Champions Online video game website open for buisness

Packed with Game Info and Localised in French and German, Visitors to the Site Can Sign Up for a Chance to Take Part in the Forthcoming Live Beta

Atari announce that the official European Champions Online website is now open for business at www.champions-online.com. Localised in French and German as well as English, the site plays host to regularly updated news, game information, video, screenshots, artwork, developer blog and more, alongside the recently launched ‘Rate My Champion’ feature which allows the public to view and rate characters created in the Beta version of Champions Online, scheduled for launch this coming spring 2009.

In addition, visitors to the site can apply for a chance to take part in the live beta test of Champions Online and be amongst the first to explore the new universe and become champions.

Powered by the groundbreaking Cryptic Engine, Champions Online for PC features real-time action combat, the richly detailed Champions universe, and literally billions of character options allowing total customization. The experienced team at Cryptic Studios is devoted to working directly with gamers to deliver a great gaming experience, and establish Champions Online as the premier superheroic massively multiplayer online role playing game.

In Champions Online players will create their very own unique champion, explore space, venture into new dimensions and save the world. Visit www.champions-online.com to keep up to date with all the exciting developments in Champions Online between now and the launch of the game in spring 2009.

Final Fantasy crystal chronicles - Echoes of Time Europe release date

Square Enix announce that FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES - Echoes of Time will be released in Europe and across PAL territories on 27th March 2009, exclusively on both Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii systems.

Introducing the World’s first cross-platform multiplayer adventure for the Nintendo DS & Wii systems! Set in the fun and friendly CRYSTAL CHRONICLES universe of the FINAL FANTASY series, FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Echoes of Time delivers a unique and innovative experience where both Nintendo platforms come together in perfect harmony.

With truly advanced 3D graphics and up to four-player multiplayer gameplay, this is the most accessible take on the FINAL FANTASY universe, allowing players to enjoy the CRYSTAL CHRONICLES experience from anywhere in the world thanks to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection mode.

John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Ltd. comments, “The release of FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Echoes of Time shows Square Enix’s continuous commitment to bringing innovative gaming experiences to European players. The colourful world of CRYSTAL CHRONICLES provides the ideal opportunity for all Wii and Nintendo DS owners to come together and enjoy this magical adventure with their friends.”

About FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Echoes of Time

Story

A triumphant return from a monster-infested forest marks the completion of the 16-year-old hero’s coming-of-age ceremony. However, the hero’s joy is short-lived as a young village girl is found to be afflicted by a mysterious illness known as “crystal sickness.” Determined to obtain the cure, the hero steps out of the secluded village for the first time, only to discover a world in which crystals are merely artifacts of the past and no longer exist…

Features

• Wii and Nintendo DS players can share their adventure together through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Wireless Communication.
• 2-4 player multi-play through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection & Wireless Communication mode.
• Over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection: 4 players max (any mixture of Wii and Nintendo DS hardware).
• Wireless Communication: 4 players max (either up to 4 players on Nintendo DS hardware, or alternatively 1 Wii hosting up to three Nintendo DS players).
• Players can register their own phrases on top of many fixed phrases available for easy communication in multiplayer.
• Over 300 different items and costume combinations add to the fun. Changes to costume/equipment are directly visible on your character in the game.
• Trade with friends using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection functions.
• Play in four different languages – English, French, German and Spanish. The multiplayer mode can be played seamlessly even when each player selects a different language.

Cross Fire PC video game Community passes 25000 open beta members

More Than 25,000 Players have Joined the Cross Fire Community At http://crossfire.subagames.com/ in the First Two Weeks of Open Beta

G4BOX Inc and Wicked Interactive Ltd., North American publishers and distributors of interactive entertainment media, together announced today the tremendous success and popularity of the open beta for their military first-person shooter, Cross Fire. The beta, which began on Friday, January 30, 2009, has since gathered more than 25 000 registered players and made a major splash in the online first-person shooter scene. Cross Fire will continue in Open Beta through February.

"We knew there was an audience out there that was really anticipating Cross Fire, so we expected a good result," said Garvin Yeung, Chief Executive Officer of Wicked Interactive. "But even we are amazed by the overwhelming response that Cross Fire has garnered thus far," added Howard He, Chief Executive Officer of G4BOX.

