Village Gamer

Electronic Arts Inc. has announced that EA Sports™ is developing an authentic street soccer game that will replicate the way the game is played by street players all over the world. From the creators of the award-winning EA Sports FIFA Soccer franchise at EA Canada, and inspired by street soccer styles and stars from around the world, EA Sports FIFA Street will be built to the level of quality and depth that millions of FIFA fans have come to expect from the EA Sports FIFA development team. The game will be available for the PlayStation®3  and Xbox 360® in early 2012.

“This is the first time our award-winning FIFA development team is creating a street soccer game, and we are going to deliver a level of authenticity never before seen in this genre, along with amazing gameplay,” said Matt Bilbey, Vice President and GM of Soccer, EA Sports. “FIFA Street will appeal to new fans that are looking for a unique, fun soccer experience, and long-time FIFA fans looking for an authentic street soccer experience with the level of quality that they know and love from the FIFA franchise.”

Powered by the revolutionary FIFA Soccer gameplay engine, and introducing Street Ball Control, FIFA Street will deliver an arsenal of groundbreaking street dribbling styles and trick moves that ignite the one-on-one battles within matches. Whether performing one panna after another without breaking a sweat the way street soccer is played in Amsterdam, or a physical, fight-for-possession style the way players compete in London, fans will enjoy a superior fidelity of ball control and responsiveness than anything ever experienced in a soccer videogame. Plus, for the first time ever, utilize aerial skills to maneuver past opponents, an all-new sophisticated one-touch passing system for quick, precision passes, and over 50 never-before-experienced skill moves.

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Play with and against the stars of the most popular clubs in the world—or real-life street players—and compete at more than 35 locations around the world. From one-on-one battles in parking lots and parks to prestigious 5v5 tournaments on the streets of the world’s biggest cities, FIFA Street will replicate the unique street soccer style. Plus, it will feature a host of modes and online features that will be revealed in the months ahead that will make the game a social, connected experience.

FIFA Street will be connected to EA Sports Football Club (Online Pass, FIFA Street and internet connection required), so from the first nutmeg on, gamers will be contributing to their Football Club identity. Fans who purchase EA Sports Season Ticket will also get, as a bonus offer, full-game digital access to FIFA Street three days in advance of launch.

An EA Sports Season Ticket subscription provides full-game digital access to all participating EA Sports games three days before launch, a 20% discount on all downloadable content, free premium web content and membership recognition through an in-game and online EA Sports Season Ticket badge. An annual subscription to EA Sports Season Ticket is now available through the PlayStation Store and Xbox LIVE for $24.99 or 2000 MS Points. EA Sports Season Ticket is available for Xbox 360 in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and PS3 in North America. Benefits begin with the launch of Madden NFL 12. Moving forward, participating franchises include NHL hockey, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA Tour golf and NCAA Football. Subscribers will also get, as a bonus offer, three-day early digital access to FIFA Street.

A team of seven students in the Masters of Digital Media program at The Center for Digital Media have come together to create an all-new physics-based puzzle game for iPads and iPhones within an ambitious timeline of 4 months. These students have also created Digital Touch Games, a brand new Vancouver independent studio. Crash Craving is their debut title.

Crash Craving is designed with casual gamers and non-gamers in mind, making the game easy to play but difficult to master. The game features a lovable orange chameleon fittingly named Mango. Mango is in search for food and he comes across jars of flies in a… French Cafe? That’s a classy meal right there and Mango knows how to get it. If you enjoy wreaking havoc in a fancy cafe by swinging like Tarzan with a super long sticky tongue, you’ll love this game. There are 50 levels to play through which is sure to provide hours of fun for just a single dollar on the iTunes app store.

The Masters of Digital Media program is a professional degree designed to be a practical program in which students are set up to work for real industry projects with real clients as well as some high profile companies like Electronic Arts and Microsoft. On the last semester of the 20-month program, the students are given the chance to pitch their own project ideas to the directors of the school as well as industry judges in the style of Dragons’ Den to gauge the viability and profitability of what is being proposed. Making sure that they get a shot at creating a game from concept through development and production, these students endeavoured to have a marketable, polished game within a semester’s time.

Welcome to Airways Virtual, a website that features virtual airlines for flight simulator FSX.  These include British Airways Virtual, Thai Airways Virtual, Tiger Airways Virtual, Hewa Bora Airways Virtual and many more.  If you are interested in managing a virtual airline then contact SimMiles and complete a virtual airline application form.  If you are interested in becoming a virtual airline pilot at one of these Virtual Airlines then you can click on the link that will take you to their website where you can complete a virtual airline pilot application.  Each virtual airline is independently managed and operated by the management of that specific virtual airline.

