Blizzard authenticator offers enhanced security for World Of Warcraft accounts

Keychain token generates unique codes used to help prevent unauthorised account access

Optional extra layer of security offered for World of Warcraft, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Designed to attach to a keychain, the lightweight and waterproof Blizzard Authenticator is an electronic device that generates a six-digit security code at the press of a button. This code is unique, valid only once, and active for a limited time; it must be provided along with the account name and password when signing in to the World of Warcraft account linked to it.

This optional security measure will be available for a cost of €6.00 at the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, which takes place June 28-29 in Paris, France. In addition, the Blizzard Authenticator will be made available for purchase via Blizzard Entertainment’s European websites in the near future for a cost of €6.00 plus shipping.

“It’s important to us that World of Warcraft offers a safe and enjoyable game environment,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “One aspect of that is helping players avoid account compromise, so we’re pleased to make this additional layer of security available to them.”

To learn more about the Blizzard Authenticator, please visit http://eu.blizzard.com/security-token/.

Blizzard Paris announcement...

2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational takes place in Paris this weekend.

World of Warcraft creators - Blizzard meet their game fans and give them a chance to try their games.

World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II will be there.

With competitions and tournaments you could win great prizes or you could use the silent auction to bid for your favourite.

But what annoucement will they make? Shouldn't be too long before the world finds out.

This year’s event will take place at Hall 5 of the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris - the first time the company has held the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Europe. Attendees will enjoy two days of gaming, contests, developer Q&A panels, tournaments, and more, and the show will conclude with performances by game-music concert group Video Games Live and Blizzard’s own Warcraft-themed rock band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

“We’re looking forward to meeting face-to-face with thousands of our players at the Exposition Centre this weekend,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Our employees, partners, and sponsors have all contributed to making this a memorable experience for the attendees, and we hope everyone truly enjoys the show.”

For those unable to attend, coverage of the event will be featured at http://eu.blizzard.com/wwi08.

Urban Extreme - Street Rage on Nintendo Wii

Urban Extreme - Street Rage on Nintendo Wii

With the price of petrol going through the roof this could mean the nail in the coffin for Boy Racers, Speed Maniacs, Street Racing and Joy Riders. So how are you going to get your thrill of driving through city centres in illegal street races, where you need ram your foot on the accelerator and bugger the consequences?

Well now you can experience that excitement in your own home thanks to… Data Design Interactive - a successful video games publisher and games developer, who today announced a new title to be added to their Nintendo Wii label, Popcorn Arcade, Urban Extreme: Street Rage.



Urban Extreme: Street Rage is set in Fortune City. As an experienced Street driver you are forced by the Underworld into a series of extreme and sometimes lethal urban races. Competing in these contests is a dirty business and could cost you your car, and even your life..



* 32 Unique play and unlockable vehicle designs.

16 level choices and Cup challenge modes set in a gritty urban environment.
Test your nerve and take out the most cars with explosive results in Carnage Mode.
Split screen multiplayer support with widescreen, and hires progressive scan modes.
Career mode: Spend your hard earnt prize money to buy new cars and enter more expensive races.

The rules of the road don't apply in this high-speed, anything goes competition……

Just Flight Mosquito expansion takes off soon

Title: Mosquito
Label: Just Flight
Developer: Aeroplane Heaven
Genre: Flight Simulation
UK Release 15th August 2008, boxed. 30th July 2008, download
SRP: £14.99/€22.95/$29.99

When you are trying to outrun a determined enemy there is no substitute for speed and agility – something that the Mosquito has got in spades!

Just Flight is very pleased to announce that its long-awaited Mosquito expansion will soon be taking to the simulated skies. Mosquito is fully licensed by the Royal Air Force and has been developed to the very highest standards by the vintage aircraft experts at Aeroplane Heaven as a lasting tribute to this amazing aircraft.



Mosquito is due for official release on 15th August 2008 and will be available as a great-value package for FSX and FS2004 in boxed and download versions. Mosquito will include three classic Mosquito variants - the B. Mk IV, the FB. Mk VI and the frightening FB Mk XVIII Tsetse with its underslung flak gun. In addition, owners of Mosquito will be able to expand it further with two keenly priced upgrade packs, available exclusively from the Just Flight website. Costing just £4.99 each, the upgrades will add a total of eight additional aircraft types in sixteen liveries to the Mosquito hangar. With all three packs installed you will have a total of 20 exciting Mosquitoes to fly!

Built from wood and powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlins, the Mosquito was a formidable aircraft with the speed of a fighter, the manoeuvrability of a racer and the payload of a bomber. Now flight simulation enthusiasts can experience the same blistering performance in this brilliant package for Flight Simulator X or 2004.

The high-quality models are accompanied by many unique animations and superb textures covering a range of aircraft along with the distinctive sound of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.

The cockpits are equipped with the latest "smooth" gauges for more realism and just about every switch, button and control lever operates with the mouse – even the crew doors open with the lever! Everything is historically and technically authentic right down to the panel bolts and brackets.