The open beta launch marked the beginning of Cross Fire's persistent military-ranking and stat-tracking features. Player-progress will be tracked from the open beta onward so that players may accurately gauge their skills against the rest of the Cross Fire community. The Open Beta also introduced a clan system into the game, allowing players to band together into persistent teams. This feature is supported by a unified Subagames clan page, which maintains rankings of all clans across the Subagames library of free MMOs. The Cross Fire open beta also introduced in-game friend lists, in addition to a variety of new maps, weapons, and items.

Cross Fire is an online military first-person shooter for the PC, developed by SmileGate and Neowiz, and co-published by G4BOX and Wicked Interactive. Players assume the role of either a Black List or Global Risk mercenary, and then join an online team that must work together to complete objective-based scenarios. Cross Fire's flagship feature is its "Ghost Mode", which puts one team in possession of top-secret cloaking technology, rendering them invisible to the opposing team. This team of "ghosts" is armed only with knives, and must stealthily track and hunt the enemy team. This mode is exclusive to Cross Fire and no other mode exists quite like it in any other first-person shooter. Cross Fire also features Team Death Match, Search & Destroy and Elimination modes, in addition to a military ranking system, in-game friends lists, a clan formation system, and deep character customization options. Cross Fire is free-to-download-and-play. Visit the Cross Fire homepage at:
http://crossfire.subagames.com

Now part of the Subagames library of free MMOs.
http://www.subagames.com

PES 2009: Free January transfer update available from today

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced the release of a free download containing all the moves within the January transfer window for PES 2009.

The download will be available as of today to users of PES 2009 for PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360 and PC-DVD It's accessible via the game system settings and will bring all club sides' rosters in line with all the transfers made before the end of the January 2009 transfer window. Hundreds of players have been updated and corrected according to their moves, with approximately 200 new players added to the game for the first time. The stats of thousands of players have also been refined, in line with their performances so far this season.

The new team data follows an update released yesterday, which corrects small technical issues within PES 2009, including the importation of photo data. These downloads further demonstrate Konami’s commitment to continually updating PES 2009, with further exciting downloadable content set for release in the coming months.

Ubisoft update 2009 games release dates...

Ubisoft's UK branch has sent Cubed3 its updated list of releases for the European market, with Rogue Trooper slinking onto Wii this coming Friday, Grey's Anatomy arriving in the middle of next month, the eagerly anticipated Broken Sword for DS and Wii towards the end of March and the Acquire-developed Tenchu on Wii landing at the beginning of April.

Check out the full list below:

* Rogue Trooper (Wii) - 20/02/09

* Imagine Ballet Dancer (DS) - 27/02/09

* Sam Power: Football (DS) - 13/03/09

* Grey's Anatomy (DS) - 13/03/09

* Grey's Anatomy (Wii) - 13/03/09

* Petz: My Baby Panda (DS) - 20/03/09

* Scrabble 2009 (DS) - 20/03/09

* Imagine My Restaurant (DS) - 27/03/09

* Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (Director's Cut) (DS) - 27/03/09

* Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (Director's Cut) (Wii) - 27/03/09

* Imagine Doctor (DS) - 27/03/09

* World Sports Party (Wii) - 27/03/09

* Tenchu Shadow Assassins (Wii) - 03/04/09

* My Happy Kitchen (DS) - Q2 2009

Can World of Warcraft (WoW) save the planet?

When you consider how many people play World of Warcraft, it might occur to you that if every one of those 11.5 million people changed the way they lived to a more environmentally friendly method, it just might make a big difference to the planet. That's exactly what Professor Byron Reeves of Stanford University believes, and he's looking for a way to put it into practice.

Reeves understands that one of the main ways WoW works is by completing tasks as a team, also known as a group, raid or even guild. What if your performance in WoW, and therefore the performance of your team, was affected by how much electric you use? If you use too much, you won't do as well as someone else who lives very efficiently when it comes to using energy in the home.

The idea sounds a bit far-fetched, for example, how would the game be able to tell how much electricity you're using? Scientists have proposed using a Smart Meter which gathers information for billing purposes usually, then sends it back to the utility company; this is the method Reeves suggests.

Of course for this to work every WoW player would need one of these attached to their homes, which would then have to be fed into the game somehow. And what about people who play from net cafes, not to mention Blizzard's stance on it - you can imagine what it would do to all the carefully balanced class stats!

We've contacted Professor Reeves for more information on his idea.

