Mastiff Sets Sights on Wii with Deer Drive

Video game publisher Mastiff announced today that they have teamed up with developers SCS Software and Kouyousha to bring the award-winning arcade- style, multi-player hunting series, Deer Drive, to Wii this fall.

Deer Drive meshes hunting simulation with arcade style pick-up-and-play action and pacing for an exciting gaming experience. Deer Drive is the first deer hunting game that features two player simultaneous play. Additionally, Deer Drive features a multitude of gameplay modes, including four player party mode, true-to-life sound effects, passive and aggressive prey, and a slew of hunting weapons.

"Deer Drive is an entirely different animal when it comes to hunting games," said Bill Swartz, head woof at Mastiff. "Most hunting games are slow moving simulations with frustrating controls. Deer Drive is all about shooting, all about pick-up-and-play fun and being a more accurate marksman and better hunter than your friends."

Deer Drive Features:

• Arcade-style multiplayer action hunting on Wii for the first time.
• Pick-Up-And-Play: Lock, load, and take down some bucks. Just be ready to defend yourself from aggressive mountain lions, bears, charging moose and other dangerous situations.
• Multiplayer: Play head-to-head with a friend or with up to four players in Party Mode.
• Optimized to work with Wii Remote or the Wii Zapper accessory.
• Changing weather creates dynamic hunting conditions over varied terrain.
• Challenging for casual and hard-core players alike.
• Ethical hunting integral to the game.

Gymnastic Champion Becomes the New Face of Lara Croft

In her latest incarnation the new Lara Croft isn’t just a pretty face - as a former gymnastic representative for Great Britain, she’s now got the all action skills to match.

Athletic and agile, 23 year old Alison Carroll from Croydon is set to be catapulted from her current job as a receptionist to a world of superstardom as she follows in the footsteps of Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie and model Nell McAndrew to become the new face of Lara Croft.

Tomb Raider: Underworld marks the first game in this popular, recognisable series that is designed specifically for next generation consoles. Lara Croft uncovers proof of the existence of the mythical hammer of the Norse God Thor, a weapon rumored to have the power to smash mountains into valleys and destroy the Gods themselves.

Setting an epic journey around the globe in motion, Lara visits the ruins of ancient civilizations, collecting clues that lead her to a forgotten power that could lay waste to civilization. Exploiting the power and capabilities of next generation consoles, Lara must hunt for clues across massive environments, solving multifaceted puzzles, facing foes both animal and supernatural, this time with the aid of enhanced weapons and abilities.

Prey the Stars - Nintendo DS puzzle action game

KOEI's gastronomic fun-filled puzzle action romp will ship to North American retailers starting October 7, 2008

Prey the Stars has successfully reached gold status and will ship to North American retailers beginning October 7, 2008 exclusively for Nintendo DS.

Prey the Stars serves up an incredible world where nearly anything from food items to entire buildings can be devoured. Players must bite, lick, and suck their way to victory as one of the game’s four insatiable and customizable creatures: GABU, BARI, CHUCHU, and PERO. The more these characters eat, the bigger and more voracious their stomachs will become. It’s an engaging and addictive game for anyone with a taste for fun!

About Prey the Stars
The main objective of Prey the Stars is to eat everything in sight and to attack your opponents. Each of the games colorfully-themed stages are cleared by devouring as much as possible before time runs out. The player with the highest score at the end of the stage is the winner. Each player scores points by eating and by sucking in “spirits” which are hidden in some objects. The bigger the item, the higher the score!

Prey the Stars offers a delicious smorgasbord of multiplayer options. Gamers can feast with up to 4 friends using Wireless DS Single-Card Download Play or Multi-Card Play. Players can also take their gastronomic conquest worldwide with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Exclusive character designs for Prey the Stars were created by break-out Japanese pop artist TOUMA. The highly-respected designer is renowned for his whimsical and edgy creations including, Knuckle Bear and Boo, that have taken the urban vinyl toy industry by storm.

