Nintencast.com has a bunch of new info and screenshots for the upcoming Mario Kart game for the Wii platform. Look for the game to launch in April.
Click HERE for the story.
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The companies behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft are merging in a deal which could shake up the global video games industry. Activision and Blizzard have said they will form “the world’s most profitable games business” in a deal worth $18.8bn (£9.15bn).
The video game industry generates more revenue than the filmed entertainment industry, but as a result, it’s become very competitive and the costs involved have soared.
The merged business will be called Activision Blizzard and its chief executive will be Activision’s current CEO Bobby Kotick. Vivendi will be the biggest shareholder in the group. As part of the merger plan, Blizzard will invest $2bn in the new company, while Activision is putting up $1bn.
read more.
MIDDLETON, WI — (MARKET WIRE) — May 10, 2007 — Screaming Bee LLC is pleased to announce the release of an enhanced version of MorphVOX Pro Voice Changer. This software tool provides voice morphing to online games, instant messaging, and the professional studio. The software’s new “Adaptive Clarity” feature introduces extended pitch-modification capabilities and superior audio quality.
“We are quite happy with the enhancements to MorphVOX Pro,” says Mark Ramirez, CEO of Screaming Bee. He adds, “With Adaptive Clarity, your online game characters and your multimedia voice-overs will sound amazingly clear.”
The Adaptive Clarity upgrade is a significant breakthrough. The new algorithm can shift a voice’s pitch more than two octaves with excellent quality, while using minimal computer resources. As a result, the audio output of MorphVOX Pro is crystal clear and vibrant.
MorphVOX Pro enhances online game communication. Online gamers can now sound like the character they play, whether they choose to be an enormous giant or a grumpy dwarf. Additional voice, sound, and background packs provide even more content for the program. MorphVOX Pro can be used with games like “World of Warcraft,” “Second Life,” “EVE Online,” “EverQuest 2,” “Guild Wars,” “Counter-Strike” and many more. It also works well with chat programs such as Xfire, TeamSpeak, Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Messenger, and Ventrilo.
MorphVOX Pro can also morph an existing audio file or record a voice directly to file. The program’s simple and intuitive interface makes it easy for users to create voice-overs or narrations. Studios that use this tool can save time and potentially thousands of dollars by creating multiple voices from existing stock audio or a single voice talent. MorphVOX Pro is used by professionals in a number of fields, including education, radio broadcast, and animation.
About Screaming Bee LLC: Provider of voice software and solutions for online games, VoIP and the professional studio. For more information regarding our products, including MorphVOX Pro, please visit our site at http://www.screamingbee.com.
SANDPOINT, ID — (MARKET WIRE) — May 02, 2007 — PLAYXPERT, LLC today announced the availability of PLAYXPERT, the next-generation community management toolset for gamers via the PLAYXPERT website www.playxpert.com. The PLAYXPERT platform of in-game tools is geared toward any PC or MMO game, but has special initial features for World of Warcraft (WoW) enthusiasts interested in an enhanced community and gaming experience. Future add-on widget releases will be geared toward other popular games to follow soon.
The initial out-of-the-box features include a universal chat system widget (supporting chat communication with PLAYXPERT users as well as the XFire, Yahoo!, AOL, ICQ, and MSN communities), and a wide array of widgets for World of Warcraft players. With PLAYXPERT gamers can stay in-game and query information about users, professions, items, or anything else about the game world. World of Warcraft widgets include an Armory Widget, Thottbot Widget, WoWWiki Widget, and a Wowhead widget. PLAYXPERT also provides a Google widget with this initial installation so that gamers of any game can find key information online and access it without having to leave the in-game experience.
Future PLAYXPERT releases will also offer gamers PC diagnostic capabilities, additional community features, game stat tracking, clan and team management, and in-game music features.
“Online gaming is intrinsically social, with millions of young adults around the globe interacting constantly. To maintain an interactive social gaming environment, gamers use VoIP applications, websites, clan forums, IM, and other disparate tools. Historically, to use these tools, gamers have been forced to alt-tab out of game and thereby leave the immersive experience that games deliver. We solved this problem today. PLAYXPERT brings together all of the critical pieces that gamers need directly into the game enabling players to reach out to their gaming community via a semi-transparent overlay, directly from the game they play,” said Charles Manning, CEO of PLAYXPERT.
