Army of Two - The 40th Day video game out in January 2010

Start off 2010 with a bang! EA Montreal, a studio of Electronic Arts, today announced ARMY OF TWO - THE 40th DAY will ship on January 12, 2010 in North America and January 8, 2010 in Europe. The sequel to the 2008 multi-platinum co-op shooter sees the return of the ultimate two-man private military team, Salem and Rios.

Trapped in the middle of Shanghai as it falls under attack, the two must work as a team to survive relentless enemy assaults and escape the city collapsing around them. Gamers who pre-order* ARMY OF TWO: THE 40th DAY now will have exclusive access to the game’s all-new explosive multi-player mode, ‘Extraction,’ at launch. This mode will be unlocked for all other players one month after the game ships.

ARMY OF TWO: THE 40th DAY features a more robust and redesigned multiplayer experience with four unique multiplayer modes including ‘Extraction’. ‘Extraction’ pits a team of four players against a series of unique enemy waves as they move from point to point in the ruined city. Players must strategize as a unified team to combat the different forces of the 40th Day Initiative while trying to get out alive.

In ARMY OF TWO: THE 40th DAY, private military contractors, Salem and Rios must fight their way through Shanghai to survive a carefully orchestrated series of catastrophes that are dragging the massive city to the brink of ruin. Jonah, the mastermind behind the 40th Day Initiative, has amassed an army of skilled soldiers to level the city in his attempt to rebuild an empire according to his vision and ideals. Now, the Army of Two must fight their way through ravaged city districts as they try to beat the odds.

ARMY OF TWO: THE 40th DAY will be available for the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the PSP(PlayStation Portable).

Marvel v Capcom 2 out now on PlayStation Network

The wait is over for PlayStation 3 owners as Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is available today through PSN or through a limited retail release exclusively at GameStop in North America for $14.99.

The GameStop retail box includes a redemption code to download the game over PSN and a code for a month's subscription of digital comics at Marvel.com.

Only 15,000 copies of the retail box are available, so get moving.

Either way, PlayStation owners can now face off online in one of the finest fighting games ever made.

TouchMaster 3 puzzle game on Nintendo DS and Game Party 3 on Nintendo Wii video games announced

TouchMaster 3, a puzzle compilation game for Nintendo DS and Game Party 3, a social party game for the Nintendo Wii system announce by Warner Bros. TouchMaster and Game Party are multi-million unit selling franchise additions to the company’s casual and family line-up scheduled to launch in Autumn 2009.

TouchMaster and Game Party are fan favourites, with Game Party selling more than three million units worldwide and TouchMaster selling more than one million units worldwide.

Appealing to players of all ages and abilities, both titles offer casual and family gamers a fresh take on the popular Game Party and TouchMaster franchises, incorporating new games and puzzles along with an enhanced variety of the franchises’ past fan favourites.

“We are very pleased to add the successful Game Party and TouchMaster franchises to our portfolio in the growing casual games space,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “As we continue our strategy of offering a broad mix of quality casual games, Game Party 3 and TouchMaster 3 are great options for players and holiday gift givers with new features and group gameplay.”



Game Party 3 features 19 different game options including eight new party games like Billiards, Croquet, Racquetball, Smack-a-Troll, Miniature Golf and Bumper Pool. It supports up to four players in co-op mode, or up to 16 players in tournament mode. The game also offers “Create a Player” and “Profile” features, allowing gamers to customise the look of their character, as well as save high scores to earn tickets that unlock character customisation options and unique in-game equipment.

In TouchMaster 3, up to two players can work through a collection of 20 puzzle, action, card, strategy, and word challenges with new elements such as Badges, Trophies, and Wizard points to give players endless hours of replay. The game features action, card game, strategy and trivia genres in competitive single player, two-person multiplayer and download play options. Game options include Triples Plus, Slime Assault, Bumperball and Dice King 2.

Game Party 3 is under development at FarSight Studios and TouchMaster 3 is under development at Hijinx Studios, LLC.

