Activision Secures All-Star Talent Line-Up For Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Video Game

Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) has assembled an all-star cast for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game, including the film's leads Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox, who will reprise their starring roles in the game, and fan favorites Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, the voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron from the original animated series. In the new game, developed under license from Hasbro, players are thrust into an adrenaline-pumping battle to defend Earth from a Decepticon attack that threatens mankind.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen features an extensive line-up of film actors, along with the voice talent that fans will recognize from the classic animated series," said Rob Kostich, head of marketing for licensed properties, Activision Publishing, Inc. "The diverse cast allowed us to not only capture the epic storyline from the film, but also seamlessly expand the fiction to create a unique and authentic TRANSFORMERS experience that fans of all ages will enjoy."

In addition to Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox, Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Mark Ryan (Bumblebee), Jess Harnell (Ironhide), Charles Adler (Starscream) and Robert Foxworth (Ratchet) reprised their film roles for the game. Voice-over veterans John Di Maggio (Sideways) and James Arnold Taylor (The Fallen) also join the roster.

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game is based on the upcoming live-action feature film from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with Hasbro, which opens nationwide on June 24, 2009. The game lets players take on the role of their favorite Autobots or Decepticons, picking from the largest, most diverse range of playable Transformers - each with their own distinct abilities and weaponry. Set in unique environments across the globe such as Cairo and Shanghai, the game allows players to instantly switch between vehicle and robot modes as they drive, fly, fight and blast their way through intense, pressure-packed levels. After engaging in single player action, players for the first time ever will be able to go online and battle friends in all-new multiplayer modes.

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game is currently in development by Luxoflux for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the Playstation 3 computer entertainment system, and is rated "T" (Teen - Mild Language, Violence); the Windows PC version is being developed by Beenox Studios and is also rated "T" (Teen - Mild Language, Violence); the distinct Wii and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system versions are being developed by Krome Studios and are rated "T" ("Teen" - Fantasy Violence); two unique Autobot and Decepticon-specific Nintendo DSTM versions are being developed by Vicarious Visions and are rated "E10+" (Everyone 10 and older - Fantasy Violence); the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system version is being developed by Savage Entertainment and is rated "E10+" (Everyone 10 and older - Fantasy Violence).

For more information on the game and to receive exclusive updates about the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game, visit www.TransformersGame.com.

* In the highly anticipated "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," debuting June 24, 2009, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) again joins with the Autobots against their sworn enemies, the Decepticons. Michael Bay directs from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger & Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman. DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures Present, In Association with Hasbro, A di Bonaventura Pictures Production, A Tom DeSanto/Don Murphy Production, A Michael Bay Film "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro. The film is directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger & Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman. Based on Hasbro's Transformers Action Figures. Produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce. Executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. This film has not yet been rated.

Telltale Celebrates Five Years and One Million Episodes (and Counting!)

In 2004, Kevin Bruner and Dan Connors founded Telltale, Inc. with a new perspective on gaming. With years of experience working on grand scale projects akin to "blockbuster movies," Bruner and Connors created Telltale to establish a more nimble, faster-paced, digitally-distributed episodic game model comparable to television production. Five years later—with over one million episodes sold—Telltale is celebrating with an eye toward an even brighter future.

"In the last five years, we have constructed the infrastructure to license, build, and distribute multiple seasons of episodic content," says CEO and co-founder Dan Connors. "Now Telltale finds itself in a leadership position as the digital marketplace for games continues to shape itself and grow."

As the company reaches the five-year mark, Telltale's milestones include:
• Working with well-known licenses including Aardman Animations' Wallace & Gromit, Homestarrunner.com's Strong Bad, Steve Purcell's Sam & Max, Jeff Smith's Bone, and television's CSI.
• Releasing the first regularly-scheduled episodic series on PC (Sam & Max) and the first monthly game series for a console (Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People on WiiWare)
• Selling over 1,000,000 game episodes worldwide across all channels, platforms, and formats
• Releasing over 20 games since Spring 2005
• Developing for PC, Xbox 360, and Wii

Telltale's most recent project, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, is releasing monthly on PC and coming soon to Xbox LIVE Arcade. A new series in development will be announced at E3.

"The episodic model has been incredibly rewarding from a development standpoint," says CTO and co-founder Kevin Bruner. "It used to be we only made two or three games a decade. At Telltale, we release a new game every month, which fosters greater creativity with the teams, and the customers get to enjoy more content on a regular basis."

