Archive for the 'Games' Category
Nine Pound Studios has announced the launch of Xenome: Episode 1, their highly anticipated open-world, action/adventure role playing game for the iPhone. At a special introductory price of $4.99, Xenome is an RPG that will have players struggling for survival as they unravel the mystery of their own identity within the 5 square miles of seamless post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Set in a future where genetic manipulation is key for survival, mangled strands of “XNA” (Xeno Nucleic Acid) have given rise to the bizarrely mutated inhabitants of the Xenome world. As players progress through the feature-rich environment that’s both beautiful and deadly, they gather creatures’ genetic material to splice their XNA and take on special abilities.
In Episode 1, players are thrown into this fully immersive RPG as “The Scientist” who has just emerged from 250 years of cryostasis at the center of the Silica Flats. Reactivated during the advent of the Union-Prime war, players will be able to complete more than 60 missions, choose from over 500 items, and learn powerful abilities as both factions vie for their allegiance.
While Episode 1 provides over 12 hours of compelling missions and involved gameplay, Episode 2 is currently in development with additions to every aspect of the game. The third episode is even slated to introduce full MMO functionality.
“It’s been an amazing year bringing a true open-world, 3D immersive RPG to life on the iPhone, and we’re incredibly excited to announce the launch of Episode 1″ says Steve Tanner, Executive Producer of Nine Pound Studios. “We set out to build a truly seamless RPG, with the kind of depth of lore, missions, skills, gear and sheer volume of explorable content that’s never made it onto mobile platforms.”
Welcome to your first immersion into the Xenome Universe.
FEATURES:
• Enormous game world – over 5 square miles of territory to be explored,
teeming with mutated creatures and other dangerous aberrations of nature.
• Gain experience and wealth while performing missions and killing monsters.
• Customize your character with skills, XNA abilities, stats and over 500 items that best suit your play style.
• An engaging storyline that will take over 12 hours to unravel as you make your way through the wastelands.
• Loaded with secrets for the adventurous and enough creatures, missions and areas to keep users playing long after the main plot has unfolded.
Xenome requires the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3rd gen iPod Touch with 32 or 64 gb storage, or the iPad.
Xenome is available for a special introductory price of $4.99 in the iTunes App Store on iPhone, iPod Touch, or at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xenome-episode-1/id380298587?mt=8. On July 12th the price will go up to $7.99.
The Raven is a premium, full featured, wireless controller for PlayStation 3 featuring a totally unique ergonomic design built from the ground up to meet the demands of the most rigorous of gamers. The Raven wireless communicates to the PlayStation 3 through a USB dongle, providing 25 feet of freedom to game. A unique ergonomic design allows for maximum comfort during intense game play sessions and features specially designed angled trigger buttons keep fingers from slipping off. The Soft Feel Surface covers the entire body of the Raven, providing a comforting grip that is secure yet soft. Built in rumble and Multi-Axis directional control means you’ll be able to control and feel every game in your collection. Each Raven features fully analog buttons and control sticks for 256 degrees of sensitivity for the utmost control in all your favorite games. The built in Lithium-Ion battery provides up to 25 hours of playtime and can easily be recharged through any Mini USB cable or Nyko’s Charge Base 2. Available in both a standard and alternative analog stick orientation the Raven allows for you to choose exactly how you want to play. The Raven is gives your unparalleled comfort, control and choice.
Join the US Department of Puzzle Research and plunge into the mystery haunting the remote mid-western town of Scoggins in Telltale Games’ Puzzle Agent, available now for PC and Mac at http://www.puzzleagent.com.
Puzzle Agent is the first game released via Telltale’s new Pilot Program through which the company is bringing new game concepts to market, similar to the broadcast industry’s television pilots. The game is also targeted for release on the iPhone, iPad and WiiWare platforms in July.
Puzzle Agent combines accessible Professor Layton-inspired puzzling, generous doses of Nordic folklore and enigmatic gnomes, with dark David Lynch and Coen brothers inspired sensibilities. This project is a collaborative effort with Graham Annable, Telltale’s first creative director at the time of its founding, and is based on his indie comic work Grickle.
Puzzle Agent has received very strong early critical praise, including “Best of E3 2010” acclaim from MSNBC.com and IGN.com.
Graham Annable said “It’s been a great experience working with the talented team at Telltale, fleshing out the world of Nelson Tethers in Puzzle Agent. The collaborative process that’s resulted in the formation of the US Department of Puzzle Research and Scoggins, Minnesota has surpassed even my loftiest aspirations.”
