EA GOES FULL-THROTTLE WITH NEED FOR SPEED PROSTREET SOUNDTRACK

New Installment of Top-Selling Race Game Fueled By Explosive International Styles Plus Original Score By Junkie XL

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today the complete soundtrack for Need for Speed ProStreet, which is set for release across Europe on 23rd November , 2007 on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Wii as well as the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS, PC and mobile. The soundtrack features over 35 songs from artists representing a volatile range of styles, along with an original score by internationally renowned DJ/Producer/Musician Junkie XL that captures the skill, risk and velocity of pro street racing culture.

“The Need for Speed franchise has set the worldwide standard for not only racing games, but their soundtracks as well,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Music Marketing at EA. “Now for the first time, Need for Speed ProStreet takes street racing from the underground to pro level with a music mix to match. We've brought together an unprecedented collection of artists that represents an international convergence of emerging Rock, aggressive Electro, UK Grime and much more, including a truly dangerous original score by our Artwerk artist Junkie XL. In a still-outlaw culture that demands complete authenticity, we have blended the ultimate audio racing fuel.”

In addition to the explosive lead track “More” from Junkie XL, the Need for Speed ProStreet soundtrack also features premiere songs from Artwerk artists Datarock and Airbourne. Additional highlights include tracks from the most recent albums by Avenged Sevenfold, the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, TV on the Radio, and UNKLE, featuring Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. The new rave scene is represented by Mercury Prize winners Klaxons, electronica by Peaches and MSTRKRFT, dance punk by Bloc Party, and dubstep by UK sensations Wiley.

To hear samplings of each song please visit www.ea.com/eatrax/

The soundtrack completes a racing experience like no other. In Need for Speed ProStreet, gamers can design and build a car to compete in iconic locations from around the globe and battle in four distinct racing styles- grip, drag, drift and the all-new speed challenge. The atmosphere is electric - complete with energetic crowds, photo-realistic vehicles and billowing smoke - all designed to embody the pressure and intensity of the gladiatorial challenge known as Show Down.

Need for Speed ProStreet also continues the tradition of featuring the most desirable street racing cars. This November, Need for Speed ProStreet is the first full packaged videogame where gamers can test drive the Nissan GTR before its launch in Spring of 2008.

Handheld Learning Conference and Exhibition

Technology in Motion at Handheld Learning 2007

Leading lights in portable technology to unveil exciting new products at the Handheld Learning Conference and Exhibition 2007 Wednesday 3rd October/... In reflection of its growing importance, the third annual Handheld Learning Conference and Exhibition has again attracted a number of high profile sponsors. The likes of Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Nintendo, Samsung and T-Mobile UK will be demonstrating new learning technology at the event taking place on 10-12th October 2007 at Central Hall Westminster, London.

Samsung is launching a new product line at Handheld Learning 2007 specifically designed for the education sector. RedHalo – the next generation managed learning platform for mobile devices – will be offering a free 1Gb online personal learning space for every primary and secondary school student in the United Kingdom.

Plus UK education technology specialist RM will be announcing a new product line, and Promethean will be introducing Activexpression, a new student response system, for the first time in the UK.

T-Mobile is exhibiting at Handheld Learning 2007, demoing the latest mobile broadband technology and what opportunities this will present in education.

Derek Williamson, Head of Business Development, T-Mobile UK, says:
“We are proud to be sponsors of this year's Handheld Learning conference. High-speed, ‘mobile broadband’ networks have the ability to completely transform how, when and where we learn. In the next five years we will see mobile technology start to deliver education in a new, interactive and exciting way that will benefit pupils and teachers alike. The conference is a fantastic forum to generate ideas, debate and plans for how mobile technology can be exploited in learning in the future.”

For more information about the Handheld Learning Conference and Exhibition, go to
www.handheldlearning2007.com

Havok Comes to You with a Halo!

Halo 3 arrives with immersive Havok PhysicsTM environments

Halo 3, the most eagerly anticipated first-person shooter of the decade, developed by Bungie Studios, hit the shelves this week with the assistance of Havok, the premier provider of interactive software and services to digital creators in the games and movie industries. Halo 3 is released exclusively for Xbox 360.

