NEW YORK - April 18, 2007 - Microsoft Corp. and NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. today made video game history by announcing the first-ever Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Championship, presented by Quiznos. From April 25 to May 9, fans of one of the world's most beloved video games of all time will compete on the classic arcade game via Xbox LIVE Arcade on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, evolving "Pac-Man" gameplay from the local pizza parlors and arcades of the '80s to the Xbox 360 and its online gaming community with more than 6 million members. The top finalists from participating countries around the world will be flown to New York City for the finals on June 5, with the winner being crowned the Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Champion by Toru Iwatani, the creator of "Pac-Man."

Since launching in 1980 in Japan and in 1981 around the world, "Pac-Man," its host of ghosts and the famous "wakka wakka wakka" sound have become global pop culture icons. This arcade game played an instrumental role in establishing the video game industry in the '80s, while the launch of Xbox LIVE in 2002 was a key factor behind the rapid growth in popularity of online gaming. Today, Xbox LIVE Arcade is the premier online destination for digitally distributed, high-definition games - with more than 25 million downloads - offering fans of "Pac-Man" across the globe a great opportunity to connect, compete and enjoy the fun through the Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Championship.

Have you ever played 'Ground Control', the game made by Massive Entertainment from Sweden? I didn't but the interview with Massive's lead game designer Magnus Jansén over at Shacknews immediately made me drool over the upcoming sequel 'World in Conflict'. This real time strategy game won't take place in the science-fictional past-third-world-war setting as the former Ground Control games, instead the cold war in the 1980's is the battleground now.

"If you have war where tanks roll over white picket fences and BMX bikes, it's not just some desert town that's getting destroyed that you can't relate to. You say, 'That's a swing set on fire, I fully grasp the power of this event.' Putting it in the middle of familiar environments immediately gives people a sense of the power and the horror of the war."

Massive adds a lot of really cool features to enhance the visual storytelling effects, for instance if you zoom in on a map really close to your troops you will suddenly pick up the radio transmissions between the units.
The game itself is comprised of three parts, one taking place in the US, the second in the European region and the third place wasn't disclosed yet.
As Jansén says the relationship to the publisher Vivendi is exceptionally good, the funding is there and even patience, it sounds like 'World in Conflict' could easily be one of the best games released in 2007 (this fall, for PC only). Just take a look at the screens and of course the rest of the interview and you will realize it yourself.

This is a brand new Crytek CryENGINE 2 trailer seen at Game Developers Conference 2007. The resolution is 1280x720 pixels and has no watermarks. It's another stunning trailer that really shows what CryENGINE 2 is capable of. Download the 126MB archived file from here.

A few days ago we reported about a demo that shows the special DirectX 10 effects the R600 will support. Now I came across a forums entry at Beyond 3D which says this demo would look like Call of Juarez, a Western-themed first-person shooter from the Polish game developer Techland. Just out of pure curiosity I looked for some reference material and it turns out to be a correct statement. Just look at the attached screenshots from IGN PC the wooden hut in Fudzillas shot (first picture) looks exactly like the one in the IGN PC shot (second picture). The fence in the tech demo looks exactly like the fence in the other IGN PC screeny. Though the lighting and the details on the stones in front and the steep hill on the far side look different because these are the enhancements made in order to show the beef-up using the DX10 routines. After all, if this is a tech demo it's made of content out of Call of Juarez.

IGN PC got the opportunity to play a few rounds of Team Fortress 2 in between two interviews with Valve's Engineer Robin Walker, Project Lead Charlie Brown, and Marketing Director Doug Lombardi. While the the interviews start with why they made substantial changes to the classes and map designs, the more interesting answers follow later. Technical things like why they used Phong Shading and the PS3 and Xbox network interaction and of course the debate about the release date (which is probably in September).

IGN: So you're actually playing now on Xbox 360s connected to PCs?
Doug Lombardi: Technically it's done.
...
Chances are the PS3 version will only play other PS3s. There's zero chance of them talking to 360s.

THQ has announced that the sequel to last year's Company of Heroes will be DirectX 10 ready. The proprietary Essence Engine of the original Company of Heroes series, developed in-house by Relic, will be upgraded in COH2 to support a dynamic weather system and more realistic physics, as well as the graphical joys of Shader Model 4.0. Since the game will be DirectX 10 ready, it will be playable only with Windows Vista OS. The game will be out in Q3 2007, until then enjoy the newly released Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts expansion pack.

The Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany will be held from the 23rd of August until the 26th this year. The available floor will be raised by a whooping 28 percent to 115.000m². In addition, the exterior between buildings will be used as well. Visitors will also have two additional hours to take a look at everything, as the it will be open until 8 pm on Friday the 24th of August.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs for short) have recently gained a lot of momentum. Games such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars continue to suck in subscribers, who enjoy the games so much they sometimes lose almost all traces of a social life to play these games. The maker of Guild Wars has shown interest in getting their MMORPG onto consoles, which would greatly expand their market. However, one of the makers of Guild Wars also says that their current focus is for the PC platform, and they currently have no plans on getting the original Guild Wars onto a console. Perhaps the sequel will find it's way onto Microsoft and Sony gaming consoles.

