NCAA Football 10 video game season showdown - with videos

Since the launch of NCAA Football 10 on July 14th, hundreds of thousands of college football fans have experienced the excitement of the all-new Season Showdown competition. The Season Showdown pre-season is now over and based on credits users have accumulated for their school of choice, the following institutions are in the top ten heading into the Season Showdown regular season:



1) Ohio State (more than 100 million credits earned during the pre-season)
2) Florida
3) Texas
4) Michigan
5) Miami
6) Florida State
7) USC
8) LSU
9) Alabama
10) Notre Dame



With the start of the Season Showdown regular season, there are now five categories in which users can earn credits. The winning school for each week is determined by a best of five format, so in addition to playing games on the console, it is imperative that users go online to play the web based games through the Facebook application http://seasonshowdown.easports.com.

* NEW! ONLINE VS. SHOWDOWN OPPONENT

Beginning today and throughout the regular season, in order to earn additional credits, Season Showdown participants will need to defeat their weekly Showdown opponent on Xbox 360 or PS3, which is determined by their school’s real world opponent for that week. For week No1, the game of the week is Miami vs. Florida State, as this matchup pits two top 10 Season Showdown teams against one another.

* NEW! WEB BASED GAME! ALLIES & RIVALS

[Play online through Facebook http://apps.facebook.com/seasonshowdown or at http://seasonshowdown.easports.com]
With the start of the regular Season Showdown season, the “Allies & Rivals” component is now live, as well. This online poll allows users five votes to put towards any five schools of their choice, with no school receiving more than one vote. By looking at who their rivals are playing each week, users could put votes towards their opponents’ team in hopes of keeping their rivals from winning that category.

* WEB BASED GAME! NCAA TRIVIA CHALLENGE
As the other web based feature, users can answer trivia questions that will be totaled and credited towards their school’s overall points.

* VS. CPU

Users can gain credits by playing on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 against any school offline.

* ONLINE VS. NATION

Users can gain credits by playing on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 against anyone online in the nation.

At the end of the regular season, based on credits accumulated, the top 32 Season Showdown schools will compete in a single elimination tournament to decide the ultimate Season Showdown champion.

Star Wars - The Force Unleashed New single-player level available for download- Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

A new single-player level for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is available now for Xbox 360 owners through Xbox LIVE Marketplace and for PlayStation 3 owners through the PlayStation Network. The level features The “Secret Apprentice” in a mission that continues the story of The Force Unleashed taking the Star Wars Saga in an entirely new and unexpected direction.

The mission begins at the end of the story of The Force Unleashed and re-imagines the Saga as if the Secret Apprentice had killed Darth Vader and taken his place at the Emperor’s side, becoming the most powerful Sith Lord in the universe. The story picks up as the Emperor sends his new apprentice to the planet Tatooine to dispatch Obi-Wan Kenobi - who has been hiding on the planet ever since the events of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. During their hunt for the reclusive Jedi, players will also explore the depths of Jabba the Hutt’s palace and encounter notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force and casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice,” unveiling new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy seen through the eyes of a mysterious new character armed with unprecedented powers. Originally released in September 2008, the game quickly became the fastest-selling Star Wars game ever, and has since sold six million units worldwide.

Thorium Wars video Game comes to Nintendo DSiWare this September

Release Date Set for Early September 2009: In the aftermath of a devastating global conflict to control revolutionary Thorium fuel cell technology, the existence of mankind is faced with a new threat. The Thorions, a technically advanced super species of Thorium powered machines once developed to wage war for mankind, have now turned against them.

To stop the Thorions from destroying mankind altogether, you must develop the right tactics to drive them from their conquered land. Take control of the outcome as Thorium Wars proves to be the ultimate test for the survival of the fittest. Exciting features include:

Futuristic Vehicle Shooter: Blast through waves of Thorions using five powerful vehicles across twelve exciting missions.

Exotic Battlefields: Navigate your way through a wide variety of combat environments including deserts, lush valleys, oceans, air, and space.

Devastating Enemy Mechs: Face the terrifying army of Thorium beasts ranging from swarms of Redeye Drones to the bone crushing Manticore Walker.

Thorium Wars is scheduled to release in early September 2009.

WWII online Battleground Europe video game update to version 1.5, new features, advanced graphics and game play

The UNITY 3D game engine delivers a unique set of features for MMO design, allowing for play in huge, zone less worlds with thousands of simultaneous players interacting in a variety of environments. The foundation of the engine includes advanced physics, component-based damage and military-grade ballistics.

