James Bond game - Quantum of Solace Nintendo DS - Fact Sheet

James Bond is back to settle the score in the Quantum of Solace game. Introducing a more lethal and cunningly efficient Bond, the game blends intense action with a unique combat system for the Nintendo DS that allows players to use their stealth and lethal combat skills to progress through missions. Seamlessly blending the heart-pounding action and excitement of the upcoming “Quantum of Solace” feature film with the “Casino Royale” movie, the title propels players into the cinematic experience of international espionage. The Quantum of Solace game for the Nintendo DS gives players a unique experience in the palm of their hands, as they use an innovative touch screen control scheme that gives players the feeling of being James Bond.

KEY FEATURES:

• Become Bond – The Quantum of Solace game marks the first time players can become the dangerous and cunning Bond portrayed by Daniel Craig in “Quantum of Solace” and “Casino Royale.”

• Innovative Touch Screen Control – The Quantum of Solace game for the Nintendo DS introduces streamlined controls, with players stealthily navigating the treacherous world and engaging in intense combat using only the stylus for a unique and compelling James Bond experience.

• Combat Variety – Choose how you want to complete your missions. Use your skills in espionage, to silently disable your foes. Take aim from a distance to remove enemies with deadly precision. Or come in close for melee combat in an innovative touch screen combat system.

• Deep upgrade system – Earn Bond points, collect better items, and use special playing cards to customize and enhance your abilities. Choose where you want to upgrade your character to enhance your favorite style of play. Explore the world for rare and powerful items.

• Cinematic Appeal – The game narrative accentuates key movie events from both “Quantum of Solace” and “Casino Royale,” as players control James Bond through in-game conversations with multiple narrative options. Choosing the right one can unlock new abilities and uncover special items.

Nicky Boom, 90's classic platform game, both Mobile and Web

DotEmu, a start-up specialized in bringing classic video games to new devices, today announces the launch of Nicky Boom's for SmartPhones. The game is also playable online at: www.nickyboom.com.

Originally published on PC, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST in 1992, DotEmu has now agreed a license deal with game publisher and producer Microïds to bring back to life the charming little boy with red cheeks and a tubby belly.

« We are really pleased to be able to give a new life to this platform/puzzle game which will remind some of us of childhood memories. The original game has been faithfully adapted, while ensuring optimal gameplay for mobile phones. We are willing to seduce the nostalgics, but also casual gamers », Xavier Liard, DotEmu CEO.

« We are very happy to have given this license to DotEmu, since their teams have been able to faithfully reproduce the original game. Reliving Nicky Boom on today's platforms such as mobile phones is giving a new breath of air to video games created in the early nineties: it perfectly matches our creative and valorisation approach » added Roch Roustan, Microïds’ Managing Director.

Find back the feeling of a platform game from the 90’s in your pocket.
Rediscover the feeling of a platform game from the 90's, and it's all in your pocket! Help Nicky Boom to save his grandfather from the evil witch Zoldrane. Get over the traps, discover hidden passages, overcome monsters, while exploding everything you see! Use teleporters, find springs or shields to level up your skills, and don't forget to pick up some life potions!

• Addictive, enchanting platform/Puzzle game.
• Save your game anytime, anywhere!
• 4 huge worlds with many different monsters to defeat.
• Dozens of bonus items to discover!
• Numerous teleporters and hidden passages to explore. • Gorgeous colorful graphics from the 90s, enhanced for mobile devices.
• High quality remastered original sounds and music.
• Play with phone keypad or stylus (if available).
• Download the game directly from Internet.
• Try the game directly on your PC Web Browser at : www.nickyboom.com

Don't wait, play now!

Tornado on Nintendo DS - Prepare To Be Blown Away!

Ignition Entertainment is pleased to announce the European release of Tornado exclusively for the Nintendo DS. This marks the second collaboration between Ignition and Japanese developer and publisher Success, who previously teamed up to release the successful Zoo Keeper.

The devious collector of planets, only known as the ‘The Prince’, has set his evil intentions to Planet Earth. But this planet is like no other he has conquered. Filled with an uncontrollable desire to possess items from this unique world, he lets loose his ultimate weapon – the Black Hole Device – to suck up all the desirable items from Earth and transport them back to his home planet.

