Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, The Saul Zaentz Company and New Line Productions, Inc. announce that The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest videogame will launch on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system with full support for PlayStation’s upcoming motion controller technology at the controller’s launch. This family-friendly action-adventure game, based on the films and literature of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, will ship in Autumn 2010 for the PlayStation 3 system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ system.

In The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest videogame, players become the legendary hero Aragorn and relive his most daring battles from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The action-packed sword, bow and horseback adventures will be enhanced for players of all ages through high-quality graphics and gameplay created especially for the PlayStation 3 system. Utilizing PlayStation’s upcoming motion controller for precision through mastery, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest videogame engages players with intuitive motion-control gameplay where every controller gesture instantly and accurately translates to weapon strikes in the game. Exclusively for the PlayStation 3 system and Wii, two-player motion controlled co-op gameplay featuring Gandalf allows kids, families and friends to battle side-by-side in the heart of the action.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest videogame will feature the voice talents of actor Sean Astin (Rudy, The Goonies, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and actor and vocal artist John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy). Both Astin and Rhys-Davies will reprise their on-screen roles of Samwise Gamgee and Gimli. The game also showcases original in-game music tracks along with music from The Lord of the Rings film scores created by composer Howard Shore.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest is developed for Wii by Headstrong Games and for the PlayStation 3 system, PlayStation 2 system, PSP system and Nintendo DS by TT Fusion.

FINAL FANTASY XIII marks the dawning of a new era for the celebrated series, bringing the series to multiple hi-definition consoles simultaneously for the first time in its history. Expanding upon the rich tradition of the series, producer Yoshinori Kitase (FINAL FANTASY VII, X, X-2), director Motomu Toriyama (FINAL FANTASY VII, X, X-2), character designer Tetsuya Nomura (FINAL FANTASY V, VI, VII, VIII, X) and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo (FINAL FANASY X, XII) combine their creative vision to deliver the latest masterpiece in the FINAL FANTASY universe. Additionally, Masashi Hamauzu (FINAL FANTASY X, DIRGE of CERBERUS -FINAL FANTASY VII-) presents a sweeping soundtrack while movie director Takeshi Nozue (FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN) and his team of artists adorn the game with seamless cinematic sequences of unparalleled calibre.

Introducing new worlds, memorable characters and extraordinary stories with each new instalment, the FINAL FANTASY series has continued to reinvent itself over the last two decades and has shipped over 92 million copies worldwide. The series is defined by a constant evolution, offering nothing less than the finest creative vision, graphical quality and gameplay system of its generation with every instalment, and FINAL FANTASY XIII will be no exception to its legacy.
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Source: www.finalfantasy13game.com

“Expanding our well-working and established partnership with Meridian4 to a full portfolio scenario is the next strategic and logical step towards our aim to reach gamers on a worldwide level throughout all retail and media channels. We started strong with the first two titles and are very much looking forward to bringing and creating new franchises together with their very experienced team” said Dieter Schoeller, Managing Director of Headup Games.

“Our initial agreement with them for Greed and Gear Grinder was very successful and we are delighted that we are able to continue to work with Headup Games. Their original and unique titles, such as Future Wars are a great match with our audience. We know that this title will do well and will have a wide appeal to all types of gamers.” said Andy Sher, CEO at Meridian4.

Future Wars
Similar to classic titles such as Advance Wars and Battle Isle, the game takes turn-based strategy gaming away from the micro-management overkill that it has become and using simple, proven rock-paper-scissors principles, reopens the genre to a wider audience.

With a modern 3D engine providing the graphics, a proven, easy to learn, but difficult to master set of rules surrounded by an engaging plot and challenging gameplay, the game will appeal to newcomers and hard-core gamers alike.

Also available is unlimited access and infinite possibilities to mod the game through open data structure, open scripts and an easy-to-use editor.

• Modern 3D graphics & proven gameplay embedded in an engaging and sometimes, humorous plot
• Infinite modding possibilities through open data structure, open scripts and editor
• Novel and unique game modes such as AI vs. AI or play-by-email
• Rock-paper-scissors principle makes Future Wars easy to learn but difficult to master
• In-game achievements encourages replay to acquire top honors

Sony Online Entertainment announced that its family-friendly online game, Free Realms, has surpassed nine million registered players.

“With Free Realms, we’ve been able to reflect the needs and wants of our players by keenly listening to their suggestions and feedback,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “We believe the persistent exercise of capturing in-game research inside Free Realms has been a huge contributing factor as to why we’ve attracted over nine million players in less than a year. It truly helps us give our players a game where they can do and be whatever they want.”

Continuous development of new features and themed in-game events, as well as persistent marketing support, has drawn a constant influx of new players into the free-to-play virtual world. An example of a customer-requested feature recently introduced in Free Realms is Rides.

