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Unique Shoot ‘Em Up Harnesses the Beautiful Power of Fireworks

SouthPeak Games announced today that its one-of-a-kind shooter for Nintendo DS, Big Bang Mini, has shipped to retailers across the country for the suggested retail price of only $19.99. The title, developed by Arkedo Studio, allows players to create their own fireworks display while shooting enemies out of the sky.

In Big Bang Mini, your objective is to destroy wave upon wave of enemies which in turn lights up the night sky with bursts of colorful fireworks. Use the stylus to dodge enemy fire and debris while collecting stars. Specifically designed with the Nintendo DS touch screen controls in mind, Big Bang Mini packs a challenge that any casual or hardcore shooter fan will enjoy.

“Big Bang Mini is a fresh take on the stale shoot ‘em up genre,” said Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak Games. “Its bright colors and fantastic animations make it a joy to watch just as its ever challenging levels and options make it a pleasure to play. We are offering this game at a great price point that make it a must buy for any serious gamer.”

In addition to over 90 levels for players to take on in Arcade Mode, Big Bang Mini also sports a Challenge Mode where players can submit their high scores to an online leaderboard using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection feature, a multiplayer Versus Mode, a task-based Mission Mode, and even a Relax Mode for those that want to shoot fireworks without having to worry about dodging enemies.

Big Bang Mini is available now for a suggested retail price of $19.99, and comes in a lenticular animated box that demonstrates the game in action. It is rated E for Everyone. For more information visit www.bigbangmini.com or www.southpeakgames.com.

We here at GNB played the downloadable demo (From the Nintendo Channel via Wii), including the kids, and it was great fun, and the price is low for the quality of this game. We will review in a few days.

New Brand to Focus on Emergence of High-Quality Downloadable Games

YUKE’S Company of America, a leading video game publisher, today announced that it has officially launched Akinai Games. The new division represents an ongoing, industry-wide shift toward downloadable game platforms, and its main area of focus will be on developing games for this distribution model. Akinai will be developing titles for various online platforms, including Nintendo’s WiiWare™ channel, Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE, and Sony’s PlayStation®Network (PSN), while plans for PC and mobile device distribution are under consideration. The first title to carry the new Akinai Games brand will be Evasive Space, the upcoming WiiWare title developed by High Voltage Software, set for a February 2009 release.

Akinai Games’ mission is to embrace the future of gaming in today’s digital age, and to establish itself as an industry leader in providing fun and innovative downloadable titles across multiple gaming platforms. “Akinai,” in Japanese, is loosely translated to “keep entertained,” symbolic of the company’s effort to offer a variety of high quality and fun downloadable games. The company logo was inspired by the “Maneki Neko” or “Lucky Cat,” a traditional Japanese cat sculpture which is believed to bring good luck to its owners and is typically displayed at a storefront’s entrance. The arrows within the Akinai Games logo represent the uploading of video game entertainment for consumers to download and enjoy.

“We’re seeing a dramatic shift in the marketplace as online platforms emerge as a source for high-quality game content, instantly available to the consumers via direct download,” states Shane Takahashi, CEO, YUKE’S Company of America. “YUKE’S is establishing Akinai Games to recognize the importance of online distribution platforms, and to focus on their growing significance to gamers. We’re proud to announce this new chapter in our company’s history as we look forward to making some of the most high quality, innovative and fun games of the future available for download.”

For additional information about Akinai Games, please visit the new website at: www.akinaigames.com.

MMOABC Partners with Digenetics and Webplus

MMOABC has partnered with Digenetics, Inc. and Webplus, Inc. to create Ultimate Soccer Boss (http://www.ultimatesoccerboss.com).

“USB” becomes the first ever free-to-play soccer manager browser game powered by Digenetics’ advanced proprietary evolutionary computation technology. Soccer managers will now have the ability to lead and manage unique evolving players and clubs with no two players or clubs being alike. Soccer players will evolve over time based on affected variables such as numbers of plays, training matches, and overall management of the club. In addition, Ultimate Soccer Boss will feature “Ask Advisor” that will provide soccer managers expert advice on match strategies based on calculations performed by complex evolutionary computation mathematical algorithms.

“MMOABC is very excited to partner with Digenetics and Webplus to create Ultimate Soccer Boss, the first ever online soccer manager browser game with evolutionary computation technology. Soccer managers will now finally experience what it truly feels like to manage their own unique clubs and compete against other soccer managers,” said MMOABC co-founder and CEO Andy Tong. “Ultimate Soccer Boss is as real as it gets when it comes to managing a club since you’ll experience random scenarios and outcomes based on how well you perform as soccer manager. This is a great breakthrough for soccer manager games and an incredible innovation for the video games industry itself.”

