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Friday, March 27, 2009

Arma II video game - news on the weapons...

arma-ii-pc-video-game-gamezplayMore information about ARMA II. This latest intel takes an in-depth look at the huge selection of weaponry in this highly-anticipated military simulator, and can be immediately analysed at http://www.arma2.com.

ARMA II features 40 accurately-modelled weapons and more than 80 variations on man-portable rocket launchers of both Western and Eastern origin, as well as a range of aiming devices and accessories. The accuracy and power of each weapon has been matched to real-life ammunition specifications, as well as incorporating feedback on weapon behaviour based on the real-life experience of Bohemia’s military advisors. Not only does the ammunition type influence the power of a round, but also the number and colour of tracers, which also follow real-life specifications.

Each faction the player meets in the game uses their own assortment of pistols, assault rifles, rocket launchers, sniper rifles and machineguns. Special Forces use unique personal weaponry, including silenced and camouflaged weapons, or specially designed configurations typical of the Russian Spetsnaz. Government troops will use advanced anti-air and anti-armour rocket launchers, while Guerrillas stick with older design guided rockets and the proven RPG-7, together with commonly used sniper rifles, as well as high-calibre sniper rifles in camouflaged variants to go with sniper ghillie suits.

All weapon models have been matched to real world schematics with extreme precision and, accompanied by a short description and image, are being declassified in thematic groups every 12 hours starting this morning.

ARMA II will be available in 2009.

Zombieville USA game number one iPhone

zombie iphone game Unity Technologies today celebrates the first no.1 hit game created with its Unity 3D tools. Mika Mobile's Zombieville USA has become the No 1 selling game and No 2-selling app, with sales reaching over 100,000 in just a few weeks.

Kelli Noda, co-founder of Mika Mobile said, "We chose Unity for the project because it's the single most empowering tool I've ever come across. It may sound like hyperbole, but I compare the workflow advancements of Unity to that of Photoshop and how it revolutionized 2d artwork."

Nicholas Francis, Chief Creative Offer of Unity Technologies added, "This is a very exciting moment and comes in the same week that we've launched the Windows version of Unity. We are thrilled for Mika Mobile. We have great expectations of what the established dev teams and new talent like Mika can achieve with our Unity."

Over 100 Unity-made games have now been released with more being added almost daily.

About Zombieville USA

Zombieville USA is a deceptively simple survival game, where the goal is merely to fight off hordes of zombies as you make your way through a ruined midwestern suburb. The game combines simple arcade gameplay with stylishly animated visuals, an arsenal of over-the-top weaponry, and a large helping of cartoony violence. www.zombievilleusa.com

Microsoft in talks over next new Xbox....

xbox logo newBlizzard's Rob Pardo has confirmed that his company has had talks with Microsoft about the successor to the Xbox 360.

Speaking at the Luminaries Lunch today during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Pardo would only state that Blizzard is actively in discussions with Microsoft, seemingly confirming the development process of new console hardware is under way.

However, other developers at the lunch have not spoken to either Microsoft or Sony about future plans, which has raised concerns that content isn't a priority for format holders as they plan the next-generation of home machines.

"How many designers in the games industry do you think they are rounding up to [talk to], because this is going to make or break them this time around," said Acclaim's David Perry.

"I'm not aware that they are putting a big amount of effort into finding out how to make the games. The people who are actually physically going to make the games are all going to get a surprise," he added.

Warren Spector, boss of Disney's Junction Point Studios and responsible for classic titles such as Deus Ex, said that he believes format holders are too concerned with the wider entertainment market to focus on games.

Read full post on GamesIndustry here...

DRM-free classic PC games - Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Far Cry on GOG.com

beyond good and evil drm free gamezplayUbisoft and GOG.com, the games-on-demand platform dedicated to DRM-free classic PC games that’s just too cool for school, announced an agreement to deliver Ubisoft's best back-catalogue games via GOG.com.

The agreement brings classic Ubisoft titles like Beyond Good and Evil, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Far Cry, Heroes of Might and Magic and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell to gamers around the world via GOG.com’s DRM-free games catalogue. As with all GOG.com releases, the titles are affordable and accompanied by mounds of extras, including soundtracks, wallpapers, forum avatars and much more.

