Wheelman to be co-published by Midway and Ubisoft

Rumours around the web regarding Midway’s open-world, Vin Diesel-starring vehicle action game, Wheelman, and a possible acquisition of the title by fellow publisher, Ubisoft.

Well the rumours were almost true – Ubisoft and Midway are to enter into a publishing partnership, or ‘strategic relationship,’ to help the title see the light of day, as the two companies are to co-publish the title around the globe.

Ubisoft will take on sales, marketing and distribution duties for Wheelman in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK. Midway, meanwhile, will handle those duties in European territories not handled by Ubisoft, while retaining future franchise rights in the process.

Midway’s Newcastle studio and Tigon Studios will continue to work on the game under the agreement. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said of the arrangement:

“We are pleased to be partnering with Midway to bring Wheelman to stores worldwide. Midway is known for launching intense, fast-paced action games, and the cutting edge open-world driving technology in Wheelman should make for a game that gamers will love.”

Midway is unfortunately in a spot of bother at the moment, after their US divisionfiled for bankruptcy last week, although it has received permission to use whatever cash reserves it may have to continue operating by paying employees, retailers and suppliers.

NewU - Inside Out Fitness First video game on Nintendo Wii

NewU - Inside Out Nintendo Wii video game, due in Q3 2009, has been conceived in collaboration with Fitness First, the largest health and fitness operator in the world, and You Are What You Eat, a well known TV format and healthy eating book series.

NewU is a Nintendo Wii title that perfectly combines Fitness, Nutritional Advice and Daily Healthy tips to offer a holistic experience through personal well-being.

Fitness First has designed the Full-Body workout and has been strongly involved in the development of the game. Each exercise is demonstrated by one of Fitness First’s leading Personal Trainers. The Wii Balance BoardTM and WiimoteTM are used to provide feedback on user’s progress and performance.

Despite expectations, in order to create the six in-game personal trainers, Lightning Fish have used video footage of the real trainers and avoided 3D graphics. For the target market this feels a lot more approachable and authentic than using computer graphics. In this way, NewU offers a choice of six different personal trainers, each with their own personality and the choice of several workout locations.

The exercises and workouts are only half of the story, You Are What You EatTM has provided experienced nutrition experts to create a series of recipes that can be used to complement physical exercises, whether you want to put on muscle or lose some extra weight. The bespoke recipes can even fit any personal dietary needs such as vegetarians, vegans and gluten intolerant diets.

NewU allows people to select a lifestyle goal in order to create their custom exercise plans and their custom nutritional plans.

“NewU is not a game; it has been conceived as an interactive healthy lifestyle and workout video for the 21st century. Using your personal goals, NewU is a serious help to achieve them.

Nowadays, the opportunity to have some spare time is a real pleasure; a personal trainer and a nutritionist are real privileges. Why not create something that can benefit everyone?
Fitness First and You Are What You Eat are proud to be involved in NewU and support our cause for a healthy lifestyle based on perfect equilibrium. They provided professional assistance so we could design a product that can be used by anyone to improve the quality of their everyday life. Furthermore, we strongly believe that NewU does not necessarily represent an alternative to health clubs or fitness centres, but can reach a wide variety of people who do not feel confident, do not have the time or just live too far away. NewU will stimulate a new way of life.” explained Fabrizio Vagliasindi, Black Bean Games Head of Marketing.

Sacred 2 Fallen Angel PlayStation 3 video game - Latest screen shots

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is a hack-and-slash action-RPG with a rich story that takes place in a gigantic seamless world. This world contains massive dungeons, treacherous opponents and hundreds of challenging quests. Intelligent enemies, which adapt in number and difficulty based on player progress, challenge gamers in heroic single- and multiplayer battles for up four players on next-generation consoles.

Stormrise video game from the makers of Medieval II - Total War

Stormrise is a post apocalyptic real-time strategy game from Creative Assembly, the makers of Medieval II: Total War. Two warring factions arise from the rubble: the Echelon, a technologically advanced race that endured the planet's fallout by way of self-induced hibernation, and the Sai, a tribal society that adapted to the new apocalyptic environment and evolved over time.


Stormrise will be released in March on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

Unit Descriptions

Echelon

Stalkers

Stalkers are tall menacing bipedal machines engineered to swiftly destroy their enemies. Multiple Stalkers on the move usually means a quick, brutal end to any conflict. Equipped with tremendous armour, the Stalker also has mini-guns, surface-to-air missiles and a powerful anti-armour laser at its disposal.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Sam Missiles: Airborne units don’t stand a chance against the Stalker’s surface-to-air missiles.
• Laser: The Stalker can transform into a devastating anti-armour laser.