James Lin, CEO of Digenetics, Inc., said, “We are thrilled to be working with MMOABC and Webplus to bring this new, one-of-a-kind game to soccer fans around the world. Featuring players with evolving intelligence, capable of adaptive learning, Ultimate Soccer Boss will redefine the sports manager genre.”

Brian Keller-Heikkila, CTO of Webplus, Inc., said, “Webplus is excited to work with MMOABC and Digenetics to develop a new kind of soccer manager game. There is nothing like a personal Game Advisor, using evolution computation technology, which helps team managers improve their team anywhere else in the video game industry. Ultimate Soccer Boss will raise the bar for sports management games to a whole new level.”

Goldstein Brings a Decade of Interactive Media/Entertainment Experience
To The Corporate, Securities and Intellectual Property Law Firm

SHERMAN OAKS, CA – January 21, 2009 – Stubbs Alderton & Markiles LLP,
the Los Angeles based corporate, securities and intellectual property
law firm, today announced the re-hiring of game industry business
development and legal executive, Steve Goldstein. Goldstein will be
instrumental in growing the Firm’s video game and interactive media
practice. As a Senior Counsel at the Firm, Goldstein will be a key
addition to its Interactive Media Practice Group, joining partners
Scott Alderton, Greg Akselrud and Kevin DeBré, and is expected to
expand the Firm’s existing clientele of video game developers,
publishers and other interactive media clients.

Goldstein, a former associate of the Firm, spent the last 3 years as
the Director of Business Development and General Counsel for Flagship
Studios, Inc.  In his role at Flagship Studios, Steve negotiated all
of its publishing agreements, co-marketing agreements, ancillary
properties agreements, and managed Flagship’s intellectual property
rights, maintained its corporate governance and developed Flagship’s
best practices for the commercial release and hosting of Hellgate:
London.  Additionally, in his capacity with Flagship, Mr. Goldstein
co-founded and served as President, Americas & Europe for Flagship’s
subsidiaries, Ping0 LLC and Ping0 Interactive Limited, which provided
the network infrastructure, hosting and support for Flagship’s games,
including Hellgate: London.

Prior to joining Flagship in July 2005, Mr. Goldstein was an associate
at the Firm, where he represented independent videogame publishers and
developers, film studios and technology companies, including Flagship,
NovaLogic, Inc., 1C Company, High Moon Studios, Revolution Studios,
Interplay Entertainment, and Skype Technologies, S.A.

“We are thrilled to announce the addition of Steve Goldstein to our
firm. Steve was a valuable asset to our Firm prior to joining the
Flagship Studios management team, and the extensive game expertise and
experience he developed working with Flagship, plus his deep
relationships in the video game industry, make him the perfect
addition to our Interactive Media Practice Group, ” said Scott
Alderton, Managing Partner at Stubbs Alderton and Markiles LLP.
“Steve’s relationships, experience and expertise will elevate our
video games and interactive media practice to a new level.”

Despite the recent slowdown in consumer spending, video games continue
to generate billions in annual global revenue, and, as the game
industry continues to grow, so does its legal needs. Best known for
representing Skype from inception to acquisition by eBay, Stubbs
Alderton & Markiles, LLP is now in the perfect position to firmly
establish itself in this growing industry with the addition of
Goldstein to the interactive media practice.

“I am very pleased to be back with Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP.
They are a rare firm in this industry in that they provide the deep
legal services of a global law firm, but they maintain the agility and
flexibility of a boutique, making them the perfect home for the
representation of independent developers and publishers,” said Steve
Goldstein, Senior Counsel at Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP. “I have
a strong desire to get back to working with all of my contacts in the
video game industry and look forward to helping the many developers
and publishers with their growing legal needs.”

For more information on Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP or on Steve
Goldstein, please visit: http://www.biztechlaw.com

Brush text with greatness! Shrapnel Games, publisher of the critically acclaimed naval wargame, War Plan Pacific, is hosting a chat with John Hawkins of KE Studios on January 27th at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST. John is the lead developer and designer of War Plan Pacific, so it will be a great time to ask him questions like, “Why can’t we firebomb the Japanese mainland with incendiary bats?” Yes, the US actually did toy around with explosive flying mammals but realized that since you can’t really train bats there’s no guarantee they’d end up where you’d want them.

