His entire race has been set up and massacred by a traitor. As the last survivor of the Genetic Infantrymen, Rogue Trooper isn’t very happy about the situation, so he sets out on a mission for destruction to make those responsible suffer. But before Rogue can bring the vengeance, he must take the first step on his mission for pain and that step happens today as Rogue Trooper ships to stores all across North America! And what better way to see our mean, blue, one-man wrecking machine off to the store shelves than to celebrate his journey by releasing a ton of new assets… 5 new renders, 10 new screenshots and the last trailer to be exact! The wait is over, and tomorrow revenge can be yours when Rogue Trooper hits the store shelves in North America for the PS2, Xbox and PC!
May 23, 2006 (BELLEVUE, WA) – ArenaNet®, developer of the award-winning online roleplaying game Guild Wars®, and NCsoft® Corporation, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, announce today that the studio’s latest release, Guild Wars Factions™, is now the top PC game in North America and Europe. NPD’s weekly sales report showed Guild Wars Factions as the number-one-selling PC game for the weeks beginning April 23, 2006 and April 30, 2006.
“When Guild Wars was launched one year ago, it amazed the gaming world,” said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft North America. “Free online game play, stunning graphics, in depth PvP and PvE—impossible they said. Guild Wars Factions proves that ArenaNet is the world leader, not just in great online games, but in building unique business models aimed for the future of online gaming.”
Guild Wars Factions was one of the year’s most anticipated releases, and in its first two weeks out of the gate has wowed fans, press, and retail alike. Guild Wars Factions is topping the sales charts in Europe and North America, and the media is raving about the game.
“4.5 stars out of 5 stars!” – GameSpy
“. . . weaves together solo, cooperative, and competitive content in a way that is undeniably impressive.” – GameSpot.com
“Not only does ArenaNet give fans more of what they want, but they do it in an extraordinary manner.” – Amped IGO
“The popularity of MMOGs is on the rise and quickly becoming one of the strongest performing genres on the PC platform. From 2004 to 2005, usage of MMOGs grew nearly 29 percent, and that combined with the significant increase of sales at retail for these products illustrates the growing importance of this genre,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.
Developed by fledgling award-winning studio ArenaNet, Guild Wars Factions is the follow-up to the company’s debut release Guild Wars (April 2005). Guild Wars revolutionized online gaming, and the industry has been anxiously awaiting the release of Guild Wars Factions.
Guild Wars Factions takes place on the Asian-inspired continent of Cantha, where players create a character from eight distinct professions—including the newly created Assassin and Ritualist—and join an epic quest that pits two warring factions, the Luxons and the Kurzicks, against an ancient evil, and against each other. As players become embroiled in this brutal war of conquest, new missions provide both roleplaying fans and competitive PvP players the opportunity to help determine the fate of Cantha.
Guild Wars Factions is rated T for Teen. For more information, please visit www.guildwars.com
SAN FRANCISCO MAY 22, 2006 Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced a long-term worldwide licensing agreement with Touchstone Television to develop and publish a video game based on the Emmy Award-winning television series “Lost.” Developed by Ubisoft’s award-winning Montreall studio and scheduled to hit retail shelves worldwide in 2007, the game will be offered for home and portable consoles as well as PCs.
“We are delighted to work with Bryan Burk, one of the biggest producers in Hollywood and with Touchstone Television,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer of Ubisoft. “That they have chosen us for the adaptation of the cult series “Lost” is the best homage that a producer can make to the creativity of Ubisoft.”
“This deal is another example of how truly powerful the “Lost” brand is,” said Bruce Gersh, senior vice president, business development, ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television. “We are excited to work together with Ubisoft to create a gaming experience that will allow fans to further immerse themselves into the mysteries and intrigues of the series.”
“The creative appeal of”˜Lost” transcends borders with its character driven stories and addictive mysterious mythology,” said Julia Franz, executive vice president, Touchstone Television. “It’s not enough for fans worldwide to just watch ‘Lost,’ the game is a wonderful opportunity to organically extend this creative phenomenon into an interactive consumer experience.”
