Top Fan Submissions from U.S. and UK To Be Incorporated Into Future Peggle Installment; Prizes Include Trips to Seattle, Retail Spending Sprees, iPhones, Xbox 360s and More

PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced a first-of-its kind Peggle Art Contest, with the top submissions being immortalized in a future installment of the cult classic casual video game. The contest, which opens today and runs through June 3, 2009, is one element of Peggle Fever, a months-long celebration of all things Peggle. Peggle Fever will include other contests and sweepstakes while celebrating the arrival of new adaptations of Peggle for Nintendo DS (arriving today in the U.S.), Apple’s iPhone, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and XBLA service, and more.

Available to residents of the 50 United States (and District of Columbia) and the United Kingdom, the Peggle Art Contest will award more than $8,000 in prizes, including trips for the top submitters to visit PopCap’s Seattle headquarters, spending sprees at Best Buy, limited edition Peggle merchandise, and iPhones and Xbox 360s with Peggle pre-installed. Entries can involve any aspect of the game’s artistic elements, from background scenes to drawn or written descriptions of new Peggle Masters and power-ups, to level designs (peg layouts). Full details of the contest, including entry forms and rules, can be found at www.popcap.com/promos/peggleart. Entries can be submitted electronically or by mail.

“We get a lot of fan mail from Peggle devotees, including lots of suggestions for background art, new Peggle characters and power-ups, and level designs, and thought an art contest would be a fun way to foster and tap into that creativity and enthusiasm for the game,” said Sukhbir Sidhu, co-creator of Peggle and studio director at PopCap. “We’re excited to see what the rabid Peggle community comes up with in the way of ideas!”

Digital contest submissions must be no larger than 5 megabytes in size and analog submissions must arrive on a sheet of paper or other material no larger than 8.5 inches by 11 inches and be no thicker than 4 inches. Nearly any type of ink or paint can be used, from finger-paints or colored pencils to ballpoint pens and magic markers. Judging will be conducted by members of PopCap’s art department and development studio, who will weigh creativity and feasibility of submissions along with artistic talent. No copyrighted or trademarked imagery – other than visual elements found in the Peggle games themselves – will be accepted. A sampling of submissions from each week of the contest may be posted to the contest microsite and prizes will be awarded to the top two dozen entries (twelve per age group). Both “adult” (age 18 and over) and “youth” (13 to 17) categories are available, with twelve winners being named from each age group.

Win an Amazing PC Gaming Rig! cdv USA and GameRigs Launch the New Sacred 2: Fallen Angel T-Energy Sweepstakes Today

cdv USA is pleased to announce that they have launched a new sweepstakes today… and it’s sure to make the winner the envy of all their PC gaming friends! In cooperation with top PC builder GameRigs, cdv USA will be giving away a fantastic Sacred 2-themed custom PC in their “Sacred 2 – T-Energy Sweepstakes,” which launched today.

To enter the sweepstakes, please visit – http://www.game-rigs.com/community/sweepstakes/sacred2/

Many will enter the sweepstakes, but only one person will win a fantastic, custom-built Sacred 2 PC, which includes these incredible components -

1st Prize
- Custom Gaming Desktop PC System from GameRigs, including:
- GameRigs Aluminum ATX Case with custom artwork
- AMD Phenom^TM X4 2.5GHz Quad-Core AM2+ Processor
- 2 GB Crucial Ballistix^TM memory
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+ 512mb PCI-E 2.0
- NEC Accusync 24″ LCD Display
- Razer Lycosa^TM gaming keyboard
- Razer DeathAdder^TM gaming mouse
- Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Mousepad
- Sacred 2 Premium Poster
- In-game Carrier Imp pet (included in Special edition of the game)
- Sacred 2 : Fallen Angel Poster
- Sacred 2 : Fallen Angel Decals

2nd Prize
- Razer Lycosa^TM gaming keyboard
- Razer DeathAdder^TM gaming mouse
- Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Mousepad
- In-game Carrier Imp pet (included in Special Edition of the game)
- Sacred 2 : Fallen Angel Poster
- Sacred 2 : Fallen Angel Decals

3rd Prize
- Razer DeathAdder^TM gaming mouse
- Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Mousepad
- In-game Carrier Imp pet (included in Special Edition of the game
- Sacred 2 : Fallen Angel Poster
- Sacred 2 : Fallen Angel Decals

For more information about Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, the action-RPG for PC and next-generation consoles, please visit http://www.cdvus.com or http://sacred2.com.

Rare contest to reward top Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts creations with in-game immortality

Twycross, Outskirts of Nowhere – Attention builders, racers, pilots and boat captains! One month after its worldwide release, “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts” has flown, driven and sailed off store shelves and the response from the fan community has been overwhelming. Every day, the “Banjo-Kazooie” Showroom is flooded with new screenshots and blueprints of fan’s custom creations, so today Rare announced a contest to recognize the top seven user generated contraptions created in “Banjo- Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.”