The chat will be held on the Shrapnel Games forums (located at http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/). You’ll find “Chat” on the top bar of the forum, third entry from the left. In order to participate (even to observe) you will have to register, which is the first entry on the top bar of the forum. Registration is quick and painless and only takes a minute or two.

War Plan Pacific is the first title from KE Studios and though only released in mid-December has already earned plenty of early praise. James Allen (Out of Eight reviews) finds that the game “…is easy to manage, with great unit organization and simple mission assignment. The multiple victory conditions are fantastic… War Plan Pacific is a great way to taste strategy gaming…” Steve Butts (IGN) thinks that “…War Plan Pacific is a welcome addition to the wargame catalog that makes good decisions in terms of sacrificing details and streamlining gameplay.” Troy Goodfellow (Flash of Steel) has War Plan Pacific sharing one-half of his Wargame of the Year award.

Let’s not forget about the fans! On the forums Alejes02 says: “This game is a gem; a fascinating, accessible simulation of the Great Pacific War and I thank the designer for his efforts. I’m about to boot up my 12th game, and may I say, I’m having a blast!” MarkL is loving it. “This is one that will remain on my HD for a long while.” panzerkiller thinks, “This game will do what Panzer General has done to the wargaming community.” Mouse gives it a thumbs up. “I really think WPP is one of the most elegant systems I’ve ever seen in a wargame.” gdrover really enjoys the combat: “The combat sequences are truly awesome, and the heart of the game. It’s an edge of the seat experience every time (even when you’re way ahead, as you don’t want your air crews to suffer losses.)”

War Plan Pacific is a fast playing beer and pretzels computer wargame for Windows on the conflict in the Pacific during the Second World War. Inspired by the classic Avalon Hill board game, Victory in the Pacific (and in general having a very digital board game feel), War Plan Pacific streamlines the gigantic struggle into something playable in a single session without losing the historical qualities wargamers expect.

Players command a grand strategic historical order of battle using air and naval groups (land combat is abstracted; the war in China is also not gamed). Movement is point-to-point between twenty-nine strategically important bases, with turns representing one month of real time. Victory conditions vary for each side, allowing gamers to experience the war from two different perspectives. What strategies work for the Japanese player will not work for the Allied player, and vice-versa.

Multiplayer is supported, and with a game only taking a few hours to play, means that War Plan Pacific is a computer wargame that you’ll actually have a chance to finish against a live opponent. Put your computer in your dining room when playing and it will almost be like the glory days of your tabletop years!

War Plan Pacific also supports modding, with the ability for players to mod scenarios with a simple text editor. All scenario files are .XML files, easy enough to tweak. Total conversions are not possible, so enterprising players cannot change it from the Pacific to Atlantic.

More information on the game and a limited demo is available at the official product page for War Plan Pacific.

War Plan Pacific is obtainable either as a physical product, shipped to your door in a DVD case, or as a direct download. Both versions are $39.95 and are only available for Windows.

Remember, January 27th, 9 PM EST/6 PM PST! Keep the date open and give a shout out to John!

Please visit www.shrapnelgames.com to view our complete catalog of award winning independent games. Since 1999 Shrapnel Games has been delivering the very best in strategy gaming, along with awesome niche titles you won’t find anyplace else. Recent releases include War Plan Pacific and BRAINPIPE, currently nominated for an Excellence in Audio by the IGF.

Cryostasis, Death Track: Resurrection, Men of War, NecroVisioN and 4X4 Hummer to Ship Spring 2009

Aspyr Media has entered into an agreement with the leading Eastern and Central European publisher 1C Company to release five new PC games in North America. The titles Cryostasis, Death Track: Resurrection, Men of War, NecroVisioN and 4X4 Hummer will all hit stores in the spring of 2009.

“1C is a wonderful partner and a company that gamers in North America should get to know very well,” said Ted Staloch, Executive Vice President of Publishing at Aspyr. “We are very impressed with their professionalism, global savvy and vast amount of quality videogame content. We look forward to successful launches of all five of these titles this year and to working on future projects with 1C.”

“Aspyr is an excellent publisher with the resources to sell our titles across the United States,” said Nikolay Baryshnikov, International Sales Director of 1C Company. “I believe they will be a superb ally in bringing 1C’s best games to America. Aspyr will open new opportunities and will help us to achieve success in this challenging and rapidly growing market.”

