Tales of Monkey Island pirate adventure video game after ten years

Arrrrr! Polish up your swashbuckles and grab your sword, because legendary pirate Guybrush Threepwood sets sail today on the first all-new Monkey Island adventure in over a decade. Telltale's highly anticipated game series, Tales of Monkey Island, begins now at www.telltalegames.com for PC with Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, the first chapter in an epic five-month adventure created by the same team responsible for acclaimed episodic series including Sam & Max, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. The first Tales of Monkey Island chapter is expected to release for WiiWare in the coming weeks as well.

The saga begins with a heated battle involving the brave but often bumbling Mighty Pirate Guybrush, his beloved wife Elaine, and their nemesis, the demon pirate LeChuck. When the showdown goes up in flames, Guybrush finds himself marooned on a strange island with winds that always blow inward. How will our hero manage to escape this meteorological anomaly? What has become of LeChuck and Elaine? And what's the story with the infectious voodoo pox that's spreading across the Caribbean, causing Guybrush and other pirates to act like unruly hooligans? These are just some of the many questions posed in this first chapter of what will become one of the most rollicking and rip-roaring entertainment experiences of the summer.

Dave Grossman, Telltale's design director and a designer/writer for the original Monkey Island games says "I was laughing my eyepatch off on a daily basis while we were first cooking up Monkey Island at Skywalker Ranch, but if you'd told me then that it would become a classic, and that twenty years later I'd be working with a killer all-star piratey crew to spin an epic new tale and bring the series to a whole new generation of players, I would have said, well, probably, Look behind you, a three-headed monkey, but then I've always been a bit weird that way."

Tales of Monkey Island will unfold over the next five months, with each episodic chapter raising the stakes on Guybrush's quest to eradicate the insidious Pox of LeChuck, reunite with his wife, and vanquish his rival. Much like the best television and films series, the story becomes deeper and more engrossing with interweaving threads building to twists and surprises in the grand finale this fall.

Customers who order from Telltale's online store during the first week of availability can choose any other Telltale episode of their choice to include free with their purchase. Visit www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland to get into the adventure now. Additional Tales of Monkey Island details, gameplay trailers, and a playable demo are also available at the site.

Battlefield 1943 video game download available in UK for 1200 MS points

Full Downloadable Game On Sale For Only £9.99 / 1200 MS Points; Trial Version Available for Free.

DICE, an Electronic Arts announce that Battlefield 1943 is now available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PlayStation Network. Battlefield 1943 is an all-new download-only multiplayer action game that brings DICE’s first-class WWII action to gamers for just £9.99 or 1200 MS Points. Gamers can get a taste of the epic large-scale battles by downloading the free trial version on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PlayStation Network.

Battlefield 1943 is a critically acclaimed First-Person Shooter (FPS) multiplayer game that GamePro magazine describes as “a triple-A title at a quarter of the price” and GameSpot says is “rock-solid value”.



Battlefield 1943 introduces two thrilling new modes where 24 players can compete across four classic WWII Battlefield maps: Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Coral Sea. These maps are inspired by the award winning Battlefield 1942™ game, but have been redesigned and reengineered using the DICE Frostbite™ engine allowing players to rain havoc and destruction via land, sea or air. The free trial version will feature Wake Island and give players the freedom to choose from the full arsenal of weapons and vehicles on both sides of the battle, either the US Marines or Imperial Japanese Navy.

The Coral Sea map will be unlocked as part of a worldwide community challenge, where players will work together to reach 43M kills on both Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network. The official countdown begins on July 10, 2009 at 19:43 GMT.

“We are excited to witness the intense battles that are going to take place on these tropical Pacific Theatre maps, ripping them to shreds and leaving nothing but debris behind,” says Gordon Van Dyke, Producer on Battlefield 1943. “Reliving these classic maps with the DICE Frostbite engine’s destruction capabilities and full FPS gameplay ups the ante on what can be done in downloadable games. We’re proud to be able to provide this experience to shooter fans for just £9.99.”

Strategy First and Out Of The Park Baseball 10 invites Baseball Fans and Gamers everywhere to take advantage of this limited time give away.

For the first time ever Strategy First will release a five hour interview featuring Red Sox Hall Of Fame Pitcher Bill ‘The Spaceman’ Lee.

In four separate sit down interviews with Strategy First’s Emanuel Wall and the Red Sox Hall Of Fame pitcher covers the highs and lows of his career and personal life.

The entertaining, and informative interviews cover a wide range of controversial topics and interesting stories as seen through the eyes of Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee.

“Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee is an incredible person and we are thankful to have been able to conduct these interviews. Very few things in this world are free and we want to offer Gamers and Baseball fans alike an opportunity to watch these incredible interviews and no purchase is necessary, feel free to celebrate the all-star game with us.” Says Business Development Manager Emanuel Wall.