“Puzzle Agent is a great way to launch our Pilot Program, effectively illustrating how Telltale can quickly bring high quality games to market,” said Telltale CEO, Dan Connors. “The Pilot Program games allow us to innovate, take risks and evolve our games so that successful pilots can become Telltale game series in the future.”
Nine Pound Studios has announced that Xenome: Episode 1, their much anticipated role playing game for iPhone, will hit the iTunes App Store on July 8th. Xenome is an open-world, action/adventure RPG that will have players struggling for survival as they unravel the mystery of their own identity within the 5 square miles of seamless post-apocalyptic wasteland.
In Episode 1, players are thrown into this fully immersive RPG as “The Scientist” who has just emerged from 250 years of cryostasis at the center of the Silica Flats. Reactivated during the advent of the Union-Prime war, players will be able to complete more than 60 missions, choose from over 500 items, and gain powerful skills as both factions vie for their allegiance.
“It’s been an amazing year bringing a true open-world, 3D immersive RPG to life on the iPhone, and we’re incredibly excited to announce the upcoming launch of Episode 1″ says Steve Tanner, Executive Producer of Nine Pound Studios. “We’ve started the countdown clock on our website and we’ll be releasing mob profiles, NPC lore, and gameplay videos every day as it counts down.”
Welcome to your first immersion into the Xenome Universe.
FEATURES:
• Enormous game world – over 5 square miles of territory to be explored,
teeming with mutated creatures and other dangerous aberrations of nature.
• Gain experience and wealth while performing missions and killing monsters.
• Customize your character with abilities, stats and over 500 items that best suit your play style.
• An engaging storyline that will take hours to unravel as you make your way through the wastelands.
• Loaded with secrets for the adventurous. Enough creatures, missions and areas to keep you playing long after the main plot has unfolded.
On July 8th, Xenome will be available in the iTunes App Store for iPhone or iPod Touch.
YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkmuapRaZTA
Xenome Website: http://www.xenomeonline.com/
WD today introduced the WD TV® Live Plus HD media player, which makes it easy for Netflix® members to instantly watch thousands of TV episodes and movies on the biggest screen in their home — their HD television set. The new Netflix interface enables members to browse and add movies to their instant Queue on the Netflix Website right from their TV.
In addition to Netflix, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player also enables users to stream personalized Internet content from YouTube™, Flickr®, Pandora®, Live365™, as well as the MediaFly network which includes daily podcasts from CNN, NBC, MTV, ESPN® and other online content providers1. Unlike most other Netflix-capable devices, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player also lets consumers enjoy a broad variety of the digital media they already own, creating a unified entertainment experience.
The onscreen menu brings together all of the users’ available media in an elegant and simple-to-navigate interface, while the network capability enables users to stream movies from PC or Mac® computers, USB storage devices such as My Passport® portable hard drives, My Book® desktop drives, or network-attached storage such as WD’s My Book® World Edition™ and WD ShareSpace™ to their HDTVs. Compatible with Windows® 7, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player enables the Windows 7 Play To feature so users can initiate and control the streaming of video, music or photos to the media player and home entertainment systems from any Windows 7-based PC on their network.
The WD TV Live Plus HD media player fulfills consumers’ growing demand for large libraries of digital videos, photos and music. According to research firm Parks Associates, the average broadband household will see its digital media storage needs grow to nearly 900 GB by year-end 2014. And users are increasingly looking for easy ways to enjoy the content on the big screen. Parks’ findings reveal that the sales of connected consumer electronics devices, such as connected TVs and digital media adapters, is expected to more than double from 57 million units in 2009 to 115 million units in 2013 (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009).
Similar to the popular generations of WD TV HD media players that preceded it, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player connects directly to a users’ HDTV and plays almost any file stored on a connected USB drive such as My Passport portable hard drives. The WD TV Live Plus HD media player features powerful media processing, which enables playback in Full-HD 1080p resolution. WD TV Live Plus HD media player also plays movies, music and photos stored on other popular USB devices such as digital camcorders and digital cameras.
“Netflix has become a ‘must have’ for consumer electronics devices,” said Netflix vice president of business development Bill Holmes. “We’re proud to align with WD to include Netflix on WD’s groundbreaking WD TV Live Plus HD media player.”
“While Netflix can be found on an increasing number of products such as Internet TVs, Blu-ray Players, video game consoles, and other stand-alone devices, the WD TV Live Plus media player is unique as it allows digital media buffs to access and play all of their own personal HD media stored anywhere on their network or USB drives. At the same time they can easily stream Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and other Internet favorites to their HDTV,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group.
WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player
Features of the WD TV Live Plus HD media player include:
· Full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation with the included remote control and crisp, animated navigation menus;
· Access to thousands of TV episodes and movies to watch instantly for any Netflix member with an unlimited subscription;
· Wireless ready to support wireless network connection to your home network with an optional USB wireless adapter, which is sold separately;
· Supports a wide variety of the most popular file formats with no need to spend time transcoding;
· Play videos, music and photos from the Internet on your big screen TV and discover new music with Pandora Internet radio or listen to thousands of radio stations via Live365 Internet radio, daily podcasts from the MediaFly network including CNN, NBC, MTV, ESPN and other online content providers;
· Ethernet port for wired or WiFi connection2 to access files anywhere on the network to play movies, music, and photos from any PC or drive on a home network;
· Turns a USB drive3 into an HD media player and plays content from most popular USB drives, digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices;
· Unlimited media collection, just add more USB drives for more space;
· Two USB ports that allow seamless media playback from multiple USB drives displayed in a single list and sorted by media type;
· Windows 7-compatible Play To feature enables users to stream Windows 7 computer files to the TV through WD TV Plus HD media player;
· Transfer files by copying, moving or deleting files stored on a USB drive, a network drive, camcorder, or a camera to the attached USB drive using the on-screen menus;
· Works with digital cameras, digital video cameras and any other digital imaging device that supports Picture Transfer Protocol;
· Advanced navigation options including thumbnail and list views, media library and search;
· Photo viewing to create custom slide shows, zoom and pan and search;
· Movie viewing with fast-forward, rewind, pause, zoom and pan, view subtitles, and search;
· Music playback with fast-forward, rewind, pause, shuffle, repeat and search;
· HDMI® 1.3 port, composite video and component video output4 for the highest quality HDTV or home theater;
· SPDIF digital output that sends digital signals to your AV receiver for the best surround sound experience; and,
· Ultra-compact design to fit easily into a home entertainment center.
Pricing and Availability
The WD TV Live Plus HD media player is available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. Covered by a 1-year limited warranty, the MSRP for WD TV Live Plus HD media player is $149.99 USD.
Telltale Games, the leading independent digital publisher and developer of episodic interactive entertainment, today announced a multi-year, two-title video game development deal with Universal Partnerships & Licensing. Telltale Games has secured the rights to create video games based on two of Universal Pictures’ most popular intellectual properties, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. The first game released under the agreement will be a Telltale Games “season” based on the successful Back to the Future series of films.
With more than five million episodes delivered to date across all major video game platforms, Telltale is the acknowledged leader in digitally delivering episodic content to consumers. The agreement broadens Telltale’s product offerings into new genres and new styles of gameplay.
“Our partnership with Universal is an exciting next step in our continued growth as a mass-market games publisher and developer,” said Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games. “We are all huge fans of both of these franchises. For Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, we will leverage Telltale’s expertise in story-telling and game design to deliver on the unique elements of each series, with our goal being to create compelling cinematic adventures paying homage to each franchise.”
Jurassic Park and Back to the Future are two of the most successful film trilogies ever, grossing over $3 billion dollars at the box office collectively.
“Telltale Games has succeeded in establishing a unique combination of digital and physical distribution models, and their reputation for quality production is well earned,” said Bill Kispert, Vice President and General Manger, Digital Platforms, Universal Partnerships & Licensing. “Telltale’s episodic story-telling is an ideal means by which to add compelling new content to these important franchises.”
Look for the first video game based “season” of Back to the Future from Telltale this winter, followed shortly by Jurassic Park. Telltale will release more information on both game series at a later date.
Appular is proud to announce the release of the HTML5 web app demo of the iPhone game Hand of Greed (App store link), the first of its kind. Appular, an experienced iPhone app marketer and publisher of Brainium Studio’s Hand of Greed, has embraced HTML5 as the future of app discovery and promotion.
(To play the HTML5 web app demo, open Safari on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and navigate to http://appular.com/webapp or http://braniumstudios.con/webapp)
The HTML5 web app conveys the intense, blade strewn gameplay of Hand of Greed, touting identical touch screen controls, fluid animations, and the same dynamic lighting effects as the iPhone version. The web app contains 3 levels from the game, and after playing through them, the player is encouraged to purchase the $0.99 game in the App Store.
“We have already begun working with Admob to incorporate this web app within their ads, and are eager to do the same with Medialets and Apple’s upcoming iAd network as well. Creating rich media ads like this will allow unparalleled opportunities for consumers to try out games without having to install a new app” says Brian Akaka, founder of Appular. “Looking forward, we’re excited to work with developers on using this technology to revolutionize app discovery”.
