KarmaStar video game for iPhone and iPod Touch

Master those difficult life decisions in the palm of your hand as Majesco today released the first screenshots for KarmaStar, a new light-hearted strategy game for the iPhone and iPod touch. Marking Majesco's first foray into the iPhone game category, KarmaStar offers visually stunning graphics and addicting gameplay that will keep players hooked. Developed by Arkane Studios, who is led by acclaimed game designer Harvey Smith, the game features a quirky, signature style and the ability to battle with human/AI players over WiFi. KarmaStar makes its debut on iPhone at the end of March.

In KarmaStar, players must hone their life skills in five personal traits - including Health, Mind, People, Love, and Money. By taking small, calculated steps, players have the ability to build these traits, or live dangerously and see where a little deviousness can take them. Each game takes no more than 10 minutes, so players must waste no time in mapping out either a constructive or combative strategy and then pursuing their chosen path in order to achieve their life goals.



KarmaStar will be available through the iPhone App Store at the end of March.

Brainpipe - A plunge to unhumanity patch relesed

Digital Eel has just released a patch for their first person spatial toboggan run though the psyche, BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity. The patch, available for both Windows and Mac platforms, brings the full retail game to version 1.0.1 and corrects a joystick calibration error whereupon the calibration would get stuck in an infinite loop. So, anyone who wants to play BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity with a joystick should download the patch right away. Unless you enjoy the whole infinite loop calibration situation, maybe finding it soothing in an Eastern metaphysical kind of way, in which case don't download the patch and continue grooving to that infinite loop.

If you do not possess a joystick, or do have a joystick but prefer to use a different control scheme when playing BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity, the patch won't help you but you should still download it to be able to say that you have the latest and greatest version of the game installed. It's what the cool kids are doing.

The demo has also been updated to incorporate the fix, so if you're a joystick wielding demo player who hasn't gotten around to purchasing the full game yet be sure to download the demo again.

BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity is the latest release from Digital Eel (Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, Dr. Blob's Organism, many others), and is published by Shrapnel Games. It is available for Windows and Mac operating systems for the low price of only $14.95 as a direct download.
BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity is a surreal arcade game subjecting the player to a complete aural and visual overload unlike any other game out there. Using simple one-click mechanics, BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity beckons the player to journey through a colorful tunnel of the mind on an expedition to unlock the secret of becoming more Unhuman than human. Race through ten ever increasing levels of difficulty (or start off at any of your choosing), racking up points and experiencing a dizzying array of sounds and colors.

To download the version 1.0.1 patch, the demo, or just learn more about the game please visit its official product page.

Official home page link...

Project Aftermath, Achievement System & Price Reduction Free demo download

Games Faction have today released an update for Project Aftermath, the company's flag-ship title, including 92 Achievements. The Achievement system will work for both Steam and non-Steam users, enabling everyone to enjoy the challenge of collecting the Achievements on offer. In addition, Project Aftermath has been given a timely price cut to $9.99. The price reduction is in place at GamesFaction.com and other distributors will follow suit shortly.

Managing Director, Lee Hickey says "In these tough times, people demand a great product at a great price. Releasing new content and reducing the price to $9.99, makes PA a very attractive purchase."

Creative Director, Malcolm Reed notes "We are really happy to offer the Achievements to both Steam and non-Steam users. Achievements provide a new challenge and more play time, we hope to keep people very busy with ours

As ever, existing customers will automatically receive the updates free of charge the next time they play. A free demo is available at http://www.gamesfaction.com/project-aftermath or via Steam or Stardock.

About Project Aftermath

Project Aftermath is an Arcade RTS game for PC where you command up to four squads of soldiers in exciting battles in a retro-futuristic world. Equip your squads to suit your playing style, researching new items using the spoils of war; choosing from over 100 different weapons, armour, power-up augmentations and spell-like special attacks.

Engage in hectic massed battles against hordes of enemies. Capture strategic locations, rescue hostages and slaughter indiscriminately! Explore the landscape to locate hidden treasures and uncover the secrets of both your enemy and the mysterious planet you find yourselves on. Replay missions using fewer soldiers and items to earn greater rewards.

Action, mystery, hideous manmachine hybrids; Project Aftermath has it all.

Join the fight!

