Shimano Xtreme Fishing Nintendo Wii video game

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 Wii in summer 2009.

Cross Fire Free multiplayer first-person shooter announce agreement

G4BOX Inc. and Wicked Interactive Ltd. announced an exclusive agreement with IGA Worldwide to support in-game advertising within their hit game, Cross Fire, a free multiplayer first-person shooter available at: http://crossfire.subagames.com.

“The Cross Fire beta launch has proven to be a tremendous success. The scale of the community building around the game has been astonishing and is still growing rapidly,” said Howard He, CEO of G4BOX Inc. “We are delighted to partner with G4BOX on Cross Fire. Its success has allowed us to partner with in-game advertising pioneer, IGA Worldwide, to pursue opportunities in this exciting and ground-breaking advertising environment,” added Garvin Yeung, CEO of Wicked Interactive Ltd.

Cross Fire is a free-to-play, multiplayer first-person shooter available on the PC platform. It allows up to 16-players to battle online simultaneously, completing objective-based missions and scenarios across a range of realistic locations and arenas. Cross Fire also offers an array of features, such as: four modes of gameplay including the exclusive “Ghost Match” mode, a persistent stat-tracking and ranking system, in-game friend lists, an integrated clan system, customizable characters, realistic military weaponry and much more.
Through its integration of IGA Worldwide’s proprietary Radial 4.0 advertising SDK, Cross Fire now offers brands and agencies the opportunity to dynamically display, update and geo-target their advertisements to a highly engaged, tech-savvy audience within the elusive 18-34 male demographic.

Ed Bartlett, Vice President Europe for IGA Worldwide, said “Having pioneered ad-supported free-to-play premium games over the last three years, we are very excited to extend this model to Cross Fire, which has all of the necessary features for another huge success story in this category. IGA prides itself on a qualitative approach to ad inventory, and alongside contextual in-game billboards, users can also expect a sponsored tournament and leaderboards as well as subsidised branded content including new levels and arenas.”

IGA’s network has generated in excess of 25 billion full impressions, delivering over 60 million hours of content to nearly 40 million users in total, with an average view duration of 9 seconds of exposure per ad.

Manage Your Football Club (MYFC) video game on iPhone and iPod touch

Developer Sports Director is working on its first football management simulation for iPhone.

It's called Manage Your Football Club (MYFC for short), has been developed by handheld firm Sports Director.

The single-player game lets you take charge of any club in the top four UK divisions - Premier League down to League 2 - with accurate player and team names.

It's certainly comprehensive, cramming in tactics, training, transfers, finances and more statistics than you can shake a sheepskin coat at. You even get to build a youth team - an often-neglected element in management sims.

The thing that impressed us most from our hands-on with MYFC was the interface: Sports Director has clearly done a lot of work on the game's UI, from the slide-based training controls to the way you swipe between formations as if browsing photos on your iPhone.

There looks to be plenty of depth too - it's from the Football Manager school of management sims, with huge scope for tactical tweaking and squad-building, right down to individual player training to mould them just so.

The matches offer text-based commentary on what's happening, while a ball icon whizzes around a 2D pitch to show you roughly where the action is.

MYFC isn't quite the first football manager game for iPhone - that accolade goes to the just-released Soccer Manager.

We're keen to see how the two compare: in the absence (so far) of big guns like Football Manager and Championship Manager, there's a statto-shaped hole to be filled on iPhone.

Burnout video game World Record set at ESC gaming centre in Glasgow

Glasgow experienced a weekend of record-breaking as members from gaming community Ready Up set a brand new world record for the longest marathon playing a racing game. The tenacious team of six, led by Kirsten Kearney, kicked off the record attempt at 10:00 am on Saturday 18th April, at the ESC Gaming Centre - and spent the succeeding 24 hours propped down on bean bags playing Burnout Paradise with only a few short breaks. At 10:00 am on Sunday 19th April, the successful record attempt culminated in an official certificate presentation by Guinness World Records adjudicators who were present to witness the achievement.

A proud, and exhausted, Kearney said: "I am so thankful to our team and supporters from Ready Up for seeing this challenge through. Half way through the attempt I started to doubt whether I would be able to stay awake, but as the night continued I actually became more alert, and by the time we finished I was just so excited that we'd made it into next year's Gamer's Edition with a new world record that I didn't even feel tired anymore."

The record breaking feat served as a fundraiser for gaming charity GamesAid and nearly a hundred online gamers stepped in at different points to join the six record breakers during their 24 hours of continuous play.

Video games record manager Gaz Deaves said: “I’d like to congratulate Kirsten and her team on behalf of Guinness World Records for an impressive demonstration of endurance and skill. This was a brand new record category for us and hopefully Ready Up’s attempt will inspire other gamers to break their own records and get into the book.”

Now in its second year of publishing, Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition is a comprehensive compilation of highest scores and record breaking achievements across all games and consoles. Among more than 200 pages of records, the book also features facts from the history of gaming, banned and controversial games and the top 50 console games of all time.

Read the post on the ESC website here...

Neverwinter Nights 2 - Mysteries of Westgate PC video game as download only on 29 April

First Neverwinter Nights 2 Adventure Pack Available Exclusively via Digital Download

Atari today announced that the first Neverwinter Nights 2 Adventure Pack entitled Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate will be available exclusively via digital download for the Windows platform on 29 April 2009.

A suggested retail price of €9.99 / £9.99 /$9.99. Neverwinter Nights 2 - Mysteries of Westgate will be available for digital download at the Atari store by visiting www.atari-store.eu in Europe or www.atari.com/us in the US.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate provides over 15 hours of additional entertainment with all-new engrossing storylines, professional voice acting, enchanting musical scores, new in-game content, and much more. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Forgotten Realms universe created by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under license from Hasbro.

