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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ — inXile entertainment today announced the acquisition of Fantastic Contraption(TM), an online physics puzzle game that the company sees as the next Line Rider(TM) (http://www.linerider.com). The brainchild of independent developer Colin Northway, Fantastic Contraption was first released over the internet (http://www.fantasticcontraption.com) in July of 2008 and to date almost three million people from almost every country in the world have visited the site, creating millions of contraptions. inXile holds the rights to Fantastic Contraption for all platforms and plans to release an iPhone(TM) application in time for the holiday season.

“Fantastic Contraption fits perfectly with our user generated content strategy and when we combine the 1 million unique visitors a month from Line Rider with the Fantastic Contraption traffic, it doubles our traffic to 2 million unique people each month,” said Brian Fargo, chief executive officer of inXile entertainment. “We believe Fantastic Contraption is the next internet phenomenon and in this era of large game companies producing big, expensive games, some of the most amazing games are the product of one person with a vision. Fantastic Contraption is just that sort of game and we knew it the first time we played it.”

Fantastic Contraption is a physics puzzle game where the objective in each level is to move all red objects into a rectangular goal area. Players are provided with a blue rectangular building area and different materials to build their device.

“The idea of Fantastic Contraption came to me in a flash and I spent every waking hour working on it,” said Colin Northway, indie game developer and the creator of Fantastic Contraption. “When my friends and family played early versions and couldn’t stop playing, I knew I had something and when within a week of its release there were over 20,000 people a day playing it, wow, I was just amazed!”

Northway continued, “My dreams for Fantastic Contraption have outgrown my ability to realize them on my own as there is a limit to what one person sitting on the couch with a laptop can do. After talking with inXile, it became immediately clear that they shared my passion for games and my dreams for Fantastic Contraption so it was a no-brainer to work with them.”

The Laguna Seca race track!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy52XpG61C0]

And since I missed it the first time around, here’s the Road America track, revealed a few weeks ago….

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWhVhM36RXk]

Elven Legacy is a fantasy strategy game that sends players on an epic quest aimed to restore the former glory of the Elven race. With a thrilling nonlinear storyline and the tools that allow players can create their own missions and campaigns and share them in multiplayer mode, Elven Legacy will provide hours of exciting game play for strategy fans.

Elven Legacy is scheduled for release in March 2009 and will be published worldwide by Paradox Interactive. It will be available for digital download at GamersGate for a suggested retail price of $29.99

From the early Beta phases to the released version, the Launcher/Patcher of The Chronicles of Spellborn® has seen its design modified to reflect important milestones within the lore.

The latest version, codename “The Seal”, mirrors the thawing of the Undying Ice with the artefact known as the Barbarian Seal.

This Launcher/Patcher features two new functionalities. The first one is called “Options”, which lets the players choose the language of the Launcher and of the game, and the second one is a “Check Files” button, which makes sure all files in the Spellborn installation directory are up-to-date and not corrupted.

Each time a player starts up The Chronicles of Spellborn®, the Launcher/Patcher is displayed, showing the latest information about the game, such as hotfixes, content and patch notes.

Screenshots of the Launcher can be found at the following address on The Chronicles of Spellborn® official website:
http://tcos.com/en/news,id148,road_patch_1_0_1_new_launcher.html

In addition, yesterday Spellborn NV also released screenshots of new equipment pieces showcasing brand new Hoods. Like all other pieces of equipment in The Chronicles of Spellborn®, these headpieces do not feature any statistics by themselves and are only available to the players to salvage from defeated opponents or as important quest rewards. Naturally, the hoods will also allow for customization through the use of Item Sigils and colouring.
New adventurers in The Chronicles of Spellborn® can already customize their character with two of the hoods available during character creation.

Screenshots of new Hoods can be found at the following address:
http://tcos.com/en/news,id145,road_patch_1_0_1_new_hoods.html

What Lies Hidden, Must Be Found
In The Chronicles of Spellborn® players enter an impressive online game world containing scenic landscapes, majestic cities and the remnants of a shattered world. Alone or with a party of friends, PC adventurers step into a fantasy realm consisting of varied shards: habitable pieces of the destroyed world floating in the magical Deadspell Storm. Those who want to prevail in the actively involving combat of The Chronicles of Spellborn® need to apply their mighty arsenal of skills with actual manual aiming skills. Battles with bloodthirsty creatures, intelligent hostile factions and other human opponents in Player vs. Player battles are waiting. An innovative and tactically challenging combat system with third-person shooter-like controls and a unique rotating Skill Deck provides a breath of fresh air amidst the more traditional MMORPGs. Thanks to a largely extended Unreal Engine 2.5, The Chronicles of Spellborn® boasts stunning 3D graphics, spectacular effects and countless elaborate details. More information, images, videos and a beta registration-form can be found on the official website:www.tcos.com

- “Korea is the best place for holding the global online game awards”

Korea Game Industry Agency (president: Choi Kyu-nam) announced the winners of the 1st Global Online Game Awards, the best online games that captivated the world’s gamers in 2008 per genre. This event was held at Exhibition Hall No. 3 of SETEC at 5pm on the 16th.