Seekers

The eyes of the Echelon, Seekers were originally manufactured hundreds of years ago after the awakening to patrol the frontier and alert the Echelon to brewing trouble spots. Once a danger zone was discovered the Seekers would loiter around the area providing useful combat data to friendly forces including radar telemetry. That function is as useful today as it was when they were first created.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Targeting Feed: The Seekers can use their Targeting Laser on nearby enemy units, giving all friendlies firing nearby an accuracy bonus.

The Eclipse

The Eclipse is the most powerful vessel ever created. Built to shield and save mankind from the storm, this vessel dwarfs anything created before it. With the state of world affairs in constant conflict, the Eclipse was modified to carry a battery of weapons, including the most powerful weapon ever created, the Polaris Rift. One unforeseen side effect of the anti-storm shielding was the shutdown of any Sai abilities underneath it.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
• The Polaris Rift: The Polaris Rift is the main weapon of the Eclipse. When fired, it generates a Super Rift which causes a titanic explosion and destroys anything beneath it.
• Anti-Ground Mode: The Eclipse changes its Anti-Air default focus by lowering itself and concentrating all of its defences on ground targets. This reduces its damage from ground-based threats and directs all its firepower that way as well.

Sai

Matriarchs

In the quest for the ultimate assault machine by Sai scientists, Matriarchs are a creation of genetically manipulated crabs infused with Sai energy. The gigantic and heavily armoured Matriarchs were more than the Sai bargained for. The first surprise was when the Matriarch gave birth to a clutch of Broodlings that swarmed to protect it. The second surprise was when the Matriarch launched jets of acid out of two toothy sphincters on its shoulders, sometimes at tremendous ranges in acid rain-like attacks.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Acid Rain: The Matriarch shoots a high arcing gout of Acid which rains down, melting all those below.
• Spawn Broodlings: The Matriarch can give birth to a swarm of Broodlings who upon emerging will protect the Matriarch with much ferocity.

Rift Worms

Ferocious predators, the Rift Worms have formed a close bond with the Sai and eagerly go into combat obliterating all those who oppose them with vicious blasts of Rift energy. Rift Worms fly with a freedom that machines do not possess and provide the Sai with a powerful all-round air unit capable of launching an extremely powerful Rift energy storm!

SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Stormbringer: The Rift Worm can focus tremendous energies between its tails, resulting in a tremendous blast to its target.

Sirens

Sirens are the ultimate Sai energy users. Powerful women who are able to bend the laws of nature with seeming indifference, they come replete with multiple powerful abilities. Once they show signs of power as young teenagers the Sirens are taken off to a secret school to be trained in the Sai’s highest arts, including levitating. The three most common powers displayed by Sirens include the ability to create a shield to protect nearby troops, the ability to teleport themselves to anywhere in sight and the amazing ability to summon a vortex of pure Rift Energy, destroying anything caught beneath it. A Siren on the battlefield spells doom for her enemies.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Vortex: The Siren can summon in a massive vortex of energy which destroys any enemies in its path.
• Mobile Shield: The Siren can summon forth a shield which helps to weaken the power of incoming shots over any units within its radius.
• Blink: The Siren can teleport to a location within her line of sight, prepared for a surprise attack. On arriving, she has to physically recover from the teleportation so she is paralysed for a short time.

Harrah's Entertainment and MTV Games Announce The Total Rock, Total Rewards Rock Band Competition

World class gaming and music entertainment giants Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV, have joined forces to find the best Rock Band gamers in America with the first-ever Total Rock, Total Rewards Rock Band Competition. The competition kicks off in March when Harrah’s Entertainment properties become the first in the world to have official and permanent, fully-equipped Rock Band entertainment stages.

Throughout March and April, seventeen Total Rewards casinos* will host local, weekly Rock Band Competitions, allowing fans of the popular game to win an Xbox 360 and Rock Band bundle as well as other Total Rewards items and Rock Band apparel and accessories. Four regional competitions will then offer customers the chance to win more than $50,000 in prizes.