April 5 release date for American Nintendo DSi Europe to follow

New version of the venerable handheld will hit North American shores in April at US$169.99; along with a brand new colour.

Since the DSi was first announced in October 2008, Nintendo has remained coy about its release in the US market. The only word from Nintendo US had been pessimistic, warning that it wouldn't release the redesigned console until "well into 2009". Thankfully though, that doubt has improved to a more 'glass half full' approach, as Nintendo has just announced that the console will arrive in time for Easter in the US, on April 5.

The console, which has been on sale in Japan since November 2008, will cost US$169.99, and will be available in black as well as a brand new blue colour. Nintendo's release also confirms that the DSiWare application will also be making its way to the US, allowing owners of the console to download new software from the internet, starting at 200 DSi points.

Nintendo's announcement also confirms that the game Rhythm Heaven will make its American debut on April 5. The rhythm action title has proved to be incredibly popular in Japan, and following on from success on the Game Boy and in arcades, it's sold 1.6 million copies on the DS since launch. You can find out more about the minigame collection in our hands-on preview of the US version.

Contacted by GameSpot UK for a European announcement, Nintendo Europe declined to comment on the DSi's release in its final major territory. To find out more about the DSi, be sure to check out GameSpot's hands-on with the console.

Source: gamespot Australia

Super Smash Bros Brawl - Masahiro Sakurai talks about his next Project Sora

Super Smash Bros Brawl is at the heart of a rather amazing phenomena, which I was witness to at the recent Miami NARP. When we got there to set up, there were some students playing Brawl in the room adjacent to us. This was around 11 am. As the day went on, I noticed the same gamers still glued to the screen. By ten pm that night, they hadn't moved. ELEVEN HOURS of Super Smash Bros Brawl. It's rare that I've ever spent that much time on one game ... at least in such a big chunk of time, anyway.

Surely those same guys and countless other fans will be thrilled to hear that the creator of SSBB, Masahiro Sakurai, is hard at work creating a new title. On January 22nd of this year, Sakura's company, Sora Ltd., formed a new project in cahoots with Nintendo, which goes by the moniker of Project Sora.

All Sakurai had to say about the new project was, "I can promise an experience that's different from anything [you've played] up until now." I can't begin to imagine what that might be, but I'm sure you guys have some ideas, don't you?

Source: destructoid

Super Street Fighter II HD Remix on PlayStation store tomorrow

Want more Ryu, extra helpings of Chun-Li? Then this is your week. Not only is Capcom releasing Street Fighter IV on PS3 & 360 this Friday, but tomorrow Thursday 19th February, PlayStation 3 owners will be able to play the game that laid the foundations for SFIV with the release of Super Street Fighter II HD Remix on the European PlayStation Store.
SSFII HD Remix is priced at €14.99 or £11.99.

Rare restructure may cost jobs

Microsoft Game Studios' Rare team is to restructure, with the possibility of a number of redundancies at the Viva Pinata studio.

As part of Microsoft's wider restructuring announced last month, the company plans to shift focus and embrace new business models designed to speed up and simplify the games development process.

"As the entire industry struggles to address the increasing scale and cost of development, we too have felt a need to restructure our current approach so we can speed development and better manage the scale required to create high quality games," commented Mark Betteridge, studio manager.

"With four projects recently underway, now is the right time to make this change. Throughout its history, Rare has demonstrated a willingness to embrace new approaches and commitment to delivering game-changing experiences to our customers.

"This announcement is no different and builds on that tradition as we work with MGS to make interactive entertainment as culturally relevant in people’s lives as books, movies and television are today," he added.

Rare has drawn up three key areas where it intends to focus its developments going forward.

As an internal studio, the team will continue to focus on expanding the user base of the Xbox 360, a process it has already started with the release of distinctive offerings such as Viva Pinata and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

The studio will also help grow the Xbox Live experience, following its success in designing the avatars used for NXE.

But it hasn't stepped away from the blockbusters either, as the team promises to "continue delivering AAA gaming experiences that excite both our current and future customers."

Rare said that it hopes its restructuring and adoption of new business practices can influence the wider games industry, but also admitted some team members may lose their positions as a result.

"In order to achieve these goals, the company is reviewing the current composition of its development teams and there is the possibility that a small number of current positions could be lost as a result of these changes."

Source: GamesIndustry