Halo 3 is the final game in the Halo trilogy, which started with “Halo: Combat Evolved”. The game picks up where "Halo 2" left off, answering the questions for the millions of fans left wondering since November 2004. The Master Chief is returning to Earth to finish the fight to save humankind from destruction at the hands of the alien coalition known as the Covenant. The game offers single, co-operative and on-line multiplayer modes.

To create the immersive game environments, Bungie once again chose Havok Physics™. Havok’s continuous physics technology is used to drive the behavior of a wide variety of objects in the game. Bodies fly through the air using ragdoll physics, vehicles explode showering debris onto their surroundings, and new additions such as the portable gravity lift and the “mancannon” propel players through the world. Havok is also used for special effects, including plants swaying in a jungle and flood tentacles hanging from a ceiling. The scalability and solid performance possible with Havok Physics™ ensures that the player has a fully immersive experience in any situation.

"Havok's flexibility and ease of use have made it one of our cornerstone development tools and almost a recognizable "character" within the Halo 3 engine. Its elegance and scalability mean that it adds features and value to our engine, and yet integrates seamlessly without impacting performance." said Eamon McKenzie, Physics Engineer, Bungie Studios

“We are very proud to have been involved with the development of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3.This final chapter in the Halo trilogy is a fantastic first person shooter game with a great array of characters and weapons.” said David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok. “The use of cutting edge physics by the talented development team at Bungie in creating the reactive environments in Halo 3 adds to the tension and excitement for the player, ensuring the cult status of this historic game.”

CHANNEL 4 INVESTS IN GAMES WITH ELECTRONIC ARTS AND THE GOLDEN JOYSTICK AWARDS

Channel 4's 4Talent has partnered with the Oscars of the gaming world, the Golden Joystick Awards, and Electronic Arts (EA), the world's leading interactive entertainment software company, to offer budding games developers the chance to pitch their mobile gaming ideas to a panel of industry experts and gaming gurus. The panel will include Channel 4 Education's Commissioning Editor, Matt Locke; EA Mobile's European Marketing Director, Tim Harrison and UK Executive Producer, Chris Gibbs; and O2 UK's Head of Games, Despina Kaparaki. One lucky winner will be announced at the Golden Joystick Awards and receive a cash prize of £2500 from Channel 4 and the chance for a short hothouse placement within EA's mobile game division.

"4Talent is committed to helping emerging content producers maximise their creative potential", says James Estill, Senior Producer, 4Talent, "and these days it's not just about TV. This partnership with EA provides the perfect opportunity to support the gaming industry and nurture the next generation of games developers."

Full details can be found at www.channel4.com/4talent. Closing date for submissions is 17th October 2007.

The initiative is an extension of 4Talent's recent media partnership of the Mobile Game of the Year award at the 25th annual Golden Joystick Awards. Hosted by Peep Show's David Mitchell, the awards will take place on Friday 26 October, on the last day of the London Games Festival, at London's Park Lane Hilton Hotel. Gamers across the world will be able to watch the awards via a live web-cast through computerandvideogames.com and gamesradar.com.

Officially the world's oldest and most respected games award ceremony, the Golden Joystick Awards this year celebrates its 25th anniversary. Held for the first time in 1982, the Awards have been honouring innovation in gaming since the days when Atari, Commodore and Spectrum ruled the earth.

Once considered the pursuit of bedroom geeks and younger kids, video gaming has broken through to the mainstream and is now one of the biggest entertainment industries in the UK, equalling the UK film industry in economic value.

To vote, visit channel4

Official US PlayStation Magazine returns

Future US to begin publication in November

Future US has announced that it will be publishing PlayStation: The Official Magazine under an agreement with SCEA.

The new magazine will debut in November, with former PSM editor-in-chief Rob Smith at the helm.

Future plc currently publishes the Official Sony PlayStation Magazine in the UK and licenses it in other countries. It expects an initial circulation of 300,000 copies, with 13 issues printed each year.

"We're very excited to be working with a group that is nearly as passionate about our brand as we are ourselves and we look forward to working with Future on many innovative ideas they have to create a best in class enthusiast publication," said Peter Dille, SCEA's senior VP of marketing and PlayStation Network.

