Category Archives: News and Industry Happenings

LucasArts Announces Fracture

LucasArts and development partner Day 1 Studios today announced Fractureâ„¢, in which players reshape the battlefields in a futuristic conflict with global implications. This epic war fought on American soil pits cybernetically enhanced soldiers against warriors augmented by the benefits of advanced genetic engineering. The company that brought you Star Wars and Indiana Smith, as well as successful new intellectual properties such as Mercenaries (the No. 1 new IP in 2005) and Thrillville (the No. 1 original children's IP of 2006), presents a new franchise full of groundbreaking next-generation gameplay, an intriguing storyline and compelling characters. "Exciting new intellectual properties … Continue reading LucasArts Announces Fracture

Tournament.com Ready For Launch

Tournament.com, an innovator in skill-based gaming, announced at last night's pre-launch event that its service will be entering final beta on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. People showed up to play the new service and compete in matches of Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, and the evening's overall winner, Ariel Fradin, walked off with a cool $1,000 in cash. "Last night's pre-launch celebration gave all the attendees the opportunity to play on Tournament.com and experience the thrill of competition," said Cofounder Richard Skelhorn. "Judging by their enthusiastic response, we know that gamers around the world will be just as excited to compete as … Continue reading Tournament.com Ready For Launch

Acclaim Bots Reaches 1 Million Players

Acclaim Games announces a major milestone for the multiplayer online robot fighting game BOTS!! with over 1 million registered players. Officially released in November 2006, BOTS!! has a growing fan base of young gamers who are addicted to the intense fighting action and social interaction with others. Over 1 million players have already had the chance to play the game for free by simply registering and downloading the game to their PC. With a loyal community of BOTS!! players that continues to grow as new players experience the exciting gameplay with thousands simultaneously, Acclaim has proven their free to play … Continue reading Acclaim Bots Reaches 1 Million Players

AOL Launches FireChild Teen MMO

AOL's teen site, RED (http://www.beRED.com) announced today the debut of "FireChild: Tournament of the Ancients," a 3-D, sci-fi action, multiplayer, console-quality game available for download and online play for free exclusively at www.firechildonred.com. "Tournament of the Ancients" will take place where AOL RED's original FireChild series left off and will introduce gamers to a new battle arena and new characters. The new features will include two clans of young warriors – one led by Lona and the other by her older brother Waken – who must train together in the ruins of a dangerous and ancient arena to prepare for … Continue reading AOL Launches FireChild Teen MMO

Atari Ships ArmA: Combat Operations

Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR), one of the world's most recognized brands and a third-party video game publisher, today announced that the realistic combat simulation, ArmA: Combat Operationsâ„¢ has now shipped to stores nationwide. Developed by Bohemia Interactive, ArmA: Combat Operations is available for the Windows platform for the suggested retail price of $39.95. The game is currently available in Europe under the name ArmA: Armed Assault. In ArmA: Combat Operations, players will be able to engage in the story-driven single-player campaign or take part in huge multiplayer battles with more than 50 players on one battlefield at once. Featuring a … Continue reading Atari Ships ArmA: Combat Operations

Tradewinds Legends Hits Mac

Sandlot Games, a leading developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games, announced the release of its Macintosh version of Tradewinds Legends, one of the top selling online games of 2006. Now both PC and Mac players can join the more than 7 million people who have downloaded and enjoyed Tradewinds Legends. As part of an overall initiative, Sandlot Games intends to make most of its top selling games available to Mac users by the end of the year. "We are thrilled to offer Mac players the chance to get in on the high seas fun and build their empire … Continue reading Tradewinds Legends Hits Mac

MMO Vets Open Colony Studios

Colony Studios has joined the list of new MMO developer studios with one significant advantage – the team members have contributed significantly to the successes of the most popular MMOs including World of Warcraft, EVE Online, City of Heroes, Dark Age of Camelot, Lord of the Rings Online, Everquest, and Ultima Online. Veteran MMO developer Michael Wallis, CEO of Colony Studios, believes his team has more per capita experience working on hit MMO titles than any team of its size ever assembled. "Our collective contributions to a significant number of hit MMOs give us a strong advantage," says Wallis. "Most … Continue reading MMO Vets Open Colony Studios

Guild Wars Turning Two

On April 28, 2005, the Guild Wars franchise was born with the release of the original campaign, Guild Wars Prophecies. In the two years since that date, the game's developer, ArenaNet, and publisher, NCsoft, have launched two additional stand-alone games, Guild Wars Factions and Guild Wars Nightfall. In total, the Guild Wars series has sold more than 3.5 million copies, making it one of the most successful online roleplaying games ever. Much of the success of Guild Wars can be attributed to the challenge that ArenaNet made to the traditional MMO business model when it offered its games without a … Continue reading Guild Wars Turning Two

Capcom's Ace Attorney Scores Big

Capcom Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce that the latest iteration of the Ace Attorney series, Ace Attorney 4, has shipped over 500,000 units in just one week since its release on April 12th. The Ace Attorney series of adventure games focuses on a prominent defense attorney attempting to clear his clients of false charges in the courtroom by relying on his wits and deductive skills. Since the release of the first game in October 2001, the popular series has gone on to ship a total of 2 million units worldwide (as of April 26th, 2007). Ace Attorney is known … Continue reading Capcom's Ace Attorney Scores Big

Phantasy Star Expands

SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced that Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus, will be available for download on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and in stores for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and PCs in Fall 2007. Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus is the expansion to the epic sci-fi action role-playing game, Phantasy Star Universe. Gamers can now experience the wonders of the Gurhal System through the eyes of a personalized avatar – whether tackling quests online with a party of up to six adventurers, or … Continue reading Phantasy Star Expands