Ubisoft Takes To The Skies With New Tom Clancy Air Combat Brand

Chertsey, England – September 25, 2007 – Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced the creation of a new Tom Clancy franchise being developed by Ubisoft’s Bucharest studio for next generation consoles and PC. The first air combat game taking place in Tom Clancy’s universe, the brand will launch in 2008.

“Ubisoft has an unrivalled track record of creating and sustaining new brands,” said Serge Hascoet, chief creative officer at Ubisoft. “Our commitment to refreshing our catalogue with regular introduction of new IPs is what keeps gamers coming back for more. With this new brand we’re redefining the aerial combat genre and extending the Tom Clancy universe to deliver a compelling new action titles to next-generation gamers.”

Set in the near future, the game imagines a world where a private military force has accumulated such power that it attacks the USA. Thrust into the cockpits of incredibly powerful and technologically advanced jet fighters, gamers will benefit from hi-tech piloting assistance, providing comfort, security and enhanced perception. As players gain skills and confidence, they will be able to shed the assistance. But before choosing performance over security, they’ll have to weigh the risks carefully.

“We are confident that this new brand will become the new benchmark for flight combat games and will be, like other Tom Clancy based games, an instant online multiplayer hit,” says Sebastien Delen, managing director of Ubisoft’s Bucharest studio. “The player will experience all the action and excitement of modern air combat, from intense dog fighting to tactical strikes.”

About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 23 countries and sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. Ubisoft generated sales of 680 million Euros for the 2006-07 fiscal year. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

About Tom Clancy
With more than 80 million books sold, Tom Clancy is arguably the world’s most recognized author. His works include fiction such as The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Rainbow Six, Without Remorse and The Teeth of the Tiger. Clancy also writes nonfiction works about weapons and various military units. Four of his books have already been adapted into highly successful feature films.

Q3 2007-2008 Lineup Showcases Some of the Industry’s Most Anticipated Games

London, United Kingdom – 25 September 2007 – Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced that its holiday 2007 lineup will feature an exceptional selection of titles. Covering all segments of video games – from hardcore to family titles, as well as games based on some of the most popular films and television series – the rich offering also includes some of this year’s most anticipated new brands along with exciting new entries to some of Ubisoft’s multimillion-unit selling brands:

• Assassin’s Creed™ – One of the most anticipated video games of the year comes to the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system in November, and to PC in early 2008.
• Beowulf™ – The video game, based on Paramount Pictures’ and Shangri-La Entertainment’s “Beowulf,” the upcoming feature film from Academy Award®-winning director Robert Zemeckis, will be released in November on Xbox 360, the PLAYSTATION 3 system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.
• Blazing Angels® 2 Secret Missions of WWII – Experience World War II on the PLAYSTATION 3 system as an elite pilot in the follow-up to the successful Blazing Angels® Squadrons of WWII coming for holiday.
• Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway™, previously expected to be released for holiday 2007 will be released on next-generation platforms and PC in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007-08. Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 for Wii will be released in December.
• CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION™ Hard Evidence – For the first time, CSI fans will be able to play CSI on Xbox 360 and the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo this holiday.
• Haze™ – Legendary development team Free Radical Design teams up with Ubisoft to deliver the mind-altering, technologically superior game Haze, exclusively for the PLAYSTATION 3 system this holiday.
• Heroes of Might and Magic® V: Tribes of the East - Enjoy the dramatic evolution and conclusion of the Heroes® V experience this holiday on PC.
• NARUTO™: Rise of a Ninja - In a game exclusively developed for Xbox 360 from the ground up and for the first time ever, in October, gamers will experience Naruto starting from the series’ beginning.
• Rayman Raving Rabbids® 2 - The bunnies are back and crazier than ever in this new game specially developed for Wii and Nintendo DS™ this holiday.