• Campaign mode containing 10 missions of fast-paced action on a mysterious alien world.
• 20 Challenge missions to test your skills to the limit.
• Command up to 4 Heroes and see them become more powerful as they gain experience.
• Classless Heroes mean that you can equip your squad your way, using over 100 different items in 1000s of combinations.
• In-game tactical deployment. Create turrets, deploy grunt-hunting drones, call for backup, request equipment changes mid-mission and more...
• You decide how tough a mission is. Over or under equip your Heroes to blast your way through or to challenge the online high score tables.
• 92 Achievements to collect.

Project Aftermath makes the RTS genre more accessible by dispensing with the usual emphasis on base-building and resource gathering, allowing the player to focus on fast-paced action from the start. Missions are played for points and a unique system allows players to set their own difficulty by either under or over-equipping for a mission. Doing well in missions earns the player Research Points which are used to unlock over 100 items for improving their heroes. Online score tables are also available to inject a healthy sense of competition into the proceedings.

Astro Tripper PlayStation 3 video game gets US Release

Independent developers PomPom games is proud to present its latest slice of shoot-em-up mayhem to the US public. In typical, fashionably late PomPom style, we can announce the release date as... today!

Thursday March 12th on Playstation 3 via the Playstation Store. Having already destroyed the moral of most European gamers, we can now turn our attentions to the US gaming community. We challenge you to humiliate your European brothers and their puny scores!

Astro Tripper is a unique blend of old school frantic gameplay visualized in cutting edge 3D graphics and stunning sound effects. For more details visit www.pompomgames.com

Louisiana - Mystery Cases PC video game

We would like to introduce to you our brand new game ‘Louisiana: Mystery Cases’. It is a modern full 3D adventure game with a stylish environment and catchy storyline. The year is 1902, and you will find yourself at a New Orleans’ suburb. The lazy summer sun is slowly penetrating the gloom of the local marshes, and yet the city is being overcast by a heavy creeping cloud of doubts and anxiety. There have always been a lot of murders in this neighborhood. Now, however, the situation is different. These killings are so brutal, lacking any apparent motive and too complicated to have been committed by a raging insane maniac. Before long they catch the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who is now sending their best special agent …

We offer:

Technology Development – When there is talk about adventure games, the technologies that make them possible to be brought to life usually take a back seat. We did our best to create a more spectacular project in a full three dimensional environment with innovative controls and a top notch quality engine supporting the most recent functionalities and effects.

A Style with a Touch of Nostalgia – Being a truly interesting era, the early 1900s combined with the attractive environment of New Orleans, Louisiana, is an unparalleled period combined with an unparalleled city, whose unique architecture enabled us to develop a really interesting game, in terms of design.

Conversation as a Substantial Component of the Game - In conducting the investigation, dialogues play an indispensable role, which is exactly why we offer the option of the dialogs’ real-time segmentation into branched optional subdialogs. We strive to break out of the unwelcome trend followed by so many games that pretend to have their dialogs non-linear, but, in fact, they force the player to use all of the options. The structure of our dialogs goes much deeper, and it affects numerous aspects of actual happenings of the story that the game consists in.

Point Score in an Adventure - We do not take into account whether a player finishes the game, but how he or she gets to the end. What we intended was to motivate players to think and contemplate their steps instead of making passive mechanical attempts to try every option available. To that end, we use an evaluation system based on what we call ‘Detective Points’. The game will assess the underlying logic and elegance with which a player is taking his or her steps to make progress as well as the player’s responsiveness to various situations. In addition to this, a high score will be rewarded with access to a bonus location.

Detailed Graphic - Unlike in action games, the traditional locations (levels) in adventures are much smaller. This approach combined with our state-of-the-art technology enabled us to develop an extraordinary diversified and nice environment. We made the textures as well as the polygons more concentrated, which has substantially increased the quality of details.

Release Date: Summer 2009
Developer: Infinion
Publisher: Not yet set.
Platform: PC, (we are prototyping versions for XBLA and PSP as well, with later release date.)
Web: www.infinion.biz

Amazing Disney Interactive racing game Split >> Second Facts - Burnout look out!

Award-Winning Black Rock Studio Creating Innovative New Action-Racing Game Where Speed Meets Strategy in a City Rigged For Destruction

Racing to the finish line takes on added excitement when competitors trigger destruction on the track to take out their opponents. Disney Interactive Studios today announced Split/Second, an intense action racing game set within the world of a hyper-competitive reality television show. Competitors vie to be the first across the finish line in a made-for-TV city built for destruction, with the ultimate goal of becoming the season champion. Developed by Black Rock Studio, Split/Second is scheduled to be released in early 2010 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Windows-based PC.