Developed by KOEI CANADA, Prey the Stars is rated “E” (Everyone – Comic Mischief) by the ESRB. Play is for 1-4 players using Wireless DS Single-Card Download Play, Wireless Multi-Card Play, and via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The suggested retail price is US$29.99. Media can find assets at gamespress.com

Pop Cutie! Street Fashion Simulation on Nintendo DS

KOEI's fashion forward retail management simulation game will ship to North American retailers beginning September 30, 2008

POP CUTIE! Street Fashion Simulation has reached gold status. The game will ship on September 30, 2008 to North American retailers including Amazon.com, Best Buy, Game Crazy, Gamefly.com and GameStop.

About POP CUTIE! Street Fashion Simulation
POP CUTIE! Street Fashion Simulation is an offbeat business simulation game that takes a fun look into the world of Tokyo street style and cosplay (costume play).

In the game, players can manage the day-to-day happenings of their very own street fashion boutique. They’ll hire models and assistants, choose the look and music for their shop, run the cash register and even place magazine ads. Best of all, they’ll take to the streets and meet different characters in search of up-and-coming trends. Players can then use this inspiration in their studios where they’ll create new clothes, accessories and even hairstyles. However, other shop owners are also prowling the streets looking for the next big thing.

Players will start the game as an independent designer with a small shop at a flea market. As players progress, they’ll move into larger boutiques. The competition against rival shop owners culminates in a ‘Fashion Battle,’ where a panel of judges will decide if a player’s style has enough cute or enough cool to become all the rage.



By gathering and combining ‘images’ from people on the street, players will create clothing lines ranging from the conventional to the most outrageous trends from the streets of Tokyo. An easy touch interface allows players to consider color and shape combinations on the bottom screen while reviewing the actual design on the upper screen. Using Nintendo DS Multi-Card Wireless Play, up to two friends can challenge each other in fabulous Fashion Battles.

The Adventures of the Little Red Riding Cap video game on PC

A jolly easy-going girl starts for a well-known trip to her grandmother, as we all remember it by a classic fairy-tale by Charles Perrault. Not everyone knows what difficulties she has faced on her way. To bake patties, you have to pick up berries, get flour and milk, knead dough – and that’s just a beginning. Moreover, the village is inhabited by simple sociable folk, who is always ready to take the help of a curious and kind-hearted girl.



Welcome to Riding Hood’s new adventures!

Key features:

• Classical plot interweaved with multiple intriguing details
• Over 10 chapters, including simple and complex tasks
• Over 20 mini-games for a comfortable inter-search rest
• Soundtrack from a popular namesake film
• Tempting atmosphere of freedom and adventure!

New Website Gives Visitors a Rare Look at the Life of Secret Agent Violette Summer and Velvet Assassin

...- . .-.. ...- . - / .- ... ... .- ... ... .. -. / .- . -... ... .. - . / .-.. .. ...- .

Official website for the upcoming stealth action game Velvet Assassin. The site is now live at www.velvetassassin.com. Velvet Assassin will be released on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows-based PC when it releases this winter.

Like the game, the new site offers visitors the chance to look inside the gritty world of Velvet Assassin from the perspective of Violette Summer as she lay in her hospital room. Glimpsing flashbacks of Violette’s life offers insight into her heroic World War II missions behind enemy lines. The site features a variety of content, such as screenshots, trailers and descriptions of weapons from the game. Content also includes news updates on the game as well as details on the real life ‘Follow the Dream’ treasure hunt. In addition, a fully functional Morse code translator lets visitors send coded messages to their friends.

Velvet Assassin gives players the opportunity to experience stealth action like never before. With its World War II setting and realistic look at the horrors of that time, Velvet Assassin offers a unique and powerful experience for gamers later this year. The official site will continue to provide a variety of new and exciting content from the game.

Lineage II free update completely changes the way Lineage II is played

New update, Gracia – Part 1, completely changes the way Lineage II is played

In a ‘free to subscriber’ update from The Chaotic Throne series called Gracia – Part 1, players will find advancing in the game to be dramatically faster. This, plus a host of other changes to enhance the player experience, makes this update much more accessible to newer players than before.

The increase in leveling speed is due in part to a new Vitality system, which rewards the player with an experience bonus for time either spent away from the game or in safe zones. New characters will start out with maximum Vitality, so they can begin improving their character’s advancement within minutes. An increase in rewards for accomplishing quests, battling boss creatures, as well as greater accessibility of items also enable players to increase their character’s level more quickly.

