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Shortfuse Games announces upcoming graveyard beat-em-up title, Alive and Aundead for PSN, Powered by Gamebryo Lightspeed

Shortfuse Games, a Swedish games developer and digital publisher of the well-received Xbox LIVE Indie Games title Colosseum, today announced their next title in development is the dark, gory, combat focused Alive & Undead. Currently in development using the rapid iteration and rapid development powers of Gamebryo® LightSpeed™ from Emergent Game Technologies, Alive & Undead is planned for release on PlayStation®Network in the fall of 2010.

“Alive & Undead is a brutal, uncensored vampire quest sprinkled with clichés of both side-scrolling beat-em-ups and sub culture phenomena,” said Johan Hermerén, president of Shortfuse Games. “After the success of Colosseum, we focused on expanding our creative storytelling abilities and interweaving it with intricate fighting sequences. As players work toward avenging the vampire curse, they’ll encounter a horde of crazy undead creatures to battle!”

Hermerén continued, “We evaluated other engines and we chose Emergent’s technology first for Colosseum and now for Alive & Undead because its power and versatility suited our needs. It allows us to be incredibly creative while being flexible enough to adapt to our studio’s evolving development goals, from use developing a 3rd person brawler with Colosseum on Xbox Live to creating a 2D side-scroller co-op shooter for PSN. Its multi-platform abilities and easy integration with third party middleware enable us to meet aggressive production schedules with a minimum amount of stress.”

Alive and Undead takes the form of a classic, side-scrolling, 2-player brawler. Choose from two charismatic characters: Mr. Smith, an Elvis impersonator who has suffered the misfortune of being turned into a vampire, or Welson, a femme-fatale witch hunter. Though his unquenchable vampire bloodlust, Mr. Smith has killed his entire family. In order to avenge his family and free himself from the curse of vampirism, he solicits the help of Welson. Together the unlikely heroes use an over-the-top arsenal to battle hoards of undead and other frightful creatures on a fantastically violent quest to destroy the one responsible for Mr. Smith’s calamitous, blood-sucking condition.

Alive and Undead is cocky, uncensored, brutal and kick-ass. It delivers the classic formula of the side-scrolling brawler and improves on it by incorporating modern mechanics like the ability to juggle enemies in the air, as well as a variety of explosive and devastating co-op attacks.

For more information about Shortfuse Games and Alive & Undead, please visit www.shortfuse.se

Ancients of Ooga coming to Xbox Live Arcade

NinjaBee and J. Kenworthy Entertainment, the creative team that envisioned and developed Cloning Clyde for Xbox LIVE Arcade, revealed today the title of their next XBLA game – Ancients of Ooga. Along with this announcement the developers also unveiled the first piece of concept art from the upcoming title.

“Ever since we released Cloning Clyde we’ve been bombarded with requests for a sequel,” said John Nielson, founder of J. Kenworthy Entertainment. “Although Ancients of Ooga is not a sequel to Cloning Clyde, it is what we like to call a spiritual successor because of how heavy an influence Cloning Clyde had on its creation. Just like Cloning Clyde, Ancients of Ooga is going to bring originality, humor, its own unique artistic style, and extremely creative gameplay to Xbox Live Arcade.”

Cloning Clyde was originally released in July of 2006. No release date has yet been announced for Ancients of Ooga.

Expo Doors Open Friday!

SEATTLE – Aug. 31, 2009 – The organizers of the sixth annual PAX gaming festival announced today that all badges for the show this year are sold out. PAX 2009, to be held Sept. 4-6, is expected to draw the largest crowd in PAX history, industry professionals and media to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center for the three-day extravaganza.

“After the crazy crowds last year, the convention center cited fire code regulations and imposed a hard cap on the number of badges we are able to print and sell for PAX 2009,” said Penny Arcade’s Robert Khoo. “Amazingly, we’ve already hit that cap with just pre-registration sales and therefore no badges will be available for sale at the door.”

Highlights of the show include:

FRIDAY

* PAX 2009 keynote from Ron Gilbert, 1pm-2pm

* Penny Arcade Q&A Panel #1, 2pm-3pm

* Live demonstration of Assassin’s Creed® II and Splinter Cell Conviction, 7:30pm-8:30pm

* Music concert with Anamanaguchi, Metroid Metal and MC Frontalot, 9:30pm-1:30am

SATURDAY

* Pitch Your Game Idea, 2:30pm-3:30pm

* Live demonstration of Star Wars: The Old Republic, 3:30pm-4:30pm

* Music Concert with Freezepop, Paul and Storm, and Jonathan Coulton, 9:30pm-1:30am

SUNDAY

* Penny Arcade Q&A Panel #2, 12:30pm-1:30pm

* Wil Wheaton presents: THE AWESOME HOUR!!1, 2:30pm-3:30pm

* Omegathon Final Round, 5pm-6pm

View the complete PAX 2009 schedule at http://www.paxsite.com/schedule.php.