SimMiles is an airline simulation game for virtual airlines that allows real people to manage the virtual airline in an airline simulation game environment and it also allows virtual airline pilots to complete the flights for the virtual airline using Flight Simulator FSX in real time.  This way pilots also get to participate in this real time airline simulation game online in the most realistic environment.  Airways Virtual is a website that promotes virtual airlines, the airline management game genre in general and the flight simulator FSX community.

Airways Virtual features FSX Virtual Airlines that are based all over the world including countries like Canada, Singapore, United States (USA), UK (United Kingdom), Australia, Germany, France, New Zealand and Ireland.  There are many virtual airlines that you can choose from in these countries and many more.  Airways Virtual mainly features real world based virtual airlines to make the FSX Virtual Airline Management experience more realistic and fun.

Nintendo® is giving Canadians the chance to ‘Fly Like Fox’ with the launch of the Star Fox 64™ 3D ‘Fly Like Fox’ contest. To enter the contest fans can simply fly over to the Nintendo 3DS Facebook page and click on the Star Fox 64 3D contest tab. One lucky Star Fox fan and wingman of their choice will WIN a real-life fighter-pilot experience at Air Combat USA in Fullerton, California!

Just like Fox McCloud and his team in the classic remake for Nintendo 3DS TM, the winner and a friend will experience the thrill and excitement of flying a light attack fighter in air-to-air combat. After a briefing by an Air Combat USA Pilot in the basics of Tactical Fighter Maneuvers, they will engage in multiple g-pulling dogfights, experiencing the fierce aerial combat of the game in real life! The flight experience will be recorded and they will be debriefed post flight.

Contest Details

• Open only to residents of the Canada (excluding Quebec) and the U.S. who are over the age of 14
• The contest starts on August 15, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. PT and ends on November 7, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. PT
• One winner from Canada and one winner from the United States and will each receive a grand prize trip package consisting of a “Basic Air Combat Maneuvers for 2” aerial combat lesson for the winner and their guest at Air Combat USA, a video of the flight experience, two nights’ accommodations in Fullerton, California, two round-trip airplane tickets, and $500 spending money
• Approximate Retail Value of the Trip: $5,800 CAD

THQ Inc. has announced that Relic Entertainment will be releasing a playable demo for the upcoming 3rd Person Action/Shooter, Warhammer® 40,000®: Space Marine® on Xbox Live®, PlayStation® Network and Windows PC. The demo is planned to launch simultaneously for the Xbox 360® and Windows PC on 23rd August and then on PlayStation®3 on 24th August.

Players who have pre-ordered the digital PC version of Space Marine through Steam will receive an exclusive early access period starting on the 18th of August, running through the weekend.  Steam will also be running a Warhammer 40,000 bundle sale at a very special rate during the same period.  Check out STEAM for more details.

The Space Marine demo features two very different areas of the game. The first pits the player against an Ork horde outside the gates of a munitions factory. Armed with six devastating weapons, including the iconic bolter and lethal chainsword, the player will get to experience Space Marine’s seamless mix of melee and ranged combat first hand as they take on the rampaging invaders. The second area gives players a taste of the exhilarating Jump Pack sequences where the game’s hero—Captain Titus—takes to the skies to rain death from above.

Space Marine ‘Honour Guard’ community members will also get the chance to play the demo early on August 22nd, 24 hours prior to the public launch. For more information on how to sign up to get the demo visit the Space Marine site and make sure you have registered with the Honour Guard.

Electronic Arts will showcase the best of interactive entertainment at this year’s gamescom in Cologne, Germany. The company’s top intellectual properties are set to delight visitors, highlighting this year’s blockbuster launches and offerings for console, mobile phones, tablets and the Web. The publisher will also be providing 350 gaming stations at the EA booth allowing more consumers than ever before to get hands-on play with each game.

Jens Uwe Intat, Senior Vice President of EA European Publishing, said, “The old model of making games every few years to coincide with new hardware launches is gone. We have a very powerful set of games for today’s consoles, and now we offer that IP to players as year-round entertainment across all of their devices and platforms. We’re looking forward to our fans’ response when they get hands-on with our line-up at the show – we think they’ll like what they see”.

Canadian-made games at the show include:

• FIFA 12: Huge space that puts players on the pitch to experience the gameplay action.
• Need for Speed™ The Run: Get behind the wheel in a race for your life from the Golden Gate to the Empire State.
• Mass Effect™ 3: Bioware’s high octane alien invasion adventure explodes in an all-out galactic war. The time has come to join the war effort and experience the industry’s most critically acclaimed RPG first-hand.
• The Secret World: Funcom producers will be showing an exciting live demo in one of many dungeons, highlighting combat, progression and boss fights.