In the bomber version, the 'bomb room' is equipped with a working bombsight, arming switches and bomb trigger. Even the emergency axe hangs on the fuselage wall!

The exterior models are finely detailed with correct movement for the flaps, radiator shutters, rudder and elevator trim tabs, bomb doors and more. The landing gear is highly detailed down to brake lines and hydraulic actuators.

Many novel effects are featured, including dropping of ordnance, smoke and firing guns.

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS - Microsoft Flight Simulator X or 2004 – Windows Vista or XP

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: PC with 3.0GHz (equivalent or higher) processor, 1.0Gb RAM, graphics card with 128Mb (or higher) video memory, DVD-ROM drive, 2.0Gb free hard disc space.

My Dress-Up for Nintendo DS

Dressing-up, Fashion and Design for you and your friends!

My Dress-Up - coming to Nintendo DS this autumn.

Designed to complement and enhance this year’s range of MyGames, My Dress-Up continues to draw upon the real-world interests and ‘next steps’ of its young female gaming audience. In parallel to My Make-Up the game offers aspirational subject matter, where players are challenged to practise their fashion creativity, along with both personal and social play, full customization options and complete touch screen support. My Dress-Up is also exclusively designed to connect with My Make-Up so that friends can wirelessly swap Makeovers for a complete new look. My Dress-Up and its sister titles; My Make-Up and My Secret Diary hit shelves this autumn.



About My Dress-Up

Dressing-Up, Fashion and Design for you and your friends. With over 600 customizable items to choose from, you can style yourself and your friends over and over again!
Check your messages to see who needs your help, dress friends up for special occasions, parties, fancy dress or just for the fun of it! Store your favourite outfits in your wardrobe and show them off to your friends, or invite up to three friends to a Dress-Up party and rate each other on your styling skills, via DS Wireless Communication.

If you’re feeling creative design a range of special tee shirts for you and your friends to wear, connect with My Make-Up friends for a full makeover, or sit back and chat with all of your My Dress-Up, My Make-Up and My Secret Diary friends with exclusive ‘MyGames Chat’ over DS Wireless Communication.

My Dress-Up offers players their very own dressing-up box. My Make-Up offers players their very own make-up palette on Nintendo DS, where they can makeover, pamper and facepaint themselves and their friends. My Secret Diary provides a place to store secrets, keep a journal and have fun with mini-games, or send secret messages and event invitations to keep in touch with friends. With the added benefit of all games working together with exclusive ‘MyGames Chat’ feature – My Make-Up, My Dress-Up and My Secret Diary will be hitting shelves this autumn.

EA - Boogie Superstar for Nintendo Wii - Dance the night away

For any girl who has ever dreamed of being a star, the Casual Entertainment Label of Electronic Arts brings future stars one step closer today with the announcement of Boogie SuperStar. Combining the hottest music hits from around the world with the coolest dance moves and total character customisation, Boogie SuperStar provides girls the ultimate gaming experience: to sing and dance their way to superstardom! Exclusively for the Wii, Boogie SuperStar will be available in North America and Europe October 2008, and in Asia in the following months.

Boogie SuperStar features more than 40 songs made famous by popular artists such as Rihanna, Fergie, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys, Good Charlotte, Britney Spears, Kanye West, and more. Another 30 songs will be available on International versions of the game, allowing players to perform songs from local artists including Melissa M (France), Monrose (Germany), Finley (Italy) and Fito y Fitipaldis (Spain). The star power behind Boogie SuperStar doesn’t stop there. EA will soon reveal the game’s featured artist—a chart-topping, global music sensation who will help promote Boogie SuperStar.

“Boogie SuperStar promotes self-expression, creativity and empowerment for girls worldwide,” said Robert Nashak, VP of Casual Studios, EA Casual Entertainment. “We have created a game where girls don’t just observe someone else’s rise to fame, they experience it themselves, singing and dancing their way through a world most girls only dream about.”

In Boogie SuperStar, players don’t just play along, they are the star of the game. Girls will have a blast belting their favorite tunes into the microphone, and performing real dance moves that are captured on screen using the Wii’s motion-sensing technology. The journey to stardom doesn’t have to be a solo! With two- and four-player modes, girls can play with their friends sing and dance with their friends or against them in fun competitions that show-off their singing and dancing talent!



Players begin the game by customising their character, choosing from millions of possible combinations to create a performer that is as unique as they are. They are then “discovered” and whisked away to an island where they learn what it takes to be a star. While on the island, players build their singing and dancing skills, performing in posh environments fit for a rising star, including a studio, a poolside stage, a breath-taking terrace, and a yacht. Once performance skills are perfected, girls are ready to perform for a panel of judges in the ultimate competition, the Boogie Star Show! Only the best and the brightest will be able to outshine the competition to become a Boogie SuperStar!

