Microsoft announce Dream-Build-Play global game development competition

The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft announced the third annual Dream-Build-Play global game development competition that encourages aspiring and hobbyist developers to create new and innovative games for Xbox 360.

Beginning Monday, April 6 developers from all over the world will have an opportunity to submit their unique game creations to the Dream-Build-Play 2009 competition for a chance to win a cash prize and an opportunity to sign an Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing contract.

Winners will be announced this fall. Last year, more than 10,000 members of the community enrolled in Dream-Build-Play, yielding more than 350 completed games from all over the world developed using Microsoft’s free XNA Game Studio tools.

Several of last year’s winners, including Team GAMBIT for “CarneyVale: Showtime” and Mommy’s Best Games for “Weapon of Choice,” collectively took home more than $70,000 in prizes and have since become top sellers on the Xbox LIVE Community Games Channel. Winners from 2007, “The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai,” “Blazing Birds” and “YoHo Kablammo!” from the United States, Canada and UK respectively, are all slated for release on Xbox LIVE Arcade in the coming months.

Microsoft also announced new updates to its free XNA Game Studio development tools, available to professional and hobbyist developers this spring, which will allow developers at any level to take advantage of new partner additions and Xbox LIVE features. Both Xbox LIVE Arcade and Community Games developers will be able to include customized Avatars, which have quickly become one of the most popular features on Xbox LIVE, and LIVE Party functionality, which makes playing games a social experience by letting gamers seamlessly play and chat with their friends online. Professional Xbox LIVE Arcade developers will be able to release game add-ons like episodic content.

“The level of innovation and the number of submissions we receive each year to Dream-Build-Play has increased exponentially because the development community is becoming increasingly familiar with the XNA Game Studio,” XNA General Manager Boyd Multerer said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what developers are able to create with the latest LIVE features and updated tools at their disposal.”

The XNA Game Studio update, which will also include improvements like video playback and new audio APIs, means that more games featuring Avatars and LIVE Party could start appearing on Xbox LIVE as early as this fall.

Additionally, Microsoft reinforced its commitment to professional developers with the preview of new Xbox 360 Development and Test Kit hardware. This hardware includes additional debugging memory that allows developers to more efficiently produce games, push the console to its maximum capabilities, and ensure the best titles continue to be created for Xbox 360.

More detailed information about XNA can be found by visiting http://creators.xna.com. For additional information about Dream-Build-Play, visit www.dreambuildplay.com. For additional information about previous Dream-Build-Play winners, visit www.Xbox.com.

Lips add new songs from Local H, Boyz II Men and Creedence Clearwater Revival on Xbox Live

Lips, the hit singing party game exclusively for Xbox 360, offers new song tracks this week, adding to the library of nearly 50 game add-on songs available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the Lips in-game Get Music store option.

Music fans around the world have even more reason to sing their hearts out with the Lips wireless microphones with three new songs available for download today. For 160 MS Points each, songs by Local H, Boyz II Men and Creedence Clearwater Revival are available in Xbox LIVE enabled regions .

Available March 27:

• Bound for the Floor – Local H
• I’ll Make Love to You – Boyz II Men
• Who’ll Stop the Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival

“Lips,” the singing party game from Xbox 360 and iNiS, includes 40 songs on-disc and two wireless, motion-sensitive microphones.

Ratchet and Clank Future - A Crack in Time - World Exclusive teaser trailer

GameTrailers have published the first video game trailer from Insomniac Games’ for the next Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time platform-shooter video game.

This trailer, which appears to show off Ratchet with is dad, hints the safety of the world is in your hands, once again.

The video confirms the game will release this Autumn.

Triumvir X BlazBlue Project

Aksys Games, a leading publisher of interactive entertainment products, is excited to announce the partnership of Triumvir and Aksys Games on an extraordinary project. Soon, fans of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger can look forward to an invigorating new clothing line sporting their favorite characters from unique, independent streetwear brand Triumvir.

"With Triumvir's expansive knowledge of the fashion industry, it only makes sense for Aksys Games to collaborate with them and on the next step in the evolution of the BlazBlue brand," states Akibo Shieh, President, Aksys Games. "Fans of BlazBlue might think they've seen it all, but they haven't had a look at what Triumvir has planned."

"It was only natural for Triumvir to jump at the chance to collaborate with Aksys Games on the BlazBlue project. Just having any linkage to the developers (Arc System Works) of the Guilty Gear series is an honor and an accomplishment, not only for Triumvir, but for myself as well..." states Brandon Cheng, Creative Director, Triumvir.

Batman Arkham Asylum video game - challenge mode - predator gameplay walkthrough HD trailer

Join Sefton Hill, Game Director at Rocksteady as he guides you through one of the Challenge Modes from Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Showing off the Invisible Predator gameplay moves. Learn to propel yourself into the shadows, take out enemies with pre-planned explosive attacks and finish them off with a devastating glide kick.