“We’re incredibly happy to welcome Ubisoft and their much-loved games to GOG.com,” said Adam Oldakowski, managing director of GOG.com. “Ubisoft has long been breaking new ground with innovative and award-winning games, and is strongly reinforcing that trailblazing image by bringing its titles to GOG.com. The warm welcome of GOG.com by gamers convinced us that there is huge demand for classic games at a low price and packed with bonus materials. With more titles from leading companies like Ubisoft we will be able to achieve our goal of becoming the ultimate destination for fans of classic PC games.”

Ubisoft’s classic games have already started to hit GOG.com's catalogue, with Beyond Good and Evil), Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and IL-2 Sturmovik - 1946 now available for $9.99 each. Other titles will be added in the coming weeks.

Fallen Earth MMO Announces Fan Contest - Choose Destination for Last Tour Stop

fallen earth video game
As part of an ongoing national grassroots tour, the developers of the self-titled post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth announced a contest in which their fans will have the opportunity to choose the final tour stop. Slated for May 2 at an undetermined location, the culminating fan event will give players a chance to meet the dev team, demo the game and collect a surprise in-game item. Official contest rules will appear on the Fallen Earth site on April 2, 2009.

The grassroots tour included previous stops in Raleigh, N.C., Baltimore, Md., and earlier this week at the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) networking event as part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. The tour takes Fallen Earth on the road to meet fans and game enthusiasts through IGDA chapter meetings and other local gaming events.

“GDC provides us with an excellent opportunity to showcase the in-game elements we have been working on since we went into closed beta,” said Lee Hammock, lead game designer for Fallen Earth. “Our testing community has been instrumental in helping us develop a more compelling game environment and we are excited to give them the opportunity to choose the last destination on our national tour.”

In addition to Hammock, Fallen Earth Project Manager Colin Dwan, Associate Project Manager Dave Haydysch, Content Team Lead Marie Croall and Product Manager Jessica Orr will be at GDC to discuss the contest and show recent updates to the game.

Fallen Earth is a massively multiplayer online game that strategically combines first-person shooter and traditional role-playing game designs. Set in the Grand Canyon after a lethal disease destroyed most of mankind, Fallen Earth features 70 towns, six competing factions, a classless advancement system and a crafting system in which players can make 95 percent of game items.

Fallen Earth is currently in closed beta testing and is set to launch later this year. For more information about the contest or to participate in closed beta testing, visit www.fallenearth.com. Contest rules will be posted on April 2, 2009.

Rock Band make over $1 billion in US sales - sells over 40 million songs

MTV Games, Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, and distribution partner Electronic Arts, announce that the Rock Band franchise has officially surpassed $1 billion dollars in North American retail sales in 15 months, according to The NPD Group. In addition, over 40 million paid individual songs have been sold via download through the Rock Band platform furthering its position as the music video game leader in paid song sales and downloadable content with over 600 songs available to date in the Rock Band catalogue.

Originally launched on November 20, 2007, Rock Band is the multi-million unit selling, genre-defining music game platform that allowed music fans and gamers to interact with and discover music like never before by choosing guitar, drums, vocals, or bass to start a band and rock the world. Developed by Harmonix, the world’s premier music video game development company, and published by MTV Games, the Rock Band platform has had a positive impact on the overall promotion and sales of music, benefiting artists included in the game both directly through royalties associated with game sales and indirectly by causing the sale of more songs and albums.

Key Stats for the Rock Band Franchise

Sales
• Rock Band franchise has officially surpassed $1 billion dollars in North American retail sales in 15 months, according to the NPD Group
• Rock Band was the No1 title of 2008 by revenue across all game genres (NPD)


Music / Downloadable Content
• 614 songs offered via the Rock Band platform, both on-disc and in-game music store, as of March 24, 2009
• 269 different artists / bands offered via Rock Band franchise as of March 24, 2009
• Over 40 million paid songs have been sold via download since Rock Band launched on November 20, 2007
• 11 albums released to date via the Rock Band platform including AC/DC Live, The Cars, Judas Priest, Pixies, Mötley Crüe, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Megadeth, Rush, No Doubt and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as special compilations from The Who, Nirvana, The Grateful Dead, Boston and more