The original Official PlayStation Magazine was published in the US by Ziff-Davis from September 1997 until January 2007. It was the first gaming magazine to include a demo disk.

Wii outselling PS3 more than 4 to 1 in Japan

Xbox 360 still struggling

The Nintendo Wii has outsold the Sony PlayStation 3 by more than four to one in Japan during the past six months.

According to Enterbrain data, as cited by a Reuters report, from April to September of 2007, Nintendo sold approximately 1.6 million Wii consoles.

Sony, meanwhile, sold 385,492 PS3 consoles in Japan during the same period.

Both the PS3 and the Wii were released in Japan within a few weeks of each other in November and December of 2006. Microsoft's Xbox 360, released a year earlier, has continued to struggle. In the first half of 2007, only 122,565 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in Japan.

The demand for the Wii continues to be so high that spokesperson Reggie Fils-Aime claims that Nintendo won't be able to meet the demand for the upcoming Christmas season.

Halo 3 tops UK charts, but GTA's still has record

FIFA 08 takes second, 360 sales double

Halo 3 has claimed the number one spot in the UK all-format charts, in a strong week for new releases.

However, it is not the fastest-selling game in UK history, as many had expected. According to Chart Track, that record still belongs to Rockstar's 2004 release Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, with Halo 3 second.

Chart Track also stated that Halo 3 had doubled sales of 360 hardware to the highest level this year.

EA Sports' multiformat football update, FIFA 08, entered the chart in second place behind Microsoft's Xbox 360 blockbuster. Last week's top two - Tiger Woods 08 and MySims - claimed fourth and third places respectively for EA.

Other new entries in the top 10 were Juiced 2 at 5, and Sega Rally at 7. EA's new skateboarding franchise Skate just missed out, debuting at number 11. Activision's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars also failed to make the top 10, entering at 16.

The remainder of places in the top 10 were taken by Nintendo (with More Brain Training, Super Paper Mario and Wii Play) and Activision's Transformers licence.

THQ's Ratatouille did not fare so well, entering the chart at 39. However, the Pixar film on which it is based has yet to be released in the UK.

As well as the 360 itself, there was one other notable beneficiary of the Halo effect: Microsoft's racing sim Forza Motorsport 2, which soared 22 places, from 35 to 13.

Microsoft responds to Bungie split rumours

Software giant denies any announcement

Microsoft has distanced itself from rumours that it will be relinquishing control of wholly-owned Halo developer Bungie, but stopped short of a categorical denial.

"There's been no such announcement," a spokesperson told Eurogamer.net. "We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3."

The claim came from a reader blog linked to the Seattle Post-Intelligence. The author claims to have heard from a friend with links inside Bungie that an announcement on the separation was imminent.

The author of the blog post, Jacob Metcalf, is not employed by the Seattle Post-Intelligence newspaper, which has consistently distanced itself from user-posted information in blogs.

The reasons cited for the split were Microsoft's expectation that Bungie dedicate itself to making further Halo games, and Bungie's frustration at Microsoft's interference in its practices.

However, in an interview with Edge magazine last year, Bungie executives stated their intention to expand the studio into multiple teams. This would allow it to develop new intellectual property alongside Halo.

The story suggests that Bungie will become an independent studio, and may continue to work for Microsoft as well as create games for other platforms. But it offers no explanation of the financial details of such a buyout - as it stands, Bungie is owned 100 per cent by Microsoft.

Source: Games Industry

Microsoft responds to Bungie split rumours

Software giant denies any announcement

Microsoft has distanced itself from rumours that it will be relinquishing control of wholly-owned Halo developer Bungie, but stopped short of a categorical denial.

"There's been no such announcement," a spokesperson told Eurogamer.net. "We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3."

The claim came from a reader blog linked to the Seattle Post-Intelligence. The author claims to have heard from a friend with links inside Bungie that an announcement on the separation was imminent.

The author of the blog post, Jacob Metcalf, is not employed by the Seattle Post-Intelligence newspaper, which has consistently distanced itself from user-posted information in blogs.

The reasons cited for the split were Microsoft's expectation that Bungie dedicate itself to making further Halo games, and Bungie's frustration at Microsoft's interference in its practices.