It appears that there were loads of news announcements made while we were at SIGGRAPH with very sketchy wireless. The media room where we could have had a wired connection was two floors and a long walk away, but we wouldn’t have had long enough on the wired connection to catch up on everything. Here are just a few of the stories that broke during the past few days:

The Montreal International Game Summit announced its keynote speakers. The conference will open with Jason Rohrer, an independent Game Designer, and Richard Lemarchand, Lead Game Designer for Naughty Dog, on November 1st and 2nd respectively. Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and CEO of Ubisoft, will have the honour of delivering the conference’s closing keynote.

Other featured speakers at MiGS 2011 include David Hego, Artistic Director for Rocksteady Studios, who will be presenting in the Arts & VFX Track. Alain Tascan, President & CEO at Sava Transmedia will be participating in the Business track while Lee Perry, Senior Gameplay Designer for Epic Games will be on the Design track. Over on the Technology track, attendees will find a presentation by Stefan Boberg, Technical Development Director at EA DICE, while the Production track will feature a presentation by David Anfossi, Producer – DX: HR at Eidos Montreal. A new track has been added for 2011, and Tom Salta, Music Composer known for producing scores featured in popular franchises such as R.U.S.E. and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands will be the featured presenter for the brand new Audio track. Please visit the MiGS site for an up-to-date speaker list.

Ubisoft announced that PlayStation^® gamers will be able to test their assassination skills beginning on September 3rd with a multiplayer beta of the highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed Revelations that will run until September 11th. PlayStation^®Plus members and Uplay members will enjoy exclusive access to the multiplayer beta on PlayStation^®3. The multiplayer beta offers access to nine characters – The Sentinel, The Vanguard, The Guardian, The Vizier, The Thespian, The Deacon, The Bombardier, The Trickster and The Champion, three maps – Knight’s Hospital, Antioch, Constantinople, and four playable modes – Wanted and Manhunt, as well as two new modes, Deathmatch and Artifact Assault. The rest of us will apparently have to wait until the game’s release on November 15th.

Bioware’s Dragon Age franchise has expanded to Google+ games. Dragon Age™ Legends, the popular dark fantasy Play4Free® RPG developed by BioWare San Francisco (formerly EA 2D) has launched, and is the only game of its kind on Google’s new real-life social project. Dragon Age Legends extends the award-winning Dragon Age franchise and reinvents it for social play on Google+. The game blends accessible and engaging tactical combat, progression and exploration in the Dragon Age universe, and is perfect for co-operative and competitive gameplay across players’ Google+ Circles and Hangouts.

Vancouver’s WordLogic Corporation, a provider of advanced predictive text software for smartphones, PCs and other devices, has announced the availability of WordLogic Intelligent Input™ technology for licensing to manufacturers and software developers. The technology is ideal for mobile app developers, search providers, and device OEMs looking for the best possible predictive text or search technology.

WordLogic Intelligent Input™ helps make text input on touchscreen smartphones, tablets, and other consumer electronics devices faster, more accurate and helpful. Devices like smartphones, tablets, automotive infotainment systems, Internet TV, and game consoles are proliferating by the billions. They enable the Internet and employ touchscreens, body motion, infrared controllers or other non-mechanical keyboards to enter text, search and control applications. WordLogic Intelligent Input™ brings next generation text input to these text-hungry devices.

Current predictive text methods, which rely upon adjacent key prediction or misspellings, are frequently so inaccurate use that people simply turn them off. Alternatives require too much of a learning curve for mass adoption. Voice input has improved, but even server-based voice recognition is frequently insufficient in environments subject to background noise, such as groups where conversation is taking place, in vehicles, and on the street.

Gorilla Nation Media Canada has announced that it will exclusively represent the online advertising sales for European news site Figaro Medias in the Canadian market.

“Group Figaro is enthusiastic to join the Gorilla Nation family. We share the same vision of the digital business, which is to guarantee premium, innovative and engaging contents (video, chat session, etc.), to join our audience on all devices and platforms and to respond with care to our advertisers the same way we care about our content. The adaptability and the service quality of Gorilla Nation bring a new dynamic to the Figaro Medias offer in Canada,” says Eileen Lemuet, International Commercial Director at Figaro Medias.

“With the addition of Figaro Medias to our roster of sites, it shows our commitment and seriousness in increasing our offer in the French Canadian market, while complementing some of the new business sites we have recently added,” says Jean-Sébastien Tremblay, Director of sales, East of Canada, at GN Media Canada.

