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We’re back, after an outage at my server farm, we are back online. We are in the process of getting ready for summer, so the delays in posts will still be here, but hopefully we are stable again (the cost of hosting via friends :) ). Posts will start again this week.

And remember, this Memorial Day, our soldiers around the world, past, present and future, fighting and helping, and making our world a better place; their sacrifices, their grief, their joy their everything. We owe them our gratitude, prayers and so much more. Thank you all for your service.

-gnb

The Frag Dolls, a professional all-female gaming team recruited by Ubisoft, are thrilled to reveal their newest team member at PAX East, Melonie “Cryptik” McElhannon, along with a brand new class of Cadette interns, who will all make their debut appearance at PAX East this week in Boston.
Known also as “Melonie Mac,” Cryptik has been gaming all of her life and has cultivated a sizeable following among various social media outlets through sharing her passion of gaming with the world. Cryptik is definitely not a stranger to the gaming industry having previously worked at Razer, a gaming peripheral company. With additional accomplishments such as an impressive 2k+ arena rating in World of Warcraft, along with multiple local tournament winnings for Super Smash Brothers Melee and Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Cryptik has always been passionate about competitive gaming and she has the skills to prove it.

“Cryptik has demonstrated a genuine passion for video games, along with having the skill set and experience to really contribute to our team in a big way,” said Amy Brady, co-team captain, of the Frag Dolls.

In addition to acquiring their newest team member, the Frag Dolls have also recruited a new class of girls into their Frag Doll Cadette program, which serves as a year-long internship with Ubisoft and the Frag Dolls. After reviewing countless applications, an in-depth interview process and intense deliberation, Ubisoft and the Frag Dolls have narrowed down a cast of eight pro-level gamers, bloggers, and online media personalities from all over the country.

“By far, this was the most challenging Cadette application process yet,” said Kimberly “Sabre” Weigend, Frag Doll. “A multitude of inspiring and passionate women applied to our Cadette Academy this year, and we are very pleased with the outcome. They’re all very excited make their public debut at PAX East and I know they’re going to rock it!”

For more information about the Frag Dolls or the Cadettes, please visit: www.fragdolls.com

Written by Consultant, Former SAS Operator Andy McNab

DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio, today announced the publication of a novel based on Battlefield 3™, one of the most anticipated games of 2011. Battlefield 3: The Russian novel is written by the highly decorated ex-SAS operator and best-selling author of Bravo Two Zero, Andy McNab, with co-author Peter Grimsdale. The book tells the back-story of RU Special Forces operator Dima, one of the hero soldiers featured in the Battlefield 3 single-player campaign narrative. Having first-hand experience of the drama and trauma of real war, McNab and co-author Grimsdale bring an authentic voice and heart-wrenching perspective to the story. Like the game, the novel is charged with documentary intensity, high octane action, and ripped-from-the-headlines incursions. Battlefield 3: The Russian paints a picture of a soldier struggling to do whatever it takes to keep himself, and his platoon, alive. The modern military novel will be released alongside the game on Oct. 25, 2011 and will be published by Orion Publishing in Europe and Grand Central Publishing in North America.

In the game, the single-player storyline is revealed through a series of flashbacks as Marine Staff Sergeant Henry Blackburn races to prevent an attack on New York City by a deadly force known as the PLR. As Blackburn recalls key events leading up to the attack, players take control of several characters in heart-pounding missions across land, sea and air. One of these characters is Dmitri “Dima” Mayakovsky, a legendary and pragmatic GRU operator in the twilight of his Special Forces career. Known as a “cleaner”, Dima is the sort of person that does whatever it takes to get the job done. The book picks up where the game leaves off, allowing McNab and Grimsdale to give a thrilling new perspective into Dima’s own personal quest as well as the events of Battlefield 3.