Introduced last month, Rides not only look cool and come in multiple color choices, but they allow players who have purchased a Membership to hop on the back of a T-Rex or Dragon and travel anywhere in the overland world at 150% of their normal speed. Building on this player-driven feature request, Horses are the next Rides scheduled to be released, with more types of transportation in the works. The development team is also set to introduce new Owl and Groundhog pets, as well as an exciting new 3-D minigame in the near future.

Free Realms offers an endless array of activities and mini-games to entertain players. From ninja fighting to kart racing to raising pets, Free Realms offers a safe, family-friendly environment to connect with old and new friends. Also available is the Free Realms Trading Card Game: a full-featured trading card game, playable both digitally within the Free Realms online game and offline via physical card decks sold wherever you buy trading cards. Free Realms players can also pop into select retailers to purchase Station Cash™ cards, which can be redeemed for Station Cash, and used to buy virtual goodies or upgrade to a Membership status in the game.

Free Realms is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up with content descriptors of Crude Humor and Fantasy Violence. To play Free Realms, visit: http://www.FreeRealms.com.

Aeria Games & Entertainment, one of the fastest growing publishers of free-to-play online games in North America and Europe, has officially unveiled its newest title, Kingdom Heroes. Players interested in testing the game prior to its Spring 2010 release can visit the official site, starting today, and sign up to participate in the upcoming Closed Beta.

Kingdom Heroes (KH) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that introduces a variety of new, revolutionary features to the MMO genre. In Kingdom Heroes, players will be able to:

• Recruit and customize NPC soldiers to form their own personal armies.
• Organize a crew of players and take to the seas in exciting ship battles.
• Work together to establish, develop, and defend player-controlled cities.
• Conquer enemy strongholds using an impressive arsenal of troops, mounts, ships, and powerful siege engines.

In addition to this unparalleled array of game features, Kingdom Heroes offers numerous character customization options, branching classes and talent trees, mounted combat, a player based economy, instanced battlefields, thousands of quests, and global player-versus-player (PvP) events where rival factions battle for control of player cities and territory.

For more information about Kingdom Heroes, screenshots and video, or to be among the first to register for the Closed Beta period, visit http://kingdomheroes.aeriagames.com.

Unknown Worlds has been funded largely by its community and preorders although many players have been waiting to hear if pre-ordering now would let them download and play the game on Steam later.

Pre-ordering now gives immediate access to NS2 mapping tools and artwork as well as early access to the alpha or beta when ready. Unknown Worlds is now testing its proprietary “Spark” engine with a small number of players and will expand that to everyone that has pre-ordered the Special Edition shortly.

Natural Selection 2 can be pre-ordered for at a special price of $19.95/€14.75 (Standard Edition) or for $39.95/€29.56 (Special Edition) at http://www.naturalselection2.com/buy. Over 10,000 players have pre-ordered to date. The tools and SDK are available now at http://www.naturalselection2.com/download.

Natural Selection 2
Natural Selection 2 is the sequel to the popular Half-life mod, Natural Selection, which was the most popular independent Half-life mod and was played by over 300,000 players for over 2 billion player-minutes. Natural Selection 2 is a online-only first-person shooter and real-time strategy hybrid. Players can play as marines, aliens or commanders and fight in atmospheric sci-fi environments. It features:

• Truly unique sides. Whether you play as one of the elite marine Frontiersmen or the vicious alien Kharaa, you must use unique strategies and your abilities to win. Marines form persistent squads to find and destroy alien hives. Aliens can choose a wall-running Skulk, pudgy Gorge, flying Lerk, murderous Fade or gigantic Onos that can smash through doors.

• Real-time strategy. Commanders play from overhead to lead their team to victory. Build structures anywhere, collect resources and research upgrades. Marines buy weapons at an Armory or build sentry turrets and siege cannons to assault the enemy. Aliens build chambers, evolve special abilities and plant traps.

• Dynamic environments. Spreading alien infestation deforms hallways and causes space station power failure, turning off lights and shutting down marine powered structures. Use a flamethrower to clear infestation or weld a bulkhead shut for a last defense. Every game is different.

• Unlimited variations. WYSIWYG graphical tools and powerful scripting allow you to create new weapons, scenarios or entirely new games. You’ll get all our tools and Lua source code we’re using to build NS2. Ongoing automatic updates keep the game fresh by adding new maps, weapons and abilities.

Square Enix London Studios announced an incredible, action-packed demo for the hotly anticipated freeroaming action game Just Cause 2 will release on March 4th, 2010.

Available for PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC, the Just Cause 2 demo will feature a massive 35 square miles of the Lautan Lama Desert, a vast expanse of stunning, sun-scorched scenery taking up just one of the many islands in the 400 square miles of the Panau archipelago. Packed with towns, villages, military installations, mountain ranges, missions and more, the demo will feature an astonishing amount of activities for the player… and opportunities for adrenaline-fuelled chaos are limitless.