Equipped with their ‘Tornado Machines’, Toki and his Cosmic Cleaners are normally charged with sucking up and disposing of litter, but today they have a higher purpose – take back what is rightfully ours!!

Will the Cosmic Cleaners be able to take on ‘The Prince’ and reclaim Earths items? We certainly hope so!!!

‘Tornado is a game that has great appeal, likeable characters and engrossing gameplay’, says Peter Rollinson, Product Manager, Ignition Entertainment Ltd. ‘see for yourself, take it for a spin (sorry!)’

‘Skonec a leading game development company in Korea and we are so happy to see "Tornado" being released to the European market.’ said Skonec Producer JeongHwoan Choi. "We are very excited to be working with Ignition Entertainment to bring Tornado to the Nintendo DS"

Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets Is Released!

Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) and Strategic Studies Group (www.ssg.com.au) are thrilled to announce that long-awaited successor to the award winning Decisive Battles series, Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets, is now available! To mark the game’s release, a new promotional trailer exhibiting the various features and new mechanics of Kharkov is available for download or viewing on YouTube.

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said “The latest masterpiece from the award-winning Strategic Studies Group has been at the top of many gamers’ wish lists and for good reason. Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets brings together the riveting and enjoyable mechanics of the Decisive Battles and Battlefront titles and combines it with plenty of innovation and novel gameplay!”

Command the Soviet forces, newly confident after stopping and throwing back the Barbarossa offensive, or try the elite and seasoned German army now reconstituted after Winter losses and ready to regain the initiative. Two separate forces prepared offensives in the same area in the Spring of 1942. When the dust had cleared the Germans had managed a great victory that opened the doors to the drive on Stalingrad. But the outcome was far from certain and in Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets, history is yours to rewrite.

This new system supports both regimental and battalion level combat, while incorporating many innovative features such as off-map reinforcement decisions and on-map historical areas of operation with mystery variants to increase replayability and limit the effect of hindsight. Along with the streamlined supply and movement systems, a new bonus and advantage system for headquarters effects, simplified direct fire and improved combat tables, an improved strong points system and the ability to create hedgehog defenses make this the most advanced and realistic SSG design to date. This will also be the first in a new successor series to Decisive Battles, with an updated Across the Dnepr sequel already in the works!

Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets - Seize the Initiative and Secure Victory!

Features include:
• Successor to the highly popular and award winning Decisive Battles and Battlefront engines, combining the best elements of both
• An innovative and fun area of operation system which limits unrealistic redeployments for both players, with changes triggered as local objectives are achieved and based on mystery variants to keep the enemy guessing
• Improved and simplified supply, movement and direct combat systems
• Improved combat tables that better model diminishing returns and new HQ bonuses that can affect Direct and Indirect Fire
• Improved strong points and new hedgehog rules
• Models both battalion and regimental combat

Nintendo News - after 20 months and 11 million sales Wii is No 1 console in the US

Equaling its status on a worldwide basis, Wii has become the best-selling video game console in the United States. According to independent sales tracking information from the NPD Group, more than 666,000 Wii consoles sold for the month of June, and nearly 10.9 million Wii consoles have been sold in the United States in the 20 months following its November 2006 launch. The system is credited with breaking down the psychological barriers between gamers and non-gamers.

"Wii was created with the goal of expanding the gaming universe through its intuitive motion-sensing controller," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "As we have demonstrated this week during the E3 Media & Business Summit, Wii continues to pioneer new ways for people to interact with their video games and with one another."

The portable Nintendo DS finished as the top-selling U.S. video game system in June, with more than 783,000 units sold. To date, more than 20.8 million Nintendo DS has been sold in the United States.

The report also shows that six out of the top 10 best-selling games for June are made for Nintendo systems, including Guitar Hero On Tour (No. 2), Wii Fit (No. 4), Wii Play (No. 5), Mario Kart Wii (No. 6), LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for Wii (No. 7) and LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for Nintendo DS (No. 9).

For more information about Nintendo products, please visit www.Nintendo.com.

