Nintendo DS Tops 10 Million In The Americas; Nearly 9 Sell Every Minute

Nintendo DS™ continues to achieve milestone after milestone. As the fastest-selling video game system in the world, Nintendo DS now is in the hands of more than 10 million consumers in the Americas. Since launching in November 2004, nearly nine Nintendo DS or DS Lite portable game systems have sold – EVERY 60 SECONDS.

"More than 5 million people joined the ranks as Nintendo DS owners in America last year alone," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "And right now, they're all saying the same thing—'give me more!' Fortunately, no matter your taste or experience in gaming, that's exactly what we're supplying in the months to come."



Following a year in which Nintendo DS taught the world to play in new ways, the planet's most popular video game device will school the cash-fisted buyers in the early months of 2007. Before March ends, Nintendo will send Diddy Kong® racing, obscure Wario™ in a series of disguises, challenge you to pimp your robo and lure the most daring into the dimmest room at Hotel Dusk™. In all, 20 new DS games will launch in the United States in the first three months of 2007. The full list by launch month:

January
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Nintendo
Arthur & the Invisibles - Atari
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice for All - Capcom
Fossil League DTC - D3Publisher

February
Diddy Kong Racing DS - Nintendo
Lunar Knights - Konami
F24 Stealth Fighter - Majesco
Disney's Kim Possible: Global Gemini - Buena Vista
Meteos: Disney Magic - Buena Vista
Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 - Konami
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja - Atlus

March
Wario: Master of Disguise - Nintendo
Custom Robo Arena - Nintendo
Disney's Herbie: Rescue Rally - Buena Vista
Disney's Meet the Robinsons - Buena Vista
Spectrobes - Buena Vista
Steel Horizon - Konami
Cake Mania - Majesco
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - D3Publisher
TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) - Ubisoft

Fasten Your Seatbelt And Prepare For The Flight Of Your Life!

WING ISLAND LAUNCHES ACROSS EUROPE ON WII

Get ready to take to the skies with the ultimate aerial adventure! Wing Island will allow you and your friends to hone your flying techniques as you soar through the clouds as an ace biplane pilot, performing death-defying stunts and exciting tricks along the way with ease. Wing Island soars across Europe on Wii on 23rd March 2007. Wing Island is published by Hudson and distributed by Nintendo.

As the first flying game for the dynamic Wii Console, Wing Island is like no other flying game out there. Using the Wii’s ground-breaking motion sensitive controls, players can feel as if they really are flying their plane. The use of the Wii Remote allows players to achieve maximum precision whilst flying, combined with a more realistic feel. By simply tilting the controller left or right, you can turn the plane in the desired direction by angling the remote up or down gamers can easily change height. Quick turns can be easily achieved by waving the remote’s tip to the left or the right. Acceleration and breaking is equally simple to control with quick bursts of speed controlled by quickly thrusting the remote forward or backward, whilst more steady speed is achieved by pressing up or down on the D-pad. Not only is this a simple and intuitive way to control the game but it also brings an all-new level of fun and excitement to the game, regardless of your previous gaming experience, as your movements control the plane.




In the main Story mode, gamers progress by completing each mission and unlocking new locations. The game’s single player missions set the player a number of fun tasks to test their flying skills ranging from food drops to extinguishing forest fires and taking photos of assigned objects. Players earn different ratings for each mission based on time, accuracy and damage to the planes. This in turn influences points, bonus points, and money awarded for each of the 27 missions. Earning money in turn allows players the opportunity to tune and repair their plane and even buy one of seven completely new planes. During each mission the player has the opportunity to fly solo or in a formation of five dependent upon which mission they are involved in, therefore enabling the player to experience the best of both flight methods.

‘Wing Island’ is centred around three different, exotic cartoon islands inhabited by wacky cartoon animals who will help players complete the tasks they are set. The first island is the smallest and houses ‘Wing Inc’, where the first few missions take place. The second location becomes available after completion of the initial missions and presents more challenging terrain across which to navigate. The third and final island has a large city built on it and is by far the most challenging to navigate across.



If the idea of completing missions doesn’t appeal to you then select Free Mode where you can fly freely around the islands in the game without constraints of time. At any point in the mission players can also try and break their own records to show off to their friends in the Single Player Competitive Mode. There are three options in this mode: score attack, where players must pop balloons by ramming them with a spike on the plane, time attack where they must race through numbered gates and also Plane Tail which allows you to pop balloons tied to your opponent,

If a bit of extra competition is what you’re looking for why not go head to head against a friend to prove yourself a flying ace, or perfect your skills by taking on Wii in Two Player Mode. As in Single Player Competitive Mode, this mode also contains score attack and time, as well as Plane Tail.

The super-exciting ‘Wing Island’ flies into stores across Europe on Wii on the 23rd March 2007 at an estimated retail price of around 49 Euros (approximately £34 in the UK). The Wii console is available across Europe priced at 249 Euros (approximately £179).

Xploder PS3 HD Movie Player and Media Manager

Xploder PS3 HD Movie Player and Media Manager available in the PAL territories of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia on release day.

