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CHICAGO, July 29, 2008 - The leading manufacturer of innovative professional gaming gear, SteelSeries, today announced its acquisition of certain assets in Ideazon, Inc., the North American-based developer and manufacturer of gaming peripherals and technologies. This acquisition further strengthens SteelSeries’ peripheral technology and will help expand the company’s broad support within the gaming community.

“SteelSeries has brought together two rapidly growing companies in the gaming space, making SteelSeries one of the fastest-growing gaming peripherals manufacturers globally,” said Bruce Hawver, CEO of SteelSeries. “No other organization works as closely with both gamers, and now software creators, in order to create arguably the most responsive gaming products in the world, optimized for gamers’ preferences, as well as specific gaming publishers and specific titles.”

SteelSeries has achieved success and recognition over the past few years in working with and establishing new professional gaming events, like Iron.Lady and King of the Hill, as well as its support of more than 1,200 events globally. Ideazon has helped enhance the gaming experience through its relationships with top game developers and publishers, but its start in gaming also came from the gamers’ perspective and has grown from there.

“Ideazon’s game-branded line of PC peripherals is incredibly popular and enjoys a dedicated following,” added SteelSeries’ Hawver. “Their products truly complement our own by extending our reach to a broader audience of gamers. Our combined expertise with competitive gamers will help speed the development of game- branded products by linking the game developers with the strongest group of pro gamers in the world.”

SteelSeries supports more than 200 professional gaming teams globally and has involved many more pro and competitive gamers during its product development process. Ideazon has also inspired a community of gamers in terms of both sponsorships and event support.

“This acquisition will further establish SteelSeries as a leading global gaming peripherals manufacturer,” said Jacob Wolff-Petersen, Founder of SteelSeries . “No other organization works as closely with gamers and industry partners, or has a more comprehensive line of products to support every type of gamer. The synergies between Ideazon and SteelSeries are evident in the design, relationships and industry influence that both companies bring to the table to create this new gaming powerhouse.”

The new combined organization will be headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark with offices in North America and Asia.

Birmingham Salvo Wins US$500,000 Grand Prize and Title of CGS 2008 World Champions
- Birmingham Salvo Defeats San Francisco Optx 22-15; Dean “Picaso” Sutton and David “Daveyskills” Kelly Named 2008 CGS World Finals MVPs

LOS ANGELES—July 29, 2008, Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the only worldwide professional gaming league, announced that Birmingham Salvo defeated San Francisco Optx 22-15 in the 2008 World Final championship match last night to win US$500,000 and the coveted Mountain Dew World Champion trophy, following a thrilling live competition broadcast to more than 450 million viewers worldwide. The competition aired live in the U.S. exclusively on DIRECTV’s The 101 Network and will air on G4TV this Saturday, August 2 at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT, and in August and September on BSkyB in the UK, Eurosport in Europe, ESPN STAR Sports and STAR throughout Asia, and STAR in Australia.

“I’m extremely proud of my team right now,” said Michael O’Dell, General Manager for Birmingham Salvo. “They truly deserve the title of World Champions. We faced a lot of tough competition throughout the season, but when our backs were against the wall, every player demonstrated the skills and the poise to step up when it mattered the most. My players spent hundreds of hours practicing this season, and their hard work paid off tonight.”

Months of mental and physical training paved the road for Birmingham’s successful championship run. The CGS 2008 season began in March, as gamers from across the world competed in NFL-style Combine events with the hope of winning CGS professional gamer contracts. 18 teams emerged, comprised of the best gamers in the world who all had their sights set on winning the CGS 2008 World Final, the $500,000 top prize for this year’s CGS World Champion team, and the Mountain Dew Trophy – the ultimate symbol of excellence in competitive gaming. Eight top teams advanced to the World Final, which kicked off in mid-July and culminated with tonight’s championship match.

“CGS fans everywhere join me in congratulating Birmingham for such a momentous victory,” said Andy Reif, CEO and Commissioner of CGS. “Birmingham had some of the most exciting and close matches that pro gaming has ever seen coming into the Championship Match. However, they proved themselves dominant. We couldn’t have asked for a more worthy champion in our second season.