Strategy First and Out Of The Park Baseball 10 Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee interview include same features listed below

- Bud Selig, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez

- President Barack Obama, President George.W.Bush, Governor Sara Palin, VP Al Gore

- Personal insight on his experience with the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry

- Who Killed the Montreal Expos

- Insight on writing ‘The Wrong Stuff’, ‘Have Glove Will Travel’, ‘Baseball Eccentrics’

- Barnstorming around the world from big cities, to small towns

- Learn the art and techniques of Pitching and its steady decline

- Being black listed by baseball

- Enemies of the Red Sox Nation

Be sure to watch all 5 hours for free while you still can.

Ion Assault video game for Xbox LIVE Arcade

800 Microsoft Points Gets Germany's First Space Combat Title

Black Inc., the core gaming division of RTL Interactive GmbH, today announces the release of Ion Assault, the first Xbox LIVE Arcade title from a German games studio. Developed by German developer Coreplay, Ion Assault offers Xbox 360 gamers a top-level gaming experience that makes full use of the technical possibilities provided by Microsoft's next generation console in order to offer arcade fans an action romp featuring outstanding graphics and gameplay.



In 2183 humanity discovers an energy source that facilitates travel into new regions of space. Gigantic mother ships collect the newly discovered fuel from the distant energy fields and transport it to Earth. When the fleet is destroyed in an alien attack, the player sets out on a perilous journey home in a small harvester. In Ion Assault, instead of conventional weapons, players use the free energy particles that are abundant in space to fend off swarms of aliens. The particles are bundled and the player is able to shoot them at asteroids and enemy ships. The particles are not destroyed in this process, but are redistributed in space, ready to be magnetically attracted again and re-used. Their random distribution makes for dynamic gameplay and calls for a more strategic approach.

"Through the dynamic particle and fluid system the player faces a constant challenge." says Peter Ohlmann, Coreplay Technical Director. "The immense variety of effects, and the scope of the variables, makes Ion Assault a true next-gen game. It would simply not have been technically possible to implement this game concept on older consoles."

Ion Assault offers four scenarios with gorgeous, detailed visuals, each with different types of opponents, bosses and background themes. In the course of the campaign players get to upgrade their spaceships and will, in turn, be able to affect power-ups that enable things such as an increase in ship speed, or an enlarged collected particles radius. Thanks to special power-ups, such as the ability to create temporary black holes, even large numbers of opponents can be dealt with. Players also get to show off their skills in various multi-player modes, and compare their scores to those of the world's best Ion Assault pilots through online high score lists.

Ion Assault will be available for download in the summer of 2009 via Xbox LIVE Arcade, priced at 800 Microsoft Points.

Free download content for Fight Night Round 4 release date

Free New Game Content Coming by Early August; Button Controls Included In Additional Summer Update

Electronic Arts announce its initial Downloadable Content (DLC) plan for Fight Night Round 4. Recently named the Game Critic Awards “Best Sports Game of E3 2009”, Fight Night Round 4 has been winning over reviewers since its release on June 23rd.

The first DLC pack, which will be available for free to both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 users by early August, will include a new training gym, new gameplay sliders, as well as a host of new equipment that can be used for outfitting boxers. Xbox 360 users will also receive an exclusive alternate version of Sugar Ray Leonard in their first DLC pack, courtesy of Pizza Hut.

EA SPORTS will also be releasing a free downloadable game update by early September that will allow gamers to use face buttons on the Xbox 360 and PS3 game controllers to throw punches, hooks, uppercuts and haymakers.

“The depth and variety of new content we have planned this summer is going to make one of the most critically acclaimed games on the market even better,” said senior producer, Dean Richards. “Among the new content in development, our new button control scheme will give fans a choice for how they want to throw punches in the game.

We strongly believe that the refined Total Punch Control is the most intuitive way to throw punches in Fight Night Round 4, but we also want fans of the franchise to have an option.”

Madden NFL team and player ratings season preview

If you’re a Madden NFL fan, the season can’t come too soon. Who will be the powerhouse teams this year? What players have improved? What players have seen better days? See how your favorite team and players will fair – according to the Madden NFL 10 Season Preview.

Each week, we’ll breakdown the overall team rating and each player’s individual ratings, for a specific division – one team per day. In addition to the player ratings, a wealth of team-specific assets will be made available, for both the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, and Wii versions of Madden NFL 10.

Everything culminates on August 3rd, where Madden NFL 10 will predict the 2008 NFL division winners, season MVP, and more.

This week, we focus on the NFC North. To view the overall team ratings for the Bears, Packers, Lions, and Vikings, as well as download the complete team roster ratings, visit the official Madden NFL 10 website below:

• Madden NFL 10 Season Preview

Age of Conan celebrates one year of massive improvements, former players invited to come back and play for FREE!