“Many of us on “Lost” have been hardcore gamers for years and the chance to work with Ubisoft, a company behind some of our favorite titles, has excited us to no end,” said “Lost” executive producer Bryan Burk. “With the ability to tell new interactive stories within the “Lost” universe, we’re giddy to be developing a game that, once completed, will be as engaging and fun to play as it is to create.”
J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof co-created “Lost” and also serve as executive producers, along with Bryan Burk, Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse. “Lost,” which is filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, is from Touchstone Television.
This demo lets you play the first mission of Hitman: Blood Money, teaching you the basics of what it takes to enter the world of high-stakes contract killing. Your mission is to eliminate the man known as “The Swing King,” who has been located at an old broken down amusement park now functioning as a drug lab. Though your objective is clear, it is up to you to determine the best way to perform the execution.
The latest installment of the popular Hitman franchise, Hitman: Blood Money, features enhanced artificial intelligence, a massive arsenal of upgradeable weaponry, as well as the new Blood Money system which allows characters in future missions to react to Agent 47 based upon how much his presence was noticed in the past. Hitman: Blood Money is set to ship May 30th, but you don’t have to wait to find out if you have what it takes to control the world’s deadliest assassin… download the demo now at www.hbmdemo.com and prepare to make a killing!
I met with Wizards of the Coast on Thursday morning and they revealed to me a new version of Magic Online due to go live in the third quarter of 2006. Essentially, they give away the software for free (and there’s no subscription fee) and you then sell you content as you go. There’s new content released every 3 months. People collect and trade digital objects (like cards). There’s a significant market on Ebay. There are 6 million paper (or real card) players and 250,000 electronic players. There are 400 million digital objects in the Magic Online universe and they host 2 million games per month.
On Thursday morning I met with Ben Sawyer of the Serious Games Initiative/Games for Health project. It’s a grassroots effort with foundation funding to look at using games for things other than entertainment such as training, education, excercise, therapy. Something like lessons learned from developing games and how to make a better interface for a business application would also fit in here too.
They just held their annual conference on Tuesday. I couldn’t go because of all the press conferences. They’re planning another conference for October 2006 in Washington DC.
There’s a possiblity that I may start blogging for them. We’ll see how that develops.
Some of the games I looked at were:
I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Razer prior to our meeting Robert Karkoff (president) told me the whole story.
Razer was founded eight years ago and makes PC gaming products. Gamers are passionate about their equipment and Razer makes equipment for that high end market. They make high resolution gaming mice. Most, almost all, mice are 8-bit. Razer made the a 16-bit mouse in 2004. Most mice are 400 dpi; Razer mice are 1600 dpi or 2000 dpi. Razer believes that mice should be measure in inches per second because it is a more accurate measure of the type of performance required by high end gamers. The Diamondback runs at 90 ips and a human can move at about 72 ips. Everything Razer makes is a pure hardware solution. They actively seek feedback and validation from professional gamers with each product they bring to market.
The Copperhead has a 1ms latency, which is just about nothing. The mouse is completely portable. It has memory to store settings so you can take it with you, plug it in, and have all your settings right there. The mouse can receive firmware updates. It was the first 2000 dpi laser sensor mouse.
They’re coming out with a keyboard named Tarantula in August 2006. It’s the “first true gaming keyboard”, low latency (1ms) and anti-ghosting so you can press as many keys as you want at once. It’s completely programmable and has macro keys on each side. There are 5 profiles to store your programming; Razer will host a website to upload and download profiles. It’s washable and has replaceable keys. There’s a dock for peripherals across the top of it and Razer says that a lamp and a webcam are on the way. It will sell for $99.99.
New York, NY – May 19, 2006 – 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today The Da Vinci Code™ video game is now available at retail stores worldwide. Developed by The Collective, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment, the video game is available for PC, Xbox® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.
The Da Vinci Code™ video game is based on the highly anticipated film from Columbia pictures, which is based on Dan Brown’s critically acclaimed, best-selling novel. In the game, players seek to “unlock the code” as they struggle to unravel a 2,000 year old mystery.
