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Eric Meyers Takes Home the 2nd Ever National Championship after Three Months of Competition

Eric Meyers, of Fairfield, Calf., was crowed the 2nd ever National Champion Saturday in the Monster Jam: Urban Assault National Tournament live from Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium at the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals.

Meyers, who qualified for his trip to the Monster Jam: Urban Assault National Tournament semi-finals in Las Vegas after winning the final qualifying round at the Oakland, Calif. Monster Jam, was practically speechless after his win.

“It’s absolutely amazing, it’s the best feeling in the world right now,” said Meyers after he won the final round in front of the sell-out crowd at Sam Boyd Stadium. “It’s a once in a life time opportunity. I just tried to play smooth, and that’s what wins races.”

After being one of the eight fastest regional qualifiers, Meyers was flown to Las Vegas for an all expenses paid trip with the other seven fastest regional qualifiers and the one online wildcard winner. The nine contestants gamed their way through 3 semi-final rounds in the Built Ford Tough Party in the Pits, and the three winners and the fastest of the non-winners played in the final round in front of the sell-out crowd on the jumbotron.

In total Meyers beat out 64 contestants at the 16 regional qualifiers in addition to the thousands who signed up at www.MonsterJamOnline.com for a chance to compete in the tournament.

In Monster Jam: Urban Assault, all-out destruction is taken to a whole new level by busting the traditional Monster Jam action out of the stadiums and onto city streets across the globe. Players can choose from over 27 different monster trucks, including classic Monster Jam icons like Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, Monster Mutt, El Toro Loco, Blue Thunder and Captain’s Curse, as well as newer stars such as Stone Crusher^TM and Backwards Bob. The game focuses on crushing everything in your path while doing insane tricks in never before seen urban environments. Monster Jam: Urban Assault features 26 new urban tracks, 12 authentic Monster Jam stadiums, seven different game modes and 12 skill competitions, and players can challenge up to four of their friends via split-screen multiplayer.

Highlights from the 2009 Monster Jam season and the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals can be viewed Sunday, April 12 at Noon EST, on the CBS Sports Spectacular Monster Jam show. The event will also air on Speed TV in May 2009; check your local listings for date and times.

The Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals returns to Sam Boyd stadium in Las Vegas on March 26-27, 2010. Once again, the world’s top monster trucks will take to the toughest track for the greatest monster truck event in the world. The coveted Double Down packages, which include sideline jackpot seats to Saturday’s show, access to Friday’s qualifying, a Double Down t-shirt, Monster Jam World Finals DVD, barbeque and more will be available during the pre-sale which begins April 6th, 2009. For pre-sale information and details on how to purchase the 2010 Double Down packages visit www.MonsterJamOnline.com.

For a complete recap of the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals results log onto www.MonsterJamOnline.com.

Ubisoft has announced that Gold’s Gym: Cardio Workout is now available in retail stores throughout North America. Rated “E” for Everyone, Gold’s Gym: Cardio Workout for the Wii home video game system from Nintendo retails for a suggested price of $29.99 and includes a coupon for a 7-day VIP membership to Gold’s Gym.

Compatible with the Wii Balance Board accessory, the game provides players with an interactive personal training experience. Players can perform a variety of exercises including cardio boxing, running, sit-ups, squats and other activities while also tracking burned calories and body weight evolution. In addition, the game offers multiple training modes and fitness levels, and the difficulty of the gameplay evolves as the player’s fitness level increases.

Gold’s Gym: Cardio Workout will be featured on the Gold’s Gym website and the game trailer will be displayed nationwide on the Gold’s Gym Broadcast Network.

For more information on Gold’s Gym: Cardio Workout, please visit: http://www.goldsgymvideogame.com

iNetMania Now Available for Download on the Apple App Store!

Act now and get in on the special promotional price

Phoenix, Arizona – April 2, 2009 – TechPad Productions, a social media research and online publication company, announced today that its first game, iNetMania, is now ready for download for the Apple® iPhone^TM and iPod® touch! It is available for a limited-time promotional price of $2.99 USD (regularly $4.99) from the Apple App Store and can be found at http://itunes.inetmaniagame.com/.

iNetMania is based upon TechPad’s popular board game, ServerMania, which features players competing to build a successful web hosting company and finish with the most money at the end of the game. iNetMania uses a similar format and rule set as the award-winning board game, but instead of a web hosting company, your goal is to create a successful website!