Players can log back in for free and experience a new and improved Conan. A year of massive improvements have made Age of Conan better than ever. New website live that explains how the game has improved since launch.

Funcom is proud to announce the launch of the first re-evaluation campaign for its best-selling MMO ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. Anyone with a previously active account can now reactivate and play for two weeks – completely free of charge and with no strings attached. With the slew of massive updates and improvements done to the game since launch, Funcom is eager to let players experience what the press have already dubbed “the second coming of Conan”.

The list of additions, changes and improvements are many, and a new website that aims to inform press and gamers everywhere about how ‘Age of Conan’ has improved since launch is now live.

The new re-evaluation website can be found here.
http://www.ageofconan.com/updates

“For anyone with an inactive account who ever thought about giving it another try, this is your chance,” says Morten Larssen, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. “After the hugely successful launch last year we immediately started working on updates that would make the game better and provide more content for players, and that is what we have been doing this past year. With the most recent update just out the door, this is the time to ask players to come back and see the results!”

The re-evaluation offer is valid from July 8th to July 22nd and is available to anyone with a closed account in good standing. Reactivating at any time within this period will open for two weeks of free play – regardless of when you choose to act within that time period. There are no costs associated with this offer or any subscription obligations. It is also important to note that the free trial campaign will temporarily be closed to ensure the best play environment for all returning players.

Since launching last year ‘Age of Conan’ has been lovingly improved by a dedicated development team who has launched several major updates to the game. These updates have all added a wealth of new content such as the massive outdoor area of the giants known as Ymir’s Pass, the huge dungeon Xibaluku, and the vast new cityscape of Tarantia Commons among others. All of these areas have added countless hours of adventure through new quests, enemies, and rewards. New features have also been implemented such as an extensive player vs. player notoriety system that allows players to become murderers and hunt each other down for exclusive rewards, improved DirectX 10 graphics technology that allows for some spectacular visuals, and a massive revitalization of the core role-playing system.

“It has been quite a journey for the entire team getting to where we are today,” says Game Director on ‘Age of Conan’ Craig Morrison. “I think that players have always seen the great potential in ‘Age of Conan’ and we have put a lot of effort into realizing that potential. The game has improved tremendously since launch and we look forward to having players come back and seeing the changes for themselves!”

Funcom is also running a major give-away in cooperation with Eurogamer.net and MMORPG.com this week. Each site are giving away one thousand full copies of ‘Age of Conan’ each – including 30 days of free playtime – so head on over if you want to secure a free passage into the savage world of Conan!

Launching in May last year ‘Age of Conan’ quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world. In North America, the most prominent online gaming market in the west, ‘Age of Conan’ became the third best-selling PC title of the year only beaten by ‘Spore’ and ‘World of Warcraft’. In the weeks after launch ‘Age of Conan’ simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, and the game received critical acclaim from gaming press across the globe. ‘Age of Conan’ is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish localized versions, and is being prepared for launch in Korea as well.

World of Kung Fu video game update 1.0.52 - New Features and Quests

A new version 1.0.52 of World of Kung Fu will be released this summer. World of Kung Fu is a free-to-play MMORPG featuring splendid Kung Fu skills, beautiful scenic graphics and stories founded on the ancient Chinese Kung Fu moral values of justice and heroism. It opens a portal to explore a world of martial arts for players from all corners of the land.

Version 1.0.52 has been expected by players in World of Kung Fu for a long time since it brings many new features, including breaking the level cap (Level 120), two new maps waiting to be explored, relating quests added and Guarding Pet system launched.

The level 100 - level 120 quests will lead the challengers to explore the new maps and face new monsters dwelling there. The two new maps are Qingyuan and Graveyard of Howling Wind. Qingyuan, now haunted by thousands of undead warriors, is waiting for heroes around level 110 to protect the border of Liang from being invaded. Graveyard of Howling Wind is a place where top level players face their challenges. The stories taking their place are all inspired by mythology of ancient China.

Guarding pets, the most expected feature of version 1.0.52, finally mark their debut. Players will no longer fight alone. Not like the looting pets, guarding pets can grow up and help the players out in fighting, and its extraordinary attributes can also enhance player's capability. Meanwhile, quests about guarding pets will be activated. Pet Feeder will offer different quests to help you raise the strongest and unique pet with ease and fun!

Transform cards have been always popular in World of Kung Ku. More transform cards, including "Undead Corpse" and "Skeleton Warrior” will be added in this version. If you know something about Chinese ancient tales, you will be greatly delighted to transfer yourself to “Chang Er” and “Hou Yi”, who are the Fairy of the Moon and the Hero who shoot the spare 8 Suns for people, according to ancient Chinese tales.