The ultimate winning band will be given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open for the legendary B-52’s at the House of Blues in Atlantic City on May 9th and will win $10,000 in prize money, making this the richest Rock Band competition in history. In addition, visitors at participating Total Rewards casinos across the country will be able to pick up their choice of guitar, bass, drums or vocals and rock out throughout the year during special Rock Band Nights.

“We’re thrilled to be working with such an energetic and iconic company like MTV Games to further help bring Rock Band to the masses through our Total Rewards venues,” said David Norton, chief marketing officer for Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. “We look forward to giving thousands of Rock Band fans a new reason to jam and take part in an event unlike anything they’ve ever experienced before.”

“Harrah’s is known for extraordinary entertainment and we are pumped to see the first of our fully equipped Rock Band stages hit Total Rewards casinos across the country,” said Christina Glorioso, vice president of sales and marketing partnerships for MTV Games. “The full scope of the Rock Band and Harrah’s program represents a great relationship between our two brands and will create significant value for our shared consumers.”

The local Total Rock, Total Rewards Rock Band Competition will be open at participating properties to pre-registered amateur acts, 21 years and older, on a first come first serve basis. The events will be hosted and promoted by local radio stations. The Rock Band game scoring system will be used to score the participating rock bands on skill and performance, and MTV Games will provide the pre-determined song list for all the competitions.

The winning band from each location will then have a chance to go head-to-head at celebrity-judged competitions in Las Vegas (April 16), Chicago Area (April 24), New Orleans (April 30), and Atlantic City (May 7).

The four winning bands, one from each regional competition, will then have a chance to compete for the championship title in Atlantic City on May 8th. The regional events and Atlantic City events will be produced by MTV Networks Special Events, and hosted and judged by MTV, Harrah’s, and local celebrities. Each band will compete on multiple Rock Band songs.

For more information and official rules on the competition, please visit http://www.harrahs.com/rockband.
The seventeen participating Total Rewards casinos* include:

Eastern Region

Bally’s Atlantic City
Harrah’s Atlantic City
Showboat Atlantic City
Harrah’s Chester (Philadelphia)

Southern Region

Harrah’s New Orleans
Horseshoe Bossier City (Shreveport)
Harrah’s Tunica (Memphis)
Harrah’s Metropolis (Nashville)
Horseshoe Southern Indiana (Louisville)

Central Region

Harrah’s Joliet (Chicago)
Harrah’s St. Louis
Harrah’s North Kansas City
Horseshoe Hammond (Chicago)
Harrah’s Council Bluffs (Omaha)
Caesars Windsor (Windsor, Ontario,
Canada/Detroit, MI)

Western Region

Harrah’s Rincon (San Diego)
Harrah’s Las Vegas

(* Subject to regulatory approval)

The Path video horror game out March 18th plus new website launched

Tale of Tales announces release data and opens new website

The Path will be released to the public on March 18th 2009, one year after its nomination for Excellence in Visual Art in the Independent Games Festival. In keeping with the roots and philosophy of its designers, Auriea Harvey & Michael Samyn, the launch will be exclusively digital.

Watch the video on my YouTube channel here... please subscribe The PC game will be available for purchase and download from Tale of Tales' own website, from Direct2Drive and from Steam. Pricing will be announced at a later date.

At the occasion of the release date announcement, Tale of Tales opens the doors of a brand new website for The Path here.

The website contains new screenshots, gameplay videos and downloadable materials. Not in a classic menu-based layout but presented through the eyes of the main characters in the game. Robin, Rose, Ginger, Ruby, Carmen and Scarlet each have their own page where they give you a peak into their lives. Their beautiful, brief, lives.

"The Red Girls feel a bit like they are our children," say creators Auriea Harvey (US) and Michael Samyn (BE), as always in duet. "We've been raising them for over two years now and perhaps they're old enough to leave the nest. Or at least to go outside on their own. The girls feel very real to us, they're a part of our lives and they will be taking that part with them on their journey. This is why we chose a date very dear to our hearts for the release of The Path. On 18 March 1999, we met in person for the first time, in a hotel in San Francisco where we launched our first collaborative project. We are planning to repeat this event, exactly 10 years later, from a room in the exact same hotel, with The Path. There will be no witnesses."

The Path is a short horror game inspired by old versions of Little Red Ridinghood, set in modern day. The player controls not one, but six incarnations of the red protagonist. A story about growing, choosing and losing, The Path does not offer the player challenge through complicated game rules or grand goals. There is one rule in the game, and it must be broken. There is one goal, and when you attain it, you die. The Path is a psychological trip which will be highly unsettling to some and gloriously revealing to others. Will you choose the path of needles or the path of pins?

Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn started their collaboration as "Entropy8Zuper!", simultaneously a web design company and an net.art collective. In 2003 they founded the independent games development studio Tale of Tales. They run multiplayer screensaver The Endless Forest and their interactive vignette The Graveyard is an Innovation finalist in this year's Independent Games Festival. Their first project was entitled "8" and remains sadly unfinished. 8 Was a dreamy exploration game inspired by the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. Now, the protagonist from 8, a young girl in a pretty white dress, makes a come-back to play a mysterious role in what could be seen as 8's spiritual successor: The Path, available, as mentioned above, as of 18 March 2009.

The Path was designed and directed by Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn. The music was composed by Jarboe. The sound designed by Kris Force. The characters were rigged by Hans Zantman and animated by Laura Raines Smith. The logo and letters were drawn by Marian Bantjes.
Production of The Path is supported by Creative Capital, the Flemish Authorities, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Design Flanders, CultuurInvest and Villanella.

Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four and Scrabble family video games on Xbox Live

Classic crossword game to join BATTLESHIP, YAHTZEE, and CONNECT FOUR for the launch of Hasbro Family Game Night on Xbox LIVE Arcade

Dust off your dictionary and get ready for the release of SCRABBLE, set to launch next month on Xbox LIVE Arcade! Featuring the SCRABBLE Diamond Anniversary Edition game board, the XBLA version of SCRABBLE gives board game lovers yet another way to play everyone’s favorite word game.

SCRABBLE, CONNECT FOUR, YAHTZEE and BATTLESHIP will be the first four titles to launch on the Hasbro Family Game Night XBLA destination. Additional titles such as BOGGLE, SORRY! and SORRY! Sliders will be releasing throughout the year.

SCRABBLE on XBLA will only be available in the US and Canada. All additional games will be available worldwide.

Stay tuned for more assets and information about the rest of the Hasbro Family Game Night XBLA titles!

HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT FEATURES

Classic Games!

• Join your host Mr. Potato Head as you play games such as SCRABBLE, CONNECT FOUR, BATTLESHIP, YAHTZEE, BOGGLE, SORRY! and SORRY! Sliders.
• Experience new ways to play these best-selling board games.

Full Xbox LIVE Support!

• Show off your skills with Hasbro Family Game Night achievements and compete with your friends to earn a spot atop the Xbox LIVE leader boards.
• Increase your gamer score and talk while you play online with voice chat.
• Get your Xbox avatar into the game with Hasbro Family Game Night’s avatar support.

Online Multiplayer fun!

• Play locally with friends and family or take on other Xbox LIVE players in online play.
• Play with up to four players in SCRABBLE, YAHTZEE, BOGGLE, SORRY! and SORRY! Sliders.
• Play up to two players in CONNECT FOUR and BATTLESHIP.

Deck Out Your Very Own Game Room

• Launch new games within the Hasbro Family Game Night destination on Xbox LIVE without leaving your game room.
• Download new themes and game room furniture to design and customize your perfect game room.
• Show your custom game room to your friends when you invite them over to play!

Host a Game Party

• Each game has a party mode featuring fun new ways to challenge your competitors.

Shimano Xtreme Fishing Exclusive Nintendo Wii fishing game

New Wii Exclusive Game from Mastiff Includes Bowfishing, Spearfishing, and Traditional Rod & Reel Fishing

Shimano Xtreme Fishing challenges players to choose a weapon for a whole new take on fishing.

Embracing the wilder side of sport fishing, Shimano Xtreme Fishing is the only videogame to let players take the fight to the fish with bow and speargun in addition to the traditional rod and reel. Featuring cutting-edge fishing gear like Shimano Voltaeus fishing rods, Hoyt bows, AMS Bowfishing reels and accessories, and Muzzy arrow points, players hunt for a legendary catch from the deck of a free-roaming boat or underwater in full SCUBA gear.

But don't think that the hunt will be easy, because the more extreme the gear, the more extreme the fish... More than 40 varieties inhabit the massive environments, with huge predators like sharks and alligators guarding the hottest fishing spots. Shimano Xtreme Fishing takes players through exotic environments ranging from the cold, dark waters of a North American reservoir to a roaring Amazon waterfall, eerie submerged Mayan ruins, the hidden lagoons of a southern island, and the shark-infested shipwrecks of a tropical sea.