Cryostasis brings gamers to the Arctic Circle, Russian North Pole station “Pole 21″ in 1968. They take on the role of Alexander Nesterov, a meteorologist caught inside the “North Wind,” an old nuclear ice-breaker, frozen in the ice many years ago. This steel beast once fought for its country, but it fell into an ice trap as did every living thing onboard. Alex will fight the cold and what lives within as he tries to find out what happened. Cryostasis is a drama about a Captain and his Ship evolving in the atmosphere of ice and animal fear.

Death Track: Resurrection travels players to a not-too-distant future in which the world has been plunged into chaos. Traditional sports have been replaced by the far more aggressive, violent and thrilling type of entertainment the public demands. The main event of the year, Survival Racing, is a world tournament that takes place in the largest cities across the globe. Powerful vehicles and spectacular road battles are performed by world-renown and feared drivers. Players strap in as a rookie driver aiming at the top prize.

Men of War is a stunning mixture of RTS and a third-person action that takes players to the most brutal battlefields of Europe and North Africa during the height of World War II. The game unfolds across three different campaigns played out through the eyes of Soviet, Allied and German soldiers. Each campaign has its own scenario and structured timeline bringing a different story of the war to life. Whether in single or multiplayer warfare, gamers can employ the unique Direct Control System, which allows for player control of every single soldier or vehicle on the battlefield. Men of War features epic multiplayer battles, realistic vehicles and weapons, and highly detailed environments and characters.

NecroVisioN is a first-person shooter that blends fast action, realistic First World War combat and magical weaponry with a terrifying occult world. The year is 1916. A young American joins the UK Army in WWI to experience an adventure of his life and soon realizes that greater evil is hiding beneath the Great War storm. He has to face the underground world of vampires, demons, evil genius creatures and even become a demon himself to rescue the human and vampire kind from the forces of darkness.

4×4 Hummer is an off-road driving simulation where players can test drive a range of General Motors sports utility vehicles across challenging and exciting locations including the Grand Canyon, Crimea, Egypt and Iceland. Players can drive the Hummer H2 SUT, Hummer H2 SUV, Hummer H3 SUV and Hummer H1 Alpha along with Saab 9-7x SUV, Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy and GMC Yukon. Players have full control over all the vehicle’s 4×4 features such as the 4×4 gear box, GPS navigation, center differential locking, towing devices, height controls and tire pressure as they challenge the world’s most demanding terrain.

Robot Builder
Requirements: Computer (PC, Mac, Linux)
Browser (Firefox, IE and Chrome tested by me)
Internet connection
Facebook Account 

Yes, it’s a Facebook app. I know, they’re cliche. This one is pretty darn good though. It’s addicting, updated frequently and not one of the ones that you HAVE to pay money for that rare item.

The premise is simple, you get Energy, and Salvage for parts. When you find all of the correct parts, you build your robots. There are many levels of robot to build, and each level has 4-5 robots. The hardest thing to do is wait for you energy to build up (I would recommend playing Path Words). There are super rare items, but they can be found after a long while of playing. You can also purchase (or find) Robot Coins to go to their premium salvage areas where your chances of finding the super-rare are improved. 

After you build those robots? Well, they are cool, and you can show them off in your profile, but the thing you build them for is to battle. The battles aren’t anything special, they just reward you with other items, but eventually you get up there in rank. It would be cool to have a pic of some devestation after each battle, but they’re doing this for free, so I won’t complain too much!

If you’re waiting on Facebook and are looking for something to do other than send hugs or pokes, etc, give this a try. I’ve become addicted. It’s definately kid-friendly, there are no scary robots (so far), and they get to learn a bit of resource management on the building of the robots, and selling the remaining parts for cash to go out to more expensive salvage areas. Happy gaming!

4 of 5 stars.

Add-On for the WW2 Tactical Combat Game

1C Company and independent internet-based wargame publisher and developer Battlefront.com today announce the release of the Theatre of War Mission Pack. This add-on to the award winning Theatre of War WW II tactical combat game offers two new full campaigns with a dozen innovative maps, including a number of multiplayer maps. Fight for the Liberation of Belorussia in June 1944 as Russian forces began to push the Germans back to their own borders, or join French Army units as they try to avoid encirclement in the opening stages of World War II in France. As an additional bonus the Mission Pack also includes the full Uber Patch which contains, besides a number of important bug fixes and exciting new features (such as a random battle generator), a third major full campaign – The Battle for Moscow.

