18th August 2010

Digital Extremes To Provide Homefront PC Version

Klei EntertainmentKlei Entertainment has started to reveal some of the Costume Unlocks that will be available in Shank, which is due for release on the PlayStation Network on August 24th and Xbox LIVE Arcade on August 25th. By completing challenges and amassing points, you will be able to unlock costumes such as the Yellow Jumpsuit Shank. Klei will be unveiling a new costume every day, so follow them on Twitter to get the daily costume news. According to the dev blog, the studio has made more progress on re-mastering the game’s soundtrack and as gamers requested, the soundtrack will be available in mp3 format.

Digital ExtremesTHQ Inc. today announced that the Windows PC version of the hotly anticipated first-person-shooter Homefront™ from Kaos Studios, is being developed by a dedicated team at Digital Extremes and will be available early in 2011.

“Digital Extremes has a superb track record in PC development,” said David Votypka, General Manager at Kaos Studios, THQ. “While the team here at Kaos is completely focused on the core Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Homefront, our partnership with Digital Extremes means that PC gamers can look forward to a version of the game tailored to the demands of the discerning PC gamer.”

“We’re building on the great game that Kaos Studios is making and enhancing it with specific PC relevant features,” added Frank De Lise, Executive Producer, THQ. “PC players will be able to set up and host Homefront dedicated servers and enjoy additional community features including clan support. We believe the core PC first-person-shooter fan will really appreciate these features, which are becoming increasingly rare.”

Relic EntertainmentTHQ Inc. also announced that it will be launching a rewards program for Relic Entertainment’s upcoming 3rd Person Action/Shooter Warhammer® 40,000®: Space Marine® for the Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3 and Windows PC. The loyalty program, dubbed ‘Honor Guard’, will allow gamers to become part of an elite group of Space Marine fans who will be given the opportunity to become involved in the success of the game. Honor Guard members will get the latest news, exclusive access to first look assets and receive reward points for viral activity, which could result in rewards of exclusive Space Marine branded items.Space Marine

Travis Plane, Vice President of Global Brand Management commented: “Rewarding community for their role as opinion formers is important to us so we are delighted to be able to unveil the Honor Guard program.”

To kick off the Honor Guard program THQ will be handing out an Ultramarine cloth patch at Gamescom with directions on how to register for a free “For the Emperor” ring tone. The patch will also be handed out at Games Workshop’s US Games Day event in Baltimore on August 21st, 2010, and the UK Games Day event at the Birmingham NEC on September 26th, 2010. This item is the first of five items that fans are encouraged to collect over the next few months at various shows around the globe. More details about these items will be released throughout the year.

Combining intense melee and ranged combat, Space Marine puts players into the boots of one of humanity’s elite soldiers, genetically engineered and equipped with state of the art weapons and armor. Players are dropped right into the action as they battle to defend an Imperial Forge World, from an invasion by the savage and brutal Orks, using the most devastating weaponry mankind has at its disposal.

Cosmic LogicKelowna indie developer Cosmic Logic Inc. is proud to officially announce details on their upcoming XBLIG and PC title, Doc Logic, an arcade-style platformer with an emphasis on explosive action and survival. Doc blasts across the screen with upgradeable weapons and abilities through expanding levels of increased difficulty that will challenge and engage the true gamer in you. Unique level designs combined with increasing enemy difficulty makes “Doc Logic” an intense sci-fi adventure. Do what you can to keep the clock running as you collect points, destroy enemies, and collect time bonuses.

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“Doc Logic” features a collaboration with indie music sensation “8 Bit Weapon” that heightens the gaming experience to new levels. “8 Bit Weapon” is Seth & Michelle. Inspired by classic video game soundtracks and electronic music from the arcade era, “8 Bit Weapon” delivers a sound that is as unique as it is original.

Blue Castle GamesCapcom and Blue Castle Games have released a few tidbits for their unique and stand alone piece of content, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. A pre-release expansion, Case Zero will introduce players to the main protagonist, Chuck Greene, and game play features of Dead Rising 2 ahead of its release. Available exclusively to Xbox 360 owners via Xbox Live, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is set two years after the Willamette incident chronicled in the original Dead Rising and three years before the action of Dead Rising 2.

Chuck Greene’s idyllic life was shattered during the Las Vegas zombie outbreak. His wife was killed and his young daughter, Katey, was bitten and infected. Now he has fled Vegas with Katey and must find more doses of Zombrex for her to ensure the zombification process does not become complete. He must also avoid military check points or else, given the strict quarantine regulations in force, risk losing his daughter.Dead Rising 2 Case Zero Truck

In need of fuel and looking to stock up on supplies, Chuck and Katey stop at the small desert town of Still Creek, where all initially seems as peaceful as its name suggests. But shortly after their arrival a containment zone is breached and the undead begin to shuffle into town. To make matters worse, someone steals Chuck’s truck so now they have no way to leave. With Katey needing a shot of Zombrex very soon, Chuck has no option but to search Still Creek’s zombie infested streets for the drug, and a way out of town.

In Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, just like the full game, Chuck will be able to use his handyman skills and a roll of duct tape to combine two items to create powerful combo weapons. Not only do these combo weapons make killing zombies easier and a often a lot more gruesome, they have the added benefit of earning Chuck additional Prestige Points which in turn result in quicker leveling up.

Dead Rising 2 Case Zero ZombiesDuring his search for Zombrex and a new ride, Chuck will be able to explore the streets and stores of Still Creek, encountering Survivors, unbitten humans that Chuck can choose to save or leave as a zombie feast before taking on a Psycho, one of the signature bosses of the Dead Rising series.

Players purchasing Dead Rising 2: Case Zero will not just be rewarded with a piece of unique and compelling content that will deliver gripping gameplay and bridge the story between Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2, but those who then go on to buy Dead Rising 2 will be able to carry over character attributes earned such as Player Level, to a maximum of five, Prestige Points alongside skills, Combo Cards and a number of alternate outfits.

Following Case Zero, Dead Rising 2 will deliver more of the signature gameplay that the series is known for plus a number of new features.

Dead Rising 2 wheelchairPlayers who might need some help or simply want to share the zombie bashing fun with a friend will now be able to play in online 2-player co-op. Simply use the in-game transceiver to call for assistance at any time and once your partner has accepted, they will arrive by your side for double the action.

With hundreds of zombies on screen at any one time, the original Dead Rising forced gamers to take everyday objects they found in the Mall and use them as weapons. But now, in Dead Rising 2 with thousands of zombies filling every square inch of Fortune City, Chuck is going to need to be even more resourceful and inventive by combining weapons in order to save the day. Players will be able to take two objects, a roll of tape and with a little inventiveness create an advanced zombie-killing combo weapon – a piece of wood and a lawnmower become Portamower, the handheld mower that cuts zombies down to size in an instant, while a garden rake and car battery combine to create an electrified zombie prod. The more combo weapons a player uses, the more Prestige Points (PPs) they will gain along the way in order to level up Chuck.

UbisoftUbisoft Quebec has announced the launch of Combat of Giants Dinosaurs Strike for the Wii™ system from Nintendo. A new installment in the successful Combat of Giants franchise, the game will be available worldwide in November 2010. Designed exclusively for Wii by Ubisoft Quebec, the development studio behind the Nintendo DS™ versions in the franchise, Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs Strike is the new addition to the Combat of Giants franchise, which has already sold more than one million copies worldwide.
dinosaurs strike
The Combat of Giants brand offers young players the thrill of controlling a giant creature and fighting against other creatures for survival. Combat of Giants Dinosaurs Strike will immerse young players in a cataclysmic Jurassic world. Players will be able to choose a dinosaur among 18 different breeds such as T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Velociraptor, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus or Baryonyx and customize their dinosaur with 12 color options and different stripe patterns, or even upgrade horns, bone plates, fins or feathers to create the strongest possible creature. Combat of Giants Dinosaurs Strike also offers the possibility to unlock six other dinosaurs in Domination mode, where the player fights against eight other giant creatures, one by one in a ladder mode, before attacking the boss. The dinosaurs unlocked after each ladder are then available in the multiplayer versus modes.

The core of Combat of Giants Dinosaurs Strike is its fast-paced, three-round combat system, in which the player has to use each dinosaur’s specific abilities and powers. Entirely based on real-time actions, players will need to act and react as quickly as possible, launching super attacks while protecting themselves from the natural casualties of the cataclysmic environment, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Combat of Giants Dinosaurs Strike takes full advantage of Wii capabilities. The Wii™ Remote and Nunchuk™ offer immediate and natural controls, while the polished graphics of the three different breathtaking environments (tropical forest, desert and mountain) bring additional immersion to the experience. It also allows fierce multiplayer battles (with up to four players at a time) as well as three different multiplayer modes: Versus, Tournament and Tag Team.

Hot Wheels Colour Shifters Road TripThe Hot Wheels® Colour Shifters™ Road Trip arrives in Vancouver next week to give west-coasters a look at its life-size colour-shifting Mustang. The cool, state-of-the-art Ford Mustang and the Hot Wheels® Colour Shifters™ Trailer has been zooming across the country visiting festivals, camps and family events in various towns and cities. The Road Trip runs all summer long from July to September, giving Canadians of all ages a chance to experience help changing the colour of the car themselves. Kids who attend the event can help change the colour of the car, play with Hot Wheels® toys and will also receive a special Hot Wheels® collector booklet, T-shirt and more.