This holiday, Ubisoft will also release games that appeal to all audiences, with its innovative and appealing Games for Everyone lineup:

• Chessmaster®: The Art of Learning for DS and Chessmaster®: Grandmaster Edition for PC - In both games, Josh Waitzkin, International Master and eight-time National Chess Champion, coaches players to grasp the basic fundamentals of chess and to master the game through exciting courses and tutorials taken directly from his groundbreaking book, The Art of Learning (Free Press).
• Cranium® Kabookii - designed specifically for Wii, Cranium Kabookii is an all-new game where families jam, draw, act and puzzle as they collect points and take center stage in the Kabookii Arena to win. Special Kabookii Decoder Glasses reveal secret answers for added fun!
• Imagine™ - The Imagine line allows girls to explore their favourite interests and hobbies - as indicated by extensive lifestyle research on this audience – in an interactive and entertaining way with titles such as Fashion Designer, Happy Cooking and Pet Vet 2 for Nintendo DS and PC.
• My Coach - Play and learn with this suite of entertaining training coaches that will teach you languages (My French Coach, My Spanish Coach) or help you to improve your expression (My Word Coach) for DS and Wii.
• Petz® - This holiday will see the return of Pippa Funnel®, Catz®, Dogz® and Hamsterz on the DS, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PC – and for the first time on Wii!

Here is the press release…

Today we bring you news about certain changes to the Nintendo website. After we experienced some security issues in the past, the community forums have now been closed for good.

Since the start of this website five years ago, our primary goal has always been to provide the most in-depth and up-to-date information about our full range of products. As well as being the first port of call for people looking to find all the latest Nintendo news, the site has acted as an important hub down the years for people who want to share their views or stay in touch with other Nintendo enthusiasts through our forums.

When the forums launched we felt they were an essential service for our many loyal site visitors, and the response to them suggested you felt the same way. Since then, however, a number of other online Nintendo communities have surfaced. Dedicated solely to providing a place for Nintendo fans to meet and chat together, these forums are looked after by people who are able to focus all their resources in one area.

Given the growth of all these other online communities, we think visitors to our website would be best served if we focused all our energies on putting together a new Nintendo-Europe.com that will offer Club Nintendo members a number of new features for an expanded experience with our products.

We would like to thank all our members that have participated in the community forums over the years, and we hope you will enjoy all the exciting new features on the horizon.
more for pimp then!!!!

93 Games, Ascaron Entertainment and Crimson Cow are proud to introduce the official trailer of A Vampyre Story. The video immerses you into the game’s unusual yet endearing atmosphere and introduces some intriguing characters amidst a unique graphical style and unrivalled humour.

A Vampyre Story has been penned by Bill Tiller, the founder of Autumn Moon Entertainment. A former employee of Lucas Arts, Tiller won himself a place in the hearts of adventure fans through his work on titles such as Steven Spielberg’s The Dig, the legendary The Curse of Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones. A Vampyre Story combines modern 3D animation with the qualities of classic 2D adventure design and a compelling style which can best be compared with the works of Tim Burton or Edward Gorey.

The point-and-click adventure game A Vampyre Story tells the tale of the beautiful, gifted opera singer Mona De Lafitte, whose life is brought to an abrupt end by a vampire baron named Shrowdy Von Kiefer. Henceforth, Mona is doomed to a miserable existence as a creature of the night in Von Kiefer’s gloomy castle in Draxsylvania. Confronted with her seemingly hopeless fate, she decides to run away and try to fulfil her dream of singing at the Paris Opera. Accompanied by her mischievous bat Froderick, Mona must face a number of challenges in her odyssey and learn not only to accept her vampire nature, but also to use the abilities she has acquired to her advantage.

A Vampyre Story is scheduled for release in 2008 on PC DVD-ROM.

Watch the video (streaming)
http://www.focus-home.com/trailer_avs/trailer_int.php

Download the video (22.3 Mb)
http://www.focus-files.com/trailers/avampyrestory_trailer_int.rar

The official website
http://www.vampyre-story.com/

Halo 3 Review and Bungie Interview in 360Zine Special Edition to celebrate the launch of Halo 3.

The free Xbox 360 digital magazine, 360Zine has released a Special Edition, 23-page magazine dedicated entirely to Halo 3 including the definitive 10-page review of the most anticipated game of the year.

Timed to come out on the day Halo 3 goes on sale, 360Zine has published an amazing, free 23-page magazine dedicated to the game. It includes a definitive review, written by Kieron Gillen, the renowned games journalist who wrote the world’s first cover feature on Halo for a PC games magazine, before Bungie had been secured by Microsoft even.

