Video games raise student math scores

Based on research conducted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), immersive educational video games can improve students' math skills and comprehension and raise scores on district-wide benchmark exams.

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Premiere of the worldwide reveal trailer for Call of Duty - World at War

Watch the premiere of the worldwide reveal trailer for Call of Duty - World at War only on Xbox LIVE Marketplace June 21 - June 22.

“The next Call of Duty revealed! Watch the premiere of the worldwide reveal trailer for Call of Duty - World at War only on Xbox LIVE Marketplace June 21-June 22.

Call of Duty - World at War redefines WWII, challenging players to survive the most harrowing and climactic battles of the Pacific and European theatres.”

All Girl Arcade to Reinvent Gaming for Girls

New gaming network and upcoming MMOG hopes to be a much-needed haven for female gamers

At last, young females have a dedicated gaming site to call their own. With the goal of changing the face of online entertainment for girls, Fuel Industries has developed a revolutionary gaming portal which will empower young girls to create a stronger presence for themselves in videogame culture. Dubbed AllGirlArcade.com, the site includes a host of features, including a collection of casual games, user memberships, a point and rewards system, console and handheld reviews, an online mall, and the ability to play cooperatively with other girls. An MMOG is to be released in the fall of this year. The site will also feature articles and interviews with females in the game development industry, to help create awareness and inspire young girls who may have an interest in pursuing a career in the gaming business.



Based around the intergalactic antics of three outgoing videogame champions, The All Girl Star Squad, the site invites visitors into a world filled with hilarious and unique characters. The story revolves around Mika, Jessie, and Yuki, Earth gaming celebrities, caught up in an intergalactic struggle between a group of wacky aliens and a Fire queen best on universal rule. Playing out over a series of animated webisodes, the story is the inspiration for the first series of web games available on the portal. The MMOG will be built around the universe and will feature characters and locations from the story. Third party games will also be hosted on the site in order to create a truly exceptional gaming experience for young females.



With its trophy and gem systems, AllGirlArcade.com promotes healthy competition in a safe environment online where parents are able to monitor their children’s activities and interactions. Aiming to expand the All Girl Start Squad into a 360 degree entertainment property, including television, movie and toy branches, Fuel Industries has placed some of the most impressive talent in the industry on creating a unique portal that will excite young visitors, and prove that it’s time for the boys to move over, because this Arcade is Girls Only.

Key Facts

• All Girl Arcade is a created specifically with females between 8 and 10 in mind.

• The portal features empowered female heroines who will be the focal points in the intergalactic adventures in cross-media environments, including an online MMOG in the fall.

• Site includes online games, cross-platform game reviews, user accounts, and gems which users can spend on additional content and merchandise.

• All Girl Arcade brings a powerful new female presence to the online gaming world. Female characters are strong, independent and positive role models for young girls.

• Fuel Industries intends to expand the characters from All Girl Arcade into a cross-media venture, involving movies, merchandise and television, beginning with webisodes featured on the site—a true 360 degree entertainment property.

Spore Creature Creator now available worldwide

Spore Creature Creator Kicks off the Countdown to the Release of Spore this September

Prepare to test the limits of your imagination. Maxis, an Electronic Arts studio, today released the Spore Creature Creator, an introduction to the highly-anticipated and groundbreaking video game, Spore which will be on sale in the UK on September 5.

Available today for both PC and Mac, the Spore Creature Creator is a stand-alone product and creativity toy box where players create their own unique creatures, bring them to life with entertaining animations, and share them online with friends around the world. A free trial version of the Spore Creature Creator is available today at www.spore.com, while the full version of the Spore Creature Creator will soon be available in the UK as a pre-order incentive from EA Store and select retailers. The trial version features 25% of the creature-making parts from Spore and lets players shape, paint and play with their custom-created creatures. Creatures made in the Spore Creature Creator can also be imported into the full Spore game, allowing players to populate their own galaxies when the game ships worldwide later this year.

The Spore Creature Creator lets players create their own creatures, take them on a test drive, snap pictures, and make movies of them. Sharing pictures or videos with friends is as easy as the click of a button. Players can also share their creations with others by uploading to the Sporepedia™ at www.spore.com. The Sporepedia is an extraordinarily vast online destination where people worldwide can search for and share Spore creations, comment on other player’s designs, check out celebrity creature creations and much more.

