Village Gamer

Sword-and-Gun Action Fighting Title to Return at Holiday 2009

Montreal – Today Ubisoft® announced Red Steel®2, exclusively on Wii™ system from Nintendo. Red Steel remains one of the most successful Wii titles and the only brand created specifically for the launch of the platform.

Red Steel 2 returns with an artistic style and flair created just for Wii. Set in a desert-bound, high-tech metropolis, Red Steel 2 is a revolution in the action-fighting genre, taking full advantage of the capabilities of the Wii MotionPlus™ accessory. Your movements are faithfully replicated on-screen, putting the emphasis on swinging, shooting and fun! With the ability of the Wii MotionPlus to sense the strength of a swing, you will literally be able to make an impact on your adversaries through power and precision.

“Red Steel was a unique opportunity for Ubisoft to work in tandem with Nintendo to create a title exclusively for the launch of the Wii console,” said Olivier Ernst, general manager at Ubisoft Canada. “Red Steel 2 is another milestone for the company as it is the first Ubisoft title with full Wii MotionPlus integration.”

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Montreal – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, announced today that it will publish WET™, an innovative action game from Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M). WET, in development for the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, is slated for a Fall 2009 release.

WET is a highly stylized third-person shooter that seamlessly blends acrobatics, gun play, and sword kills. With dual pistols and a samurai sword, you can engage in combat while sliding on floors, running on walls, jumping, flipping, and performing amazing acrobatic moves – leaving a massive body count in your wake.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity to bring WET to all gamers,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “Our proven success as a publisher which focuses on select, innovative titles matches up perfectly with WET’s new class of gameplay.”
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Montreal – Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that its highly anticipated action adventure game Dante’s Inferno™ will be coming to the PSP® (Sony PlayStation® Portable). Based on part one of Dante Alighieri’s classic, “The Divine Comedy,” EA’s Dante’s Inferno will also take players on an epic adventure through Dante’s famously mapped nine circles of hell. Dante’s Inferno will be available simultaneously for the PSP, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system next year.

Dante’s Inferno for the PSP is being developed by EA’s award-winning EA Redwood Shores studio and Montreal’s Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M).
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Assassin’s Creed II is one of the Most-Anticipated Games for 2009 here at Village Gamer

Montreal – Today Ubisoft announced that Ubisoft Montréal is developing Assassin’s Creed II on all current-generation platforms for a scheduled Holiday 2009 launch. The initial installment of Assassin’s Creed® was released in November 2007 to popular and critical success, selling 8 million copies worldwide, and garnering awards such as Best Action Game 2007 from 1UP and Outstanding Achievement in Animation from the AIAS.

Assassin’s Creed II is the product of over two years of intensive development by the original creative team behind the Assassin’s Creed brand. In a vast open world environment, the game invites players to incarnate Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who’s been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy. Ezio’s subsequent quest for vengeance plunges players into a captivating and epic story that offers more variety in missions, surprising and engaging new gameplay elements, diverse weapons and a profound character progression that will appeal to fans of the original Assassin’s Creed as well as entice players new to the brand.

“Our creative team is working hard to top the experience of Assassin’s Creed,” said Patrice Desilets, creative director at Ubisoft. “We’ve made improvements to every aspect of the game. And we’ve plunged ourselves into the stunning history of the Italian Renaissance so that we can offer fans a unique, varied and innovative Assassin’s Creed experience.”

Toronto – JoWooD Productions and Canadian publisher DreamCatcher Games are pleased to announce they have signed Homegrown Games, a small independent Austrian developer, to develop the next chapter in the Painkiller brand. The new installment is called “Painkiller: Resurrection” and is set for release in Q4 2009.

Once more, it is up to the protagonist to find a way out of a grotesque world between heaven and hell, trapped between life and death. The development of Painkiller: Resurrection is based on the technology of the Painkiller engine, but with several improvements, including improved shadows, a higher texture resolution, moveable light sources, post processing, motion blur and ambient occlusion were implemented. In addition to these added features, the PK++ development team, lead by Steven “Blowfish” Wilkins, has set up a coop-multiplayer campaign mode.