For Role-playing games, Blizzard Entertainment’s “World of Warcraft” for the Racing/Casual genre, Nexon’s “Kartrider,” and First-Person Shooting Game Valve’s “Counterstrike Source” were the big winners. NC Soft’s “City of Heroes/Villains” was selected for the Adventure/Action game genre, EA Sports’ “FIFA 09,” as the top sports game, and CCP Games’ “EVE-Online,” for the Strategic Simulation game genre.

The host explained that fairness and credibility of the awards were enhanced through the participation of major game media of each nation in the world with regard to the judging and proceedings of the “Global Online Game Awards.” Simon Carless, publisher of the US’s Game Developer and Gamasutra.com, Michael Trier, chief editor of German PC Game magazine “Game Star,” Wang Wei Wen, chief reporter of Chinese Game portal “17173 dot com,” and Mo In, chief editor of Korea’s “The Games” participated in this event as judges.

Simon Carless, publisher of Game Developer and Gamasutra.com and one of the judges, noted how a variety of online games are popular all over the world, breaking down the cultural boundaries of the East and the West. “I think the 2008 Global Online Game Awards is more valuable as a venue where all major game developers worldwide gather,” he stated.

According to Michael Trier, chief editor of German PC Game magazine Game Star, Korea is a country that the world should benchmark in terms of promoting a healthy game culture. “Korea is the best place for holding the global online game awards held this year for the first time in the world,” he said.

Mo In, chief editor of “The Games” and one of the judges representing Korea, expressed hope that the awards event for global online games is established as “an international game awards similar to the Cannes Film Festival or Venice Film Festival.”

Wang Wei Wen, chief reporter of Chinese Game portal “17173 dot com” gave his two cents’ worth after participating in the judging. “Online games not only provide enjoyment to people but also play the role of narrowing the gap between nations. I hope to see more excellent online games next year and the year after,” he said.

“This event will serve as an important opportunity for Korea to contribute to the revitalization of the global online game industry. “I sincerely congratulate excellent games from every nation including Korea, North America, and Europe, they truly deserve the recognition,” said Choi Kyu-nam, president of the Korea Game Industry Agency as the organizer of the Global Online Game Awards.

CARY, NC, December 16, 2008 — Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) and Epic Games, Inc. today announced that Autodesk has become a member of Epic Games’ Integrated Partners Program (IPP). This has allowed Autodesk to integrate its Autodesk HumanIK animation middleware with Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 (UE3). Kynapse artificial intelligence (AI) middleware was also previously integrated with UE3. Publishers and developers licensing this game engine now have access to a production-ready solution for dynamic in-game character animation, as well as 3D navigation and spatial reasoning.

“Epic constantly pushes the technology behind Unreal Engine 3, and working with renowned partners like Autodesk is critical to providing our licensees with best in class development tools,” said Dr. Michael Capps, president of Epic Games. “Autodesk is a leader in 3D design software for games, and we are pleased to welcome them to the Integrated Partners Program.”

“Autodesk is working to help game designers create the most realistic characters possible,” said Michel Kripalani, director of business development, Games Technology Group at Autodesk. “Believable characters have life-like movement and can navigate their environments intelligently. Integrating HumanIK, along with Kynapse, into UE3 makes it much easier for publishers and developers to achieve this level of realism, which is demanded by gamers today.”

Optimized for next-generation platforms, Autodesk HumanIK middleware consists of a run-time, full-body inverse kinematics (IK) solver, as well as a run-time retargeting engine for characters of differing size, proportions and skeletal hierarchy. HumanIK allows animators and game designers to alter animations on the fly, letting characters interact dynamically and realistically with their environments. HumanIK has been licensed for several titles including Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, as well as Electronic Arts’ DEF JAM: ICON™, FIFA Soccer 07 and NBA STREET Homecourt.

Autodesk Kynapse is a world leading AI solution for game development and real-time simulations. Designed to give nonplayer characters (NPCs) spatial awareness so that they can realistically navigate digital environments, this high-performance engine supports dynamic 3D pathfinding, 3D topology analysis, and team coordination. Additional advanced pathfinding capabilities include dynamic environment evaluation and support for large-crowd pathfinding in complex terrains. Kynapse has been adopted for more than 70 AAA titles.