“We wanted to ensure that when Halo 3 arrived, we gave it the welcome that it deserved,” says Editorial Director, Dan Hutchinson. “There was no-one I could think of more suited to writing the definitive review than Kieron, and it guarantees readers that our special edition will whet their appetites for the game in the final few hours while they wait for the game to arrive on their doormats.”

In addition to the huge review, the magazine includes an exclusive interview with Bungie’s Frank O’Connor. He talks about the road to Halo 3 as well as some of the projects Bungie are working on now that Halo 3 is out, saying that they are “working hard on the Peter Jackson project and tinkering with some pretty cool downloadable content.”

360Zine is a free magazine dedicated to Xbox 360 games. 360Zine is professionally written and produced by a team of games journalists and publishers with years of experience in the magazine industry. It was launched last year and has been monthly since, delivering high quality journalism, enhanced with video and interactive content using the PDF format. This means users simply need Adobe Reader 8 on Windows to enjoy the magazine.

“Since launch 360Zine has grown to attract tens of thousands of readers every month,” says Dave Taylor, Publishing Director, “and we believe this Special Edition dedicated to Halo 3 gives newcomers the ideal opportunity to sample the magazine. We hope, and expect, the 360Zine Halo 3 Special Edition to help spread the word of our high-quality, free magazines to even more next-gen gamers.”

Gamers can download the Halo 3 Special Edition now from http://www.gamerzines.com/

College Park, Md. – Goozex, Inc., a leading online video game trading community, publicly launched today a new Facebook application designed to promote and support gaming communities on one of the largest and fastest growing social networking sites. Millions of Facebook members now can share their own game reviews, ratings, and personal libraries for more than 23,000 game titles through one well-managed application page.

Goozex’s new application promotes the sharing of game-specific content from current next-generation console games like Halo 3™ for the Xbox 360™ to classic games on the original PlayStation™. The application also allows users to quickly access the entire Goozex video games database through various console and search filters. In just a few clicks, users can access the latest reviews and ratings from Facebook members and friends, and additional weekly and Top 10 ratings lists are provided on the application’s homepage. Goozex’s application allows viewers to see their friends’ activities, from adding reviews, posting game ratings, listing “favorites” games and underscoring their “I want to play” games.

“For the last few months, we’ve been building an application that will meet the demands of many gamers on Facebook,” said Valerio Zanini, CEO and co-founder of Goozex, Inc. “I am both a Facebook member and a gamer, and it’s always been my goal to share the games I prefer and don’t prefer with my friends just like I do now with movies and music. For example, I want to see what people think about Bioshock before I purchase it. Goozex always has been about connecting people on the topic of video games, and developing this Facebook application is a natural extension of who we are and what we do.”

How to Use the Application:

The application is downloaded into a member’s personal profile page, which allows friends to browse through recent reviews and ratings. Unlike some other Facebook applications, members need not sign up or share personal information with Goozex to download the application; the application runs entirely inside the Facebook universe where users are not required to be Goozex.com members to access it. Goozex members; however, can share their game-trading library lists through their Facebook profile, making it easier for friends to see which games are wanted and which can be traded.

The new Goozex application is found under Video Game Community on Facebook and can be linked here: http://apps.facebook.com/goozexgames.

Goozex will be running a Limited Edition Halo 3 Xbox 360 Elite™ giveaway promotion for the first four weeks after the application launch. Each week, one lucky winner will win one of the four consoles prizes by inviting their friends to join the Goozex video game community on Facebook.

British Academy Video Games Awards In Association With PC World - Nominations Announced

Wii Sports leads the way with seven BAFTA nominations

London, 25 September 2007: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts today announced the nominations for The British Academy Video Games Awards in association with PC World. The Awards ceremony will reward the individuals behind the very best in artistic, creative and technical innovation in video games, and will be held at Battersea Evolution on 23 October.

Wii Sports which enables players to try their hand at a range of sports including baseball, tennis, boxing and golf received the highest nominations with seven, for Best Game, Casual, Gameplay, Innovation, Multiplayer, Sports and Strategy and Simulation. Crackdown, Gears of War, Okami and God of War 2 all secured five nominations each, while Guitar Hero II garnered four.

