The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has named the four winners of the second annual Randy Pausch Scholarship: John Kolencheryl, Carnegie Mellon University; Sebastian Gosztyla, DePaul University; William Graner, University of Southern California; and Kimberly Kiser, Saint Vincent College. "Being able to help such talented young adults pursue their dreams to be interactive entertainment creators is one of the Academy's most important pursuits," said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. "If these awards can help students to ‘Dream Big,' as Randy Pausch was fond of saying, than we are truly helping to keep his wishes alive." Pausch, who passed away … Continue reading Randy Pausch Scholarship Recipients Announced →

CyberPower Inc. and leading e-commerce retailer Newegg think that going back to school does not have to be a drag or a major ding in your pocket book. The companies today announced a trio of PC systems that have students covered whether they are learning their ABC's or seeking a PhD. CyberPower wants to take the stress out of finding the right system and has figured three systems, which are immediately available from Newegg to get the job done. At the high end is the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 1019, which features an Intel Core i7 CPU, 12GBs of DDR3 memory, … Continue reading CyberPower, Newegg Announce School Budget Game PCs →

The anchor has been lifted, as Paradox Interactive's highly-anticipated PC naval strategy title East India Company lands in stores everywhere today. Developed by Finland based Nitro Games Ltd., East India Company puts the player in control of amassing the most powerful naval trading empire to ever sail the seas. Featuring real-time tactical combat in beautiful, cinematic environments, strategy fans can engage in intense battles in both single and multiplayer modes. Fight, manage and rule nations from Europe to the Far East with eight nationalities to choose from: British, Dutch, French, Danish, Portuguese, Swedish, Spanish and Holy Roman Empire. The battle … Continue reading East India Company Sets Sail →

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced they will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the theatrical release of This is Spinal Tap, by making available newly recorded versions of the songs featured in the cult classic film and its 1984 soundtrack album. The songs will be available in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content next week on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Wii system. With the addition of the Spinal Tap tracks, the Rock Band music platform now offers more than 800 songs to consumers via disc … Continue reading This Is Spinal Tap Comes To Rock Band →

UK videogame publisher Codemasters is jumping into the race as DiRT 2 climbs behind the wheel as an associate sponsor of the Subaru Rally Team USA for the 2009 season. DiRT 2 will sponsor seven races for Ken Block, Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra from July through October, including the Los Angeles X Games July 30 – August 2. As an official sponsor, DiRT 2 will be supporting 2006-2008 Rally Champion Travis Pastrana, 2005 Rookie of the Year and DC Shoes founder Ken Block, as well as 2008 Rookie of the Year and freestyle BMX legend Dave Mirra. Taking players … Continue reading DiRT 2 Sponsors Subaru Rally Team →

PipelineFX, makers of Qube! software, the leading render farm management software for film and post production, broadcast graphics, game development, and digital media education around the world, along with BOXX Technologies, an innovator in high-performance computing systems for visual effects (VFX), post production, graphic design, and advanced visualization, today announced that they will demonstrate the renderBOXX rendering system at SIGGRAPH 2009 (booth #2623) in New Orleans. "With Qube! currently in use at hundreds of facilities worldwide, we've relied upon customer feedback in order to make the 5.5 version we're previewing at Siggraph even better," said Troy Brooks, CEO of PipelineFX. … Continue reading PipelineFX To Demonstrate BOXX →

CompuExpert announced today that Patch 1.004 has gone live in PC flight simulation Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War, developed by Russian developer neoqb and published by 777 Studios. The new update to Rise of Flight includes a number of improvements to the combat flight simulator's interface. A new chat system has been implemented in network play, allowing players to communicate more easily. The flight map can now be accessed and navigated more conveniently, and menus and screens throughout the game have been improved. A profile statistics screen now tracks and displays a wide variety of statistics, keeping … Continue reading Rise Of Flight Patched →

Turbine, Inc. announced today Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited (DDO Unlimited), a free digital upgrade for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach will now launch on September 9, 2009 in North America. "We've had a tremendous response to DDO Unlimited from the players and press who are participating in our beta program," said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO Unlimited. "We've been holding a series of live events as part of the beta program and have seen an unprecedented level of participation from players. While we are very pleased with the performance of the game and are excited about the … Continue reading Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited Delayed Until September 9th →

Live Gamer (www.livegamer.com), the company that pioneered publisher-supported real-money-trading for online games, today announced it has completed its acquisition of N-Cash (www.n-cash.net), Korea's premier micro-transaction provider. With the acquisition, Live Gamer will add N-Cash's global publisher-to-player micro-transaction platform, expanding its offering into a fully featured, e-commerce solution with multiple integration options for game operators. Publishers will be able to turn to one partner – instead of many – to roll out secure micro-transaction-based marketplaces, drive ARPU (average revenue per user), improve conversion rates, and enable sanctioned player-to-player trading while maintaining a great user experience. "Asian game operators have proven for … Continue reading Live Gamer Buys N-Cash →

Jeff Junge has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Business Management, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, it was announced today by Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. In his newly elevated post, Junge will continue to drive mergers and acquisitions for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and unify strategic initiatives across all of the Studio's home entertainment divisions, which includes Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Premiere, Advanced Digital Services, Anti-Piracy and Technology Operations. "Jeff is a tremendous asset to the Studio and has been a key contributor to the success of … Continue reading WB Home Entertainment Promotes Jeff Junge →