SAGA Persistent MMO RTS Releases a Preview of Its New Undead Faction.

The first expansion set for the collectible game SAGA (www.playsaga.com) consists of a new faction with 17 unique Undead unit types plus a variety of spells specific to the Undead faction.

This brings the total number of SAGA factions to six, evening out the sides between the Brotherhood (Orcs and Dark-Elves) and the Order (Elves, Dwarves, and Giants); the Order are still desperately battling to keep Goth Azul (god of Death and Lord of the Undead) chained to the Underworld.

Three sites feature exclusive unit renders and strategies on ways to exploit each unit’s tactical strengths:

www.rpgvault.com covered four cavalry and two airborne Undead units, including the deadly Forsaken Dragon. The full article can be found at http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/888/888733p1.html

www.tentonhammer.com previewed the ranged undead contingent, led by the Liches, commanders of the Undead forces. The full article can be found at http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/38411

www.tcgplayer.com has the melee Undead, who like to get up close and personal; featuring the Abomination, the most gruesome fiend ever spawned in Silverlode’s studio. The full article can be found at http://www.tcgplayer.com/db/game_review.asp?AID=2477&PID=232&DBID=4

The Undead expansion is due to be released in Early August, both online and in hobby stores across North America and in select UK locations.

Release and Beta Schedule for Frogsters' MMORPGs

Frogster starts into the second half of the year with a wide-ranging MMOG portfolio. The bulky five-game-package consists of Runes of Magic, The Chronicles of Spellborn, StoneAge 2, Kickster and an Add-on for Bounty Bay Online.

The comprehensive fantasy MMORPG Runes of Magic will enter the closed beta in September completely adapted to western standards and with an impressive soundtrack by the prestigious sound studio Dynamedion. Roundabout two months later, the Berlin based publisher will transfer the game into the open beta. The launch phase for an English and German version is scheduled to follow at the end of the year. A pre-registration for the beta tests has already started on the official website www.runesofmagic.com. Frogster is going to invite assorted community members and guilds into the alpha soon.

Frogster's hot autumn is complemented by The Chronicles of Spellborn, which has passed performance and stress tests last week very successfully following an essential development milestone. After the integration of some remaining content components and final balancing and polishing work, Frogster will release the long awaited fantasy online role playing game this year as planned. For Spellborn the beta-registration has already started as well on www.spellborn.com.

The European version of StoneAge 2 which just had been announced will already be going into the closed beta phase in August. The launch of the free2play game is also planned for autumn (beta registration on www.stoneage2.com). As another addition to its MMOG line up, Frogster will introduce Kickster next week in detail. The trendy free2play online soccer community is likewise going to be launched in autumn. Moreover, a large-scale add-on for the sailor MMOG Bounty Bay Online is also in the making.

Moto Racer motor bike video racing game on Nintendo DS

It’s high time to give you more of what MOTO RACER DS has in its guts! In respect to its roots MOTO RACER DS is the only motor bike game that is truly multi-disciplinary: Moto GP, Traffic, Supercross or Freestyle. Warm up the stylus and get ready to burn out, take radical curves, and pull-off crazy tricks. Whether you are a racer or just a free styler, whether you are a good old racing track warrior or a wild street racer... you will get what you need with MOTO RACER DS!

This exclusive new version for the Nintendo DS, with its mind-blowing graphics, deep content, and its exclusive “Stylus Precision Handling”, brings motorsports one step further on the Nintendo DS.

“SPECIFICALLY MADE FOR THE DS”

• Stylus Precision Handling (SPH) to pull-off amazing tricks and to take on the sharpest curves ever.
• A multiplayer mode: up to 4 players with only 1 game, and up to 8 players with 8 DS™ cards via the DS’ wireless connection!
• 3 difficulty levels: Beginner, advanced & expert.
• 5 camera angles, fitting to each game style.
• 8 environments for an instant immersion: Mountains, desert, forest, highway, downtown …
• 32 different motorcycles with their own characteristics (acceleration, turbo, speed, and handling!).
• 44 crazy tracks!!!

MOTO GP
Burn rubber with your stylus in order to show your friends that you are a speed Devil!!