In iNetMania, you compete with up to three other players (either in hot-seat mode with human controlled opponents or an intelligent computer-controlled AI) all the way from the start-up phase to the finish line, with plenty of highs and lows (or “Spikes and “Slumps”) along the way. Increase your web traffic with savvy rolling, lucky card draws and strategy, as more visitors translate into more money – the player with the largest pile of cash at the end of the game wins!

iNetMania has loads of great features, including:

* Great graphics with dynamic, fluid, openGL animations
* A quick-play option that allows you to get into the game quickly and easily
* Easy to understand rules and a low learning curves ensures that anyone can get in on the fun
* The ability to create up to 30 profiles to keep track of your progress and prowess
* Gameplay achievements (similar to Xbox 360 Achievements) that set gameplay goals, allow you to track your prowess against your friends and lead to unlockable content, including new game pieces!
* Auto-save gameplay (if you quit or have to take a call)
* An Accelerometer-based, 3D dice cup to roll the die – a first for the iPhone!
* Swap n’ Play with up to three other AI or human-controlled players

iNetMania is the internet entrepreneur iPhone experience that allows you to grow your own website company from the ground up using lifelike scenarios. Make millions on the go with iNetMania for the iPhone!

To learn more about the iPhone Game iNetMania, please visit: www.inetmaniagame.com. For more information about Tech Pad Productions, please visit www.techpadproductions.com.

Paradox Interactive today announced that Fredrik Wester will serve the company as Chief Executive Officer, effective April 2, 2009. As CEO, Fredrik is responsible for all sales and marketing related activities, the complete Paradox portfolio of games as well as several business development projects.

Fredrik originally joined Paradox in 2003 and was named Director of Publishing in 2004. Mr. Wester was then promoted to Executive Vice President in January, 2007.

“Leading Paradox has been a goal of mine since day one here,” said Fredrik Wester. “We have an outstanding internal team in place and have developed partnerships that will help elevate Paradox to the next level. I look forward to leading that charge.”

Paradox, widely known for their strategy PC titles, is in the midst of a successful 2009. They are currently readying several highly anticipated PC titles for release, including the sequel for Majesty- The Fantasy Kingdom Sim and the third installment of Hearts of Iron.

Contribute Your Used Games to Benefit Donate Games Charity

Time to dust off your gaming library and clean out your backlog! Spring is in the air and, true to the season, Gamers Daily News (http://www.gamersdailynews.com) is offering you the chance to tidy up your gaming space for a good cause. Beginning today, gamers can visit www.gamersdailynews.com/springcleaning.html to participate in its Spring Cleaning Event to benefit Donate Games, a new charity dedicated to helping orphan disease patients through the donation and resale of used games. Simply fill out the contest form, mail your games to Gamers Daily News and you could win one of many gaming prize packages in the following categories:

* First Donation Received
* Oldest Donation Received
* Most Distant Postmark
* Most Games Donated
* …. and more!

“We wanted to team up with Donate Games and help do some good in the world,” said Christophor Rick, editor in chief at Gamers Daily News. “Everyone has some old games they’re not playing anymore, so why not clean them out for charity?”

Prize packages include new retail games and download codes contributed by Valve, Telltale Games, Paradox Interactive and Good Old Games, as well as a signed Gene Simmons Axe controller for one lucky winner from Hipstreet.

“Video games always seem to be in the news for the wrong reasons,” said Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games. “It’s refreshing to see Donate Games harnessing the goodwill of gamers around the world for such a worthy cause and we’re proud to be part of it.”

Completed forms and donations must be postmarked by May 4 to qualify. Visit www.gamersdailynews.com/springcleaningrules.html for complete contest rules. Winners will be announced by May 27 and all contributions forwarded to Donate Games by June 1.