Regardless of whether or not Guild Wars actually follows through, they do show a market trend of moving games towards consoles to tap their rather large market share.

Harmonix, known for it's adventures in making the Guitar Hero game, is making a new game. This game, called "Rock Band" hopes to cash in on people's want to become superstars, and lack of ability to. Instead of limiting the band-members to lead guitar, the members of the rock band can play drums, sing, or play the guitar (maybe just like Guitar Hero?). The "Rock Band" game is officially in development, but that's about all we know. Harmonix has recently shot down rumored prices of this new game, which you can look at here. We'll post more news on this game as it becomes more complete, but until then, it sure sounds like fun.

New information regarding the formerly named Unreal Tournament 2007 multiplayer game are next to inexistent these days. Midway, the publisher of UT 3 which ought to come this year to PCs and consoles, revealed a single 'screenshot' this week. Rumor has it the pictures are rendered and not actual in-game shots so keep that in mind when judging on the very detailed characters and surroundings.

It took nearly ages to get finished but on this past April Fools Day the standalone version of 'World of Padman' was released at last and it's all but a lousy joke! What originally started as a series of comic strips with Padman being the main actor turned into a map project for Quake 3 Arena (that I stumbled on around six years ago) with a very rich, unique color set. As this wouldn't be enough work the team behind decided to go a step further and develop a whole modification around the Batman-like, gnomish character. And after that was done they worked hard on a standalone version in order to get away from the antique, rusty Quake 3 image. So what awaits you with 'World of Padman'?

A cool fun shooter, in liliput style, that including 12 maps, along with new crazy weapons, colourful player models, and new game types. ... The "World of Padman" is a multiplayer game, in which you can fight your opponent online or have some fun at home playing with some friends and bots.

If you want to take a look at the game without wanting to install it take a look at the 'World of Padman' Trailer @ YouTube. Or, if you want a high resolution version get yourself the 95MB file over here or here.

In order to download the game head directly to the 'World of Padman' Website

Piracy does have its good sides as well. Funcom, the makers of the two famous 'The Longest Journey' games, recently announced to stop producing traditional offline PC games because of too many illegal copies. Instead they are concentrating on their online game portfolio that will get another finished entry among Anarchy Online soon: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.
If you want to be one of the first in the World of Hyborian then I suggest you to apply for the soon to be started Beta Test of Age of Conan over here. The "the most brutal Massively Multiplayer Online game ever created" is scheduled for the end of October 2007 and will run on Windows XP/Vista PCs and the Xbox 360. If you want to get more information about the game and the world where it takes place I recommend to take a look at the corresponding Wikipedia entry found here.

- Celebrated Racing Game Speeds onto PlayStation 2 system, PSP system and PC -

NEW YORK, March 29 (PRNewswire-FirstCall) -- Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR), one of the world's most recognized brands and a third-party video game publisher, today announced that Test Drive Unlimited has arrived in retail stores nationwide for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, and the Windows platform.
The ultimate automotive and lifestyle gaming experience, Test Drive Unlimited provides gamers with M.O.O.R.(TM): Massively Open Online Racing and the pure freedom to go wherever they choose, whenever they choose and race whoever they choose all in a spectacular, wide open tropical setting. Test Drive Unlimited is available in North America for a suggested retail price of $39.95 and is rated "E10+" for PlayStation 2 system and PSP system and rated "T for teen" for the Windows platform.

While some hardcore fans of the Sonic series would claim that Sega has already done this several times, Sega is claiming that they will re-invent Sonic. The main reason that they are doing this is very simple. While Sega is making a ton of money off these games, they feel like they are disappointing all the hardcore Sonic fans. And so, by completely redesigning the character in accordance with their fans' desires, they hope to regain the confidence of the hardcore-Sonic-fan crowd.

Grand Theft Auto fans will be pleased to hear that the first official screenshots for GTA IV, along with a short trailer, have been released. Although there is no specific detail on where the game will be based, something to note from the trailer is that it has the Statue of Liberty (or perhaps a mock version of it) which would suggest at least part of the game is to be set in New York. To download the high res version of the trailer you will need to visit the GTA IV site and click on "Trailer Files" (it's just under 70MB). The five screenshots available at present are below, and for anyone who is unaware, the game will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 16th this year.

Within a couple of hours the makers of Command and Conquer 3 will come up Patch 1.2 to fix certain issues. Electronic Arts realized the launch of the latest C&C sequel hasn't "been completely smooth" so to make everyone happy they are right now working hard to address reported problems like disconnects or freezes in game lobbies, the lobby refresh time and quirks with the built-in updater. So stay tuned and check the official C&C Tiberium Wars Website.