For those not fortunate enough to secure their badges for PAX 2009, don’t forget that it’s not too early to get a jump on the inaugural PAX East festival to be held March 26-28, 2010, at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston. Pre-registration is already available at www.paxsite.com/paxeast/.

About PAX: PAX is a three-day celebration of games and gamer culture. The festival includes an exhibition floor filled with playable builds of upcoming tabletop, console, and computer games; a conference program of game industry speakers; music concerts; freeplay areas; industry parties; game tournaments and more. Since its inception in 2004 the show has doubled in size year-over-year, growing from 4,500 attendees to 58,500 in 2008, making it the largest gaming festival in North America. For more information, visit http://www.paxsite.com/.

Harmonix and MTV Games to Offer Exclusive Five-Song Preview of The Beatles: Rock Band to Participating Bars

Harmonix Music Systems and MTV Games today announced the launch of “Rock Band Bar Nights,” a ground-breaking initiative providing tools for U.S. bar owners to host their own Rock Band Nights. The program gives bars a cutting-edge in-bar entertainment option to help increase foot traffic and provide Rock Band fans with the opportunity to take the stage for a true rock star experience.

Rock Band ­– featuring a full band performance with guitar, bass, drums and mic – is revolutionizing the standard karaoke night in bars. The Rock Band Bar Nights program expands the Rock Band social experience for current fans and gives new fans the opportunity to try the game in an authentic performance setting with a live crowd cheering them on.

To help venues host and promote their own Rock Band Bar Nights, the program offers support to registered bars with everything from exclusive Rock Band product offerings to multiplatform marketing support. Through an exclusive e-commerce store, the program will also provide bars with a full music solution to easily rock their bar with the extensive Rock Band catalogue featuring more than 800 tracks and growing every week!

To kick off the program, Harmonix and MTV Games are providing bars that sign up before September 8th with an exclusive five-song preview disc from The Beatles: Rock Band, allowing their customers to experience the highly anticipated game before it hits stores on September 9th.

In addition to offering in-bar support for this new entertainment option, the Rock Band Bar Nights program extends online and gives members direct access to the Rock Band community with hundreds of thousands of fans, as well as the chance to stay connected on Rock Band’s official Facebook and Twitter pages. In the coming months, Rock Band fans will be able to find official Rock Band Bar Nights in their area through an online application searchable by zip code and a mobile version available for download as a free iPhone application.

Interested bar owners or fans can check out www.RockBand.com/BarNights for registration and more information.

Square Enix announced today that the official FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS Fan Site Kit (FSK) is now available for download at http://www.thecrystalbearers.com/.

The FSK (10 MB) includes all the materials bloggers and webmasters will need to create a compelling Crystal Chronicles-themed Web site, including artwork, characters, icons, monsters, screenshots and logos. FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS, the highly anticipated action-adventure game, will be available this winter, exclusively for Nintendo Wii.

About FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS provides a fresh take on the FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES series as it combines the storytelling depth, expansive world and graphical quality of FINAL FANTASY with motion-driven, real-time action gameplay. In this world, realistic gameplay and fantastical art direction are brought together for a truly unique experience for Wii users around the globe.

Story

A thousand years have passed since the events of the original FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES. The destruction of the Yuke Crystal during the Great War had at once brought the victorious Lilty Tribe prosperity, the defeated Yuke Tribe apparent annihilation and the world a new age of science and reason. In this new era exists a rare breed of powerful beings called “crystal bearers,” whose seemingly magical abilities have led them to be feared and scorned by the public. The young mercenary Layle is one such crystal bearer, who has been hired to escort the new passenger airship Alexis, the pinnacle of Lilty technology and a symbol of their current dominance. However, when the Alexis is suddenly besieged by a horde of monsters, Layle comes face-to-face with an adversary thought to have vanished from the pages of history that’s on a quest that may threaten the future of the world.

For more information, visit the official site at http://www.thecrystalbearers.com/.

Finding fame and fortune can be quite the adventure in Tales of Pirates (http://top.igg.com). Whether sailing the high seas or searching for treasures on dry land, players are forever adding to their legends. Soon the spotlight will shine on the best of the best as they are immortalized in the Celebrity Hall.