Some new screens and in-depth descriptions of the shared 1st level and the individual DS and Wii second levels. Enjoy!

Environment 1: Grasslands (Wii and DS)
Welcome to the beautiful and peaceful Planet Roo! During their stay, players will meet the friendly Roogoo and help them save their planet by collecting meteors of assorted shapes and colors. By rotating platforms, players align meteors with the corresponding holes and progress from level to level.

The serene Grasslands are the first stop on the player’s journey in both the DS and Wii versions. On Wii, the friendly guide, Roo-cuz will introduce himself and explain how to identify the landing spots for meteors, how to increase the speed of descending meteors and how to collect butterflies and meteor shapes with the on-screen cursor. On DS, the friendly Roogoo will guide players and teach them how to rotate platforms to align meteors with the corresponding holes and progress from level to level. They will also share some tips on how to identify the landing spots for meteors, how to increase the speed of descending meteors and how to collect meteor shapes and fire stars while skydiving.

Bonus tip! The more shapes players successfully land in a row, the higher their bonus will be.

Some levels have players helping the Roogoo skydive, collecting descending meteors as they go. Here they meet the evil Meemoo for the first time. Meemoo are the enemies of the Roogoo; filled with greed, envy and pride, the Meemoo want to drain the life force from the Roogoo planets. They will try to steal the meteors and stop the Roogoo in their quest.

Bonus tip! Remember that, while skydiving, Roogoo have the ability to shoot stars to defend themselves from these fiendish enemies.

Get ready Wii players, because near the end of the Grasslands journey Roo-cuz will introduce a new shape to players. Also, the Evil Meemoo king appears and begins dropping bombs onto the Roogoo. Players need to be careful of him and of his Meemoo minions, who try and block the holes on the platforms. They can be defeated by quickly dropping meteors on their heads. Dispatch these enemies to finish the trip through the Grasslands.

Bonus tip! If players bring their Nintendo DS along for the journey, they can sync it with the Wii to unlock a bonus level. Here, there are multiple Meemoos ready to attack in stacks. All of the practice thus far will prove handy in eliminating the Meemoo threat in this extra level.

Environment 2: Cavern (Wii)
After exploring the lush Grasslands of Planet Roo, players plunge into the dark and creepy Caverns. The beautiful butterflies have been replaced by nimble bats that also share the same fondness for stealing Meteor shapes, so keep an eye out for them.

Roo-cuz will tell players about new meteor shapes that fall at faster rates, and will teach them how to drill through obstacles that stop meteors from reaching their destination. The distance between platforms has shrunk for some levels so players should be mindful of aligning the rapidly descending meteors and having their nets ready and able to catch stray meteors as well.

Meemoos have returned to steal more meteors from the Roogoo. The Meemoos are also joined by Barry von Pire — a powerful vampire Meemoo that has the ability to teleport and even transform into bats in order to steal meteors. Players must utilize previously learned Roogoo techniques to defeat these enemies and safely collect meteors.

Bonus tip! After defeating Barry von Pire, players who brought their Nintendo DS with them will have a chance to play a bonus level in the Caverns.

Environment 2: Forest (DS)
The next stop for DS players is the enchanted Forest. Within the Forest, players will learn a new Roogoo technique that enables them to battle Meemoos by attacking them with the meteors while they descend. Here’s an advanced tip passed down by Goo-Roos: try rotating the platform while multiple Meemoos stand guard over the holes.

Flowers are sometimes spread across platforms and they attract butterflies that will pick up collected meteor shapes. Players must be alert and ready to rotate platforms to align shapes with the correct holes because these butterflies carry the shapes upwards. As a bonus for some levels, these butterflies will instead drop the shapes downwards in rapid succession after picking them up. So, the player must be ready to align the platform as usual but at a faster rate in order to catch the shapes and achieve a better bonus score.

Players will also have the ability to build nests and snowmen between levels. A complete nest consists of a nest, an egg and a hen while the snowman consists of a base, body, and head made from mounds of snow.

Before reaching the end of the Forest, players will encounter flipping platforms. With perfect timing, players can maneuver shapes through the holes of the flipping platforms to avoid dropping items.