When the design team at Rainbow Studios sat down to create our first concepts for MX vs. ATV: Untamed, we knew Untamed was going to continue to evolve the tradition of our previous MX titles with massive open worlds, a huge variety of vehicles, and diverse event series. We wanted to raise the bar by pulling all of these gameplay elements into one championship series, though, has always been a design challenge for the team. Previous single player career modes always focused on our Outdoor Nationals and Supercross events, which we still have as part of our championship mode. As a result, however, our fans never got to prove their skills in modes like Freestyle or our long Waypoint races. High scores and fast lap times are great, but it lacked that badass championship mode to pull all of the elements together and determine an off-road warrior. The main question that remained was, “How can we combine eight event series and still allow the user to select the game modes that they prefer to play the most?”

Enter the X-Cross Tournament. This isn’t your typical linear championship series. X-Cross is all about mastering vehicles and the environment, and doing it on your terms. MX has never been about super-grueling twitch gameplay. It’s about Rhythm Racing^™ , setting up for a series of jumps, finding the right line and destroying the competition. X-Cross also lets players discover and experience everything the game has to offer.

When you first dive into the X-Cross Tournament, you’re not going to be forced directly into one race. Instead, you’ll see options, three of them in fact: Supercross, Nationals and an all new gameplay mode, Opencross. Are you a hard-core SX fan? You’ll want to jump into the Supercross series, where you can race against the top pro-riders in chaotic 12-player races. Learn the lines and scrub over jumps to shave off precious seconds on your lap times. Do you just like tearing up the terrain in the outdoors? National tracks are where you can display your offroad dominance in 10 massive open worlds. Want to dive directly into a machine race? Opencross gives you the ability to master the machines and compete in long-form offroad races. Having trouble with a particular event mode? Keep your progress and jump right into one of the other brackets because you can always come back later to master that specific series.

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As you work your way through the early brackets, you’ll find similar events have been clustered around your chosen path. Paired up with Supercross is a revamped Freestyle mode. We’ve added all the latest Freestyle tricks, the ability to link stunts together, and all-new ground stunts to create the ultimate stunt combos. As you work through the National series, you’ll also find Supermoto events. Supermoto combines the best of on-pavement street-racing with offroad edge-of-control racing to create an amazing sense of speed. Finally, with Opencross we’ve pitted all vehicle types together in one race to determine the true off-road champion.

Towards the end of the brackets you’ll also find our Minimoto series and our all new Endurocross™ mode. While it may be easy to laugh at a big dude riding on a tiny 50cc bike, these bikes pack a lot of punch and result in some of the most chaotic crash sequences in the game. Endurocross™ is a brand new event mode we’ve added based off of a real-life racing series. In Endurocross™, all of the elements of the offroad (water, mud, logs, rocks) are brought indoors to create an intense new technical racing experience. We’ll be putting together a whole video-clip series on Endurocross™ because this thing is sick to play and watch, especially in the intense first-person view.

While the path you’ve chosen to the final race series can vary, all roads lead to the X-Cross Championship Series. This is the mother-of-all events, and will challenge you on all the racing and freestyle abilities you’ve learned in the earlier brackets. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve got the chops to compete, but the competition is tough and will have no problem with kicking-up dirt in your face. Prove your worth, and the championship is yours for the taking.

Check out our videos and screenshots to get a better feel for all the event modes in the X-Cross Tournament, and stay tuned for more vids and screens of our new game. Thanks for checking out MX vs. ATV: Untamed!

Former “Hitman” programmers launch their first casual game, Deep Blue Sea for PC and Mac, from their new game studio, The Game Equation.

Copenhagen, Denmark - January 2nd, 2008 - The hit game, Deep Blue Sea, is the first release from the brand new game studio, The Game Equation. “After working on top-rated shooters for years, we were ready to work in a smaller company and make smaller games. We started to notice how people with our background were making top hits in the casual games industry,” explains Brian Meidell, co-owner of the Copenhagen based company, The Game Equation. “We realized that the high end of the casual games industry was within our reach, and that the shorter product cycles and smaller company setting was exactly what we wanted. These are games that remind us of the ones we played when growing up,” he smiles.

“We studied the different options, and decided on the match-3 genre for Deep Blue Sea,” explains Bo Cordes, co-owner of The Game Equation. “Our goal was to apply our knowledge and experience towards creating a casual game with totally smooth and responsive gameplay or, ‘tight’ gameplay as we call it.” Deep Blue Sea’s initial sales and feedback indicate that they have accomplished just that.

One challenge was creating an original soundtrack that sets the mood throughout the game. “We knew from working on the internationally best-selling ‘Hitman’ series that the game’s sound and music mean a lot for its enjoyment, yet this is often the most overlooked element,” Meidell clarifies. To this end, The Game Equation contracted a Danish composer, Rasmus Hartvig with years of experience creating music for films and theatrical productions, to create an integrated music and sound design for Deep Blue Sea.

“Making music and sound for computer games is a very different challenge from making music for films - you have to consider unusual factors like, ‘would this be annoying to listen to after four hours,’ and, ‘what if these sounds are played simultaneously?’ But I’m always up for a new challenge,” says Hartvig.

Deep Blue Sea is the result of The Game Equation’s experienced approach and dedication to detail. Deep Blue Sea is available for PC and Mac, both versions retailing at $20.

Deep Blue Sea and free demo for PC and Mac available here:
http://www.thegameequation.com/games/deepbluesea

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

BUBBLE BOBBLE® (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): BUBBLE BOBBLE’s release in 1986 introduced the two bubble dragons, Bub and Bob, and brand new play mechanics, with players defeating enemies by trapping them in bubbles and then popping them. Although the puzzle-action game can be beaten by clearing all 100 rounds, it also contains secret elements such as not being able to get the “true ending” in single-player mode; hidden commands that lead to secret rounds; and a ton of different items. These elements are some of the game’s most memorable and important features. Each round even has different air currents that are not visible, so bubbles rise in unpredictable patterns. Aspects like forcing players to understand and utilize these different patterns while playing help make this a revolutionary game that is fun to play anytime.

Light Crusader™ (Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Animated Violence, 800 Wii Points): Each day, more good townspeople of Green Row have been mysteriously disappearing, and beleaguered King Weeden summons the knight Sir David to investigate. Armed with his wits and his sword, Sir David must find the cause of this strange evil and save the citizens of Green Row before things get any worse. Take the role of the brave knight in this action RPG and get to the bottom of the mysteries of Green Row as you fight enemies, solve puzzles and use your best combination of brains and brawn to save the kingdom.

TOP HUNTER (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and older-Cartoon Violence, 900 Wii Points): Take on the role of either Roddy or Cathy, bounty hunters in this side-scrolling action game set far in the future when humans have colonized space. But all is not well: Space pirates called the Klaptons are making their way through the galaxies, wiping out peaceful settlements along their path. This disgraceful behavior leads to them having a price on their heads, so now Roddy and Cathy must travel through four distinct worlds on a mission to defeat their leader, Captain Klapton. Both characters have retractable arms-used to grab enemies or other objects in the scenery-that can then be thrown at others to destroy them. Also, be on the lookout for rings or levers to pull, as this might reveal special bonuses. Further adding to the mix, the game uses a unique system where the action happens on two planes, with the player switching between them at will. Can you prove yourself worthy of the Top Hunter name and help save the universe?

For more information about Wii, please visit wii.com.