Sacred 2 - Fallen Angel for the PlayStation 3

Upcoming action RPG, Sacred 2 - Fallen Angel will hit retail shelves this fall.

"Role-playing game enthusiasts have always been strongly represented on the PLAYSTATION platforms, and we are delighted to offer a version of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for the PlayStation 3," said Heiko tom Felde, Managing Director of ASCARON. "We’ve been working on this version for more than a year, and can now proudly reveal it and its new features, to an entirely new audience."

This version of Sacred 2 - Fallen Angel will feature enhanced graphics, 5.1 Channel Dolby Surround Sound and support drop-in cooperative play, as well as other multiplayer gaming modes via the Internet. 

The game also features two-player shared-screen gaming on one console – players simply pick up a controller, press "Start" and join their friends. Players can save their characters and use them in all game modes – allowing the same character to be used both in single-player or multiplayer modes, accumulating experience and loot seamlessly. The controls and interface have been developed from scratch for the PLAYSTATION 3 to ensure fluid and intuitive game play optimized for the platform throughout.

Ship Simulator 2008 gets real wind download

Wouldn’t it be great if you could play Ship Simulator and actually feel the wind on your face, the rumbling of the engines below, and the impact of oncoming thunderstorms as if you were actually standing on deck? Leading developer VSTEP and Philips makes this all possible by releasing an upgrade, which enables Philips’ amBX technology in the best-selling Ship Simulator 2008 game. Published by Lighthouse Interactive, Ship Simulator 2008 is available on PC worldwide.



Ship Simulator 2008 with amBX will feature variable speed fan effects to simulate wind speed and direction as players sail their vessels through the different environments. LED Light Effects – across a 16 million color range - will deliver immersive weather light effects, including sunlight, sunsets and lightning storms. Rumble effects will be featured to simulate ship engines, vessel collisions, and roaring thunder during storms, giving players a true feeling of captaining a ship in a host of different circumstances. The upgrade is suitable for players with v1.4.2. of Ship Simulator 2008 and the official add-on Ship Simulator 2008: New Horizons and is compatible with all available language versions.



Short for ‘ambient experiences’, amBX reinvents the gameplay experience by extending the traditional gaming world outside of the screen and into the real world. amBX delivers full ‘surround senses’ by allowing developers to use light, color, sound, rumble and even air flow through enabled devices, including the Philips amBX PC Gaming Peripherals range of LED color-controlled lighting, rumble peripherals, and variable speed desktop fans.

VSTEP’s CTO Pjotr van Schothorst said, “We are excited about enabling Philips’ amBX technology in Ship Simulator 2008. Striving to create high quality games and simulations, we are constantly innovating our products and the enhanced gameplay sensation created by amBX will provide our audience with an even more immersive experience of Ship Simulator 2008.”

To download the amBX upgrade, visit: www.lighthouse-interactive.com

Call of Duty - World at War on Mobile Cellphones

Call of Duty - World at War for mobile phones.

“We’re excited to extend our partnership with Activision and bring Call of Duty: World at War to mobile gamers worldwide,” said Jill Braff, senior vice president of global publishing, Glu. “The Call of Duty franchise has been a great addition to Glu’s portfolio of award-winning games, and we look forward to the continued success it will bring to the action category.”

The critically-acclaimed, blockbuster Call of Duty series is known for its cinematic intensity and epic battlefield moments. The Glu mobile version of Call of Duty - World at War, which Glu will develop and publish, will be scheduled for deployment to consumers on major wireless carriers around the world.

“Glu has solid studio capabilities and carrier relationships around the world, and is well-positioned to continue to bring the Call of Duty experience to mobile consumers,” said Dave Anderson, senior director, business development, Activision Publishing, Inc.

Alone in the Dark No 1 in Europe for Microsoft Xbox 360

Revolutionary action survival game Alone in the Dark has topped the Xbox 360 sales charts across Europe following its release on 20 June 2008. Alone in the Dark is officially No.1 in the UK and Germany, two of the largest Xbox 360 markets in Europe (Source: Chart Track and Media Control).

Alone in the Dark marks a blistering return for the legendary franchise with startling innovations and wide screen cinematic presentation. The game follows paranormal investigator Edward Carnby as over the course of one apocalyptic night he must fight to survive and uncover the earth-shattering secret behind New York’s Central Park. With an exhilarating mix of challenging gameplay, intense storytelling in the style of a blockbuster TV series, unprecedented environmental interaction, realistic fire physics as a core gameplay element, and DVD chapter select feature which lets everyone reach the game’s climax, Alone in the Dark challenges what players expect from video games.

The action survival opus Alone in the Dark is in stores now across Europe for Microsoft Xbox 360, Windows PC, Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 2, with the Sony PlayStation 3 version following later in 2008. In addition to the standard game, Xbox 360, PC and Wii Limited Editions are available now from selected European retailers featuring exclusive items including hero figurine, art book and ‘making of’ documentary DVD.