PLAYXPERT utilizes an in-game overlay technology that works with any game using DirectX (OpenGL support is scheduled for release later in the summer). Through an extensible widget architecture, PLAYXPERT brings the key tools that gamers need into the game, giving them more control over their multiplayer gaming community, a richer set of social networking tools and a wider variety of gaming experiences. PLAYXPERT can serve as users’ primary communication platform even outside the game community.
In addition to providing outstanding tools for gamers, PLAYXPERT is a completely customizable platform giving gamers, game developers and the mod’ing community the power to build new in-game widgets without the engineering challenge of developing in-game overlay. PLAYXPERT has published their widget application programming interface (API) so that community-built widgets can be delivered for the PLAYXPERT ecosystem.
To download PLAYXPERT for free, please visit www.playxpert.com
LONDON — (MARKET WIRE) — April 30, 2007 — Zero36 (http://www.z36.biz), a leading developer and operator of Mobile Gambling Services, today announces the launch of its fully integrated, real money Mobile Casino service for O2 i-mode users in the UK.O2 i-mode users over the age of 18 can join the Zero36 Mobile Casino service through O2 i-mode portal and play for fun or for real money. This new service is the latest addition to Zero36’s i-mode services in Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium. In the near future, a similar i-mode service for fun will be launched in Hong-Kong in Chinese.
The new O2 i-mode service offers Microgaming’s Casino classics such as European Roulette, Blackjack, Video Poker, Keno, Scratch Card and various Slot Machines, as well as 3 progressive-jackpot machines utilizing Microgaming’s Jackpot Network system.
“Zero36 was one of the first companies to develop mobile casino services for i-mode handsets,” says Zero36 CEO, Sharon Tal, “and we are the first to give O2 i-mode users in the UK a chance to become millionaires by playing Microgaming’s Progressive Jackpot games such as ‘Major Millions’ and ‘Fruit Fiesta’ using i-mode mobile handsets.”
NEW YORK, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ — mtvU, MTV’s 24-hour college network, and the Kaiser Family Foundation today announced the “Change the Course of HIV Challenge” - a competition offering college students digital tools to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people in the United States. The challenge asks gamers, activists or any student with a great idea to propose a viral, Web-based video game concept to help raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among 15-24 year olds in the US and to promote personal action in response to the epidemic. The winning individual or team will work with mtvU and the Kaiser Family Foundation — which are committing $75,000 to the development and marketing of the game — to see their idea realized.”No undergrad in school today has known a world without HIV/AIDS and a new young person someplace in the world is infected every 15 seconds,” said Stephen Friedman, GM, mtvU. “Through this challenge, we hope to inspire college students to use the power of online gaming to engage their peers, re-awaken them to the magnitude of this deadly virus and effect prevention.”
“The competition is designed to help us reach young people in a different and engaging way to help inform them about HIV/AIDS and spur action,” said Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director, Entertainment Media Partnerships, Kaiser Family Foundation. “As HIV remains the great public health challenge of this generation, it’s essential to find new and creative ways to engage and inform young people about the epidemic.”
mtvU and the Kaiser Family Foundation are looking for innovative, interactive concepts for video games that will spread rapidly online. Proposed projects should raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among young people in the US, identify ways to stop its spread, and address the silence, stigma and discrimination surrounding the disease. The challenge is open to college students nationwide and the deadline for submissions is March 16th, 2007. For more information and to submit an idea, please visit mtvU.com.
The “Change the Course of HIV Challenge” follows on the success of “Darfur is Dying” (www.DarfurisDying.com ), a student-developed, viral video game — now played more than 2 million times by over 1 million people — and a key element of mtvU’s Emmy Award-winning Sudan campaign. “Darfur is Dying” is a narrative-based simulation where the user, from the perspective of a displaced Darfurian, negotiates forces that threaten the survival of his or her refugee camp.
About The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation dedicated to providing information and analysis on health issues to policymakers, the media, and the general public. It is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. Information on HIV/AIDS is available at www.kff.org , and a daily news summary report on developments in HIV/AIDS is available on www.kaisernetwork.org , the Foundation’s free health information service.