It's official - Xploder PS3 HD Movie Player and Media Manager hits Europe on 23rd March!

Further to the successful North American launch of Xploder’s PS3 Cheat Save and Media Management solution, the company has announced that the PAL version of the product will be available at launch.



It’s well documented that the PlayStation 3 is not only a powerful next-gen gaming console; it incorporates a myriad of multimedia functions that have been included to place the console at the heart of the user’s home entertainment system.

And for those gamers who wish to exploit the capabilities of their new PS3 system, Xploder has created the ultimate media management application - as well as providing access to the latest PS3 cheat saves, the Xploder HD Movie Player and Media Manager provides users with a comprehensive range of software tools to enable the conversion, transfer and management of their entire media collections.

MOVIES
At the recent CES show in Las Vegas, delegates were astounded by the superior HD 720p and 1080p resolutions of the High Definition movies that had been converted by Xploder software for PlayStation 3 playback. Xploder automatically converts movie files to the AVC (.MP4) format for PS3 playback. It is compatible with the majority of movie file formats, including DVD (VOB)*, MKV, Xvid, DivX, MPEG 1, M1P, MPEG 2, TS, M2P, WMV, ASF, MP4 and AVI.

MUSIC
The conversion of music to MP3 and transfer via the easy-to-use ‘iTunes style’ desktop interface could not be any more simple! Convert your CD collection, along with MP3, AAC and WMA files, and you can even transfer music straight from your iTunes music library.

CHEATSAVES
If you want to get ahead of the game, you need access to the #1 Cheats Database - the software allows you to download exclusive PS3 cheat saves from www.xploder.net. North American users had instant access at launch to PS3 cheat saves for the latest games including Call of Duty 3, Ridge Racer and Resistance: Fall of Man, and with over 30 titles announced for European launch, Xploder.net is THE place to download PS3 and PSP cheat saves for the hottest games.

IMAGES
Manage your photo and image gallery for viewing on PS3 and PSP. Preview thumbnail images via the desktop interface and simply copy them across to your portable memory device. Compatible with JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG and TIF formats.

All this functionality will be available for just £19.99 from high street retailers or from the Xploder store.
In addition the all-new Xploder download service means that you can get your hands on this market-leading software app for only £14.99.

*Non copy-protected DVDs only.

Virtual Console Shifts Up A Gear With One Of Nintendo's Best Racing Games Of All Time

Racing fans are in for an extra special treat today as Mario Kart 64, one of the greatest games in the hugely popular Mario Kart series, is available to download to Wii’s Virtual Console *. Featuring tense racing action for up to four players, Mario Kart 64 is the ultimate trip down nostalgia lane for you and your friends for the small sum of 1000 Wii Points.



As if this great game wasn’t reason enough to join the 1.4 million Wii users connected to the internet around the globe, Friday will see the launch of the first version** of the News Channel, for free, across Europe. Once downloaded the News Channel provides instant on demand news from around the world at the press of a button.

This Friday will also see the release of Soldier Blade from Turbografx (PC Engine), which will join over 40 classic titles already available for the Virtual Console. Since launch a staggering 1.5 million games have been downloaded worldwide from the service.

Virtua Fighter 5 Official Site Launch

SEGA Europe Ltd. are pleased to announce the launch of the official website for Virtua Fighter 5, the hotly anticipated fighting game for the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system. Virtua Fighter offers a range of content for both fans of the highly acclaimed series and gamers new to Virtua Fighter.



Virtua Fighter includes a range of material covering everything from a game information section describing all the aspects of Virtua Fighter 5 to a detailed character section explaining everything there is to know about fighters old and new. An extensive media section allows visitors to view a selection of movies and screenshots, going great lengths to prove the undeniable beauty of Virtua Fighter 5 and also includes a variety of wallpapers and icons for fans to download.




Visitors wanting to brush up on their Virtua Fighter knowledge can browse through the history section of the site to get the inside information on the critically acclaimed and much loved game, helping to make Virtua Fighter the perfect site for fans of what is hotly tipped to be the world’s greatest fighting game.

For more information on Virtua Fighter 5 please visit Virtua Fighter

wii news channel launches in US

News At Your Fingertips: AP And Nintendo Launch Wii News Channel Across Americas

As the options for news multiply, Nintendo is putting a simple solution for straight news right in the palm of your hand-in the form of the Wii Remote™. The News Channel, free to Wii™ owners, will debut on the console's Wii Menu beginning tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 27. Using the international resources of the Associated Press, the News Channel gives you key stories in multiple categories from across the country and around the world.

"What Wii has done for video gaming, we hope it will also accomplish for news," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "Just by pointing at your TV screen, you become your own interactive editor, instantly accessing the latest headline stories, whether they originate in Kansas City or Kyoto."



"The Associated Press is always looking for innovative ways to expand its audience for news and information," said Jane Seagrave, vice president and director of AP's digital division. "The Wii News Channel extends our global reach even further, on yet another platform, offering our news to people who otherwise might not see it."