Need for Speed NITRO on Nintendo Wii with Lamborghini Gallardo, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger R/T, Volkswagen Type 2 and Subaru Impreza WRX

EA Montreal announce that it is collaborating with lifestyle brands tokidoki, Upper Playground and i am 8-bit to create exclusive in-game car designs and artwork for Need for Speed NITRO on the Nintendo Wii. Each brand has created custom skins for a wide variety of vehicles including the Lamborghini Gallardo, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger R/T, Volkswagen Type 2 and Subaru Impreza WRX. They have also provided over 140 stylistic brushes that players can use to paint and personalize their ride. The cars in Need for Speed NITRO have style, personality and edge unlike any racing game.

The tokidoki brand is one of today’s most popular lines of apparel, accessories, toys, skateboard decks and other merchandise. The brand is characterized by a colorful, high-energy artistic style, while the word tokidoki means “sometimes” in Japanese. The name represents the company’s world view around identity and destiny. tokidoki was founded by Simone Legno and his partners and started as a personal web site before it evolved into an internationally celebrated brand.

Upper Playground is a cutting-edge, San Francisco based brand that brings graffiti culture to all types of street wear such as t-shirts, hats and hoodies as well as housewares and wall art. The Upper Playground punk rock art style has defined it as one of today’s hottest brands among musical tastemakers and Hollywood trendsetters.

i am 8-bit is an artistic collective that brings together over 100 artists reinterpreting their favorite old-school video game characters in a variety of media, including paintings, plush, sculpture, and even interactive pieces. The art is showcased at an annual exhibition held in Los Angeles, California every year since 2005.

“tokidoki, Upper Playground and i am 8-bit create art with distinct and cutting edge personalities,” said Gil Rimmer, Art Director, EA Montreal. “With Need for Speed NITRO, we wanted to give players a variety of ways to customize their vehicles, introducing vivid and fresh urban art styles that have never been seen in racing games before.”

Developed specifically for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, Need for Speed NITRO delivers the fun and exhilaration of high-speed racing with blazing visuals and deep gameplay. Need for Speed NITRO features a deep and intuitive visual customization system that lets gamers trick out their car’s appearance as well as design a unique art style to attach to their ride. Ultimate bragging rights are at stake as the player’s personalized art style overtakes the world when they edge out their competitors for first place, vibrantly painting their story of racing dominance.

Shipping on November 17, 2009, Need for Speed NITRO recently received IGN’s “Best Racing Game” award for the Wii and Nintendo DS. Need for Speed NITRO is developed by EA Montreal and is not yet rated by the ESRB and PEGI.

Scooby Doo! First Fights video game trailer released

In Scooby-Doo! First Frights, the complement to the upcoming live-action and CGI Warner Bros. DVD release Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins, players take on the role of young Scooby-Doo and teenage versions of the newly formed Mystery, Inc. crew to solve their very first cases.



Scooby-Doo! First Frights is intended for Scooby-Doo fans of all ages. Fans will be able to explore spooky environments as Scooby, Shaggy or any of the super-cool teen Mystery, Inc. team. The action-adventure game features co-op play allowing two members of Mystery, Inc. to work together to solve puzzles, combat enemies, and collect clues before unmasking each episode’s mysterious villain - all while gaining prestige as world famous sleuths!

Once players have solved the mystery, they can return to completed levels in Explore mode with any unlocked character, costumed character or villain to access new areas. With ghosts and ghouls around every corner, high school has never sounded so fun!

PRODUCT FEATURES:

Multiple Mysterious Environments: Featuring four all-new mysteries spread over more than 20 levels; explore the Phantom Cruise Ship, Haunted High School, Foreboding Castle and more!
Sleuthing times Two: Switch between characters or play with friends at any time using two player co-op with easy drop-in, drop-out gamezplay.
Spooky Disguises: With access to a variety of spooky disguises, players can camouflage themselves in super-powerful costumes with new abilities unique to each character.
Back to the Beginning: Become part of the Mystery, Inc. team and solve their first cases with hours of entertainment in Story or Explore mode.
Solve Exclusive Mysteries: Each story has a new setting with a mysterious villain created specifically for the game. Collect clues and try to solve the mystery!