About mtvU
Broadcasting to 750 colleges across the country, with a combined enrollment of over 7.2 million, mtvU is the largest, most comprehensive television network just for college students. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, mtvU can be seen in the dining areas, fitness centers, student lounges and dorm rooms of campuses throughout the U.S. mtvU is dedicated to every aspect of college life, reaching students everywhere they are, through a three pronged approach — on-air, online and on campus. mtvU focuses on content including music videos from emerging artists which can’t be seen anywhere else, news, student life features, events and pro-social initiatives. mtvU is always on campus, with more than 500 events per year, including exclusive concerts, giveaways, shooting mtvU series and more. For more information about mtvU, and for a complete programming schedule, visit www.mtvU.com .
mtvU.com makes mtvU the first MTV Networks channel distributed in its entirety via broadband, streaming 24/7 and on demand, featuring all of mtvU plus exclusive new music, original series and student-produced programming for college students and music fans everywhere.
mtvU also owns and operates Y2M, parent company of College Publisher — the largest interactive network of online college newspapers in the US. The network comprises 500 campus publications that serve institutions including Brown University, the University of Illinois, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Duke University, with a combined enrollment of over 5.5 million students and a subscriber base of 2.1 million
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“Our tremendous worldwide launch shows people, from experienced players to non-players, are hungry for the kinds of entertainment only Wii provides,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “Wii hardware production continues full bore, and every week we’re delivering more incredible content to further expand the experience.”
Casual game players who recently discovered or rediscovered the thrills of video games through games like Wii Sports(TM) and WarioWare(TM): Smooth Moves will be glad to know Wii Play, a collection of nine new games in the Wii Sports style, will be available Feb. 14. Wii Play includes games like Billiards, Fishing and Shooting Range, a target-practice game in the style of Nintendo’s classic Duck Hunt(TM). Wii Play comes packaged with a Wii Remote(TM) to highlight the fun multiplayer aspects of Wii, and to provide an incredible value.
Veteran gamers who spent countless hours playing through The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess will find new challenges by entering worlds populated by everyone from Tiger Woods to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, thanks to a deep list of new offerings from third-party publishers.
Beyond the current library of 34 new Wii titles, the schedule for upcoming Wii releases includes:
Feb. 14 Wii Play with Wii Remote Nintendo March 27 Disney's Meet the Robinsons Buena Vista March Bust-A-Move Bash Majesco March Prince of Persia Rival Swords Ubisoft March TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Ubisoft March Bionicle Heroes Eidos March Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII Ubisoft Q1 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 EA Q1 SSX Blur EA Q1 The Godfather Blackhand Edition EA Q1 Medal of Honor Vanguard EA Q1 Sonic and the Secret Rings Sega
But new titles don’t begin to describe the array of game action available on Wii. With yesterday’s Virtual Console release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past from the NES®, the library of downloadable Wii titles grows to 42. Also, next week will see the addition of an all-time favorite, Mario Kart 64. Nintendo will continue to make weekly announcements to update Wii owners about upcoming releases.
For more information about Wii, visit Wii.com.
The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii(TM), Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCube(TM) systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.2 billion video games and more than 387 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Mario(TM), Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, Zelda(TM) and Pokemon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.
FRANKLIN, KY — (MARKET WIRE) — January 09, 2007 — GameZnFlix, Inc. an online provider of video games and DVD movies for rent or purchase, announced today that Moroch Partners has been selected to develop and implement a strategy positioning the company’s brand and for increasing online market growth.The agency will execute a two-phase project throughout 2007. Phase One is a 16-week foundational project designed to reposition GameZnFlix in the online games and movies market which includes a comprehensive strategic development plan, gaining consumer insights and understandings, developing brand identity, creative assessment, messaging, positioning and development, conducting qualitative focus groups and designing a comprehensive media plan and targeted event marketing plan.
Phase Two will be an execution based on the findings from Phase One and includes an annual strategic marketing plan, competitive analysis and executing creative focused on brand identity and positioning.
“We are excited for Moroch to begin the research phase of this project,” said John Fleming, GameZnFlix CEO. “Once the information is collected, we’ll have a better understanding of how to approach our customers and propel GameZnFlix into the online entertainment community.”
“Moroch is proud to be conducting the initial research and positioning for GameZnFlix,” said Tad Perryman, account director for Moroch. “GameZnFlix is on the leading edge of online entertainment, and we are proud to work in conjunction with their team to develop a plan that will drive membership and brand awareness to achieve GameZnFlix’s company goals.”
About GameZnFlix, Inc.