UNITY 3D has been utilized to produce a one-of-a-kind massively multiplayer experience in WWII ONLINE: BATTLEGROUND EUROPE, a combined-arms action/simulation game. It allows players to fight on the ground as infantry, command and crew vehicles such as tanks, fighters and bombers entirely in first-person featuring British, French and German forces.

Version 1.5 of the UNITY 3D game engine adds several key features including;

• New object instancing for improved efficiency in loading and display of huge game world and object libraries
• Shader 3.0 support for upgraded performance and effects
• Upgraded Normal and Specular Mapping for enhanced object visuals
• SpeedTree 4.2 Support
• ODE physics support for rag-doll style character animations
• Added support for OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL)

The UNITY 3D game engine powers the latest major upgrade to the massively multiplayer online game, WWII ONLINE: BATTLEGROUND EUROPE. Version 1.31, currently in Beta testing, will include updated graphics, effects, terrain objects and game play. Screenshots available at www.battlegroundeurope.com/131media .

• 1,000,000+ trees updated with new models, textures, normals and shadows
• Rag doll physics applied to infantry animations
• Many new special effects including muzzle flashes, hit effects and explosions
• Tree and object shadows
• Real-time water reflections
• New clutter system and objects adding thousands of grass fields and bushes
• New radial clutter system
• Dynamic Weather with new clouds/rain/sky/fog/lighting settings
• Thousands of new and updated terrain objects such as buildings, installations and cultural objects

Five-Song Preview of The Beatles - Rock Band - Participating Bars can host their own Rock Band Nights

Harmonix and MTV Games, announce the launch of “Rock Band Bar Nights,” a ground-breaking initiative providing tools for U.S. bar owners to host their own Rock Band Nights. The program gives bars a cutting-edge in-bar entertainment option to help increase foot traffic and provide Rock Band fans with the opportunity to take the stage for a true rock star experience.

Rock Band - featuring a full band performance with guitar, bass, drums and mic – is revolutionizing the standard karaoke night in bars. The Rock Band Bar Nights program expands the Rock Band social experience for current fans and gives new fans the opportunity to try the game in an authentic performance setting with a live crowd cheering them on.

To help venues host and promote their own Rock Band Bar Nights, the program offers support to registered bars with everything from exclusive Rock Band product offerings to multiplatform marketing support. Through an exclusive e-commerce store, the program will also provide bars with a full music solution to easily rock their bar with the extensive Rock Band catalogue featuring more than 800 tracks and growing every week!

To kick off the program, Harmonix and MTV Games are providing bars that sign up before September 8th with an exclusive five-song preview disc from The Beatles: Rock Band, allowing their customers to experience the highly anticipated game before it hits stores on September 9th.

In addition to offering in-bar support for this new entertainment option, the Rock Band Bar Nights program extends online and gives members direct access to the Rock Band community with hundreds of thousands of fans, as well as the chance to stay connected on Rock Band’s official Facebook and Twitter pages. In the coming months, Rock Band fans will be able to find official Rock Band Bar Nights in their area through an online application searchable by zip code and a mobile version available for download as a free iPhone application.

Interested bar owners or fans can check out www.RockBand.com/BarNights for registration and more information.

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars video game coming to iPhone and iPod touch

Rockstar Games announce that the critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars from Rockstar Leeds, the winners of the 2009 Develop Award for Best Handheld Game Studio, will be making its way to the iPhone and iPod touch this fall.



"Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple's new gaming platforms."

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is currently available for the Nintendo DS and is also coming this fall for the PlayStation Portable system. The game follows the story of Huang Lee, a young Triad who travels to Liberty City after the mysterious death of his father. Players will navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate, delivering the unprecedented amount of depth that has become a true trademark of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Disney to buy Marvel as Mickey joins Spider-Man and X-Men

Walt Disney Co said on Monday it will buy Marvel Entertainment Inc for $4 billion, striking the biggest media deal of the year.

Here are some key facts about Marvel:

* The company has a library of more than 5,000 characters and has been publishing comic books since 1939.

* Marvel has more than a 40 percent market share in comics, graphic novels and magazine publishing, according to a spokesman.

* Its stable of superheroes include Iron Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and its first blockbuster character, Captain America.

* Spider-Man, whose theatrical rights have been licensed to Sony Pictures, is considered the company's most popular character.