Key members of the “Banjo” development team will be poring over the in-game photos uploaded to the web in a quest to track down the seven very best player-built contraptions. The reward? In-game immortality. The seven winners will experience bragging rights galore when their designs are integrated into the game for other “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts” players to experience.

Additional details around the contest can be found on the official Web site at http://www.rare.co.uk/company/news_bkcomp.html

Once the team has made its selections, the contraptions’ creators will be contacted via their Gamertags and asked to send Rare their blueprints.
Contest Details:

· To upload a screenshot of your creation to the official contest Web site:
Press Start to access the Pause menu, select Photos and Replays, and then select Take Photo. Use the left and right sticks to position the camera, and then press A to take the picture. (Photo mode is available during single-player games or while watching replays.)

Select Photos and Replays from the main menu in “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts”

Select Open Photo Album, then My Photos
Highlight a photo you wish to upload and press the Y button to upload it to banjo-kazooie.com
The deadline for entries is Jan. 4, 2009, 12 midnight PST. This gives players the whole holiday to be creative
Anyone with a copy of “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts” and an Xbox LIVE account can enter.

Participants can enter as many contraptions and submit as many photos as they’d like; just remember that the cream always rises to the top.

Be creative! The Rare Judges are hard to impress and the creations that have already been posted to the web are outstanding, so competition is sure to be fierce Be careful! Contraptions that infringe on copyrighted material cannot be considered in this contest The exact specifics of the reward will be shared in due time, so contestants should get busy, get creative, and get building!

For additional information on “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts,” visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/splash/b/bknutsandbolts/ or http://www.rareware.com/home.html.

Smile for the camera! It’s time to create the perfect Outspark holiday greeting card!

From now until December 16th, players are invited to get creative and design their very own Outspark holiday greeting card. Simply use one of the festive images of the Outspark GMs provided by Outspark and your favorite image editor and start spreading the holiday cheer.

Seven winners determined by the Outspark community will each receive a real life copy of the card they design signed by the Outspark staff!

Additional information and contest rules are available at the Outspark website.

Related Links:
Outspark Portal: http://www.outspark.com.
Snapshot with Santa Announcement: http://fiesta.outspark.com/news/?view=news&document_srl=3235
Snapshot with Santa Entires/Forums: http://www.outspark.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=219

Paris, December 8, 2008 – Before the release of Still Life 2, Microïds and GameCo launch a machinima contest. The producer of the Still Life series and the Still Life 2 developer allow Still Life fans to design a 30 seconds trailer thanks to exclusive elements from the game under development at GameCo studios.

To enter the competition, you just need to register to stilllife2-trailer@microids.com.

You will then be given access to exclusive Still Life 2 material: animations, ingame videos, musics, screenshots… You will simply have to post your work* before January 10, 2009.

The winner will be announced on January 15 by a jury composed of Microïds and GameCo representatives, and his/her trailer will be posted on the official website: www.stilllife-game.com.

The winner’s name will furthermore be added to the game credits.

*The trailer needs to be 45 seconds maximum. It will not exceed 30Mb. Recommended formats are .MOV, AVI, MPEG4 or WMV.
Do not forget that PCs and Mac usually have pre-installed softwares for video creation (Windows Movie Maker for PCs, Imovie for Mac).

Finalists in indie game development contest revealed!

NEW YORK—December 9th, 2008— You are caught amidst a post-apocalyptic world, suddenly you realize that strange monsters lurk in the shadows, and then you become struck with a feeling of vertigo. Why?

Because Paradox Interactive and Gameplayer have revealed the finalists of their indie game development competition, SUT2008. The jury now goes to work at their computers, and the result will be presented at the end of January 2009. The winning game will be published online through GamersGate.

The finalists are:

1. Boingo by Black Drop Studios

Bounce around in a surreal atmosphere as monsters lurk in the shadows. This action-puzzle adventure might seem peaceful on the surface, but quick decisions are vital when danger is threatening from all angles.

Download the demo here: http://gameplayer.se/files/00/10/sut2008/boingo.zip

2. Flipside of the Divine by The Flipotechs

This three-dimensional action puzzle features an environment inspired by Incan culture. Move across dizzying heights as you jump your way through the adventure. Try not to let vertigo get to you, as it is a long way down.

Download the demo here: http://gameplayer.se/files/00/10/sut2008/flipside.zip

3. A Wikiped’s Story by Mjao

Point-and-click adventure games may seem fairly standard, but A Wikiped’s Story actually invites two people to sit down side-by-side and explore this strange, post-apocalyptic world.

Download the demo here: http://gameplayer.se/files/00/10/sut2008/wikiped_story.zip

About Paradox Interactive

Since 1999, Paradox Interactive has been a leading developer and publisher of PC-based strategy games. World-renowned for its strategy stable, the company holds a particularly strong presence in the United States and Europe. Its steadily-growing portfolio includes original titles such as the critically acclaimed Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron franchises, as well as the best published titles like Penumbra: Black Plague, Supreme Ruler 2020, and the greatly-anticipated Majesty 2 – The Fantasy Kingdom Sim.

