Dundee University opens £2.5m computer games centre

'White Space' development supports games tech and computer arts research and teaching

The University of Abertay's White Space project - an area of its campus worth some £2.5m - has officially opened today to support its computer games and computer arts interests.

The facility is also home to part of the BBC Innovation group, the planning group for Creative Scotland - and also the planning team for Dare to be Digital, plus Abertay's White Space Solutions company which is dedicated to supporting local industry with digital business ideas.

The new facility has been praised by UK independent game developer association.

Abertay's Dare to be Digital competition has also been guaranteed more support from the Scottish Executive, with the provision of £56,800 to sponsor the competition during the summer.

Source: Developmag

Wario Land Wii Detailed

After Nintendo’s surprise announcement of Wario Land Shake for the Wii, new details have just poped up on the web.

read more | digg story

Paid to play computer games

Dean Sutton, 25, makes a living from playing games on the Xbox console, competing in the UK national final of the Championship Gaming Series. The gamer, known in the gaming world as Picaso, is travelling to Los Angeles to compete with his team, Birmingham Salvo, to try to secure a place in the World Championships, which has a first prize of $500,000.

He said: "I'm getting paid a salary for the next year plus any prize money. The prospect of splitting $500,000 between my teammates is pretty good. It seems a bit weird just for playing video games, but I'm glad it could be our team."

Dean, started playing four years ago plays Forza 2, a motorsport game, while other team members specialise in football game Fifa, the Dead or Alive fighting game or the team-based shooter Counter-Strike.

Dean said: "I've never been out of Europe before so that's exciting.

Michael O'Dell, manager of the Birmingham Salvo, who selected Dean for the team, said: "He is one of the best players in the world, there is no doubt about that.

"I think he can help take the team to the world final, it's just about how he can handle the pressure of being watched by millions of people."

If successful in securing a place at the World Championships, Dean and the rest of the team could be watched by an estimated 300 million viewers as the competition is broadcast on Sky in the UK, Direct TV in America, Star in Asia, and Eurosport.

They will fight it out against seven other teams from America, South America and the rest of Europe for the prize money.

Source: Echo-News

Namco Bandai In Soul Calibur Breast Cover-Up

For your submission, the picture, showing Soul Calibur's Ivy as she's depicted on the game's official website. On the left, how she appears on the Japanese site. On the right? How she appears on the American site.

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Arcade-Style boxing game - Facebreaker from EA Sports

Electronic Arts' Fight Night games are many things - some of the most visually - impressive titles in existence, the only boxing games that have been taken seriously in recent years, and some of EA Sports' best reviewed games.

But if there's one thing they're not, it's "funny." Since EA Chicago and EA Canada (who took over the franchise starting with Fight Night Round 3 on PS3) have established Fight Night as serious boxing brand, the company saw a gap in the market with room for a more lighthearted boxing game. Enter FaceBreaker for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii, in development at EA Canada.

Looking somewhat like a cross between Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and Team Fortress 2, FaceBreaker is a cartooney boxing game that will literally let players break each others' faces (one of the features touted by EA is "real-time facial deformation"). According to EA's Peter Moore in a press release, "Arcade boxing takes me back to my roots in this industry, and this game signals our shift to adding more approachable fun to our product lineup."

Rather than use real boxers, the developers created fictional characters such as Romeo, "a Latin lover known for his pelvic thrusts," and Molotov, "an oversized Russian demolitions expert with a penchant for fighting dirty." Players will also be able to use the Game Face technology seen in games like Tiger Woods to transfer personal photos and make themselves into characters in the game.

For detailed information and more screenshots of FaceBreaker, look for an exclusive preview in the March 2008 issue of EGM, heading to subscribers soon and stores in about two weeks.

Text Source: 1up

Create a racing game with this free games source code

Are you a budding computer games programmer? Or is it something you would like to try?

Click on the video trailer below to listen to Benjamin Nitschke of exDream Entertainment explaining about his highly-anticipated project, originally created for Microsoft.



The car racing game program is awesome and the source code than be downloaded free to use as the basis for your own XNA Game Studio game projects, and to share your work with others.

The free computer game source code comes ready to compile and run, and it’s easy to customize with a little bit of C# programming.

Watch the video & hear how one student built a fully functional racing game in just one month!

Source: Buzzing Games

Wii Bowling - Pensioners plan video game tournament

There's a big difference bowling 10 pins as opposed to duck pins, Frank Lombardi said.

Charlie Hull stood by and showed Lombardi a bowling technique that was new to him.

"Press A to get your angle," Hull said.

Then, Hull explained, hold down the B button, which is the little trigger on the bottom. Wind back and let go of the B button as you swing your arm forward.

And that's how 73-year-old Lombardi learned to play Nintendo Wii Bowling - bowling video-game-style - Wednesday at Homewood at Plum Creek in Hanover.

The recreation department at Homewood at Plum Creek will be hosting a Wii Bowling league for residents of the retirement community next month.

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Source: Evening Sun

10th annual International Classic Video & Pinball Tournament.

It is a yearly tradition for enthusiasts of classic video games, and it was exposed to the world on the big screen. Now, nearly a year after Funspot's International Classic Video and Pinball Tournament was featured in a movie on a gaming rivalry, gamers have flocked to arcade for this year's competition in even greater numbers.

The 10th annual International Classic Video and Pinball Tournament began on Thursday afternoon and is scheduled to run through early Sunday evening.

More here...

Source: Citizen.com

How to brick a Nintendo Wii console

Anything can be made from LEGO including the next gen consoles.

Check out the other pictures here

“There is no truer, geekier homage than reconstructing an object of desire in Lego form, so we weren’t surprised to find Brickshelf member, “suu” recreating a Wii with Legos.

We especially like how the Lego Wii opens up to reveal scenes from Wii sports, although we don’t remember the option of using a gun in Wii Tennis.

That could be fun.”

Wii will rock you, says video game maker

Ubisoft Entertainment SA, Europe's second-largest video-game maker, said Nintendo Co. will increase its lead over Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. in the console market this year.

In the U.S., revenue from software for Nintendo platforms such as the Wii will make up 40 per cent of sales of console software this year, from 36 per cent a year earlier, according to Ubisoft CEO Alain Martinez. The share for both Sony and Microsoft will fall, according to the presentation to analysts in Paris yesterday.

The U.S. is the world's largest single market for video games, ahead of Japan and the U.K. Software for Sony consoles will make up 32 per cent of the total in the U.S., down from 35 per cent last year, while Microsoft will account for 28 per cent, down from 29 per cent in 2007, Ubisoft said.

Ubisoft said it expects 34 million consoles to be sold in 2008.