“The Da Vinci Code™ video game expands upon the plot in the film and book, allowing gamers to experience new adventures and solve new puzzles,” said Christoph Hartmann, President, 2K. “The game takes players beyond anything they have seen or read.”
An adventure and puzzle game with action elements, the video game features new plot twists and clues. In a race against time, players must try to stay one step ahead of an ominous, covert society that will stop at nothing to protect a secret locked away for centuries. The video game combines stealth, adventure, combat and puzzle-solving elements to create the ultimate adventure.
Key Features:
* Expands upon The Da Vinci Code universe by giving the player new experiences and locations not visited in the film or the book.
* Guide Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu on their quest to solve a bizarre murder-mystery and uncover the ultimate treasure protected by an ancient secret society.
* A unique blend of puzzle-solving, stealth, combat and exploration.
* Explore detailed environments and discover hidden clues in world famous locations such as The Louvre, Westminster Abbey, Saint-Sulpice and more.
* Players must solve a wide variety of challenging physical and intellectual puzzles that will ultimately lead them to the resting ground of the Holy Grail.
* Charles Cecil, designer of the critically acclaimed title Broken Sword aided in the game design.
* Featuring an incredibly moving and haunting sound track, from acclaimed composer Winifred Philips.
From director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the Oscar®-winning team of A Beautiful Mind and producer John Calley (the Oscar®-nominated The Remains of the Day), comes the film version of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, one of the most popular and talked about novels of our time, with a cast headed by two-time Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Paul Bettany and Jean Reno.
Produced by Grazer and Calley, The Da Vinci Code involves a thrilling murder investigation that unearths a secret that could change the course of history.
Doubleday has completed its 104th printing of the Dan Brown novel which will bring the total number of hardcover copies in print in North America to an unprecedented 12 million. It is the record-setting adult fiction hardcover bestseller, with 161 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, 55 of them at #1. In addition, 5 million paperback copies for North America were printed and released in the U.S. market March 28th. The novel currently has 57 million copies in print worldwide in all formats.
The Da Vinci Code™ is rated T for Teen and is now available at retail stores worldwide.
For more information, please visit http://www.thedavincicodegame.com.
I had a good time over at SEGA with Jenny. Overall, they’ve got an impressive bunch of games.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz – This is a Wii launch title and I’m looking forward to it. Playing is a good demonstration of how the Wii controller can be used. Imagine that you are holding the puzzle tray in your hand. Tilt the controller the way that you would tilt the puzzle tray to move the monkey the way you want. It makes the game very cool. There are 50+ mini games and 50+ puzzle trays. Some of the mini games have creative ways of using the controller. For example, in the hammer throw you twirl the controller and release the button to throw the hammer.
Sonic Wild Fire (working title) – This is another Wii launch title. Sonic falls asleep reading the Arabian Nights and journeys into that world. It was fun to control him running through the game using the controller, tilting it to turn, flicking it up to jump. I got pulled out in the middle of this demo so I don’t have much more. I also don’t have a screen shot for this one.
Midieval II Total War – This is a PC only title due to ship in November 2006. It’s being developed by a 40 person Australian team. There are 21 factions, 17 of which are playable. They doubled the resolution at which the graphics engine runs. They replaced the battle engine. Troops are now individuals that move and think independently within the context of their orders. You can upgrade the troops and see the difference in how they battle. There’s a vegetation system that makes for great looking trees and bushes. The environment has strategic value so you can use it to win battles by trapping the enemy. The battle was something to see. Troops look around for their next opponent, corpses stack up in pools of blood. You can fight in the Crusades where there’s a whole aspect to the game of managing the relationship with the Pope.
Test Drive Unlimited – The entire game takes place on the island of Oahu. There are over 100 licensed vehicles and 1000 miles of road. It’s all pretty much online races. There can be up to 8 player online races. You can drive around randomly exploring. When you encounter another player you can challenge him to a race. Then you lay out the course on the map and start racing. The world can have up to 1000 players on the same server so you probably won’t have to race the same person twice, unless you want to. There will be online racing clubs to join. This game ships in September 2006 for PS2, PSP, PC, and Xbox 360.
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