The 2008 World Final prize purse breaks down as follows:
1st Place $500,000 Birmingham Salvo
2nd Place $150,000 San Francisco Optx
3rd - 4th Place $70,000 per team Carolina Core, Berlin Allianz
5th - 8th Place $30,000 per team Dallas Venom, Mexico City Furia, Sydney Underground, Wuhan Dragon
Finals MVP $25,000 Dean “Picaso” Sutton and David “Daveyskills” Kelly

Valve’s Counter-Strike®: Source® and EA’s FIFA 2008 are the official PC games for CGS. On the Xbox 360, CGS features Tecmo’s Dead or Alive® 4 (DOA4) and Forza Motorsport® 2 from Microsoft Game Studios.
Each CGS team features a total of ten athletes, each specializing in an official League game. Five of the ten players comprise a Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) squad which competes in five-on-five matches. FIFA 08 is played one-on-one. Each CGS team also has a mixed-doubles team of two DOA4 players, who play against other teams in one-on-one matches. The racing game Forza2 is played by two players on each team in a two-versus-two format.

For more information, please go to www.thecgs.com.

Prague, 28 July 2008

Bohemia Interactive Studio, the developer of the critically acclaimed, highly realistic military simulations ArmA: Armed Assault and Operation Flashpoint*, announce the release of the first genuine ArmA 2 in-game screenshot.

“Here, at Bohemia Interactive, we strongly believe in fair attitude towards our customers. Therefore we have a very strict policy when it comes to publishing in-game screenshots. We guarantee and take pride in the fact that the screenshots are not processed in any way that would make them look better than in the actual gameplay. What you see is what you get.” Says Bohemia Interactive Studio’s CEO Marek Spanel.

“Operation Flashpoint”™ IS A TRADEMARK OF CODEMASTERS. ARMED ASSAULT 2 IS A PROPERTY OF BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE A.S., WHICH IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH, AUTHORIZED BY OR RELATED TO THE TRADEMARK OWNER.

Dual class system of fantasy MMORPG explained

Berlin, 2008/07/29: Having just being announced a few weeks ago, Runes of Magic has already caused some buzz with some very interesting RPG features. One of these will be the highly interesting dual class system of the upcoming fantasy online role-playing game.

Basically, players can choose from six main classes when starting into a new online career. According to individual preferences, they can select to play a warrior, ranger, cleric, knight, mage or a rogue (details for the classes can be found on the official website: http://www.runesofmagic.com/en/content,3,classes.html). New classes will follow with future updates. All classes in Runes of Magic dispose of an individual skill set that allow impressive combo attacks in cooperation with other players. When a character reaches level 10, the player can select a secondary class, which augments the possible class combinations up to 30 individual combination types. Hence the dual class system of Runes of Magic functions like two characters in one and offers a lot of interesting tactical choices about how to approach the multiple challenges waiting in the game world Taborea.

Following information about the dual class system and pre-registering for the beta on http://www.runesofmagic.com/en/content,37.html.

Generally, all classes in Runes of Magic can serve as a primary or secondary class. To switch between them, players have to visit a special class trainer e.g. in the town of Varanas located in the starting region. At any time players have full access to the complete level-based skill set of their active primary class. Simultaneously only the “non-specific” skills of their secondary class are available. But the character attributes of the secondary class add up to those of their primary class with 10 percent of their actual value. Contrary, all experience, attribute and talent points gathered from the online adventures accumulate exclusively to the active primary class. Therefore, only the primary skills of the main class can be upgraded by distribution of talent points. In any case, the level of the secondary class can not surmount the level of the primary profession. To level up their secondary class, players have to register it as their primary class with any class trainer. To start a new apprenticeship, they can use a scroll they get from their first visit at the beginning of the game to teleport to the region where they can level up their second class.

Using the dual class system of Runes of Magic wisely, players can build up their characters as multi-functional all-rounders. With a scout as secondary class, characters can use bows for example. With rogues as secondary they can use projectile weapons, warriors will give you axes. Combinations like melee fighters enhanced with several range combat skills as well as clerics that fight with axes become possible. The range of possibilities gives solo and group players many interesting tactical choices for PvE. RPG players will love the broad spectrum for character interpretation.