DEFCON! video game looking for a publisher for their Nintendo DS video game

Introversion has begun the search for the perfect publishing partner for the DS version of its classic, Wargames-inspired strategy title, DEFCON!

The UK’s favourite indie developer today announced it has regained all rights to the finished DS SKU of its critically-acclaimed DEFCON franchise.

As yet unpublished, the DS version was originally developed in conjunction with troubled distributor, Pinnacle.

Introversion anticipates considerable interest in the title, given the astonishing success of the DS hardware range worldwide.

“With the DSi flying off the shelves recently, we believe that there will be particular interest in a finished DS product with such a great track record, especially as the RTS/Strategy sector is so poorly served on the platform,“ said Mark Morris, Director at Introversion.

DEFCON is considered to be a classic Action/Strategy title in PC gaming circles, with a Metacritic score of 84 and average User Review on the site of 8.7.

Introversion has appointed veteran agents, Bad Management, to assist it in its discussions with, and evaluation of, potential publishing partners.

Said John Cook, Senior Partner at Bad Management, “In the current risk-averse environment, companies are placing a premium on finished products with a well-established brand and track record. DEFCON DS is a fantastic publishing opportunity, and we’re confident we will be able to find the right fit for Introversion.”

Specifically adapted for DS with full stylus control, a unique game-mechanic and all the chilling effects of the original Armageddon sim, DEFCON DS is expected to appear on the shelves worldwide in Q3 2009.

Raskulls Unleashed No2 - Dragon is a genius of the highest order

This week on Raskulls Unleashed, we sat down with three more from the wacky crew to obtain some very in-depth analyses into the minds of such intelligent characters and build some truly memorable character profiles, akin to the genius of King’s “Kinging”, Pirate’s expertise in Parrot Taming, and Duck’s gender being called into question, even though he/she doesn’t really know the answer.

After settling in with a bottle of Moet and Beethoven’s Serenade for String Trio in D major, we expected Dragon to begin reciting his artistic influences and comment on the state of the Carthaginian economy in 647BC. Here is the net result of that intelligent foray into the life and times of Dragon.

That’s it? Dragon’s contribution to the in-depth profiling of the Raskulls cast? Well, I guess it says that he likes people in power, and King would be the first to tell you how much power he has. It’s really not as much as he thinks.

Next up on the chopping block is Ridinghood, who was quick to clarify a certain technical issues some people were having with her outfit – and her entire reason for existence.

All of Ridinghood’s fans can now bask in her generous and friendly nature. Ignore the physical impossibility of how her signature kiss looks the way it does, and you’ll become a big fan just like everyone else!

Finally, here’s a shout-out to one of the lesser-known, yet equally important members of the Raskulls team. Blue Block is always around to show his face in even the most hazardous of levels, so he gets points for effort.

When you’re a Blue Block, it’s tough living in a world filled with Raskulls whose chief desire is to smash blocks. He has a family to support, and this is how he gets treated? Shame on you, Raskulls.

Read No1 post here on gamezplay.org...

Galaxy Online - International Battleground Opens Pc strategy game

Galaxy Online is a game that tests your wits and strategic skills as much as it entertains. With this mind, the Galaxy Online team will soon be opening a special International Battleground, where they will hold an unprecedented PVP battle. This battle will pit Chinese version players against their English version counterparts.

English version players who participate in the event will be automatically added into a specified faction to confront the challenge from Chinese opponents.

The officials will offer all entrants the same initial resources and Science Points. Also the shipbuilding time will be shortened for the event, so players can create an army in the shortest time possible and get on to the fighting. The winning faction will gain hoards of rewards!

This is a summit challenge, and only the strongest and most powerful players are eligible to enter. The Hero Call-ups along with the detailed information regarding the entrance requirements is issued on the forum.

Warriors, the horn has sounded, will you answer the call? Watch your fleets take off into the abyss of space…will they return victories?

Winemaker Extraordinaire PC video game - learn about wine while you play

Overplay announced today the release of Winemaker Extraordinaire, the first PC game for casual players developed by the studio and published by Merscom and uclick. The game will be available at the Big Fish Games portal and it’s a great opportunity for wine lovers to have fun in an immersive environment.

Winemaker Extraordinaire tells the story of Maria Bellaventura, a corporate lawyer who desires to escape the rat race of big cities. After she inherits her grandfather’s Winery in Tuscany, she finds herself in charge of running her own winemaking business and revealing the secrets of the Guild of Extraordinaire Winemakers to gather the pieces of Vino Ultimae.

The player will visit 15 different scenarios around the world, meeting peculiar characters and learning facts and tips about different wine blends and grapes, while listening to a beautiful musical score.

Winemaker Extraordinaire will be released on Big Fish Games, on Saturday, April 18th and can be downloaded here.

Fallen Earth Announces Winning Location in National Tour Contest

Today, the developers of the self-titled post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth have announced Portland, Ore. as the winning town of the text-based contest and the next stop of the company’s national grassroots tour.

The May 2 event, starting at 7 p.m. at North 45 Pub in downtown Portland, will give players a chance to meet the development team, demo Fallen Earth, participate in a Q&A with developers and collect an exclusive in-game mount. With previous stops in Raleigh, N.C., Baltimore, Md. and San Francisco, Calif., the tour also provides the development team with direct feedback from fans.

“We saw a great response from fans as they rallied votes for their area,” said Jessica Orr, product manager for Fallen Earth. “We want our fans to have a voice in the process and we’re looking forward to having some quality time with them in Portland.”

Fallen Earth will also be giving away two special prizes at the event; one prize for the fan who travels the greatest distance to attend, and one prize for the fan that brings the most friends to the event.

To register for the Portland event, please click here:

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.

For more information about the contest or to participate in closed beta testing, visit www.fallenearth.com.