Epic Games’ Integrated Partners Program establishes a formal business relationship with exceptional companies making cross-platform technologies which integrate with, and are complementary to, UE3. Under the IPP, Epic provides continuous UE3 source code access and full technical support to IPP members. Companies who join the IPP agree to provide a high level of technical support for UE3 licensees through Epic’s established support channels, keep their implementations up-to-date with the latest engine versions and collaborate with Epic on potential promotional and co-marketing efforts.

California – December 16, 2008 - Isotx, Inc. – Isotx is happy to announce a free expansion pack for its new RTS/FPS hybrid, Iron Grip: Warlord, available to all current and future players called the Winter Offensive! Starting December 22nd, Offensive will be available for digital download through their webstore (http://webstore.isotx.com). In order to access this free new content, players must own the original game first and then undergo a simple and quick patching process to upgrade.

Iron Grip: Warlord Winter Offensive will include three new units, one new level, a new soundtrack, and a myriad of technical changes and bug fixes. Isotx hopes to reliably update and add new, free content to the game every few months – stating that “while this expansion is the first, it is certainly not the last. We have hopes to continue to add value to our title and thank our growing community for playing our first commercial release.”

Iron Grip: Warlord is now available for $24.95 through Isotx’s digital download athttp://webstore.isotx.com with the Winter Offensive expansion to be available by 12/22/08 for free. To try out the game for free, download the demo today from www.igwarlord.com/splash.

ABOUT WARLORD 
Iron Grip: Warlord is a budget indie title that just hit the marketplace. It features a unique hybrid RTS/FPS gameplay with both single-player and multiplayer co-op levels. Players fill the shoes of Atelian warriors and defend their cities from on onslaught offense by the Confederate army. Outnumbered significantly, players must rely on their wits and skills to survive by building defensive structures (RTS) and using a wide-spread arsenal of weapons (FPS). With several difficulty options and complex levels, the firefights are uniquely intense, no battle is the same, and nothing is ever easy.

Iron Grip: Warlord is now available for $24.95 through Isotx’s digital download atwebstore.isotx.com. The Winter Offensive, the first of many expansions, will be available for free download by the 22nd of December – just in time for the holidays!

For more information about Iron Grip: Warlord and the Iron Grip universe, visit the official site atwww.igwarlord.com. For more information about Isotx, Inc. visit www.isotx.com.

NDOORS Interactive secures rights to publish Wonderking in North America

LOS ANGELES – Dec. 16 – NDOORS Interactive has acquired the rights from SBSi to publish the casual MMO WonderKing in North America. This 2D side-scrolling MMO is also being launched in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The title’s playful visuals and gameplay is designed to appeal to teenagers and pre-teens — ages 12 to 15 — looking for a light, engaging online experience. Players will challenge the demonic forces of Valron in real-time combat as they strive to become the “Wonderking” that will bring light to the shadows of darkness. There is a wide variety of customization available from clothing to facial features and hairstyles. WonderKing will be free-to-play and offer players the ability to acquire tools, weapons and mounts from the item mall.

WonderKing is on its way to becoming a global phenomenon with the partnership between NDOORS Interactive and SBSi.

“We’re thrilled that WonderKing will be entering the North American market through NDOORS Interactive,” said Lim Changkwang, marketing executive, SBSi. “With NDOORS’s experience as a publisher, they have the know-how and experience to make WonderKing a success in North America. We look forward to reaching players beyond Asia.”

The addition of WonderKing expands the diversity to NDOORS Interactive’s portfolio. The company publishes the strategic turn-based MMORPG Atlantica Online as well as Luminary: Rise of the GoonZu, a MMO that incorporates real-world style economics and politics. NDOORS Interactive will also introduce a new online FPS sometime in the summer of 2009.

“WonderKing provides us the opportunity to become an even player in the U.S. market. Our variety of games will appeal to the wide assortment of people that are playing online,” said Peter Kang, NDOORS Interactive, CEO. “We can’t wait to transform Wonderking into a game that will excite players.”

WonderKing is expected to begin beta testing in the first half of 2009.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – December 16, 2008 – Roll-out with HydroTilt! Publisher X, a videogame publisher committed to providing fun, exciting and entertaining titles through the growing digital distribution channel, and Codeglue, a Dutch game development studio that specializes in arcade games for mobile, handhelds and consoles, announced today that the 3D puzzle game HydroTilt is now available for the Apple® iPhone™ and iPod® touch.

• Intuitive control physics allowing for superb interaction with the iPhone and iPod touch
• 25 challenging levels with 5 unlockable Bonus Levels and side missions for extended play
• Auto Save feature allows players to save progress and replay unlocked levels to obtain a faster time
• Gorgeous cartoon style 3D environments