Appular forsees huge potential for HTML5 to revolutionize the app discovery ecosystem outside of iTunes. Consumers are able to quickly try more apps and experience sophisticated interactivity just using Safari or within their other apps. Developers can utilize HTML5 to offer a dynamic way to increase visibility for their apps and showcase their content.
Hand of Greed HTML 5 web app: http://appular.com/webapp/ or http://braniumstudios.con/webapp/
The Hand of Greed App for iPhone is available for $0.99 from the App Store on iPhone or at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hand-of-greed-dodge-the-blade/id367911355?mt=8
“3D brings a whole new dimension to the gaming experience,” said Jon Grodem, Optoma’s director of product and marketing. “Designed for flawless performance with today’s top HD consoles and Gaming PCs, the GT360 and GT720 energize games with stunning speed, high contrast and vivid colors.”
Both the GT360 and the GT720 share many features that optimally serve the needs of gamers as well as sports enthusiasts and movie buffs.
Both employ a short-throw lens to create large images in smaller rooms and 2500 lumens to deliver a 3000:1 contrast ratio for startlingly crisp, larger-than-life images. Each projector utilizes a powerful 10-Watt stereo speaker system to deliver in-the-action sound without external speakers.
Optimally designed for Nintendo’s WiiTM console, the GT360 delivers a native 800 x 600 pixels (SVGA) resolution. It is PC and MAC compatible, supports computer resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 pixels (HD), and can also accept common global video inputs and video formats up to 1080p (HDTV, EDTV, SDTV, NTSC, PAL, SECAM).
The GT720 offers a native widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) resolution, and is designed to maximize the widescreen attributes of major gaming consoles such as WiiTM, XboxTM and Sony PlayStation®. It also is PC and MAC compatible, supports computer resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 pixels (HD), and accepts common global video inputs and video formats up to 1080p (HDTV, EDTV, SDTV, NTSC, PAL, SECAM).
Accessories for both projectors include a remote and a special backpack. Both projectors are compact and lightweight at only 7 lbs., allowing gamers to take the gaming and video experience with them.
“The GT360 and GT720 provide cinema-sized fun with a whopping 300” maximum screen size,” said Grodem. “Designed to run with minimal shut-down time needed, the GT360 and GT720 are the ultimate gaming projectors providing gamers with non-stop action.”
While Nintendo Wii uses motion control technology, Think-Tac-Toe uses the power of thought to play the game. The user wears a wireless headset, which picks up and records human brain activity. It can detect emotions, expressions, and cognitive thought processes which are then sent to the game and portrayed on the screen.
SvenOnTech will get you more information on this innovative game in the coming weeks.
The impressive list of hardware for the Axess HD includes a powerful Core i7 processor combined with dual 9800 GT video cards in SLI to deliver a stunningly visual1080p experience. MAINGEAR also teamed up with NVIDIA to integrate GeForce 3D Vision so that gamers with Mitsubishi DLP’s or Samsung desktop LCDs can experience an unparalleled 3D gaming experience. MAINGEAR further enhances the luxurious home theater gaming experience by being the first company to offer the Phantom Lapboard, a unique keyboard that liberates users from desktop settings through an innovative 360-degree rotating design. The Axess HD Gamer also offers cutting edge media center capabilities including 7 channel pre amplified audio, Blu Ray and DVD Movies, Music, Home Videos, HD TV, Internet TV, based on Microsoft® Windows® Vista Home Premium which also provides access to Netflix’s online streaming through the Media Center interface.
”The Axess HD Gamer was conceived to deliver unsurpassed gaming performance fused with advanced media center capabilities all contained within a low profile case, making it the perfect cornerstone for any home theater environment” said Wallace Santos, CEO and Founder of MAINGEAR. “A lot of the media centers currently on the market don’t specifically address the PC Gamer and we want to give our customers a solution to game from the comfort of the living room without sacrificing quality or performance.”
“We’re thrilled that MAINGEAR is providing a Games for Windows solution that complements the wide range of media functionality that Windows Vista Media Center already provides,” said Megan Both, Snr. Director of OEM Sales at Microsoft. “This high performance 3D gaming system combined with the advanced functionality of Windows Media Center make the Axess HD Gamer a phenomenal option for the home theater enthusiast as well as the avid gamer.”
Gamers can purchase the Axess HD Gamer at MAINGEAR’s Web site www.maingear.com or order by phone at (888-MAINGEAR). The base price is $1,799. Axess HD Gamer comes with MAINGEAR’s standard 14 month warranty and is backed by the best in-house support team in the country.