The ToW Mission Pack is on sale immediately for only $25, for both download&play as well as mail delivery. A special Bundle of the base game + the mission pack is available as well for only $45. The Mission Pack and Bundle are available only from www.battlefront.com/store and are not sold in stores.

Official TOW Mission Pack website: www.battlefront.com/tow-missionpack

Theatre of War Mission Pack Details
- The Liberation of Belorussia, 1944 – a full campaign focusing on the offensive of the 1st Baltic and the 3rd Belorussian Fronts carried out on June 23-28 as a part of the Belorussian Strategic Offensive in 1944. Includes 5 new maps.
- Strategic Breakthrough, 1940 – a short campaign focusing on the Blitzkrieg in France in June 5-14, 1940. Includes 3 new maps.
- 4 new “European style” maps for multiplayer battles.
- The DVD-version includes the latest Uber Patch with a large third campaign, Battle for Moscow, a Random Battle Generator which dynamically creates custom combat scenarios, the ability to create new missions in the included editor, and much more.

Theatre of War is widely regarded as one of the most detailed WWII titles ever. It was developed by 1C Company (creators of the award-winning IL-2 Sturmovik series and Pacific Fighters) and is a real-time tactical wargame depicting the most crucial battles of World War II between 1939-1945. Players command a special task force composed of multiple, historically accurate units including tanks, APCs, field guns, mortars, various infantry formations and also have an opportunity to call for artillery and air support. With a focus on small scale detail and combat realism, armchair generals are faced with true-to-life battle scenarios, taken straight from actual World War II records and maps. The ToW Mission Pack is compatible with all available game versions. The Uber Patch can be downloaded separately at any time for free from http://www.battlefront.com/products/tow/patch.html without the need to purchase the hardcopy version of the mission pack.

The Chinese New Year festival is right on the corner. To celebrate the festival, the Angels Online team (http://ao.igg.com/main.php) from IGG (http://www.igg.com) will be holding a “Fortune in New Year” event to offer all players a chance to obtain some great prizes!
 
Prize 1. During the event, there will be two new NPCs, [Mascot Master] and [Magic Miki] in the four cities so that players can exchange event items for prizes.
 Prize 2. During the event, players can obtain some [Green Tea Mochi], [Strawberry Mochi] and [Red Bean Rice Cake Soup] by defeating monsters or collecting materials.
 Prize 3. During the event, players can steal some [Cheeses] from [Rattraps] in any scene and exchange these for [Prison Tour Tickets] from the [Mascot Master]. With the ticket, players can enter the Rat Country Jail and train themselves by killing monsters and Corpse Flowers there.
 Prize 4. Players can exchange [Cheese]*200 for [Ambassador Medal]*1 from the [Mascot Master]. After the event ends, the system will count players’ medals and give rewards to the 10 players with the most medals from each server.
 Prize 5. Players can buy a Big Scratchcard (100,000 in-game coins) and a Super Scratchcard (1,000,000 in-game coins) from [Magic Miki] in four cities. What’s more, players can also buy [Bamboo Slips] from the AO Item Mall and ask Magic Miki to predict their future. They may obtain a surprise from Miki too.
 
For more information about this event can visit: http://ao.igg.com/news/news.php?aid=1725

Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the addition of six new tracks to the Rock Band® Music Store catalog of downloadable content for Wii. The line up includes “March of the Pigs” and “The Collector” from industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails, “I Fought the Law” from English punk rock band the Clash and “Rockaway Beach” from the infamous punk rock band Ramones. The offering also features two exclusive 2008 Rock Band re-recordings of “Margaritaville” and “Volcano” from singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.

All six tracks are part of the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content already released to owners of Xbox 360 and PS3. Wii fans can expect a rollout of the previously released downloadable content every week until the entire back catalogue of more than 500 songs is available. In addition, the regularly scheduled future DLC releases for Xbox 360 and PS3 system will also be available for Rock Band 2 Wii owners starting in February. You hear that Nintendo? Where’s the WiiHDD?

Release Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tracks:
Nine Inch Nails “March of the Pigs”
Nine Inch Nails “The Collector”
Ramones “Rockaway Beach”
Clash “I Fought the Law”
Jimmy Buffett “Margaritaville”
Jimmy Buffett “Volcano”
(All tracks are original master recordings)
Price: $2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track

Location: In-game Rock Band 2 Music Store (Wii Points must be purchased through the Wii^TM Shop Channel)
** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Rock Band 2 is available now for Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 systems and the Wii. The Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii versions support downloadable content