The ToP Celebrity Hall will honor a server’s players who have earned all-star status in any of a number of swashbuckling pursuits. The ToP team has revealed that this new system will begin with inductees chosen for achievements that set them apart from the crowd over the past two years. Game officials will select honorees in such categories as Excellent Player (the first to reach level 100), Battlefield MVP, Excellent Reporters, and Excellent Player Cops to be included in the Celebrity Hall list.

Once players become more familiar with the Celebrity Hall, ToP officials will begin holding various events in which players can earn recognition for excellence and a chance to be inducted into the Hall. They will introduce ranking systems and divide the Hall into sections, including the Icicle Hall, Argent Hall, and many more. A server’s Hall can contain 200 players, each of whom will be honored with their own statue. Though it will open with many vacancies, players will be encouraged to visit the Hall and register to be considered for enshrinement. If a player’s desired place in the Hall is held by others, a challenge system will enable them to attempt to unseat their rivals.

Make your mark in the pirate world, either through victory or service, and you may find your place among the world’s most famous few. Many will stare at your likeness in awe and amazement as they marvel at your legendary exploits, if you are bold enough to seize the opportunity.

Visit http://top.igg.com to learn about Tales of Pirates and the new Celebrity Hall.

Since the latest update to Wonderland Online, the Mesopotamian city of Babylon has increasingly piqued players’ curiosity. Though the city is famous for its beautiful scenery, unique culture and even a mysterious love story, the Hanging Gardens are the city’s most stunning attraction.

Considered to be one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, the Hanging Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar II of the Chaldean Dynasty. The king wanted to please his sick wife, Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland in Persia.

In the center of the lush Hanging Gardens amidst the perfume of countless blossoms stands a palace with five floors. In front of the palace, a statue of a goddess holds a water bottle from which flows a miniature waterfall. The clear waters surround the goddess. To find the mysterious source of the water, players can follow it back to a small river leading to a waterfall on the palace’s next floor. Following the trail farther still they will discover that its true source is a waterfall on yet a higher floor of the palace.

If players have seen enough of such marvels, and wish to search for something still more spectacular, they should pass by a large, engraved stone to enter the first floor of the palace. Eight delicate rooms are arranged inside, but some strange sounds come from one of the rooms. There a giant gorilla guards a treasure box. Players can take the item from it, and then proceed to open the door to the room at the top left corner. Here the Garden Beast protects a huge stone with a powerful magic seal. If players defeat the beast, they will earn the deity stone, which will allow them to fly into the sky.

As they ascend into the sky, players will discover the lush trees and blossoms located in a mysterious field suspended 3,000 meters above the earth. Even more remarkable, an elegant and beautiful lady stands among the blossoms. She is the famous Babylonian queen, somehow alive here in her floating garden. She will share her story with those who approach her, explaining why she still lives.

Whether players delight in the city’s wonders or its mysteries, Babylon is a prime location for adventurers to explore in this incredible virtual world. Visit http://wl.igg.com to learn more about Wonderland Online.

The GodsWar Online team is constantly updating the game to ensure new content meets players’ needs. In the latest patch, players will be able to take advantage of several changes intended to accelerate character growth and boost the overall gameplay experience.

EXP Boost

Silver, EXP and talent points received from quests have been increased while the requirement needed for level building has been reduced (up to 10%). It is designed to ensure players can level up faster to reach the stage where the game gets more exciting with instances that are often level restricted.

Newbie Experience

To offer new players a more involved experience, the First Pet Mission is designed to give them a head start by familiarizing them with their pets and providing them with a helping hand in combat. Players above level 10 can accept the mission. Once complete, they can choose either a magical Flower Pixie or a powerful Minotaur as their first pet. In addition, players level 50 and below will benefit from a reduction to their silver requirement for forging rubies, emeralds and sapphires. This should stretch out new players’ funds, leaving them more to spend for future needs.

Pet System

One of the rules for pet-to-pet merging has been modified. The minimum level for the major pet is now 70, and the minimum level for the deputy pet is now 30.

Zodiac System

Like all the systems mentioned, this one is also designed to accelerate players’ growth. Players can choose a zodiac when they create a character. Players will each receive one chance to reselect their zodiac. Under the protection of a zodiac, players can strengthen their characters by receiving extra EXP and talent points based on their daily routines.

Once the zodiac system is activated, players will each receive one lucky day per week. For more details please visit the below link:

http://gw.igg.com/news/news_view.php?aid=661