Little Big Planet patch 1.12 Cornish Yarg update details

The announcement of the latest LittleBigPlanet patch 'Cornish Yarg' doesn't give a release date but it does let us know what the patch update contains...

The patch update addresses several problems with the game:

• There is a new music player which lets player’s choose their own music from the XMB to play during create mode and in their Pod
• Improved decoration mode makes it easier to customize your Sackboy

New options to help prevent profiles becoming full of unwanted community objects:

• Option to delete all unhearted community objects and photos
• Option to select whether to automatically collect community prizes and photos
• A number of improvements have been made to make profiles more robust and to recover from certain errors
• We now support Japanese and Korean IME for text chat.
• Emitter prediction has been improved
• The player proximity switch now has a ‘require all’ option in it
• An option has been added to cycle between various level information when viewing community levels on the earth
• Various other LittleBigStore improvements

Wheelman Adrenaline-Pumped Super Moves and Hollywood-Style Driving Action video game on Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 and PC out now

Midway and Tigon Studios announce that Wheelman, the action-packed driving game featuring film star Vin Diesel as undercover agent and expert driver-for-hire Milo Burik, has shipped and is available at retailers starting today. Wheelman is available for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC and is rated 16+ by PEGI.

In Wheelman, Milo Burik gets caught in a crossfire of chaos and corruption while trying to stay one step ahead of local law enforcement and rival gangs in the beautifully re-created city of Barcelona, Spain. In Wheelman, the player’s car is the weapon. Players weave in and out of traffic, engaging in intense vehicular warfare, leaving wreckage in their wake as they take out anything or anyone that gets in the way with innovative super moves like “Vehicle Melee,” “AirJack” and the “Cyclone.”





“First and foremost Wheelman is designed to be action packed, accessible and over-the-top driving fun,” said Leonie Manshanden, Global Marketing Director at Midway Games. “Wheelman’s dynamic systems adjust to the player’s experience level so that everyone – from a novice to an expert gamer – can play and feel as if they’re an action hero in a driving game.”



Inspired by Hollywood's most famous action-sequences, Wheelman will deliver powerful cinematic moments throughout the game's compelling storyline. In addition, there are more than 100 side missions available, giving players plenty of opportunities to steer through the streets of virtual Barcelona, while earning vehicle upgrades, achievements and trophies.

Valkyrie Profile - Covenant of the Plume on Nintendo DS out now

The time has come to reap vengeance on the valkyrie who claimed the soul of Wylfred’s father.

Armed with the sinister power of the Destiny Plume, he is faced with a life-altering decision.

Will he succumb to the darkness in order to exact his revenge? On the crimson-stained battlefield, victory belongs only to true tacticians of war.

New content now available on the website!!

The Amazing Race - Emmy award winning TV series now to become video games series

Interactive entertainment company Ludia Inc., and CBS Consumer Products announced today that Ludia will create video games based on the seven-time Emmy award-winning “The Amazing Race” television series. The North America-wide deal will see the reality TV sensation launch games across multiple platforms in tandem with the show’s 14th season.

“The heart-pounding adventure, around-the-world competition and postcard worthy settings of ‘The Amazing Race’ are perfectly suited for video game adaptation,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia. “We are thrilled to add such a high-energy, suspenseful franchise to our slate, and we will infuse those key elements into a highly social, team-based multiplayer game that unites duos in cooperative game play to compete against rivals.”

“The Amazing Race” video game teams players up in pairs for an unforgettable journey across exotic locations and continents in a race against time and other teams. Players work to find each checkpoint and take on dozens of frantic challenges and tasks as they navigate Detours, Roadblocks and other unpredictable game elements from the show. Working together strategically throughout the game is essential as each team tries to discover hidden clues that are crucial to getting them to the Pit Stop first- and one step closer to ultimate victory at the check-in mat.

“We are delighted to be working with Ludia to deliver an ‘Amazing Race’ experience to a broader public and to offer fans of the show a heightened new level of interaction with the brand,” adds Liz Kalodner, Executive Vice President & General Manager of CBS Consumer Products.

Grand Theft Auto team used the pub for meetings

The developer of the DS version of Grand Theft Auto has spoken of its key to success - regular pub meetings.

In an interview with The Times, Rockstar Leeds boss Gordon Hall spoke of the development process behind DS title Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which included regular meetings in the pub.

"Rule one is that every other meeting takes place down the pub, where we can talk and the ideas flow," he said. "See that road over there? There's a pub up the hill that'd go out of business if it wasn't for us."

Another important factor was ensuring the game was play tested by everyone: "Once a week, we have a day where we stop work, and everybody in the office, my PA included, will play a portion of the game we're working on at random.

"We may only have 16 people working on a title at any one time, but as far as I'm concerned, all 80 people here are games makers. We listen to everybody's comments and try to make improvements accordingly.



"Over the two years we've been working on Chinatown Wars, everyone you see in here has played every single section of the game. We all know it inside out."

Source: DigitalSpy