“Today is the day we begin to see Spore come to life,” said executive producer and general manager of Maxis, Lucy Bradshaw. “We’re excited to see what players will do with the powerful and intuitive creativity tools we’ve put into the Spore Creature Creator. Our team will be excitedly keeping an eye on the Sporepedia to check out creations made by players from around the world.”

The ability to upload players’ creations to YouTube has also been integrated into the Spore Creature Creator. Players can import and upload video of their creatures' moves directly to YouTube with only two clicks within the game. Spore will have its own YouTube Channel where all videos of users' creations uploaded from the game will be showcased for the YouTube community to watch, share, rate and comment on. Check it out at http://youtube.com/spore.



Spore, the highly-anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe filled with creations made by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs.

Spore will be on sale for the PC, Mac, Nintendo DS and mobile phones on September 5, 2008 in Europe and September 7, 2008 in North America and Asia. Visit www.spore.com to download a free version of the Spore Creature Creator, sign up for the Spore newsletter or check out all-new screenshots and videos from the game.

Elements of Destruction and Sea Life Safari on Xbox LIVE

Command the forces of nature in “Elements of Destruction” and dive into a family-friendly underwater adventure with “Sea Life Safari,” both launching on Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (1:00 a.m. PDT).

Assume the role of the master of disaster! Use tornadoes, lightning, earthquakes and many other forces of nature to do your bidding in “Elements of Destruction.” Fired from your job as a top research scientist, you have built a machine that allows you to control nature and exact revenge on the corporation that fired you. Your quest for revenge takes you to locations across the globe where you must use the forces of nature in challenging ways. Shake down buildings with earthquakes, suck-up and throw objects with tornadoes, and strike down aircraft with lightning to cause mayhem in cities and towns across the earth.

Developed by Frozen Codebase, “Elements of Destruction” will be available worldwide (with the exception of Japan) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

Assume the role of an underwater photographer that is tasked with capturing the incredible beauty of wild sea creatures in “Sea Life Safari.” This family-friendly game features 60 animated marine life, five uniquely beautiful destinations and an easy-to-understand tutorial. Explore the tropical Coral Reef or swim towards the Ship Graveyard, capturing stunning pictures to fill up your personal scrapbooks. The underwater setting of “Sea Life Safari” also features secret routes, hidden items and special appearances by rare nighttime creatures to keep gamers coming back for more.

Angels Online - Angel Baby System Details Introduction

With IGG and the Angels Online team having released the Eden Expansion, more and more players have joined this game. However some newbie players have been wondering if they can catch up with the experienced veteran players after joining this game.

To help the newbie players level up quickly and easily, the Angels Online team has released “Angel Baby” (software) which will help players level up with ease.
For more information please visit: http://ao.igg.com/news/news.php?aid=1071

Meanwhile, to celebrate IGG Inc’s 2nd Anniversary in June, AO Item Mall will be releasing a series of New Paper Moppets. Those players who like dressing up shouldn’t miss this opportunity.
For more info visit: http://ao.igg.com/news/news.php?aid=1068

Pirates of the Burning Sea - the Official eGuide

Featuring new & updated material with a new exclusive in-game item!

Pirates of the Burning Sea Revised Edition: Prima Official eGuide (PotBS), the highly anticipated, revised companion to the game’s 1.4 patch. This revised and expanded title from Prima Games is available in digital eGuide format only, including a new exclusive code for an in-game shoulder lizard. The guide is now available online for a suggested retail price of $19.99 or may be downloaded at www.primagames.com.

“We are very excited to be able to offer a newly updated and revised guide digitally for this well-loved MMORPG,” says Debra Kempker, president of Prima Games. “Continuing in a new tradition of in-game items, we were able to once again offer exclusive content—something we hope to keep doing in the future.”

In the re-creation of the guide, Prima continued to use its previous author team along with the Syndicate, the world’s largest online gaming guild. The Syndicate team spent hundreds of hours playing the game and testing strategies alongside the game dev team in the first installment of the guide. For the revised edition, the team was kept in the game, playing along side other players, team members, and staff to expand on past strategies and cultivate new, long-term tactics.

“Our friends at Prima have created a must-have guide for every Pirates of the Burning Sea fan,” said Troy Hewitt, Director, Community Relations at Flying Lab Software. “Filled with the latest in piratical play-tips, this official guide is a tremendous resource for even the most sea-worthy captain of the Burning Sea! Let’s not forget that exclusive shoulder lizard—Yar!”