Competitors in Split/Second don’t just collide with other vehicles to knock them from the track - they can also trigger explosive events that drastically alter the dynamics of the race. Players must use strategy and pinpoint timing to derail opponents, tactically alter the track or create entirely new routes.

“Split/Second elevates action racing to a new level by enabling players to strategically take out their opponents by dynamically altering the course in real time,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. “Split/Second further showcases Black Rock Studio’s ability to innovate and deliver a compelling experience that has wide appeal beyond the traditional racing genre.”

“We’re creating huge memorable moments on par with the biggest blockbuster action films,” said Nick Baynes, game director, Black Rock Studio. “Action racing has captured the imagination of video game fans worldwide and we’re going to redefine that experience with Split/Second.”

Checkout this gamezplay.org post with video...

Black Rock Studio is the development studio behind the critically acclaimed 2008 action sports game, PURE. PURE won numerous awards, including the Game Critics Award for Best Racing Game of E3 2008, and was named among the top 10 video games of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly. Formerly Climax Racing, Black Rock Studio is a development studio of Disney Interactive Studios and is based in Brighton, England.

Mushroom Men video game coming to Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii

Rise of the Fungi and The Spore Wars from SouthPeak Games Heading to Consoles in March

SouthPeak Interactive Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: SOPK; SOPKU; SOPKW; SOPKZ) is today announcing that a duo of mighty mushroom games are coming to Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS this March. Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars on Wii and Rise of the Fungi on Nintendo DS, offer gamers a unique and compelling platform adventure, from the perspective of a tiny hero with a big mission.

To get a behind-the-scenes look at how these fantastic titles were made, SouthPeak is releasing a series of developer diaries that showcase different elements from the game; including music, combat and gameplay. Over the coming days, new diaries will be released on the Internet, so mushroom maniacs should stay glued to their computer screens for more details.



In Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi players choose from three classes of ‘shrooms - Heavy, Sage or Scout – each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Players then take up makeshift weapons to battle in defense of the peaceful Bolete and technological Morel societies. Set in a 2.5D side-scrolling action-platformer, the story takes on a perspective of three-inch tall mushrooms in a vast human landscape.

Your journey will take you through the early stages of the mushroom world, as these tribes set up communities, build homes and craft weapons to defend the life they’ve so recently received. Step through mushroom history as these societies battle for their place and to save their kind from the war-like Lepiotas and Amanitas mushrooms.

Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars takes a slightly different direction. Picking up after the Rise of the Fungi story concludes, players end up under the mushroom cap of PAX, an outcast mushroom trying to find his place in society. Set in a third-person action-platformer, PAX learns he’s different for a very good reason, uncovering new talents he never knew he had.

Using the Wii Remote motion controls, players have PAX running, jumping, gliding and spore-powering his way through level after level of everyday scenarios from a three-inch perspective. Join him in his quest to help the Bolete and Morel tribes repel the attacks of the Lepiota and Amanita armies, all the while discovering what his role is in this wild new world.

Exclusive EverQuest and EverQuest II In-game Items

Beckett Massive Online Gamer and SOE celebrate EQ's 10th Anniversary in style!

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Sony Online Entertainment’s longest running MMO, EverQuest (EQ). In celebration of EQ’s milestone, Beckett Massive Online Gamer (MOG) will be including two exclusive in-game items in Issue 18 (on sale this week). The items include an EverQuest Aqua Goblin Familiar and an EverQuest II Nagafen at Rest golden dragon statue.

• The EQ Aqua Goblin is a totem to one of the unnamed gods that will grant you complete obedience from one of their ilk in the form of an aqua goblin familiar.

• With the EQII Nagafen at Rest, you’ll be able to grace your guild hall or home with a detailed golden statue of the ancient dragon Nagafen perched atop a stone pedestal.

In addition to the two free in-game items in MOG 18, gamers can read about a special tribute to EverQuest that includes interviews with three top EQ designers, plus helpful Class and Dungeon Guides for EQII.

“EverQuest is an MMO game that has withstood the test of time and continues to entertain gamers of all ages. We’re very proud to celebrate this historical event with SOE by including great feature stories and exclusive in-game items in our newest issue,” says Doug Kale, Editorial Director of MOG. “This issue is also a cool collector’s item for anyone who has ever played EQ or EQII.”

Copies of Beckett Massive Online Gamer Issue 18 can be purchased at Wal-mart, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or wherever magazines are sold.