The nominations in the Best Game category exemplify the breadth of genres for players to enjoy today; from squad action and adventure in Kane and Lynch: Dead Men and Gears of War to battling mysterious undersea creatures in Bioshock, countering alien invasions in Crysis to rocking away in Guitar Hero II or enjoying a workout, playing Wii Sports.

In the Sports category, Colin McRae’s racing game Colin McRae: DiRT, is joined by the off-road rally racer MotorStorm, FIFA 08, Football Manager 2008, Wii Sports and Virtua Tennis 3.
In the Innovation category the nominations spanned the sensory experience of aquatic critters in flOw, the nature adventure game Okami, the quirky role-playing Super Paper Mario, the card battle game The Eye of Judgement, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, and Wii Sports.

This year’s nominations show the real diversity of today’s video games and their increasing appeal to both sexes and all ages, exemplified by the fact that the forty three different games nominated are rated 3+, 7, 12, 15, 16 & 18. This year’s categories have been fine-tuned to encapsulate the ingredients which contribute to making the video game one of the most exciting and engaging moving image art forms of today’s popular culture. The Academy will recognise excellence in Artistic Achievement, Technical Achievement, Gameplay, Innovation, Original Score, Use of Audio, and Story and Character as well as achievements in the genres of Action & Adventure, Casual, Multiplayer, Sports, Strategy & Simulation plus Best Game.

This year’s Awards will include the publicly-voted PC World Gamers Award and a new BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital. Online voting for the PC World Gamers Award will be live on October 3 at www.obsessedwithgames.co.uk

 

 

Nominations September 25 2007 

 

Action and Adventure 

Crackdown (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Rod Fergusson, Michael Capps, Cliff Bleszinski

Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

God of War 2 (PS2)

Cory Barlog, Michael Cheng, Eric Williams

SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Orange Box (PC)

Development Team

Valve/Electronic Arts

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)

Development Team

SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

 

Artistic Achievement 

Bioshock (Xbox 360)

Development Team

2K Boston/2K Australia/2K Games

Heavenly Sword (PS3)

Development Team

Ninja Theory/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Okami (PS2)

Atsushi Inaba

Clover(Capcom)/Capcom

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)

Development Team

SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Skate (PS3)

Development Team

EA Black Box/Electronic Arts

Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)

Ryan Stevenson, Ed Bryan

Rare/Microsoft Game Studios

 

 

Best Game

 

Bioshock (Xbox 360)

Development Team

2K Boston/2K Australia/2K Games

Crysis (PC)

Development Team

Crytek/Electronic Arts

Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Rod Fergusson, Michael Capps, Cliff Bleszinski

Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Development Team

Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Eidos/Eidos

Wii Sports (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

 

Casual 

Big

Brain Academy for Wii (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

Cake Mania (DS)

Development Team

Digital Embryo/Sandlot Games/Majesco

Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Development Team

Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

More Brain Training (DS)

Development Team

Nintendo/NintendoSingStar (PS3)

Development Team

SCE London Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Wii Sports (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

 

Gameplay 

Crackdown (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Cliff Bleszinski, Ray Davis, Lee Perry

Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

Sega Rally (PS3)

Development Team

SEGA Racing Studio/SEGA

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

 

Warhawk (PS3)

Dylan Jobe, Bruce Woodard, Brian Upton

Incognito/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Wii Sports (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

 

Innovation 

fl0w (PSN)

Jenova Chen, Nicholas Clark, Austin Wintory
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Okami (PS2)

Atsushi Inaba

Clover(Capcom)/Capcom

Super Paper Mario (Wii)

Development Team

Intelligent Systems/Nintendo

The Eye of Judgement (PS3)

Kazuhito Miyaki, Yuseke Watanabe

SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Trauma

Center: Second Opinion (Wii)

Development Team

Atlus USA/Nintendo

Wii Sports (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

 

Multiplayer 

Battlefield 2142 (PC)

Development Team

EA Dice/Electronic Arts

Crackdown (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios

Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Development Team

Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Wii Sports (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

World in Conflict (PC)

Development Team

Massive Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment/Vivendi Games

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)

Development Team

Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment

 

Original Score
Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

Hitoshi Sakimoto, Nobuo Uematsu

Final Fantasy XII Project Team/Square Enix

God of War 2 (PS2)