“Gracia represents a huge change to Lineage II,” said Tim Tan, NCsoft’s North American producer. “The increase in leveling speed allows players to create new characters and advance nearly twice as fast as before. This will allow players to experience the meat of Lineage II quickly, giving them the ability to visit new and exciting areas and cool high-level content much quicker than before. While this game is still a hardcore game, these changes with Gracia – Part 1 make the game much more accessible to new players. I hope gamers will take another look at what Lineage II has to offer.”

Continuing the storyline and changes brought with the earlier expansions, this first of three updates involving the land of Gracia, introduces a new terror with the strange dream-like inter-dimensional world of Kamaloka. Adventurers of varying levels can easily travel to Kamaloka and face a series of incredibly potent creatures that are tailored to the experience of the players.

The expansion also offers a selection of new and improved skills, many new items, and improvements to the Cruma Tower, as well as other hunting zones.

Lineage II is known as the gaming market’s premier player-versus-player (PvP) online role-playing game, with a customer reach of more than 19 million players worldwide.

The Lineage II:The Chaotic Throne – Gracia retail box is scheduled for release from 19th September 2008.

Phantasy Star Universe video game top in Japan

Sega's Phantasy Star Universe for the PlayStation Portable has held on to the top spot in the Japanese software sales chart for the second consecutive week, according to information from Media Create for the week ending August 10.

It sold just fewer than 150,000 units in its second week on sale, holding off competition from new entry Fire Emblem on the Nintendo DS, which sold around 145,000 units.

Rhythm Heaven Gold fell one place to third, still selling 130,000 copies, while the Xbox 360 received a welcome boost with the release of Tales of Vesperia - the Namco Bandai game sold 108,000 units to take fourth place.

Dragon Quest V continued to sell well, breaking through the 1 million lifetime barrier, while the other new entries in the top ten followed - Sangokushi Taisen Ten and Summon Night 2, both for the DS, took sixth and seventh places.

Wii Fit edged ever closer to the 2.5 million lifetime mark in eighth, followed by Mario Kart Wii, while the PlayStation 3 edition of Soul Calibur IV rounded off the top ten.

The full top ten is as follows:

1. Phantasy Star Universe (PSP)
2. Fire Emblem (DS)
3. Rhythm Heaven Gold (DS)
4. Tales of Vesperia (360)
5. Dragon Quest V (DS)
6. Sangokushi Taisen Ten (DS)
7. Summon Night 2 (DS)
8. Wii Fit (Wii)
9. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
10. Soul Calibur IV (PS3)

Source: Games Industry

Sacred 2 - Fallen Angel RPG video game - play it at Gencon

Gamers are invited to get hands-on with the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the sequel to 2004's "RPG of the Year"

cdv Software Entertainment USA is inviting gamers to come check out their exciting action-RPG, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, at this week's GenCon event in Indianapolis. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel will be available for hands-on play time on PC and Xbox 360 all day during the convention on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 14 through 16, 2008. Gamers looking to check out the upcoming title from cdv Software Entertainment USA and Ascaron Entertainment should visit the Atari area (Exhibit hall D, booth 129) at the show.

For more information about Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, please visit http://sacred2.com or http://www.cdvus.com.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is an Action RPG with a rich story that takes place in a giant, open-ended and seamless world. This world contains hundreds of dungeons, treacherous opponents and a variety of challenging quests. Intelligent enemies, steadily adapting in number and difficulty based on player progress, challenge in heroic single- and multiplayer battles.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel provides numerous unique items that can be gathered in this mystical world. A deep reward system further enables advancements in character, individual attributes and character-specific fighting styles, each designed to keep players returning to the world of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel to discover what is around the next bend. Drop-in styled cooperative multiplayer gameplay ensures players will enjoy the game alone or seamlessly with friends at any time. Five unique multiplayer modes round out the experience and offer a refreshing, first-class gaming experience in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.

Sony PSP Redesign Confirmed By FCC

The FCC has come through again, giving up testing info on Sony's upcoming PSP-3001 redesign. It's still the same generation PSP and still has most of the same parts (802.11b Wi-Fi) and still plays the same games, so we're guessing most of the changes will be internal and focused on lowering costs and making the thing harder to hack.

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