Telltale is kicking off its anniversary celebration today with a "Spread the Word" campaign that awards fans with store credit for bringing new customers into the Telltale community. This promotion will take place at Telltale's website over the next five weeks. To get involved, visit http://www.telltalegames.com/anniversary.

Fight Night Round 4!

EA Sports is giving fight fans the chance to redeem Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, after his knockout-loss to Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao earlier this month, in a playable three-round demo of Fight Night Round 4. The demo will be available today, May 14th, on Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network, exclusively to consumers who pre-order Fight Night Round 4 through GameStop. The demo will be available to all Xbox Gold Members on May 28th, and to PlayStation Network users and Xbox Silver members on June 4th.

On May 2nd, Pacquiao took on British boxing phenomenon Ricky Hatton, and delivered a devastating left cross that put Hatton to the canvas at the end of the second round. The playable demo will give players the chance to channel the lightning-fast hands and sharp reflexes of Pacquiao to recreate the punch that sent Hatton to the mat, or resurrect the bravado and unstoppable pressure that Hatton is known for and rewrite history. With an included video upload function, players can showcase their bouts to the world by uploading videos directly to www.easportsworld.com.

Consumers can gain early access to the demo by pre-ordering Fight Night Round 4 at their local GameStop or EB Games, or online at www.gamestop.com. Upon reserving the game, consumers will be presented with a unique Xbox Live or PlayStation Network code that can be redeemed to gain access to the demo. Those who have already pre-ordered Fight Night Round 4 from GameStop can bring in their pre-order receipt to receive their access code. Select retailers will also be offering download codes for five free songs from the game’s soundtrack.*

Fight Night Round 4 features unique boxer styles and an all new physics based engine that creates one-of-a-kind bouts between over 45 licensed boxers. The action inside the ring will be faster than ever, delivering a true representation of the sport’s incredible speed, accuracy, timing, and power.

Fight Night Round 4 will ship to stores for the Xbox 360 video game system from Microsoft and the Playstation 3 computer entertainment system on June 30th, 2009. The game has been rated T by the ESRB. The game has not yet been rated been rated by PEGI. For more information, log onto http://fightnight.easports.com. Media can find images of the cover, screenshots and video at http://info.ea.com.

3-in-1 Virtual Retro Adaptor!

Backwards compatibility has reached a new level of cool with the launch of the 3-in-1 Virtual Retro Adaptor that allows gamers to connect NES, SNES, and N64 controllers directly to the Nintendo Wii video game console.

By accessing the GameCube port that is built in to the Wii system, the 3-in-1 Virtual Retro Adaptor allows gamers to enjoy older, “retro” games using the original controllers for NES, SNES, and N64.

The Retro Adaptor, developed by Komodo and exclusively distributed by Innex, will be available for demonstration at E3, Innex Booth # 2547, South Hall.

Product Highlights:

• Compatible with Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
• Connects Through GameCube Port
• Compatible with 1st and 3rd Party Controllers
• Compatible with NES, SNES, and N64 Controllers
• Analog Function Available for N64 Controllers
• Suggested Retail Price: $19.99
• Launch Date: Mid June

“Whether you’re a young kid or middle aged gaming fanatic, the Retro Adapter is perfect for controlling all the great Nintendo titles from the last 25 years,” stated Titi Ngoy, President of Innex. “The Retro Adapter allows you to step back in time and play all the classics the way they were meant to be played using the original controllers. The old school is now the new cool.”

Burda:ic Serves up Club Match Mode for Free-to-Play MMORPG Fantasy Tennis Season 2

Burda:ic, a leading publisher of online games worldwide, today announced the beta launch of Club Match Mode in Fantasy Tennis Season 2. Club Match tournaments will take place every Wednesday throughout the beta period and offer nifty prizes, like number one rankings and access to the Club House. Aspiring Fantasy Tennis club stars can register now to compete for Fantasy Tennis fame and fortune!

Weekly Club Match winners will earn the top spot in the league, as well as week-long rights to the Fantasy Tennis Club House, an elite step up from standard player housing that features exclusive furniture and special opportunities to collect better fruit and catch bigger fish. The weekly champs also get to decide who may access the Club House during their stay, and especially entrepreneurial winners can even set up an entrance fee for general players who want to visit.