Clint Bajakian, Jonathan Mayer, Chuck Doud

SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Lair (PS3)

John Debney, Ryan Hamlyn, Clint Bajakian

SCE Foster City Studio & Factor 5/Sony Computer Entertainment

America

Okami (PS2)

Atsushi Inaba

Clover (Capcom)/Capcom

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)

Grant Kirkhope

Rare/Microsoft Game Studio

 

Sports 

Football Manager 2008 (PC)

Development Team

Sports Interactive/SEGA

Colin McRae: DiRT (Xbox 360)

Gavin Raeburn, Matt Horsman, Alex Grimbley

Codemasters/Codemasters

FIFA 08 (PS3)

Development Team

EA Chicago/Electronic Arts

MotorStorm (PS3)

Mick Hocking, Martin Kenwright, Pete Smith

SCE External Development Studio & Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Virtua Tennis 3 (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Sumo Digital/SEGA

Wii Sports (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

 

Strategy and Simulation 

Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Electronic Arts LA/Electronic Arts

Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Turn 10/Microsoft Game Studios

Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (PC)

Development Team

The Creative Assembly/SEGA

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Ubisoft Studios (

Montreal)/Ubisoft Entertainment

Wii Sports (Wii)

Development Team

Nintendo/Nintendo

World in Conflict (PC)

Development Team

Massive Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment

 

Story and Character 

Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

Development Team

Final Fantasy XII Project Team/Square Enix

God of War 2 (PS2)

Cory Barlog, David Jaffe

SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Heavenly Sword (PS3)

Development Team

Ninja Theory/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Okami (PS2)

Atsushi Inaba

Clover (Capcom)/Capcom

The Darkness (Xbox 360)

Denby Grace, Lars Johansson, Jerk Gustafsson

Starbreeze Studios/ 2K

The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360)

Scot Amos, Jonathan Knight, Greg Rizer

EA/Electronic Arts

 

Technical Achievement 

Crackdown (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Realtime Worlds/ Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Development Team

Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studio

God of War 2 (PS2)

Tim Moss, Christer Ericson

SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

MotorStorm (PS3)

Scott Kirkland, Martin Kenwright, Pete Smith

SCE External Development Studio/Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Okami (PS2)

Atsushi Inaba

Clover(Capcom)/Capcom

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)

Development Team

Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

 

Use of Audio 

Crackdown (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios

Elite Beat Agents (DS)

Development Team

iNiS/Nintendo

Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Development Team

Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

God of War 2 (PS2)

Dave Murrant, Philip Kovats, Chuck Russom

SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Development Team

Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Skate (PS3)

Development Team

EA Black Box/Electronic Arts

 

BAFTA One’s To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital 

Ragnarawk

Voodoo Boogy (Malcom Brown, Robert Clarke, Peter Carr, Lynne Robertson,

Finlay Sutton)ClimbActic

Carebox (Jack Potter, Alan Campbell, Benjamin Rollinson, Zarek Cohen, Duncan Harrison)

Bear Go Home

Phoenix Seed (Fengming Bao, Xi Deng, Yi Li, Guangyao Wang, Christopher Isaacs)

 

The PC World Gamers Award

(The only award to be voted for by the public)

 

Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (DS)

Nintendo/Nintendo

FIFA 07 (PS2)

EA Canada/Electronic Arts

Football Manager 2007 (PC)

Sports Interactive/SEGA

Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Epic Games/Microsoft

Grand Theft Auto:

Vice City Stories (PSP)

Rockstar Leeds/Take Two

Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)

Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe

Wii Play (Wii)

Nintendo/Nintendo

Former Shiny man Perry speaks his mind in the second-part of his interview with PDF magazine Disposable Media.

United Kingdom, 25th September 2007

Legendary games developer David Perry has reacted to claims that he is anti-Nintendo by stating that he refuses to censor himself. In the second-instalment of his exclusive interview with the online lifestyle magazine Disposable Media, Perry says that it is seemingly impossible for him to say anything remotely critical about Nintendo without people overreacting to it.

“I’m one of the few developers that doesn’t have a publisher PR department breathing down their necks all the time. So when I get to do an interview, I speak my mind. I just say how I feel, the press appreciate that. And I do a ton of interviews, so the conversations I have about gaming can go just about anywhere,” Perry tells interviewer Rob Crossley in issue 9 of Disposable Media.