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Vancouver – 2K Sports announced today that MLB® All-Star first baseman, Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers, will be featured as the cover athlete and spokesman for this season’s highly anticipated arcade-style baseball video game, The BIGS™ 2, which is currently under development at Vancouver’s Blue Castle Games.

After breaking the MLB record for youngest player (23) to hit 50 home runs in a season, formerly held by Hall of Famer Willie Mays, Fielder has quickly become one of the most powerful and spectacular home run hitters in Major League Baseball® today.

“I’ve been playing baseball video games for as long as I can remember. All of my idols have appeared on a video game cover, and now to have that same opportunity is truly an unbelievable feeling,” said Fielder. “I can’t wait to see myself in The BIGS 2. I’ll be the guy crushing mammoth home runs into the stands.”

Drafted as the 7th overall pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002 out of Eau Gallie High School, Fielder broke out in an MVP-caliber season, in which he was chosen by fans as the starting first baseman for the National League in the 2007 All-Star Game. That season, he won the Players Choice Award for Outstanding Player in the National League as voted on by the players, along with the Hank Aaron Award, given to the top offensive performer in each league as voted on by the fans. Fielder, who also currently owns the Milwaukee Brewers’ franchise record for home runs (50) and extra base hits (87) in a single-season, led his team to an exhilarating Wild Card berth in 2008 and its first playoff appearance in 26 years.

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Edmonton – BioWare, makers of the highly anticipated video game Dragon Age: Origins, has created a powerful toolset that will allow gamers to easily create their own Dragon Age: Origins levels and adventure modules to share online with the world. Applications are now being accepted for this rare opportunity to test the Dragon Age toolset and help BioWare fine tune it before its release later this year.

To select beta testers, BioWare is seeking a wide range of computer systems, testing experience and technical expertise. It doesn’t matter if a gamer has never used a toolset before – BioWare is looking for testers with different levels of experience, as well as fans who are simply curious about building their own adventures for the first time.

Fans can register with the BioWare Community and apply for the Dragon Age Toolset Beta test online.

Background

The Dragon Age toolset follows the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset that created one of the biggest and most successful communities in the gaming world with an enormous amount of stunning fan-created work. This next generation toolset takes user-created content to the next level by featuring more depth, more functionality and more ways to make the adventure you want to make.

BioWare has big plans for game, website and toolset integration to bring the talented Builders in the community together to plan, organize and team-up to create new worlds.

Montreal – I received a mysterious digital transmission today. It contained very little intel, but all the same, its message is very intriguing. It’s the first teaser trailer for Ubisoft Montreal’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed 2, the sequel to, naturally, Assassin’s Creed. I am seriously looking forward to the continuation of this franchise, and will have to revisit the original to prepare for Part Two – I believe there may even be one or two achievements I have not yet achieved, and that simply cannot be permitted. Needless to say, I am awaiting a firm release date and of course more information. I am very curious as to how far the storyline will venture, and what, if any, new elements will be introduced to the gameplay.

Montreal – Interactive entertainment company Ludia Inc., and CBS Consumer Products announced today that Ludia will create video games based on the seven-time Emmy® award-winning “The Amazing Race” television series. The North America-wide deal will see the reality TV sensation launch games across multiple platforms in tandem with the show’s 14th season.

“The heart-pounding adventure, around-the-world competition and postcard worthy settings of ‘The Amazing Race’ are perfectly suited for video game adaptation,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia. “We are thrilled to add such a high-energy, suspenseful franchise to our slate, and we will infuse those key elements into a highly social, team-based multiplayer game that unites duos in cooperative game play to compete against rivals.”
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Vancouver – Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., is proud to announce that Max Payne 3 is currently in development at Rockstar Vancouver and is scheduled for a winter 2009 release on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and PC. Developed by Rockstar Vancouver, Max Payne 3 tells the story of a retired police detective embroiled in a world of corruption, turmoil and intense violence.

The award-winning Max Payne franchise put players in the role of Max Payne, a hard-boiled New York City detective with a penchant for violence, out to avenge the death of his family. The latest installment delivers more of the classic elements and hyper-intense action that fans have come to love, while moving the story of Max in a new direction.
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