“It is impossible for any single medium to fully capture the emotion and intensity of war. The Battlefield 3: The Russian novel is one window into the experience, and the game is another. They complement each other perfectly,” said Andy McNab. “Working with DICE has been a fantastic ride. Battlefield 3 is going to surprise people this autumn. The story, the characters, the world and the intense action come together to create a resonant, memorable experience.”

McNab is also working with the team at DICE to ensure that the authenticity and grittiness of today’s warfare is fully realized in all three campaigns; singleplayer, co-op and multiplayer. Capturing the intense reality of modern warfare across the globe, from the densely populated city streets of Paris to the barren dustbowl of the Tehran desert, Battlefield 3 is the next installment in the internationally acclaimed Battlefield series. Battlefield 3 recently took home an unprecedented 47 industry awards at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) including Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer from the Game Critics Awards.

About Andy McNab
In 1984 McNab was ‘badged’ as a member of 22 SAS Regiment and was involved in both covert and overt special operations worldwide. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, ‘will remain in regimental history for ever’. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993.

He wrote about his experiences in three books: the phenomenal bestseller Bravo Two Zero, Immediate Action and Seven Troop. He is the author of the bestselling Nick Stone thrillers as well as a number of other fiction and nonfiction titles for adults and young adults. He has sold over thirty million books worldwide. Besides writing, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and UK. He is a patron of the Help for Heroes campaign and is a Director of ForceSelect and the ForceSelect Foundation, the charity providing help to British ex servicemen and women.

Battlefield 3 will be available Oct. 25, 2011 in North America for the PlayStation3, the Xbox 360, PC. For more information on Battlefield 3, please visit www.battlefield.com, and for the latest news on Battlefield please visit http://www.facebook.com/battlefield or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/battlefield.

Participants Can Find Hidden QR Codes to Unlock In-Game Door Codes, Win Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network Prizes, Receive Exclusive Real-World Swag

Square Enix, Inc. and Eidos-Montreal launched the DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION® (DXHR) QR MISSIONS App for fans of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, wherein participants will have the opportunity to win exclusive real world prizes as well as in-game rewards. In order to join the DXHR QR MISSIONS Scavenger Hunt, fans should visit the App store on their iOS device. The first code is already available in the exclusive content section of the game’s official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DeusEx). New codes will be released every week for the next seven weeks.

So, How Does It Work?
Fans should visit the App store to download the App (DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION QR MISSIONS) for their iOS device and register for the DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION QR MISSIONS. Participants must be 17-years-old or older, have an iOS device with a camera and be able to register using Facebook Connect. Participants will also have to choose their preferred gaming platform.

Once the App is installed, users can begin looking for QR Codes — both online and in the real world — in a variety of locations including marketing and public relations materials, in-store advertising, the official website and Facebook page, and more. Hints for code locations will appear on the Official Eidos-Montreal Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/eidosmontreal) as well as the game’s official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DeusEx).

When a code is found, participants will use their iOS device equipped with a camera to scan it, thereby capturing that code and earning themselves (and all participants) 10 points.

So, What Can Fans Win?
The DXHR QR MISSIONS Scavenger Hunt delivers elite rewards for the fastest and most thorough code collectors as well as an amazing prize for all participants through a larger, unified goal. These prizes include:
· For each code scanned, users receive an item immediately including special game footage, secret codes to unlock in-game doors, “Augment Yourself” codes and other assets and info from the game.
· The first 1,000 participants to find 10 codes will receive an exclusive theme for their preferred platform (either the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3). These themes will be available for sale at a later date.
· If the collective score for all participants reaches 1,000,000 points before August 23 (the North American release date), all registered participants in the DXHR QR MISSIONS Scavenger Hunt will receive an exclusive item for their Xbox LIVE Avatar or for PlayStation Home. This item will be a toy version of the in-game “B-EE Chopper” that will appear as an Avatar prop item for their Xbox LIVE Avatar and will be available as a companion that follows the user within PlayStation Home.

