Gamersnewsbits.com

Atari Inc reports $23.6 million annual loss

The PlayStation Portable is yet again at the top of Japanese hardware sales for the week ended June 8, according to figures from Media Create.

GTA IV leads $536.9 million May US software sales

RockBand reaches 200 downloadable songs

Happy Fathers Day to you gaming dads out there. I’m sure I have a surprise coming to me from my 3 boys this Sunday. I know this is contrary to my last post, but please, enjoy the day, and spend it with the family (try to make those world records when the kids are fast asleep!). I’ll keep posting this weekend, though I expect it will be a slow news day. Hope everyone has a great Father’s Day, and keep playing those games!

-e

13/6/2008 – As millions of fathers and sons get together to celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday, June 15, Guinness World Records would like to honour fathers worldwide, and encourage gamers to get their dads involved in their favourite hobby.

If your dad is a golf fanatic, encourage him to try and set a new Guinness World Record on the best selling golf series Tiger Woods PGA Tour by Electronic Arts. The lowest score Guinness World Records currently has on file is by Douglas Loyd of Hazelwood, Missouri, USA, who scored just 47 strokes across all 18 holes on the Doral Course in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06.

If your father is a music fan, put his air guitar skills to the test by seeing if he can set a high score record in Guitar Hero III. While the current Guinness World Record for the game, 880,920 points by Chris Chike of Rochester, Minnesota, USA may seem insurmountable, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will be released on June 29th, giving a clean slate for record attempts with this new title filled with songs from 70s and 80s.

If your dad regales you with tales from when he was a classic video game champion, find a local arcade, and see if he can set a new world record on a vintage machine. Patrick Laffaye recently brought his son to Funspot, the world’s largest arcade in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, USA, where he watched Patrick set a new high score for the classic game Frogger, netting 599,110 points. With hundreds of games to choose from, there’s bound to be one on which your dad is an ace!

For more spectacular gaming records to inspire you or your dad purchase the Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition 2008, the first Guinness World Records book devoted solely to the world of gaming, is on shelves now and bursting with new records, high score statistics and fascinating facts. It also makes a fantastic last minute Father’s Day gift.

Montreal, June 4th 2008

Online Games specialist Alchemic Dream, Inc is glad to announce its partnership with Agora Games, provider of in-game and web online gaming communities.

Aurelien Merville, CEO of Alchemic dream Inc. comments « Agora Games brings perfect tools to build online gaming communities. It’s a vital element for a company like Alchemic Dream dedicated in online games community management and customer services. »

Peter Ryan, VP of Business Development of Agora Games comments “Alchemic Dream is an exceptional partner for Agora because of their capability to provide highly scalable on-demand community management services for our clients online communities. Having Alchemic Dream as a reliable and instantly accessible work force to rapidly scale community management capacity is critical to Agora’s future ability to provide world class solutions to all of our partners regardless of the volume of users and scale of community management requirements.”

SouthPeak, Interactive Game Group and Legacy Interactive to Publish “Igor” for Wii^TM, NINTENDO DS^TM and PC

MIDLOTHIAN, VA, June 13, 2008 – SouthPeak Interactive Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: SOPK; SOPKU; SOPKW; SOPKZ) announced today it will be co-publishing Igor The Game for the Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and PC. The game is based on the highly anticipated animated movie created by Exodus Film Group in cooperation with The Weinstein Company. MGM Studios is distributing the animated film in the United States, launching wide this September. Interactive Game Group (“I2G”) is financing and coordinating the game project on a worldwide basis. Co-published and developed by Legacy Interactive in the US, Igor lures players through Malaria, a world where mad scientists create dubious inventions to compete in the annual Evil Science Fair.

“Legacy and I2G are doing a tremendous job bringing Igor into the virtual gaming world,” said Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak Games. “This is a great property and promises to be a huge hit when it comes out this fall. We love the fact that the game is able to capture the elements of the film so well and turn it into a fun, interactive environment.”

Igor, the movie, follows a hunchbacked lab assistant named Igor (voiced by John Cusack) forced to serve a mad scientist while dreaming of one day becoming a notorious mad scientist himself and winning the Evil Science Fair. Other stars contributing their voice talents to the film are Molly Shannon (as Eva), Steve Buscemi (as Scamper), Sean Hayes (as Brain) and Eddie Izzard (as the maniacal Dr. Schadenfreude).

In the Wii and PC versions of the game, players have the ability to choose one of the main characters (Igor, Eva, Scamper or Brain) and play either simultaneously or cooperatively with up to four people. They’ll be challenged to play within locales from the film, fight enemies and achieve goals that advance them through the storyline.

The Nintendo DS version utilizes the stylus to perform movement combinations, combat enemies and solve puzzles. Players can custom build their own monsters to take on puzzle challenges and battle against other mad scientists.

“With Igor, we set forth to capture the unique mix of dark, yet playful aspects seen in the movie. It’s a great game that can be enjoyed with both friends and family and will appeal to a younger audience as well,” said Ariella Lehrer, President of Legacy Interactive.

Igor The Game will be available this September. For more information, please visit www.SouthPeakGames.com or www.IgorGame.com.

June 13, 2008 - Glendale, Calif. - Ignition Entertainment, a UTV Enterprise and worldwide publisher and developer of videogames, announced today that they have partnered with developer Success to bring Tornado to North America, exclusively for Nintendo DS™.

Tornado lets players join forces with Toki and the other members of the Cosmic Cleaners as they set out to restore all of Earth’s buildings, vehicles, inhabitants and other obscure objects that have been stolen by the envious Prince using his mischievous “Black Hole Device.” Using a combination of stylus and microphone activated controls, players will travel across Planet 69 as they level up and max out their “Tornado Machines” to literally uproot everything in their paths in effort to take back what Prince has wrongfully stolen and return it to Earth.

“After the successes of Zoo Keeper on DS, we at Ignition Entertainment are thrilled be working with the talented team over at Success once again,” said Ajay Chadha, President of Ignition Entertainment. “Their skill at developing fun and creative games has never ceased to amaze us.”

Aside from featuring a fun-filled and action-packed Story Mode, Tornado also offers several other modes of gameplay including:

• Arcade Mode, where players can go back to levels that they have completed in Story Mode to wreak havoc and pickup item that were previously missed.

• Battle Mode, in which players can challenge a friend wirelessly and go head-to-head in a bout of mutual collecting.

• Bonus Mode, where players can view everything they’ve collected in Story and Arcade modes and listen to the soundtrack pieces they’ve collected.

For more information please visit www.ignitionusa.com

Look for Tornado to sweep into stores this fall.