However, in an interview with Edge magazine last year, Bungie executives stated their intention to expand the studio into multiple teams. This would allow it to develop new intellectual property alongside Halo.

The story suggests that Bungie will become an independent studio, and may continue to work for Microsoft as well as create games for other platforms. But it offers no explanation of the financial details of such a buyout - as it stands, Bungie is owned 100 per cent by Microsoft.

Source: Games Industry

Guitar Hero 2007 Competition

Guitar Player's Guitar Hero 2007 Competition to Feature "Riff Off" Between Actual vs. Virtual Guitarist and Demos of Guitar Hero III

Ten finalists have been selected from among hundreds of entries posted on SonicBids.com to battle for the international title of “Guitar Hero” at Guitar Player’s Guitar Hero 2007 competition to be held Friday, October 12 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Activision, Microsoft and Digidesign are partnering to present the 3rd annual Guitar Player’s Guitar Hero competition. Activision produces the red-hot video game Guitar Hero and will be on hand with pre-launch demos of their new release, Guitar Hero III on Xbox XBox 360-outfitted kiosks on the show floor. The event will be webcast using Microsoft’s “Silverlight” medium on http://www.GuitarPlayer.com.

“This guitar gala brings together legendary musicians, aspiring guitarists, and phenomenally talented unknowns in an “American Idol-style competition ” for guitarists,” says Guitar Player Eeditor in Cchief Michael Molenda. “And for guitarist-gamers it’s an opportunity to experience the world’s best players live and in person!”

The premier premiere Guitar Player’s Guitar Hero competition was held in 2005 at Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where New York’s Dominic Frasca was crowned with the Guitar Hero title. Last year’s champion was Trey Alexander of Pennsylvania.

The ten finalists – representing a wide range of guitar styles including Latin Shred, Rockabilly, Country and Rock – are: Jamie Robinson (Toronto, Ontario), Juan Coronado (Whitby, Ontario) Tony Smotherman (Jacksonville, Florida), Taka Minamino (Hollywood, CA ), Danny B. Harvey (Canyon County, CA), Curtis Fornadley (Playa Del Rey, CA), Casey Harshbarger (Indianapolis, Indiana), Ladd Smith (Nashville, Tennessee) , Les Robot (real name: Cory Melnychuk) (Edmonton, Alberta), and Chris Peters (Orlando, Florida).

All ten contestants receive an all expenses paid trip to San Francisco. The Winner, First Runner Up, and Second Runner Up of the event will receive custom trophies and gear packages from the event sponsors. The Winner will receive a Digidesign 003 Factory Pro Tools LE system (value: $2,495), a Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate software package, a Guitar Hero II XBox 360 bundle from Activision, an Epiphone Elitist Tak Matsumoto Signature Guitar With Hard Case AND an Epiphone Masterbilt EF-500RCCE Acoustic Guitar With Hard Gigbag, choice of a Mesa/Boogie Stiletto or Lone Star amp, a Jimi Hendrix Wah and MXR Distortion III guitar f/x pedal from Dunlop Manufacturing, and much more.

Celebrity judges including San Francisco’s legendary Joe Satriani, Toto axeman Steve Lukather, Elliot Easton of the Cars, prog-rock icon Greg Howe, Shrapnel Records’ Mike Varney, and a surprise guest willvirtuoso Nuno Bettencourt will evaluate each five-minute original performance and select the Winner and First and Second Runner-up finalists. Brendon Small, co-creator of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse cartoon will emcee.

The contestants will perform with the house band Thud Ffactor, comprised of editors from music magazines Guitar Player, Bass Player and Keyboard.

Guitar Player’s Guitar Hero is sponsored by Activision, Digidesign, and Microsoft with additional sponsorship from Epiphone Guitars, Mesa/Boogie amps, Jodavi ZZYZX Snapjackk Cables, Dunlop Manufacturing, Moody Leather, Planet Waves, and Sonicbids. The competition takes place Friday, October 12, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. at Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA. Admission $15.00 in advance, $20.00 at the door. Tickets can be ordered online at www.gamh.com; www.tickets.com, or call 1-800-225-2277.