The simple user interface allows Wii owners to spin a virtual globe and point to the location of a news event using the Wii Remote. Stories will be listed under headings including Business, Sports, Arts/Entertainment, Technology and Science/Health to allow users to quickly access information in the order they want. At any given time, dozens of stories might be available for each category. In the global view, stories can be grouped by region instead of category. Icons show which stories have been read, which stories are text-only and which ones come with news photos. Because Wii caters to all different ages, the interface allows users to change the size of the text. By using the "always-on" system functionality of WiiConnect24™, stories will be updated frequently, even while owners are sleeping.

BLAST! Signs up Charlotte's Web

BLAST! SIGNS UP CHARLOTTE'S WEB, THE CHILDREN'S FILM OF THE YEAR

Blast! Entertainment Limited part of the Mastertronic Group of Companies continues to raise the bar by signing up the major movie license Charlotte's Web for PlayStation 2.

Publishers Weekly lists the book as the best-selling children's paperback of all time, selling more than 45 million copies and has been translated into 23 languages. Aside from its paperback sales, Charlotte's Web is 78th on the all-time hardback list. Bringing this all time classic to life on PS2 is Atomic Planet Entertainment Limited (APE) a video games developer based in the North of England, consisting of a management team that has over 70 years of industry experience.



The hugely anticipated film is due for release in UK cinemas in February, it's a live-action/photo real CG animated feature adaptation of E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web" starring Dakota Fanning as Fern. Heading up the all star cast is Julia Roberts lending her vocals in the lead role of Charlotte A. Cavatica, a spider and heroine of the book who goes out of her way to save Wilbur the pig's life by weaving miraculous words into her webs.

Also providing voices are Oprah Winfrey as Gussy the barn's maternal yet irreverent goose; John Cleese as Samuel the sheep; Steve Buscemi as the barn's sardonic Rat Templeton. Cedric The Entertainer will play opposite Oprah as the other Goose - Golly. Reba McEntire and Kathy Bates will voice the barn's ironic cows; Betsy and Bitsy and Thomas Haden Church will voice Brooks, one of two dimwitted crows opposite Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000) as Elwyn the other crow.



Charlotte's Web on PlayStation 2 combines all the major characters of the story and places them in the players control. This is a quick and simple game to get into that is perfect for children. Varied gameplay will include exploration and problem solving and the player with have to explore the farm to live through the infamous Charlotte's Web story.

Sean Brennan, Blast! Entertainment, commented "Signing Charlott'e Web is a major coup for us and we'll be maximising the massive publicity that will surround the film launch. This release firmly places Blast! on the map as the leading value PS2 publisher across Europe and we plan to announce further high profile signings throughout 2007."

Charlotte's Web will be released on PS2 in March 2007 throughout Europe with an RRP of £9.99/€14.95, the Blast! range represents excellent value especially for kids and families with characters you know and love.

New hardware boosts Oz game sales

New hardware releases helped the Australian games industry reach a sales high of AUD $925 million (EUR 562m) in 2006.

Total game sales were up 7 per cent in 2006, with hardware rising 18 per cent and accounting for AUS $329 million in sales (EUR 200m), according to data released by GfK Australia.

Software sales amounted to AUD $596 million, a rise of just one per cent, but actual software units sold dropped to 12.5 million, compared to 12.6 million in the previous year.

Between October and December 2006, the DS sold 151,922 units, while the PlayStation 2 managed 122,639 consoles sold. The PSP sold 55,850 units in the same period.


Industry expects to break AUD $1bn sales in 2007


Since the Nintendo Wii launched December 7, it has sold a total of 51,744 units, while the Xbox 360 has sold 45,036 units in the final three months of the year.

The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia believes that the industry will continue to grow this year.

"2007 will be a considerable year for hardware sales and the Australian interactive games industry will comfortably exceed the AUS $1 billion mark," offered Chris Hanlon, CEO of the IEAA.

Sega teams with Kuju for new PSP project

Puzzle game Crush due for summer release

Sega has teamed up with Kuju Brighton to develop new title Crush for the PSP.

The game is due for release this summer, and promises a gameplay mechanic whereby players are able to change the environment from 3D to 2D, in order to solve puzzles.



"Crush introduces a fascinating new gameplay perspective on the PSP that encourages players to stretch their imagination in a whole new way," said Scott Steinberg, VP of marketing for Sega of America.

"The spatial concept of the crushing mechanic is something truly unique that encourages users to think back and forth between 3D and 2D objects and environments to engage different parts of their brain, and see beyond what is literally in front them."

EA collects Pogo titles for DS release

Pogo Island to feature five casual gaming favourites

Electronic Arts is to repackage five of the most popular titles from casual gaming site Pogo.com for release on the Nintendo DS.

Word Whomp, Poppit, Phlinx, Tri-Peaks Solitaire and Squelchies will feature in the package, due for release this March.



"Million of people have been captivated by these simple, yet addictive casual games," said Kevin Chorney, producer for Pogo Island.

"We're so excited to finally bring the online experience to players on the go," he added.

EA bought Pogo.com in 2001, and the site currently enjoys an average of 2.6 million users per day.