* Many of its characters were created by comic book legends Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

* Marvel enjoyed blockbuster success with "Iron Man," its first self-produced film. Distributed by Viacom's Paramount Pictures and released in 2008, the movie pulled in the second-biggest non-sequel box office opening in history.

* It is currently working on "Iron Man 2," a sequel set for release in 2010.

* Marvel's shares soared in August when it posted a second-quarterly profit that beat market estimates, boosted by DVD and pay TV sales of blockbuster "Iron Man."

* Marvel posted $676 million in revenue in 2008, up 39 percent from $486 million in revenue in 2007.

* The company had $221 million in net profit in 2008, up about 35 percent from $164 million in 2007.

* The company had $938 million in total assets at the end of 2008.

* For 2009, Marvel forecast earnings of $1.25 a share to $1.35 a share, on revenue of $465 million to $485 million.

* The company is headquartered in New York City but has corporate offices in London and Manhattan Beach, California. It has about 300 employees.

* Total market capitalization reached more than $3 billion in 2009.

* Before the deal with Disney, 2009 had been a lull for Marvel as it is not releasing any films of its own this year.

* Upcoming projects include: "Thor" and the first "Avenger" movie, as well as Sony-produced "Spider-Man 4" slated for a 2011 release. The "Avengers" sequel will follow in 2012.

* Marvel's primary competitor is DC Comics, the company behind the "Watchmen" characters. DC Comics is a subsidiary of Warner Bros, which is owned by Time Warner Inc.

* It operates three divisions: licensing, film production through Marvel Studios, Marvel Animation and publishing via Marvel Comics.

* Marvel has a monthly circulation of more than 4.1 million.

Source: Reuters

Flight1 open day Saturday, October 3rd at Shoreham Airport

When we announced our inaugural Open Day we had no idea the event would prove so popular – at the time of writing we have nearly 400 guests registered and the list continues to grow daily.

We’re working with Shoreham Airport to ensure there is room for everyone and there is plenty to see and do on the day – from our own simulation products to lectures and real aviation activities.

The Open Day web page has been updated – and we invite you to take a few minutes to read about the latest news and activities which are highlighted there. In particular:

- Discounted landing fees
- Talks and lectures
- VATSIM and the Virtual Fly-In
- Official Airport Tour

We welcome any thoughts or suggestions you have and of course are happy to answer any queries or questions you might have. Just email us at europe@flight1.com

we will be in touch again in a couple of weeks as more activities are firmed up.

With best wishes,

The Flight1 Crew

Exclusive Dark Void video game jetpack offer for pre order at Gamestop

Calling all adrenaline junkies! Capcom announced today that its highly anticipated action-adventure game, Dark Void, has received an extra boost of speed thanks to a new pre-order item available exclusively from Gamestop.

Fans who preorder early will receive bona-fide jetpack bling with a downloadable golden jetpack which gives players unlimited boost ability. The new boost upgrade will make you an unstoppable master of the skies – fly faster, avoid enemy fire, run down your foes and own the battlefield – all with unlimited turbo boost and special moves! Check out the new Gold4Jetpack site at www.gold4jetpack.com for more preorder details and see how the gold jetpack will not only change your game but will change your life!

For that extra-special boost of bling, you can pre-order now at http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=74226

Dark Void’s unique combination of jetpack-booster aerial dog fighting and third-person combat creates a thrilling new gameplay dynamic to the third-person shooter experience. Taking 3D action to a whole new level, Dark Void’s unique vertical combat system allows players to dangle from thousand foot drops as they take cover and hurl enemies to their doom, bringing a whole new sense of tension and thrill to the player. Will is also equipped with a powerful rocket pack which allows for fierce in-air combat, hurtling through the Void at blistering speeds while shooting down anything that gets in his path.

Sensational Soccer is now free for subscribers to the New Star Games newsletter

New Star Games are delighted to announce that the full Windows version of Sensational Soccer (worth $9.99) is now free for newsletter subscribers. Just head over to www.newstargames.com to sign up and download your free game. Mac users need not feel left out as the next newsletter will feature a $5 coupon to spend on any New Star game.

Sensational Soccer is a 2D football game inspired by the classics of old such as Kick Off and Sensible Soccer. Playable in 18 languages, you can compete against a friend or in league and cup competitions. Create your own tactics and build your team stats in the training games to become league champions, and on the way complete the challenges to unlock 20 star player portraits in the gallery.