Gamers now have a chance to win their ultimate fantasy with Activision Publishing, Inc.’s and GameStop’s, “Get in the Game,” pre-order promotion for Radical Entertainment’s highly anticipated PROTOTYPE® 2.

U.S. and Canadian players, 18 and older, who pre-order PROTOTYPE 2 at GameStop between now and September 1, 2011 will have the opportunity to go online and enter a random drawing to win a trip for two to Radical Entertainment in Vancouver and become a character in the upcoming open-world action thriller.  To enter the drawing, and for full rules and regulations, go to www.gamestop.com/collection/prototype-2.  The press release said that Canadians who want to enter the contest should go to www.gamestop.ca/prototype-2, however at press time, that link resulted in a 404 error. In fact, GameStop’s Canadian site didn’t mention the contest at all. Conspiracy?

“Thanks to this great partnership with Activision and GameStop, we have an incredible opportunity to offer gamers something truly unique,” said Ken Rosman, Studio Head, Radical Entertainment.  “In addition to just seeing themselves in the game, the winners will actually be able to locate their virtual selves and shape-shift Sgt. James Heller into their likeness.  Radical wouldn’t be where it is today without our fans, and this is just another way for us to thank them for all their support.”

The sequel to Radical Entertainment’s best-selling open-world action game of 2009, PROTOTYPE 2 takes the unsurpassed carnage of the original PROTOTYPE and continues the experience of becoming the ultimate shape-shifting weapon.  As the game’s all-new infected protagonist, Sgt. James Heller, players will cut a bloody swathe through the wastelands of post-viral New York Zero (or more simply… NYZ) with unparalleled locomotion, building up a vast genetic arsenal of deadly, biological weapons and abilities as they hunt and consume their way toward the ultimate goal — to kill…Alex…Mercer!

PROTOTYPE 2 is currently in development for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the Windows PC.  The game is currently rated “RP” (Rating Pending) by the ESRB, with an expected “M” rating.

Independent Mississauga developer Sad Cat Software is pleased to announce the launch of Desert Quest game for iPhone and iPod Touch, the epic role-playing adventure that invites players to take an inspiring journey into the world full of magic and secrets. With its smooth and fluid gameplay, beautifully crafted graphics and enchanting music the title provides a deeply engaging and unforgettable gaming experience.

Players take the role of a hero whose mission is to venture through 16 various levels across the unknown and dangerous lands in order to find and save the gorgeous princess from evil spirits. They are challenged to show off their archery skills and go through intense combats against 30 kinds of creatures including eight spirit bosses. With a diverse selection of upgradable weapons and equipment users have the chance to improve the speed, agility and endurance and gain upper hand in battles. The game contains 20 spells to discover and achieve that can be learned by combining the magical gems in the pattern shown in the spell book.

“Desert Quest is our first foray into 3D games that plunges players into the magical, enchanting and beautifully crafted world full of spirits and adventure.  We hope our users will enjoy exploring it as much as we’ve enjoyed making the game,” said Sad Cat Software founder Oleg Samus.

Desert Quest presents four exotic environments in widely varying landscapes and features different mini-puzzle games that must be solved to advance further.  Outstanding 3D graphics are a great addition to a varied, rich and deep gameplay. Enchanting music and subtle sound effects create special involving atmosphere and make the whole experience even more enjoyable and captivating.

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Desert Quest 1.0 is available at a special introductory price of $0.99 USD and available worldwide through the App Store in the Games category. The game is compatible for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices running iOS 3.0 or later. Desert Quest is rated 9+ for Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence.

My sincere apologies to Good World Games – with the massive amount of SIGGRAPH 2011 emails being fired back and forth along with tasks on our to-do list, I completely missed this press release.

Good World Games was founded in Toronto last year with the goal of creating socially conscious social games. Now based in Liberty Village, we are building a movement dedicated to helping important global causes through fun and educational games offered to a wide and engaged audience.

The studio’s first game, MyConservationPark is an innovative, planet-friendly social game allowing players to nurture their own virtual wildlife preserves based on real threatened species and habitats, while directly supporting non-profit organizations such as The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, Sea Shepherd and WildAid.

As the player, your mission is simple. You need to protect an endangered animal – your “hero” – from environmental and human threats while enriching the park with fauna and flora to create a sustainable habitat. Successfully conquer these challenges and balance the Eco-system and you will be rewarded with points and cash. Fail to do so and your hero and the Eco-system will suffer. When you purchase goods from the in-game store such as structures or animals, 15% of the revenue will be donated to our non-profit partners.

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