The skills of the six main classes make use of different energy types. Warriors use rage, scouts use focus, rogues need energy and mages, clerics and knights are fighting with mana. Players can apply those energy types independently from each other. Therefore, they can use the dual class system of Runes of Magic to build up dangerous specialists perfectly suited for group play also. For example, smart PC adventurers could create a mighty bombardier with the combination of scout and mage. If for example the character runs out of focus, he simply switches to mana and can immediately launch the skills of his secondary mage class. In contrast to that, a combined knight-warrior class will be the ultimate melee fighter. But players need to be careful with some combinations: mages and clerics use the same mana pool which can quickly dry out your resources.

In the launch version, the primary and secondary classes will have an initial maximum level of 50. But in the course of the game new special classes, different class ranks and special skill decks are to be explored. Advanced players are heading for “master”, “legendary” and “epic” classes that can be acquired after substantial progress in Runes of Magic.
And that’s not all concerning character development. Every character has its own set of skills that distinguishes between general skills like crafting or attack, and class-based primary and secondary skills. Frogster will introduce this system in detail soon. Registering for the beta has started on www.runesofmagic.com.

Runes of Magic features
• Free2play, no monthly fees, free download
• Dual class system with switchable primary and secondary classes
• Enthralling background story
• Already over 600 quests and level comprehensive quest series on launch
• Instanced and persistent dungeons
• Individually developed skills and spells
• Armor sets with special bonuses
• Dynamic item system: Upgrades with hundreds of runes
• Activatable PvP system (Player vs. Player duels)
• Epic crafting system with the possibility to improve existing items
• Individual coloring of clothes and armor
• Housing: personalization with individual furniture for players and guilds
• Special zones for guild houses
• Reputation system
• Scalable user interface based on the users preference (development of your own add-ons possible)
• In-game map and radar system to find dealers, resources and quests easily
• Auction house: auction and purchase items
• Teleporting possibilities per runes
• Different and unique mounts
• Controlling with mouse (point & click) and keyboard (WASD or arrow keys) possible

Austin, Texas - July 29, 2008 – Pangea Software is proud to announce Enigmo, a physics based puzzle game recently named “Best iPhone Game” at Apple’s 2008 World Wide Developer Conference, has yet again captivated gamers being named among the winners of the Austin Independent Games Festival (IGF). Along with the other eight winners named at the festival, Enigmo is to be exhibited at the Austin Game Developers Conference from September 15th to 17th.

Enigmo is the ultimate 3D puzzle game for the Apple® iPhone™ and iPod® touch! To complete each level the player will need to manipulate various streams of flowing liquid so that the droplets can reach their destination. Liquids (water, oil, and lava) fall from droppers, and will bounce off walls in a visually stunning cascade. By moving various types of bumpers, sliders, accelerators, and sponges, the player diverts the flow of the falling droplets. The faster players complete each level the more bonus points they receive.

Enigmo Features:
• Full interaction using the iPhone and iPod touch screens
• 50 challenging levels for extended play
• Move and rotate the various puzzle pieces to solve incredible 3D puzzles

For more information about Pangea Software or its products please visit: www.pangeasoft.net.

London, July 29th 2008 – For Immediate Release
Zombie Cow Studios is proud to announce the release of our latest game: ‘Cruxade’

Billed as a cross between veritable classics Tetris and Lumines, ‘Cruxade’ is a block-dropper with a unique dynamic, several hours of puzzle action, and an exceptional soundtrack by James Armstrong.

Simple to pick up and play, but nigh-impossible to truly master, ‘Cruxade’ is jam-packed with that ‘addictive’ gameplay that seems so very popular these days.

It’s an outrageously fun game to play, with one simple goal: earn as many points as possible. Just like how games used to be, back when they were good.

You can find out more, and download a FREE DEMO for Windows PCs to see whether or not it’s the sort of thing you like via www.zombie-cow.com/cruxade