· The first 10 participants to collect ALL 21 QR codes will receive the following prize package:
o One (1) copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Edition (system based upon original console selection)
o One (1) pair of Custom Deus Ex: Human Revolution headphones
o One (1) SQUARE ENIX PRODUCTS PLAY ARTS –KAI- Adam Jensen Action Figure
o One (1) Deus Ex: Human Revolution Limited Edition Compression Sleeve

Users can find the first code in the DXHR QR MISSIONS Scavenger Hunt on the game’s official Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/DeusEx) on the “Exclusive Content” tab. Participants must “Like” the page in order to see the code. Additional codes will be unleashed immediately.

Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMrGlYGhLoI

Competitive video gaming community comes together to broadcast competition live online, leveraging all-new features designed specifically for gamers.

Justin.tv today launched TwitchTV, the largest competitive video gaming broadcast network in the world. TwitchTV is dedicated to supporting, entertaining and inspiring the e-sports community. Leveraging the live video streaming infrastructure pioneered by the team at Justin.tv, TwitchTV features the highest quality competitions on all games and platforms, with the top gamers, the biggest tournaments, and the best commentary.

“This is just the start of what we want to build,” said Emmett Shear, co-founder and CTO of Justin.tv, and general manager of TwitchTV. “We designed this site to support the e-sports community. Since everyone on the team is a gamer, it’s a site made by e-sports fans, for e-sports fans.”

E-sports, another name for competitive video gaming, is a global phenomenon built around real-time strategy games, first person shooters, fighting games, and other games requiring high-level skill and strategy. E-sports has developed an entire professional ecosystem complete with celebrity players, major sponsors and an adoring fan-base. TwitchTV has forged partnerships with the world’s top e-sports personalities and organizations – the best professional gamers, biggest tournaments, and most prestigious leagues – to bring fans the most compelling e-sports video content anywhere in the world.

“TwitchTV wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t for our community,” said Kevin Lin, COO of Justin.tv and VP of business development for TwitchTV. “The community’s input has been instrumental in developing the new site’s features and functionality, and their support has been overwhelming. Because of our relationships in the pro gamer community, we’ve been able to improve our platform and build tools that allow them to develop as professionals.”

TwitchTV created an innovative partner program in which gamers and tournaments share in the advertising revenue generated on their video streams. TwitchTV is also beta-testing other revenue generators for its partners including pay-per-view and subscription-based programs in which viewers gain access to exclusive content, or gain premium-level benefits such as ad-free viewing.

“TwitchTV is a major initiative for us here at Justin.tv,” said Michael Seibel, CEO of Justin.tv. “The community that coalesced around live competitive gaming content is clearly very passionate and growing quickly. We’re excited to support that community with a home of their own. We hope the functionality and content featured on TwitchTV will help take the entire e-sports ecosystem to the next level.”

TwitchTV currently generates 3.2 million unique visits per month, 4.5 hours of video viewed per person per month, and more than 45 million total video views per month. TwitchTV is launching at this year’s E3, the world’s largest video game expo. The new site is also partnering with GameSpot to stream over 90 hours of E3 content from the show floor, including all major press conferences.

The live video stream from E3 can be seen here: http://twitchtv.com/gamespote3live.

About TwitchTV
TwitchTV is the largest competitive video gaming broadcast network in the world. Dedicated to supporting, entertaining and inspiring the e-sports community, TwitchTV features the highest quality competitions on all games and platforms, with the top gamers, the biggest tournaments, and the best commentary. TwitchTV leverages the live video streaming platform and infrastructure pioneered by Justin.tv. Learn more at http://twitchtv.com.

About Justin.tv
Justin.tv is the Web’s largest live video community. Headquartered in San Francisco, Justin.tv is funded by Alsop Louie Partners, Tim Draper and Y Combinator. Learn more at http://www.justin.tv.