GameZnFlix is an online video game and DVD movie rental service with more than 50,000 titles in stock. With memberships starting at $8.99 per month, subscribers can rent video game discs for the most popular video gaming platforms and DVDs with no postage, no due dates and no late fees. Members may also purchase video games and DVD movies at exclusive discounts at www.gameznflix.com.
CHATSWORTH, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — January 03, 2007 — Diamond Multimedia (www.diamondmm.com), a leading manufacturer of PC graphics cards, sound cards and communications products, is now shipping the AGP versions of the X1950PRO (http://www.diamondmm.com/X1950PRO512AGP.php), while the PCI-E models were shipped last month.The AGP model of Viper X1950PRO represents the pinnacle of achievement in a wide-ranging series of high-performance AGP graphics cards featuring the powerful ATI Radeon® chip that outperforms any other single or dual-slot solutions. This card uses the Radeon X1950 GPU and comes in a 512MB GDDR3 interface. It has a core clock speed of 575MHz and a 1.38GHz memory speed. It supports Dual DVI (x2 Dual-link), HDTV, D-sub and VIVO.
The Viper X1950PRO supports DirectX 9, and Shader Model 3.0. It is Microsoft Windows Vista ready and supported by Catalyst Control Center, the award-winning feature-rich 3D software application. It supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) with full post-processing capabilities, including anti-aliasing, providing sharp texture filtering to ensure that every game detail is crisp and clear. The X1950PRO also features built-in native HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection).
All Diamond video cards also carry the Diamond guarantee of quality assurance. Unlike many cards that are simply first to market, Diamond carefully tests and retests every new model for its ratio of performance to reliability. Diamond is legendary in the PC video card business for its low return rates — less than 1 percent versus an industry average of approximately 10 percent — and attributes this to its intensive testing, detailed product knowledge down to the component level, superior relationships with suppliers and unyielding commitment to quality. Diamond cards use superior connectors, cables and components, as well as undergo more thorough testing for heat susceptibility and durability, and this is directly reflected in its superior track record of longevity at the highest levels of performance.
The X1950PRO retails at $279 for PCI-E, and $299 for AGP. All Diamond cards are available through most North American distributors, such as ASI, D&H, Ingram Micro and TechData along with most leading computer retailers and e-commerce sites like NewEgg.com and Amazon.com.
TOKYO, Japan, December 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Gameloft, a leading developer and publisher of video games for mobile phones, has signed a distribution agreement with telecom operator WILLCOM, the sole provider of PHS service in Japan, with 9 exclusive portal sites by genre and world-class critically acclaimed games, amongst which:
Mystery Mansion Pinball Block Breaker Deluxe Midnight Casino 2006 Real Soccer Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Lockdown Might & Magic New York Nights: Success in the City Platinum Shanghai Platinum Suriki Open Season
“We are thrilled to have signed this distribution agreement with WILLCOM,” announced Alexis Gresoviac, Business Development Manager for Japan. “We are very excited about the service, with 9 exclusive portal sites by game category and 10 games available at launch day and many more to come. We definitely consider WILLCOM a reference partner.”
The catalog is expected to expand rapidly in the next few months, bringing top-edge games to WILLCOM users.
About Gameloft
Gameloft is a leading international publisher and developer of video games for mobile phones. Founded in 1999, it has emerged as one of the top innovators in its field. The company creates games for mobile handsets equipped with Java, Brew, or Symbian technology. The total number of mobile handsets with this technology is expected to exceed two billion units in 2008 (ARC GROUP).
Thanks to partnership agreements with leading licensors and personalities such as Ubisoft Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Viacom, Sony Pictures, FifPro, Paris Hilton Ent., Lamborghini, Derek Jeter, Vijay Singh, Andrei Schevchenko, and Djibril Cissé, Gameloft has formed strong relationships with international brands. In addition to the partnerships, Gameloft owns and operates such brands as Block Breaker Deluxe, Asphalt: Urban GT and New York Nights.
As a result of agreements with telecom carriers, handset manufacturers, specialized distributors and its online store, Gameloft now boasts a distribution network covering 75 countries.
Gameloft has worldwide offices in New York, San Francisco, Montreal, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Paris, London, Düsseldorf, Milan, Madrid, New Delhi, Seoul, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo. Gameloft is listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN: FR0000079600, Bloomberg: GFT FP, Reuters: GLFT.PA)
For more information visit www.gameloft.com.
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