Perry is, of course, referring to the press’ reaction to the first part of his interview with the publication, published in Issue 8 back in July. In it, the games developer – who has been responsible for classic titles such as Earthworm Jim and Aladdin – suggested that gamers may be drawn away from the Nintendo Wii to the “graphical power the [Xbox] 360 and PS3” over the next few years.

“500 interviews go by without a blip, but then if you mention something negative about Nintendo, it’s pretty impressive the passion that stirs,” Perry comments in the second part of the interview. “Do I take my comments back? Hell no. I’m in no way a Nintendo hater. I have a Wii, I bought it the second it came out, I play it often. I’ve got all their machines and tons of games. There’s just many issues with the Wii, and the fans just don’t want to hear it. I personally admire how well the Wii has done. I just find it interesting to see how people turn a blind eye to its flaws.”

Perry is adamant that the Wii isn’t as perfected as some blinkered gamers make out. “Games are all about accuracy. If you request something it better happen. The Wii controller adds some slop to the system, and that in turn goes against the golden rule that controls should be tight and perfect, something that Nintendo has lived off for years. I’m surprised how unimportant these things seem to be to people, that a slight inaccuracy is acceptable.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Perry warns against games developers getting trapped into making endless sequels. “I look at some developers who take their time, and slowly and carefully develop a game, and that means when it finally comes out people get really excited. And then on the other hand there are games like Tony Hawk’s. I mean that franchise has been milked beyond belief, it’s abusive, somebody should protect games like that from so many sequels. I’m bored of it.”

Issue 9 of Disposable Media, which is available for free download in PDF format at http://www.disposablemedia.co.uk/, went live on Monday 24th September, 2007, and – as well the second-part of the exclusive interview with Dave Perry – features extensive coverage of the recent Develop Conference & Expo which took place in Brighton, a look at Blast Arena Advance on the Game Boy Advance and freeware title Trouble Witches.

Partnership Commences with “Freaky Creatures” Collectible and Interactive Game Package

New York, NY, September 25, 2007 - Abandon Interactive Entertainment, a worldwide leader in original video game content, today announced an exclusive agreement with WEA Corp., Warner Music Group Corp.’s (NYSE: WMG) U.S. sales and retail distribution company, to market and distribute “Freaky Creatures,” one of the world’s first player-customized, cross-platform, multi-player game universes for the tween demographic. “Freaky Creatures” comes packaged with one of 10 collectible toys and an accompanying USB key, which gives players access to download the game to their personal computer and mobile devices.

As part of the agreement, WEA will distribute “Freaky Creatures” products in the United States through traditional game retail channels as well as online and mobile outlets.

“We are excited to partner with WEA, a company with the experience and distribution muscle necessary to bring this unique product to market,” said Jamie Ottilie, President and COO of Abandon Interactive Entertainment. “‘Freaky Creatures’ speaks directly to the 8-to-13 year-old tween audience in a new way and thanks to WEA’s ability to target non-traditional and digital retail channels, as well as their enormous reach within traditional music distribution outlets, they can better help us connect with this important target audience.”

John Esposito, President and CEO, WEA Corp., said, “As our company continues to grow and seek out new opportunities across a number of platforms, WEA is delighted to work with the team at Abandon Interactive Entertainment in the marketing and promotion of this innovative, multi-player, cross-platform game.”

Scheduled to launch in Spring 2008, the “Freaky Creatures” collectibles and game offer a unique physical and digital gaming experience. “Freaky Creatures” puts the gamer into a futuristic setting as a “Freaky Creature Trainer.” To succeed, the user must create, raise, train, and customize his or her “Freaky Creatures” and compete in battles against other players. The cross-platform game play allows players to access their creatures from both their PC and mobile phone.

The “Freaky Creatures” web site (www.myfreakycreatures.com) provides content introducing the gamers to this virtual universe. It is designed to encourage social networking by allowing players to invite friends to join and utilizes sign-up incentives to drive the growth of the user community. With a wide variety of engaging content such as customizable individual user and team pages, challenge boards, forums, store and mini-games, players are encouraged to immerse themselves in an imaginary world of galactic battles between good and evil.