Fantasy Tennis rookies who want access to the Club House had better grab their rackets and start practicing - the competition is sure to be fierce and the stakes will only get higher!

For more information about Fantasy Tennis Season 2, please visit http://ft.alaplaya.net.

About Fantasy Tennis Season 2

Fantasy Tennis Season 2 is a fantastic and colorful free-to-play MMORPG with a twist. Take to the courts and compete against players from around the world with a combination of serves, swings, and spells as you level up and customize your character. Whether you choose to be speedy, hard-hitting, or an expert at calling down meteor storms and tossing fireballs, you’ll need quick reflexes and a sharp mind to win the match!

Raiden Fighter Aces now on Xbox 360, thanks to Valcon Games

Valcon Games brings to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft the classic shooter – Raiden Fighter Aces. All three extremely popular coin-op Raiden Fighter games can now be found on one disc in this faithfully recreated ultimate collection. The game began shipping in North America this week, and will be selling for a suggested retail price of $19.99.

“Arcade fans of this classic game will be thrilled that they can get the same arcade experience without leaving the house,” said Glenn Halseth, co-founder of Valcon Games. “We included all the original gameplay of the original games, plus added enhanced features to accommodate next-generation gamers.”

In addition to the nonstop action, Valcon Games has added new features, such as a new training mode that lets players modify every aspect of their ships and wingmen; skip to any level; or play in slow motion. Comprehensive screen and control settings let gamers play each game full-screen as a side-scroller, or even vertically on a rotated 4:3 display.

Players also don’t have to dogfight alone. Now, two players can play co-op games offline, or choose to play as a lone-wolf in Arcade Mode, posting high-scores and gameclips to Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network.

Key Game Features

•All three Raiden Fighters games on one disc

•Training mode, with slow-motion, level selection, and ship configuration

•Leaderboards and gameclips for online and offline play

•Two-player cooperative offline play

•Standard vertical scrolling, full-screen side-scrolling, or full-screen vertical scrolling on a rotated display

•Visual filters to simulate classic display-types, or change the feel of the game

TibiaME Magic Spring Update for Mobile MMORPG released

CipSoft announced the release of its spring update for TibiaME, the first MMORPG for mobile phones worldwide.

The biggest change in this update has been made to the magic system of TibiaME. Although magic has already been a big part of the medieval fantasy world, a completely new spell system has been introduced. From now on, magicians can use their magic potential to their full extend by casting numerous powerful spells like “meltdown” or “souleater”.

“A fully elaborated and sophisticated spell system has been on our list for quite some time now” says Benjamin Zuckerer, Product Manager for TibiaME at CipSoft. “However, the introduction of such a feature has a major influence on the game balance and must be considered very carefully” Zuckerer explains. “However, already the first tests during the BETA have shown that battles got much more challenging and therefore way more interesting for our players”

In addition to the spell system new content like the jungle island has been added to the map of TibiaME.

The last year has been exceptionally successful for TibiaME. With a growth of over 100% in its subscriber base, TibiaME is the fastest growing product within CipSoft’s portfolio. Especially the Indonesian market is performing very well due to a new distribution strategy.

TibiaME is the first MMORPG for mobile phones worldwide. In the colourful real-time fantasy world of TibiaME, hundreds of players can set forth together in search of adventure. Playing as warriors or wizards, they are faced with the challenge of developing their skills, exploring a large variety of areas, unravelling secrets and interacting with each other on social and martial levels. Currently, more than 30,000 players enjoy TibiaME every day.

Street Fighter IV video game PC Specs!

With the release of Street Fighter IV on the PC, many will be eagerly anticipating the next installment of the biggest fighting game series in video game history!

For those planning on buying the title, we have the hardware specifications required to set you in good stead for one of this year's hottest titles!

Swords & Soldiers video game hits Nintendo WiiWare!

Grow a beard, sharpen your steak knife and pick up your axe! As Vikings, Aztecs and Chinese battle for world domination, prepare for an encounter with a freakishly large pepper: Swords & Soldiers is out!

Pellmell video game for Xbox 360 Announced

New Indie Game Creator SorceryGames LLC, is pleased to announce Pellmell a new Shootemup for Community Games on Xbox360. Pellmell has just been launched and is available now (rated E - for everyone).