Read more: http://www.paradoxplaza.com

About Gameplayer.se

Gameplayer.se, founded in 2004 and based in Skövde, Sweden, is a leading nordic gaming site. Over the years Gameplayer.se has grown considerably through a strong supply of text and video content. Publication highlights include Gameplayer TV and Spelfredag. Gameplayer.se also provide the Egmont magazine “The Official Guiness World of Records Magazine” with gaming content each month.

Read more: http://www.gameplayer.se

About GamersGate

GamersGate is a leading digital distribution platform, providing ready gaming experiences for gamers worldwide – anytime, anywhere. Viewed as a strong contender in the digital download arena, GamersGate continues to redefine the download industry. Future strategies include the launch of several additional services, and the further aggressive expansion of its product portfolio, from a wide range of internationally recognized publishers. http://www.gamersgate.com

On the heels of the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor launch, Intel and Ubisoft have joined forces for a worldwide contest for PC gamers. Each day from December 1-30, 2008, 50 sweepstakes entrants will win a copy of Far Cry 2 for Windows optimized for Core™ i7 processors. Using Havok physics to create a dynamic and realistic gaming experience, in-game cloud formations follow atmospheric rules, tree branches break by the strength of the wind and fire spreads across brush in the wind’s direction. Additionally, one participant daily will be awarded an Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition, Intel’s fastest chip that delivers massive gaming, video editing and multi-tasking performance.

Enter the contest and read complete contest details here: http://intelcorei7.ubi.com/

The sixth annual VGAs will bring together megastars from the worlds of video games, Hollywood, music, sports and more to celebrate the outstanding achievements within the video game industry over the past year on Sunday, December 14 in Culver City, CA.

To upload your video for consideration, please visit:http://www.spike.com/group/spore/landingpage. A panel of judges, including Spore creator Will Wright, will select the best Spore film short!

For official rules please, visithttp://www.spike.com/group/spore/rules.

The MGC is an annual game development contest exclusively for college students. The 2nd annual MGC has broadened its reach beyond New England schools to include colleges from the United States and Canada. Teams of one to three students are invited to submit an original video game featuring the 38 Studios’ fun-loving mascot Munch and his evil alter ego, Mean Munch. Submissions must include a DVD or CD-ROM of the executable game, installation instructions, source code, build scripts, and a completed entry form.

Judging/Winners:
A panel of 38 Studios judges will review submissions based on Originality, Graphics and Artistry, Technical Achievement, Degree of Finished Product, and Fun Factor. Last year’s winner was a game called “Munch’s Vacation,” designed by three students from Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Complete MGC 2 contest rules and last year’s winning designs can be found at:http://www.38studios.com/MGC

Deadline: 
Final hard-copy submissions must be received by March 2, 2009. 38 Studios will choose the winning design on or before April 30, 2009.

Prizes:
The top-three teams will be awarded thousands of dollars in prizes. Each member of the first-place team receives $1,500; second-place team members each receive $1,000; members of the team finishing third each receive $500.

PARIS, France. December 1, 2008 - Monte Cristo is launching an exciting “Advent Calendar” contest for their upcoming next-generation city-building title, CITIES XL™ today. In this new contest, you need only visit the official CITIES XL™ Web site atwww.citiesxl.com to play! By registering for the CITIES XL™ community, you’ll be able to enter the contest, and keep up with the latest happenings in the world of CITIES XL™.

From December 1 to December 24, 2008, members of the CITIES XL™ community will be able to accumulate points in the contest, and earn chances to win numerous prizes, such as a 32GB iPod Touch, “City Life” games and “CITIES XL” bags. Participants will be able to invite friends to join the game and increase their chances in the final drawing. A daily instant win contest will also be held.

Don’t wait! Come join the game at www.citiesxl.com!

CITIES XL™ allows gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps using an incredible collection of unique structures and monuments based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. The maps feature a variety of environments: mountains, hills, canyons, beaches and islands, all set in different climates from tropical to desert, Mediterranean to temperate. Players must create the right combinations of social services, leisure activities, special events and other job opportunities within their cities in order to feed, clothe, employ and entertain their citizens. Be it planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighborhood or transit system – there’s always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in CITIES XL™.

The game’s online features and services will allow players to create interconnected cities on virtual and persistent planets. Mayors can share and trade with one another, specialize their economy and team up with befriended cities to create sprawling metropolises. Life on the planet will be punctuated by events and competitions – a concert held in one town may, for example, be attended by visitors from other areas who can also enjoy a walk around the city to admire the urban creations of multiple players. By combining a fantastic single-player game with the social and multiplayer aspects of an MMO, CITIES XL™ will shape the future of the genre by offering more variety, bigger cities and multiple gameplay layers.

For more information about CITIES XL™, which will ship in 2009, please join the continuously growing community at www.citiesxl.com