Hunt down and assassinate one of the game’s 50 military colonels; devastate military bases, bio fuel chambers, government infrastructure and more; hijack tuk tuks, military 4×4s, armoured vehicles, mopeds, helicopter gunships, light aircraft, mini vans and numerous other military and civilian vehicles; freefall from desert outcrops or from burning planes at 20,000 feet; and unlock one full, multi-stage mission, traversing the mountains to a heavily fortified government radar station and ending in an unforgettable desert car chase.

“The Just Cause 2 demo is simply massive and with so much to do, the replay value is enormous,” said Lee Singleton, General Manager of Square Enix London Studios. “It’s easily one of the biggest freeroaming demos of all time and for fans of openworld games, it’s unmissable.”

The Just Cause 2 demo will be available March 4th, 2010, on PlayStation®Network, Xbox LIVE® Marketplace and Steam.

As Rico Rodriguez, the Agency’s most powerful weapon, players must take on the island of Panau and its military regime in order to track down Rico’s former boss and mentor, Tom Sheldon, who has gone rogue with millions in Agency cash and intel. Using a unique grapple and parachute combination, there is no vertical limit as the air becomes your playground: grapple a passing plane in flight, hijack helicopters, BASE jump from the tallest buildings or mountains and leave a trail of chaos and destruction in your wake. Just Cause 2 offers players the freedom to tackle missions any way they choose and, with over 100 vehicles and countless upgrades and collectibles, the choices for relentless adrenaline-fuelled action are limitless.

Just Cause 2 will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Games for Windows® and will be released under the EIDOS brand portfolio. All formats will release in-stores on March 23rd, 2010, in North America and March 26th, 2010, in Europe, Middle East, and Australasia. More information is available on the official website at www.justcause.com.

• Traditional “2D” Street Fighter gameplay redefined for the iPhone.
• Play as eight Street Fighter favorites: Ryu, Ken, M. Bison, Chun-Li, Guile, Dhalsim, Abel and Blanka.
• Robust move sets including Unique Attacks, Special Moves, EX Moves, Super Combos and Ultra Combos.
• Seven amazing locations.
• Fully customizable “Visual Pad” control system. Place the D-pad and buttons anywhere on the screen.
• Execute moves through multiple key combinations and shortcuts making the game accessible to casual players, while still challenging to hardcore fans.
• Play head-to-head with a friend via Bluetooth or master the game in single player “Tournament” mode.
• Multiple training modes including “Free-Sparring,” Training Room” and the “Dojo” which teaches the player all the nuances of the game.

System Specs

• iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 2nd generation and iPod Touch 3nd generation running 3.0 or better.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, on behalf of DC Comics, announces Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame, an action-adventure videogame based on the popular animated series, available this Autumn for Wii™ and Nintendo DS™. In the game, fans play alongside Batman and many of his allies in the DC UNIVERSE to take on dozens of popular villains.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame fully immerses fans into the vivid animated world of the successful TV series where kids can play as Batman or together with family and friends in two-player co-op mode. Players can choose from iconic characters ROBIN, GREEN LANTERN, BLUE BEETLE, along with drop-in heroes such as AQUAMAN to help solve puzzles and fight foes.

The game provides maximum replay value to those who own both the Wii and Nintendo DS versions by allowing them to connect the two systems to unlock BAT-MITE as a playable character. Players can control him with the Nintendo DS to wreak havoc or fight alongside the main characters in all levels of the Wii videogame.

“Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame further illustrates the diverse appeal of the Batman brand and the gameplay is a fun, vibrant extension of the animated series,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President of Development and Production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The game’s co-op play offers kids, families and Batman fans an interactive way of experiencing the cartoon’s iconic characters.”

In Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame, players embark on an exciting journey through crime-filled alleys, alien planets, abandoned underground cities and mysterious laboratories. Further lending to the authentic cartoon feel of the game is the inclusion of Batman’s iconic gadgets such as Batarangs and his Grapnel Gun.

For more information, visit www.BraveandtheBoldVideogame.com.

Written by acclaimed authors Jeff Grubb and Matt Forbeck, Ghosts of Ascalon introduces readers to a fantasy world ravaged by war and chaos, and sets the stage for the release of the highly-anticipated sequel Guild Wars 2™.

Scheduled for release in North America and Europe in the summer of 2010, Ghosts of Ascalon takes place in the dangerous land of Tyria, the setting of Guild Wars. A mismatched band of adventurers, each plagued by ghosts from their pasts, journeys into the haunted, war-torn kingdom of Ascalon to retrieve a sacred relic that holds the promise of peace between humanity and their ancestral enemies, the savage charr. But not everyone wants peace, and the undead king who rules Ascalon won’t give it up easily!

In Guild Wars, one of the best-selling fantasy role-playing franchises of all time, players adventured through an epic storyline that spanned three continents or faced off against each other in head-to-head combat. Ghosts of Ascalon takes place in the same era as the upcoming Guild Wars 2, hundreds of years after the events of the original Guild Wars series. The sweeping storyline, richly imagined setting and dramatic characters will appeal to both fantasy readers and fans of Guild Wars alike.

For more information on Ghosts of Ascalon, please visit www.guildwars2.com.