The guide contains an updated breakdown of every ship (new and past) and its stats, as well as an in-depth career guide to help players at every level on both land and sea. The guide also takes an exhaustive look at the newest class: Buccaneer. There are fully updated tables of every new skill as well.

EA Sports Fantasy Football is the Complete Fantasy Football Experience for Madden NFL 09

Fantasy Football will be launching a new website, fantasy.EASPORTS.com and will have fantasy football applications specific to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system later this summer. The web-based service of EA SPORTS Fantasy Football is free, while members of Xbox LIVE or PLAYSTATION 3 Network will have the opportunity to download the innovative fantasy football applications for a fee. In addition, for the first time ever, gamers will have the ability to play their fantasy football squad in Madden NFL 09. EA Experts, a team of internal fantasy football gurus, returns and serves as a go-to source for all fantasy football information.

“EA SPORTS Fantasy Football this year takes fantasy football leagues to the next level,” said EA SPORTS Fantasy Football Executive Producer Jeremy Strauser. “Through our draft day and live scoring applications we have made fantasy football a truly interactive and innovative experience. In addition, we have created integration between our EA SPORTS Fantasy Football product and Madden NFL 09 which gives the football gamer the complete football gaming experience.”

Exclusive to EA SPORTS Fantasy Football customers, gamers will have the ability to download the EA SPORTS Fantasy Football Live Draft Tracker application and experience a fantasy draft that includes all of the fanfare and presentation of an authentic professional football draft on their Xbox 360 or PLAYSTATION 3. The days of paper draft boards are over and gamers can view video clips and hear the EA Experts team provide commentary on top players. Moreover, gamers will be able to track their EA SPORTS Fantasy Football teams and leagues through the EA SPORTS Fantasy Football Live Score Tracker application, which is also available via download from Xbox LIVE or PLAYSTATION 3 Network. The fantasy scores can be viewed in two ways: full screen mode with complete rosters and details or picture-in-picture mode which allows gamers to keep an eye on scoring updates while watching live football action.



If you’ve ever wanted to test your fantasy team against others in the Madden NFL franchise, EA SPORTS Fantasy Football now gives you the opportunity. Through the website, players designate which fantasy team will be imported into Madden NFL 09. This fantasy team is a fully-functional created team and can be played in all areas available to created teams, including online head-to-head games, providing the ultimate football gaming experience.

Block Breaker Deluxe joins Nintendo WiiWare

Best selling brick-breaking game, Block Breaker Deluxe for WiiWare, Nintendo’s new downloadable games service for Wii. Block Breaker Deluxe is available now for 800 Wii Points.

Block Breaker Deluxe is vastly enhanced and redone for WiiWare. This title is created to complement the Wii Remote, a motion sensing controller which allows the player to interact with the screen.

Block Breaker Deluxe is the best selling brick-breaking game, over 8 million copies sold, that has been vastly enhanced and improved for WiiWare. The longest, most feature-rich brick-breaker game created, the game is easy to navigate by moving the Wii Remote left and right to shift the pad and connect with the ball.

Game Features:

• 50 levels, 8 locations and 3 game modes, allow for hours of endless play solo or with a group
  
• Arena Mode- two players face off and attempt to destroy the most bricks. 2 pads appear on the screen with each person getting their own pad and ball.
  
• Mini-games –mimicking a casino atmosphere, players have a chance to win extra cash by scoring in slots, poker and other Vegas style casino games.
  

Beijing 2008 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games Track and Field Events

The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games: Track and Field events.

Appearing on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and PC, Beijing 2008 delivers a host of Track and Field events.

Of the six Track events, the 100m is the blue-riband event of the Olympic Games and is watched by millions of people worldwide. A new analogue starting block mechanic has been added to the gameplay using the trigger buttons on the controller. After launching out of the starting blocks, players will have the choice to either waggle the thumb stick from left to right, or press the A button and B button alternately to gain speed. Other track events are the 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and the 110m Hurdles for Men and 100m Hurdles for Women.



There are eight Field events in Beijing 2008 and new to this iteration is the Hammer Throw which is played with both analogue sticks to build up power, whilst using one of the triggers to throw the Hammer. Other Field events are the High Jump, Pole Vault, Long Jump, Shot Put, Triple Jump, Discus Throw, and the Javelin Throw. All of these events have different gameplay mechanics and are playable with both male and female athletes.

Beijing 2008 is slated for a global release on June 27th 2008 for the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and PC.



More from www.olympicvideogames.com.