With these innovative features, there will be more fascinating contents for every type of players in World of Kung Fu. And players can get fresh experience and have fun! More detailed information about the many new features and enhancements can be found on the World of Kung Fu website: http://www.worldofkungfu.com.

Colin McRae DiRT 2 PC video game delayed for Direct X 11 upgrade

Multi-threading, hardware tessellation and Shader Model 5.0 to turbocharge off-road racer powers new levels of visual realism with DirectX 11 software engineering expertise

Codemasters announced that the Games For Windows LIVE edition of Colin McRae: DiRT 2, the thrilling and stylish sequel to the award-winning off-road racer, will support the wealth of new performance enhancing features that will be available in DirectX 11.

With DirectX 11 hardware expected to ship in the second half of 2009, and DirectX 11 coming to home computers with the release of Microsoft Windows 7 on October 22, 2009, Codemasters also announced that the Games For Windows LIVE edition of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will benefit from an extended development program to take advantage of DirectX 11 and is now scheduled to be published in December 2009.

“While the console editions of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will retain their September ship date, we believe that the DirectX 11 feature set is too compelling to ignore, especially considering how much more it can add to the visual experience for PC gamers,” said Bryan Marshall, chief technical officer, Codemasters. “As a leader in digital racing entertainment, we are staying ahead of the pack by immediately taking advantage of key new technologies such as hardware tessellation, multi-threading and Shader Model 5.0 to deliver the most realistic, immersive and exhilarating racing experiences in the business. The fusion of DirectX 11 with Codemasters’ EGO™ Engine will raise the technical bar considerably in the racing genre.”

With the introduction of Microsoft Windows 7, DirectX 11 will be made available both as part of the operating system and as a downloadable update to Windows Vista. Codemasters intends to immediately take advantage of DirectX 11 features that add to the realism of the racing environment. Hardware tessellation will further improve the appearance of water and other surfaces as well as crowd animations.

The shader performance of Shader Model 5.0 (SM 5.0) will aid in creating an even richer 3D experience, enhancing key image quality parameters such as depth of field, ambient occlusion and shadows. These DirectX 11 features, and many others, will add the horsepower needed to improve performance.

“We expect Codemasters’ early move to DirectX 11 to place them in a leadership position in developing the next generation of PC games and simulations,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president, AMD Products Group. “To aid in transitioning to DirectX 11, AMD is providing Codemasters with access to our software engineering expertise in DirectX 11 technologies such as tessellation and shader modelling. DirectX 11 has all of the ingredients needed to take PC gaming to a new level of realism by giving developers tools to effectively utilize the multi-CPU, multi-GPU systems now available to players.”

Colin McRae: DiRT 2 is being turbocharged for Games For Windows LIVE supporting DirectX 11 and is set to ship this December. Editions for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP (PlayStation Portable) system are scheduled to launch in September.

Heracles Chariot Racing video game for Nintendo WiiWare

Unleash the Power of the Gods in Ancient Greece in Neko's New Chariot Racer.

Neko Entertainment an independent premier video game developer and publisher announced today the upcoming release of Heracles Chariot Racing on WiiWare, a racer that will drive players new and old to distraction.

Featuring ten circuits in five mythological fantasy settings, players take control of one of eight gods or legendary creatures from Heracles to Poseidon as they race to become Champion Charioteer. Heracles Chariot Racing will be released on July 6th on WiiWare, first in the Americas, then later in Europe.

“We are excited to announce the upcoming release of Heracles Chariot Racing for WiiWare”, said Laurent Lichnewsky, Managing Director of Neko Entertainment, “With its blisterning fast racing action, mytholigical tracks and enemies, split screen multiplayer modes, Heracles Chariot Racing is destined to become a WiiWare classic for players, both young and old”.

In Heracles Chariot Racing our hero Heracles has to undertake a challenge that none before him have survived – a chariot racing tournament. To win a series of sacred trophies and be crowned Champion Charioteer our hero has to race across mythological kingdoms against some of the most feared monsters in existence. The objectives are simple, survive the battles and race against some of the most fearsome and inventive foes in Greek mythology. Select a character and let fate, skill and ability decide the outcome!

Heracles Chariot Racing is an exciting journey into a mystical and colourful word of danger spiced with excitement, awesome weapons laced with humour. Featuring Championship, Single Player, Time Trial, Battle and intense 2 to 4 split screen multiplayer modes, players are the master of their own destinies, but with the divine actions of Gods they will require both skill and an element of luck to be crowned champions. Featuring 3 racing cups across 10 courses based on mythological fantasy settings including Nemean Lion, Realm of Hades, The Augean Stables, Stymphalian Lake and Mount Olympus, players select a character and race it out using fantasy weaponry including Zeus lightning rods, tridents, fireballs and more against their opponents.