Two Weeks of World War II History Begins Tomorrow with First-Person Shooter

Joymax, a leading online game developer and publisher, is pleased to bring Karma Online: Prisoners of the Dead to a global audience tomorrow, Tuesday, June 7th. To sign up for the closed beta and learn more about the game, players can visit http://www.joymax.com/karma/

“Players must quickly learn to balance what they bring into a fight in order to stay competitive in KARMA Online,” said Joymax CEO, Nam-chul Kim. “What is more important: more weapons, bigger but fewer weapons, protective armor, projectiles, or hand-to-hand weapons? Each map will require careful thought and preparation, or players will just be zombie bait!”

The closed beta will run from June 7th until June 21st, so players will have two full weeks to enjoy blasting both their opposing faction’s players as well as hordes of zombies waiting to prey on the weakest member of either the Axis or Allied teams. Players can use this time to experiment with different skill builds and weapons before deciding on a final set for open beta and beyond!

Joymax will also run contests during the coming weeks, taking place between Closed and Open Beta. The first is a screen shot contest where players will be challenged to collect four dead bodies and snap a shot! Players enjoying the riveting zombie mode can enter a screen shot of four or more dead bodies that they have killed in one image. Entries and full contest details can be found on the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/KarmaPOD

Developed in conjunction with Dragonfly, and published by Joymax, KARMA Online: Prisoners of the Dead is the newest installment in the KARMA Online series, the top online first-person shooter series in Korea. Players go back in time to World War II, where they must choose to side with the Axis or Allied powers and join the fight for global victory – with a zombie twist. In this virtual and historical simulation, players will be up against enemy troops as well as hundreds of the walking dead from the remains of the catastrophic battle.

To become a fan of Karma Online: Prisoners of the Dead, players can visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/KarmaPOD or http://twitter.com/karmapod and http://www.youtube.com/user/KarmaPOD

It’s a busy week, but also a busy one for the Gamers News Dad…I am on vacation. I have a big news dump for today and will do as much as I can tomorrow morning. I will be leaving for a big trip, and coming back for Sunday, when, while all the other sites are sleeping, I will bring all the news I can to the (admittedly small) masses!

-e

Gordon Van Dyke to Lead Development on Paradox’s Online Titles and New IP

Paradox Interactive announced today that Gordon Van Dyke, former DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment) Battlefield Franchise Producer, has joined the production team at Paradox Interactive AB as a Senior Producer. Van Dyke will be charged with leading the production of the online titles and developing new IP.

“Gordon brings a great amount of experience from working on the Battlefield series and Visceral. We are thrilled to welcome him to Paradox. Over the past couple of years we have been one of the fastest growing companies in the industry and Gordon will play a key role in our continued growth,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive.

“I’m very excited to join the production team here at Paradox. Some really fortunate events led me to this amazing opportunity to work on projects that really speak to my inner gamer. I know it’s going to be an incredible journey and can’t wait to start right away on inspiring projects like Salem, Gettysburg: Armored Warfare, and Project Postman,” Gordon Van Dyke commented.

Sony has sent the following to all PSN and Qriocity users:

AllClear ID powered by Debix

Identity Theft Protection Offer for PlayStation®Network and Qriocity™ Customers

Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment have made arrangements with Debix to offer AllClear ID PLUS to eligible PlayStation®Network and Qriocity account holders in the United States who are concerned about identity theft.

AllClear ID PLUS is a premium identity protection service that uses advanced technology to deliver alerts to help protect you from identity theft. The service also provides identity theft insurance coverage and hands-on help from expert fraud investigators.

Sony has arranged, at no charge to eligible PlayStation Network and Qriocity account holders, for twelve months of this service to be provided by Debix to those who choose to enroll. In order to be eligible, account holders must be residents of the United States with active accounts as of April 20, 2011.

If interested, please submit your email address by June 28, 2011, at 11:59:59 PM CST at: us.playstation.com/news/consumeralerts/identity-theft-protection.

Please note, you must enter the same email address used to register your PlayStation®Network or Qriocity account. Once your email address is validated, you will be sent your AllClear ID PLUS activation code.

Sincerely,
Sony Computer Entertainment & Sony Network Entertainment