RELEASE DATE: Autumn 2009
PUBLISHER: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
DEVELOPER: Torus Games
RATING: Pending
GENRE: Action Adventure Game
PLATFORMS: Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2

Trauma Team, Nintendo Wii medical video game, launch website

Atlus opened the doors of the official Trauma Team website, the upcoming medical entertainment experience from the makers of Trauma Center and exclusively for Nintendo Wii. This first major site update introduces fans to Dr. Gabriel Cunningham, a brilliant albeit cynical diagnostician whose personal challenges seem to have dulled his passion for the job. Expect new sections of the site to open over time, revealing more characters, details, and media from the game.

Encounter unprecedented depth across six distinct fields of medicine: play as a general surgeon, diagnostician, E.M.T., orthopedic surgeon, endoscopic technician, and forensic examiner. Follow the drama as never before with all-new dynamic story sequences inspired by Japanese animation and comics; each chapter comes vividly to life with a style seen nowhere else! Hand-drawn art, innovative animation, and quality voice acting perfectly capture the raw intensity, excitement, and danger of every heart-pounding moment!

Bigger, more exciting, and more balanced than ever before, Trauma Team is the ultimate medical drama! Trauma Team is scheduled for release in Spring 2010.

Visit the official website:
http://www.atlus.com/traumateam

Native Hive Rise Linux Client now available free download link here

Last week the free Hive Rise client was released. Of course it was a Windows version, although Vulcando Games didn’t explicitly indicate the needed operating system.

But that shouldn’t be a matter of course: Now there’s a version that runs natively on Linux! The download has 79 MB and is thus a little bit larger than the Windows version. Cross platform playing is now possible without any restrictions.

Just like the Windows version the Linux client can be downloaded here for free:
http://www.HiveRise.com.

Hive Rise is an extremely fast running real time strategy game. It takes place on huge maps, each providing space for over 1000 human players. There are 12 different play modes, each offering a unique trophy. What makes it even more outstanding is the fact that the short matches (about 10 minutes) can be started at once without having to wait for your teammates. You can start playing instantly, no registration is needed!

World of Kung Fu - Differences Hunting in Screenshot Collection Event

We can’t play games forever, but we can be friends forever. Form the very beginning until now, we have been enjoying a variety of gaming experiences. They are all precious memories. How to cherish our memories? Picture is a good way!

Now a fantastic event to welcome players to offer their screenshots will be launched next week. It is called “Screenshot Collecting and Differences Hunting Event”! Just as the name implies, this event can be divided into two parts. The first one is collecting screenshots from gameplayers, and then screenshots will be processed and become footage material of the "Differences Hunting". “Differences Hunting” means there are two pictures which look very similar at first sight. But if you compare them carefully, you will distinguish tiny differences between them. So the second part is that players need to tell us how many differences there are between the two pictures.

Players can choose either or both parts of this event to join, Screenshot Collecting or Differences Hunting. This event will be held from August 17th to September 17th as a daily event. If your screenshots are selected, or if you are the first player who gives the correct answer about the number of differences between two pictures, you will win some excellent items in the game!

More details about the rules and the rewards of this event, please visit http://www.worldofkungfu.com or check the “Event” section of http://forum.worldofkungfu.com to join the discussion with other players.

Steel Sentinels video game launched

“In the far future, rival forces do battle using giant robots, warring for control over the valuable solarite resources. As a sentinel commander, you must wage war on those who stand in your way, complete missions, win solarite, acquire new technology, and use it to make your sentinel the deadliest in the galaxy.