Once the weapons - bowfishing gear, fishing rod, or spear gun and SCUBA - have been chosen, players can compete to unlock new tackle, clothing, and sporting accessories in a series of challenging tournaments, each with beautiful scenery and unique time and weather conditions. Players looking for a more open-ended fishing trip can roam the vast environments in search of new hot spots while mastering their weapons of choice in Free Fish mode.

"We weren't interested in creating just another fishing game," said Bill Swartz, Head Woof of Mastiff. "We wanted to give players something new - the very best equipment, an incredible selection of fish and locations, and most importantly, the rush that comes from extreme fishing, whether with rod, bow or spear."

Shimano Xtreme Fishing will be available for Nintendo Wii in summer 2009.

Touch Pets Dogs on iPhone and iPod Touch

Socially-networked Pet Simulation Game in Development Exclusively for iPhone and iPod Touch

ngmoco, creator and publisher of games exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch, will open a virtual pet shop on Apple’s App Store with their newest title Touch Pets Dogs. Currently in development with virtual pet genre pioneer Andrew Stern of Stumptown Game Machine, Touch Pets Dogs combines the magic of puppy ownership and virtual play with the connected interactivity of a fully-realized social network designed exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch. Touch Pets Dogs will be available in Spring 2009.

In Touch Pets Dogs, players adopt, nurture and play with their virtual puppies through one-on-one touch screen interaction or on play dates with other players’ dogs from around the world. The ambitious Touch Pets social network, embedded within the game, allows owners and dogs alike to build relationships with other players and their Touch Pets. Puppies’ social lives continue to evolve whether their owners are logged into the game or not, and the results are broadcast for the world to see on the Touch Pets social network dog feed.

Players can also personalize their 3-D pups with new clothing, accessories, toys, grooming tools and other doggie gear. With five different dog breeds to choose from, Touch Pets can be trained to fetch, catch and do tricks using a variety of toys, touch commands and accelerometer inputs. Puppies can grow in five exciting careers: Crime-fighting, Science, Rescue, Fashion and Political tracks. The right training can prepare a Touch Pet for dozens of career missions where it can earn special reward items and mission postcards that further define its unique identity — on and off the dog feed.

Touch Pets’ innovative design is led by Andrew Stern, one of the original creators of Virtual Babyz, Dogz and Catz in the genre-starting Petz franchise, a series of award-winning interactive virtual character games that has sold more than 3 million units worldwide. ngmoco is proud to collaborate with Andrew and Stumptown Game Machine to combine artificial intelligence techniques with real-time 3-D computer animation and social networking to push the virtual pet genre to a new level of portable, connected play with Touch Pets Dogs.

Diabolik - The Original Sin on PC, PS2, PSP, Wii and DS April 2009

The original idea of the game is based on the story created by the sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani in 1962 and its comic books.

The adventure game is set in an unusual world made of a curious mix between 3D real time graphics and 2D black&white comic style animation. The traditional point-and-click genre has been perfectly adapted to the main features of the latest consoles in order to ease the developing of the main plot and minigames.

The player is involved in a tricky story full of unexpected twists, intrigue, love and vengeance. In Diabolik’s skin, it won’t take too long to become a skilled thief and a master of disguise to rescue his beloved Eva. Called to be the bad guy for once, the player will find himself ensnared in fast-paced combat and stealth sequences.
Diabolik is a criminal who likes luxury, expensive cars and robs to enrich himself, following his own morality. Eva, the only woman who can keep up with him, likes being involved in mysterious and complicated stories. Diabolik and Eva make up an unconventional couple; they are lovers and partners in crime.

“Diabolik: The Original Sin represents for us the effort to create an international success based on a well known Italian comic story. We strongly believe Diabolik is beloved and admired by anyone because anyone secretly admires his wildness and transgression.” Said Fabrizio Vagliasindi, Black Bean Games Head of Marketing.

“This further development of Diabolik’s adventure on consoles next generation gave us the opportunity to work again with an international publisher such as Black Bean Games and establish Artematica Entertainment in the adventure game market.” Commented Riccardo Cangini, CEO of Artematica Entertainment.

Black Bean Games announces the release of Artematica latest adventure game Diabolik: The Original Sin on PC (excluding Italian, French and Russian speaking territories) PlayStation 2, PSP (PlayStation Portable), Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, due by the end of April 2009.