4 different game modes: championship, single race, time trial, and multiplayer, 12 motorcycles, 18 tracks in different environments.

TRAFFIC
Race through the city and pull-off manuveres you never even dreamed, or challenge your friends to a downtown duel using the Nintendo DS™ wifi connection!!

3 game modes: duel, multiplayer, and 10 mission to even the most daring riders, like pizza delivery, slalom, wheeling, highway Star, domination … 8 motorcycles and 10 tracks. Unlock all sorts of crazy bikes (scooter, mini-bike…).

SUPERCROSS
Challenge the A.I. or up to 8 of your friends in an all out dirt bike race!

4 game modes: championship, single race, time trial, and multi-player. 12 motorcycles, 12 tracks to challenge your opponents, and perform tricks! Don’t be afraid to get your stylus covered in mud in order to win the race, and best your friends!

FREESTYLE
With the stylus dedicated gameplay, performing tricks has never been so intuitive!!

2 game modes: championship & records. 12 motorcycles, 4 tracks, 16 tricks (360°, Lazy boy, Kiss of death… and more X-treme tricks!). The goal of this game mode is to perform a lot of impressive tricks. Line-up tricks and accumulate points to be the First!

SimAnimals, and all-new franchise from the Sims label!

The Sims, an Electronic Arts Label announced the first details for the all-new SimAnimals. This all-new franchise and original intellectual property from The Sims Label establishes a whole new category of wild animal games. Made exclusively for the Wii and the Nintendo DS, SimAnimals will be available worldwide in January 2009.

Now, for the first time players can engage with the wild world of animals in their natural surroundings in an immersive and tactile way. In this game you are challenged to engage, touch, move and try to control more than 60 animals as you journey deeper and deeper into the forest. You control an on-screen animated hand that allows you to reach out and touch, pick up and move everything in the game from foxes and bears to trees and flowers. Cohabitate with these animals in their natural surroundings, and based on how you treat them, the animals will come to know and love – or dislike you! Have fun developing relationships with wild animals and their families, and experience the humor and drama of surviving in the wilderness.

“SimAnimals opens up a new world of creativity with wild animal adventure, fun and mischief,” said Rod Humble, Head of Studio for The Sims Label. “For the first time in an animal game, you can reach out and touch, engage and play with a huge cast of wild animals in their natural surroundings. SimAnimals offers an immersive and tactile experience using the Wii remote and the Nintendo DS stylus that allows you to easily and intuitively become part of the wood’s expressive, quirky and sometimes surprising narrative. Classic story-telling about wild animals comes to life in SimAnimals.”

Wild animals abound! You will meet a host of friendly wild animals including deer, squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs and owls. And also some mischievous characters like foxes, raccoons, badgers, crows and bears who love to stir up trouble. Get in the middle of the action as they all come together in your very own forest setting for a wild time!

Solve challenges and achieve goals throughout the game, because the animals need you to help them thrive. Discover secrets, unlock forest areas and uncover one-of-a-kind objects and wild animals, some with special abilities, by successfully completing tasks. It’s survival of the fittest, as you find out who the troublemakers are and who the good guys are to make sure everyone gets along – or not!

In SimAnimals on the Wii, take up to three of your friends with you on a forest adventure in cooperative play mode! The forest, filled with exciting wildlife, is big enough for you and your pals.

SimAnimals is tailored for the Nintendo DS. Use the stylus to orchestrate your wild animals and their environments!

Guitar Hero DS on the streets

To celebrate the launch of Guitar Hero: On Tour for Nintendo DS, videogame publisher Activision took to the streets to demonstrate the music-making game in the heart of London.

Members of the public were invited to entertain passers-by at Covent Garden, London’s home of busking, with renditions of rock hits by No Doubt, Ozzy Osbourne, Bloc Party, Jet and Maroon 5.

In an area of Covent Garden Market more used to hosting jugglers, mime artists and other diablo entertainers, those passing through the tourist hotspot were alternately impressed or bemused depending on their understanding of the technology.


Guitar Hero: On Tour is released in the UK today for Nintendo DS. It is the first time the world’s biggest franchise has appeared on a handheld games console, and comes with a unique guitar grip peripheral.