Critical Acclaim
• Average Metacritic score of 92 [2] for both Rock Band and Rock Band 2
• Rock Band and Rock Band 2 have garnered more than 50 industry awards including:
• IGN’s “Best Music/Rhythm Game of 2008”
• Gamespot.com’s Editor’s Choice Winner for “Best Rhythm / Music Game of 2008”
• Spike TV’s 2008 Video Game Award Winner for “Best Music Game” and “Best Soundtrack in a Game”
• Gametrailers.com “Best Music and Rhythm Game 2008”
• PlayStation: The Official Magazine’s “Best Rhythm Game of 2008”
• Yahoo’s “Best Party Game of the Year – 2008” and named one of Yahoo’s “Best Tech Products of 2008”
• G4 TV’s X-Play “Best Music Game of 2008”
• Named as one of Entertainment Weekly’s “Entertainers of the Year 2008”
• Called “Best party game of the year” by the Associated Press
• Named as one of USA Today’s “Top Video Games of 2008”
• Cited as one of MSNBC.com’s Top Video Games of 2008 and one of the Best Xbox 360 Games of 2008
• Heralded as “hands down the best party game ever” by Time magazine and named as one of Time’s Top Video Games of 2008


Rock Band Franchise Innovations
• First full band music video game to hit consoles
• First music video game to offer export of content library from disc and cross compatibility of downloadable content (DLC) in sequel games.
• First music video game to offer weekly downloadable content (averaging more than 3 songs per week since its launch on November 20, 2007)
• Lead the way for full compatibility and interoperability between competing peripherals
• First music video game to allow for export of avatars and other game data to create real life merchandise
• First music video game to offer full albums as downloadable content: Judas Priest’s “Screaming for Vengeance,” released in June 2008
• First music game to offer a new song day-and-date with its release to radio, with Mötley Crüe’s “Saints of Los Angeles”

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Add Street Fighter or MegaMan themes to your iGoogle page...


New Mega Man and Street Fighter themes for iGoogle.

Fans can now create even more personalized iGoogle pages with Capcom themes celebrating the iconic brands, Mega Man and Street Fighter. Starting today, iGoogle invites you to update your iGoogle page with your favorite characters from these beloved video game franchises.

If you’d like to try this out right now, follow the links below and add your theme automatically onto your very own iGoogle page:

* http://www.google.com/ig/sharetheme?skin=http://ighosting.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/xml/game_streetfighter.xml&source=gp04
* http://www.google.com/ig/sharetheme?skin=http://ighosting.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/xml/game_megaman.xml&source=gp05

Winning Formula - System 3 limbers up for a great Formula 1 season

MclarenF1 gamezplaySystem 3 invites racing fans to prepare themselves for a superb year of Formula 1 racing, with all the action kicking off this weekend in Melbourne, Australia. It’s anybody’s game in these early stages as energy recovery systems, slick tyres and frill-free bodywork throws the ball into the court of any racing team quick enough to take advantage of the new 2009 regulations.

One thing’s for sure though; we’ll have a definite idea of which team has got what it takes by the time the British GP comes around on June 21st. And what better way of preparing yourselves for some awesome weekends of European summer racing than by throwing a McLaren F1 around the corners of Silverstone, Nürburgring, Spa and Monza? You can do just that in System 3’s SuperCar Challenge, which is set to launch just in time for gamers to become Silverstone pros. And with the unrivalled handling engine and superb attention to detail found in SuperCar Challenge’s cars and tracks, you can be sure that your experience will be as close to the real thing as is possible in a videogame.

Gamers will be invited to battle in 16-player online races and take part in specific GP track competitions (Silverstone, Nürburgring, Spa and Monza) with winners picking up top prizes such as tickets to Formula 1 race events!

SuperCar Challenge features some of the greatest vehicles and racing circuits the world has to offer as well as a critically acclaimed car handling, realistic rain conditions, track tutorials and voiceovers from Tiff Needell, an in-depth Career mode, intricate decal & livery customization tools and 16-player online battles. SuperCar Challenge will launch in Q2 2009.

Xbox Party Mansion will be available free at online gaming site Miniclip.

xbox party mansion
Xbox has launched a new online game to raise brand awareness and help it compete more efficiently with family-targeted consoles such as the Nintendo Wii.

Xbox Party Mansion will be available free at online gaming site Miniclip. It was devised and created by Digital Outlook.

The game targets a new audience and aims to generate awareness of the brand's family- friendly gaming and entertainment available on the Xbox 360 console.

It has five levels and the focus is to find hidden objects. Each room in the Party Mansion represents a different theme of Xbox gaming including movies, sports and family.

An extra level is available when the game is completed. It is the brand's first foray into the online casual advergaming market.

Source: Marketing

God of War 3 gameplay trailer leaked on YouTube

God of War 3 gameplay trailer leaked on YouTubeA new God of War 3 gameplay video has leaked onto YouTube (may be removed at any time)...