keep you coming back for more. Upload your best scores with Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, and pit your skills against the world's best fighter pilots from the comfort of your living room. Hone your skills and show the world who's boss.

Virtual Console

SKYKID (NES, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): Red Baron, from the freedom- and peace-loving nation of birds, Bird Land, faces off in the skies with his rival Blue Max in this side-scrolling shooting game. Defeat the many enemies that await you as you complete your mission, using moves like the loop-the-loop to shoot down enemies from behind. Fly low to pick up bombs placed in the stage and drop them on command posts, warships or other designated targets to destroy them. Then land safely at base to proceed to the next mission. Beware of enemy fire, though-it will cause you to crash, unless you're able to recover by rapidly pressing the buttons. You can even play with a second person and fly simultaneously, sometimes helping each other and other times competing against each other. Prepare yourself and take to the skies, but make sure that the catchy background music (which became an instant classic when this game was originally released) doesn't distract you from your goal.

Super Brain Tease' range for Nintendo DS

Video games publisher Lexicon Entertainment today announce the ‘Super Brain Tease’ range for Nintendo DS.

The range will include a variety of specific subjects with the first 5 released in Q4 including ‘Football’, Geography’, ‘Music’ ‘Movies’ and ‘History’. ‘Super Brain Tease’ will be part of Lexicon Entertainments £9.99 range for Nintendo DS.

Christopher Allcroft, President of Publishing for Lexicon Entertainment UK Ltd said “Super Brain Tease’ is a perfect pick up and play range on the Nintendo DS, there is a lot of fun elements within the products and a £9.99 price point is what we are driving

Each version has hundreds of different questions with videos and pictures to really tease that brain of yours!!

Features include:

- 8 Different types of rounds
- Hundreds of different questions
- Easy learning curve
- Pick up and play elements
- Suitable for 15 minutes at a time game play sessions
- Bargain £9.99 price point
- Educational for young children and adults!

Age of Conan Collector's Edition Completely Sold Out

Funcom is proud to announce that the Collector’s Edition of Age of Conan is now completely sold out in all markets. The exclusive edition was announced in January, and has since topped retail charts at numerous retailers. In some markets, the Collector’s Edition has been sold out for weeks, and as a result additional boxes were made. These are also sold out, and the total print run stands at 111.000 units. Lucky customers may still find some copies on retail shelves, but no re-orders are available.

Additional retail figures for the standard edition of Age of Conan are also highly impressive. In total, Funcom is shipping around 700.000 copies of Age of Conan on day one. This impressive figure for a PC game is powered by equally impressive pre-order numbers. As a result of the tremendous interest and recent order increase, Funcom has not been able to fulfill all orders of Age of Conan in several markets due to current server capacity limitations. Extra orders of servers are now in place to facilitate for handling of more customers.

“Everyone in Funcom is delighted and humbled with the historical pre-order numbers for Age of Conan. If the information we have is correct, they represent the highest pre-order number for any global launch of an original PC game, ever, including the original World of Warcraft launch,” said Morten Larssen, Funcom’s VP of Sales & Marketing.

More than one million unique visitors visited the Age of Conan websites last week, and as a result of the great interest in the game, Funcom's early access offer was swiftly oversubscribed. The three day early access program was a limited offer reserved for pre-order customers. While Funcom scaled the servers above anticipation, player demand surpassed expectations. As the Early Access servers launched last night, the servers and game held up exceptionally well. As the game launches properly later this week, Funcom expects additional large numbers of customers to enter the game.

All the positive signals are naturally not equal to eventual success, but early indications from the press points out that the game boasts unique qualities. The very first review for the game gives it a 9 out of 10 score from Game Reactor, the Nordic regions largest gaming magazine.

While Funcom is thrilled with the early success of Age of Conan, and proud of the game launching this week, the company regrets to inform gamers that the DirectX 10 version of the game will not ship with the initial launch. As Microsoft’s DirectX 10 is undoubtedly the future of PC gaming, Funcom has decided to ship only the DirectX 9 version at launch, giving the team more time to focus on building a DirectX 10 version worthy of Microsoft’s great vision for the future of PC gaming. This postponement will let Funcom include even more features in the DirectX 10 version of Age of Conan than originally planned.

The DirectX 10 version will be premiered at the German Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, August 20 – 24, 2008. A special preview showing off the advanced graphics made possible by DirectX 10 technology will be unveiled this summer at nVidia’s NVISION event in San Jose, California, August 25 – 27, 2008.

Age of Conan launches 20th of May in North America / Oceania and 23rd of May in Europe. More information about the game can be found on www.ageofconan.com

Etrian Odyssey II - Heroes of Lagaard - Nintendo DS

Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard - Profiles of Hexer, War Magus and Dark Hunter.

Dark Hunter
The dark hunters of High Lagaard are similar to those found in Etria; they can still work with either whip or sword to focus on bindings or status ailments, respectively. The key difference comes in their ability to set potentially deadly traps: in High Lagaard, dark hunters can react to either physical or magical attacks, no matter what weapon they use.

Force Skill: Bondage
Using every binding technique at its disposal, the dark hunter will bind a single enemy’s head, arms, and legs, rendering it completely incapable of acting in battle.

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Hexer
The hexer returns with an even wider arsenal of status ailments to inflict on enemies, making it the go-to class for crippling one’s opponent. With a whisper, the hexer can condemn the entire enemy party to be poisoned, paralyzed, blinded, asleep, cursed, or terrified. Any enemies that fear the hexer are powerless to obey its commands to freeze in place, attack their comrades, or even destroy themselves.

Force Skill: Caprice
When a hexer cannot decide which of its many curses to cast, Caprice will doom the enemy party to a cornucopia of random status ailments.

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War Magus
Combining the effects of the medic and landsknecht for a class useful in nearly every situation, the war magus can effectively fill two roles at once in your limited party. Though its skills are primarily healing- and support-based, its sturdy offensive capabilities allow it to pitch even if should all its TP be drained.

Force Skill: Invoke
With a passionate prayer, the war magus fully restores the entire party’s HP and strengthens everyone’s elemental resistances.