As a special offer for all new subscribers, the first 1,000 people to subscribe online will be emailed both in-game item codes. To claim this unique offer, subscribe at: https://ssl.drgnetwork.com/ecom/bck/app/live/promosub?org=bck&publ=MO&key=ETCMOEQ

Further information about Beckett Massive Online Gamer can be found on the web at:
http://www.MassiveOnlineGamer.com

Grand Ages - Rome – Patch 1.10 released! Download link...

Kalypso Media have today released a patch for their classic city building game GRAND AGES: ROME. Patch 1.10 provides the following improvements:

• Difficulty adjustment

- Houses are now deserted every 60 seconds during unemployment (previously 30 seconds)
- Deserted buildings degeneration is now 3x slower than previously (roughly 9 minutes before fire)
- Fire extinguished by Prefectures twice as quickly
- Fixed Well and Large Fountain hygiene contribution radii
- Increased aqueduct HP.

• UI improvements

- Important notifications now blink
- New notification sound for important notifications
- It's harder to accidentally switch to realm overview mode
- Explanatory text added to trade dialog.

• Multiplayer

- Fixed problems occurring while entering a room
- Fixed problem with account creation
- Fixed several desync bugs.
- Increased starting resources on some multiplayer maps.

• Miscellaneous

- Fixed Thespian, Wine Export and Flax Exports character talents.
- Reduced bad weather duration and intensity
- Fixed resource check for house repopulation.

• Fixes

- Fixed autosave mechanism.
- Fixed two crashes on saving the game.
- Stability and compatibility improvements
- Added auto-update-function

All future updates & patches will be available via the auto-update-function.
An established internet connection is assumed.

Patch: http://www.grandages.com/en/gr_updates.php

Crystal Defenders video game on iPhone and iPod Touch

Square Enix the publisher of Square Enix interactive entertainment products in Europe and other PAL territories, today announces that the tower defence simulation game CRYSTAL DEFENDERS previously released for the iPod and iPhone 3G/iPod touch, is now available worldwide for download via Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. In addition, a major version update for the iPhone 3G/iPod touch versions is currently in development and is scheduled for release in the following weeks.

Featuring jobs and locations from the popular FINAL FANTASY TACTICS series, CRYSTAL DEFENDERS requires players to strategically deploy units to fend off encroaching enemy hordes and prevent them from stealing their party's crystals.

The Xbox LIVE Arcade version includes several improvements to the interface and a new design optimized for consoles. A worldwide ranking system allows players to upload their scores to leaderboards and see how they stack up against other players around the globe. These and other new features are sure to increase excitement and enhance replayability.

John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Ltd. comments, “CRYSTAL DEFENDERS is a great new addition to Xbox LIVE Arcade. It’s simple to understand and easy to pick-up and play, but there is a great depth to the game and an addictive quality that make it ideal for the platform. I hope that many people experience and enjoy it.”

About CRYSTAL DEFENDERS

Story
In a land ruled by might and magick, peace is ensured by the benevolent power of the crystals. When a young moogle charged with guarding these crystals learns of an evil presence gathering on the horizon, he calls upon heroes from the far corners of the realm to join forces and stand against this new threat.

Wielders of blade and bow, keepers of arts arcane, unite! As darkness draws nigh, only you can protect the light that binds us. The fate of Ivalice lies in the hands of...the Crystal Defenders!

Features
CRYSTAL DEFENDERS is a tower defense simulation game in which players deploy characters from the FINAL FANTASY TACTICS series onto a variety of different maps to battle wave after wave of encroaching monsters. The first game in the series, Crystal Guardians, was released in Japan for mobile phones in January 2008. In December of the same year, iPhone 3G, iPod touch and iPod versions were released under the new name, CRYSTAL DEFENDERS. To date, the total number of downloads for the series have reached over 600,000.

CRYSTAL DEFENDERS is simple and easy to learn – monsters will enter an area and march through it until they are defeated or reach an exit, at which time they will steal one or more crystals. It is up to the player to decide – by pausing the action at crucial moments – when and where to deploy various jobs such as Black Mages or Soldiers that will attempt to defend the party’s crystals. Factors such as map terrain, monster strengths and weaknesses, job attributes, and more will play a crucial role in determining what steps a player should take.

Price
The Xbox Live Arcade version will be available for 800 MS Points and the iPhone 3G/iPod touch version for £4.99/€5.99 from the App Store.