Steel Sentinels offers the following features:

* Extensive single player campaign that unlocks a variety of sentinels and equipment (we recommend you play through this as far as possible before embarking on multiplayer);
* Up to 12 players can take part in the multiple multiplayer battle modes, which include head-to-head, team games and co-operative play;
* 12 different sentinels to unlock;
* Fully customisable sentinel chassis, with a vast array of weapons and components;
* A host of Achievements and in-game 'tags' for you to collect.”

Star Alliances - Beyond Protocol's new MMORTS with the emphasis on the fighting download now

Dark Sky Entertainment, the company behind the new MMORTS named Beyond Protocol, has just unleashed yet another revolutionary experience to the masses. Its name is Star Alliances.

Star Alliances gives the player massive amounts of customization with the ability to jump into the midst of interstellar war instantly, for FREE (more on the FREE part later).

There are similarities between Star Alliances (SA) and Beyond Protocol (BP), but they are very different games. Unlike BP, SA focuses more on the intensity of fighting for supremacy, and less on the complex strategy of building an empire. However, much like BP, SA takes place in a galaxy with hundreds of environments in which war can rage simultaneously. Environments range from any of the 8 planet types and 5 planet sizes, to the orbit above those planets, to the very center of any of the 100+ star systems, to the cold outer reaches of space.

Allow me, DSE’s Diplomat, to walk you through the basic actions that compose SA, a game that can most accurately be described as a Massive Multiplayer Online Real Time Tactical (MMORTT).

The game begins by choosing one of three factions, the Legion of Systems, the Unification Alliance, or the Galactic Confederacy. Each faction comes with its own premise of governance, basic hull designs, and region of space inside the SA galaxy.

After choosing a side, the player is taken to the home system for the chosen faction, and presented with a window summarizing research, production, and deployment options for their units.

Research in SA is based heavily on combat, mainly because research costs influence and influence is gained only by destroying enemy ships. The more and bigger the ships destroyed by the player, the easier it is for them to design a behemoth or sleek set of corvettes of their own.

The 10 different resources in the game are collected automatically, and directly relate to the different components in the game (engine, radar, weapons, etc.). The faction’s home system provides a steady and secure flow of resources, but by branching out into contestable systems, higher accumulation rates can be achieved. From these minerals, custom buildings, ships, and tanks can be made.

Deploying units to the action is made easy, by allowing the player to place them in any system linked to the faction’s main system. Wormholes are the main method of transit in SA. So long as the player’s faction (one of three in the game) controls the wormholes which connect, units can be placed in that system instantly. Intense battles can form very quickly where these control points intersect.

The number of ships a player can control at one time is determined both by technology level and prowess in battle. As technology level increases, so does the basic number of units and buildings that player can create, represented by Command Points (CP). Prowess is rewarded by experience points gained in battle on a per unit basis. With as much as a 10:1 reduction in CP requirements per unit, superior tactics are very much a necessity in domination.

Community is also a cornerstone of any MMO, and SA does not disappoint. A friend list keeps track of who is online and how high they rank. An alert system allows players to place markers with text, arrows, and other symbols in various colors to better communicate a winning strategy. Of course a full chat and mailing system are included as well. The mail can even be sent out of game to an email address or SMS capable mobile device.

Well this all might sound incredible, but I know that somewhere in your mind you are thinking, “He said I can play for FREE?” I certainly did, and here’s how. Trial accounts in SA never expire. They can be played 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year just like a paid account. However, of course there is a catch or two. The first day a trial account is registered, that account is given 2 hours of play time. After that first day, each subsequent day the account is given 1 hour to play. Additionally, access to higher technology, like corvettes, destroyers, and battleships, is restricted making fighters and escorts the mainstay for trial accounts. However, trial accounts have the same front row seat to the carnage that paid accounts do, perhaps only with smaller guns. The time limit should fit most any casual gamer’s daily allotment, but should you need more, a one time subscription can be bought at any time.

Well? What are you waiting for? Go to www.Star-Alliances.com and start downloading WHILE you register! Tell ‘em that Diplomat sent you, and they’ll treat you right!