Developed for the PC by the Company's world-renowned development studio Firaxis Games, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will be the second expansion pack for Civilization IV - the 2005 PC Game of the Year and a major commercial success, selling over 1.5 million units worldwide since its October 2005 release. The expansion will focus on the late-game time periods after the invention of gunpowder and will deliver 12 challenging and decidedly different scenarios created by the development team at Firaxis Games, as well as members of the Civilization Fan Community. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will also include ten new civilizations, 16 new leaders, five new wonders, and a variety of new units that will offer even more fun and exciting ways for players to expand their civilization's power as they strive for world domination. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will be available in July 2007.

FrozenSand, LCC are proud to release Urban Terror, 4.0.

The game isn't exactly new, but it has been revamped to be just one of the best games in terms of game play. It's for that same reason that many players been hooked on it for over 5 years running. Other games like Half Life 2, Quake 4, Doom 3 are incredible games in terms of graphics, but often disappoint from a game play point of view. Now the new Urban Terror looks better than before and plays even better than before!

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a popular adult television show on Cartoon Network. And so, Midway thought they could make a game that would ride the Aqua Teen Hunger Force wave. Midway formally announced the game yesterday, and descibes it as an "epic, action-adventure combat golf, cart racing" game. Considering this description and the formal title "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am", we should see this crazy game on the PS2 this fall.

Scott Miller, the founder of Apogee, and a co-owner of 3Drealms, has some interesting words to say about Duke Nukem Forever. For everyone that has been waiting extremely patiently for Duke Nukem Forever, it is my extreme displeasure to inform you that they effectively declared that the past 10 years of development have been wasted. The actual quote from Mr.Miller himself:

Our fault is that we set the bar too high, and we tried too hard to make the game to beat all games. In the last 18 months we've taken a much more realistic look at the project, we've hired a truckload of experienced help, and I personally believe we are now on the right track…finally.

In short, Mr.Miller admits that 3DRealms was working too hard on Duke Nukem Forever, and is now setting much more realistic goals for the Duke Nukem Forever project. Maybe we'll start seeing beta's/products for Duke Nukem Forever this year. Or maybe we won't...time will tell.

Eidos Interactive and Valve announced an agreement to deliver dozens of new and best-selling PC titles via Steam. This first agreement includes complete franchise sets of classics such as Tomb Raider, the entire Commandos series, Battlestations: Midway, Just Cause and many of the Hitman titles. In addition, Eidos is bringing some of this year's most highly anticipated releases to Steam, including Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Championship Manager 2007, and more. Pricing information is available at www.Steamgames.com, and news of additional Eidos games heading to Steam will be announced in the coming weeks.

Microsoft and Bungie have announced the full details behind the highly anticipated Xbox 360 version of Halo 3. There will be three three-edition releases of the game. First the limited Legendary Edition, now priced at $129.99, will provide two bonus discs with the game, the first of which will include both a HD 'Making of Halo 3' documentary and an audio-visual calibration tool "custom designed by the Halo 3 graphics and audio team to make the most of fans' high-definition home theaters. The second disc, exclusive to the Legendary Edition, will include remastered cinematic material from the first two volumes in the Halo series with developer commentary, as well as some exclusive contents. Next the Limited Edition of the game, set at $69.99 will come more modestly packaged in a metal case, and will include the 'Making Of' bonus disc seen in the legendary edition, as well as a Halo fiction and art book which serves as an 'elaborate' guide to the Halo universe with new art and story elements. Finally, a Standard Edition will be made available to consumers for $59.99 that will consist simply of the Halo 3 game with no bonus discs, books, or features. No release date was revealed in the edition information, but Halo 3 is expected to launch in fall of this year.

Any fan of the Final Fantasy series has probably heard of Final Fantasy Tactics by now. For anyone who didn't know, Square Enix has been planning a PSP version of the game for some time now. This game will have a feature that every Final Fantasy fan will enjoy: wireless multi-player combat. This will allow two Tactics players to link their PSP's sans cables, and duke it out with their teams of Final Fantasy characters. This PSP version of Tactics, called "Final Fantasy Tactic: The Lion War" will make it's way to Asian market next month, and possibly American market by the end of this year.

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars for the PC has officially gone gold and will be on stores shelves Nationwide March 28. Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars will also be available in the coming months for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars has a US MSRP of $49.99. A special, numbered collector's edition will be available simultaneously and has a US MSRP of $59.99. For more information about the game or if you want to download the playable demo, please visit the official site here.

The PS3 version of uber frag-fest Unreal Tournament 3 will let you headshot your opponents using a keyboard and mouse.

Epic's dominating video game series will offer support for both the Sixaxis and a USB keyboard and mouse combination. The Sixaxis controls will work in the time-honoured GoldenEye 007 way, but with an optional twist. The motions sensor in the joypad can be used to look around rather then the right thumbstick. According to a Sony rep "it is actually very accurate once you get the hang of it".

Whether you feel like using motion sensing in such a way is "wicked sick", or if you feel "Godlike" using tried-and-tested PC controls, your needs will be catered for.

UT3 is currently slated for a late 2007 release.