August 23: 9am – 4pm at Douglas Park Community Centre Summer Camps – 801 West 22nd Avenue
August 24: 1pm – 4pm at Dunbar Community Centre Day Camps – 4747 Dunbar Street
August 26: 9am – 11am at Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews
August 26: 2pm – 4pm at West Point Grey Community Centre Day Camps – 4397 West 2nd Avenue
August 27: 1pm – 4pm at Sunset Community Centre – 6810 Main Street
August 29: Toys “R” Us (#3533) – 1110 Lougheed Highway Coquitlam, time to be decided

DiscoveryWorld HDDiscoveryWorld HD has opened The Film Snacks Competition for submissions. Film Snacks is a platform for the best of tomorrow’s film-making talent, featuring compelling short-films that build on environmental themes. You could have your film screened on the BIG screen, TV, and online.

To enter, you must simply upload your short film (2 minutes or less) to the designated page. Your submission must be based on an environmental theme. Judges will be basing their decision on production quality (video and audio), creativity and entertainment value and choice of topic. The contest opens August 18, 2010, 12:01 a.m. ET and runs through to September 17, 2010, 4 p.m. ET.

The grand prize includes $2,000 cash, a trip for two to Toronto, two tickets to the Planet in Focus Gala Event in Toronto on October 15, 2010, and the rare opportunity to showcase your winning film at the Event. The winning film will also air on Discovery World HD, and will be featured on DiscoveryWorldHD.ca. In the meantime, get your director caps on, bookmark this page and check back frequently for updates.
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Interactive OntarioInteractive Ontario has released its new iLunch series schedule. This case study and panel discussion series examines successful business practices and strategies in the Interactive Digital Media industry, and the sessions will be held at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel from 11:30am to 2pm on the following dates:

October 21: What I wish I knew years ago…
November 26: Public Works
January 21: Just Do It
February 25: Details of the Deal
March 18: Building Partnerships

Tickets for the iLunch series are $40.00 per session for IO members or $60.00 for non-members. IO members can save even more by purchasing an iLunch season’s pass for $160.00.

If you would like a chance to meet with Sony Computer Entertainment America business and technical professionals, be sure to attend the networking receptions being held in Toronto and Montreal on August 23rd and 25th respectively. Hosted by SCEA and Export Development Canada, these receptions are great opportunities to make new business contacts and find out what Sony is looking for from game developers. Pre-registration is required.

BeamDogEdmonton’s Beamdog is happy to announce the availability of Prague’s 1C products on the Beamdog network. Nearly 40 great video games including Death to Spies: Moment of Truth, King’s Bounty: Armored Princess, and UFO: Aftershock.

“1C are always exploring innovative avenues to bring their titles to their consumers. We are excited by the opportunities Beamdog brings and looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship.”, says 1C’s Publishing Director Darryl Still.

“1C has an excellent library of quality products, making an excellent addition to the Beamdog network.”, says Beamdog’s Creative Director Trent Oster. “I personally lost quite a few hours with UFO: Afterlight and King’s Bounty.”

ideavibesIdeavibes, a new social venture focused on providing flexible and affordable crowdsourcing solutions for corporations, non-profits, and governments, announced today that it has launched the Ideavibes crowdsourcing engine. This engine is designed to “harnesses the power and wisdom of crowds” to generate and rank ideas, solicit community input, and fund projects.

The company believes crowds of like-minded people have the greatest insight into the best ways for organizations to address challenges and decision-making. When given the opportunity and the right tool, the crowd can develop and fine-tune new products, solve the many challenges faced by communities, or fund projects for the not-for-profit sector.

Ideavibes’ crowdsourcing engine, currently under development, is a web application that allows organizations of all sizes to easily engage their communities online and then track and analyze the crowd’s ideas, preferences and trends.

An organization can easily customize, brand and implement the Ideavibes web application to enable its ’crowd’ to post, comment and vote on ideas, products or projects. The tally of votes and other data from these crowdsourcing campaigns make the decision-making process easier. For private businesses, this means that engaged customers can drive innovation and decisions. In government, this means citizens can influence municipal planning priorities such as cycle-friendly streets, mass transit, pesticide use, and so on. For not-for-profits, the ability to generate and gauge ideas or initiatives is enhanced.

“While solutions exist for large enterprises, our market research revealed that there is room for a focused, easy to deploy crowdsourcing solution that can be quickly and affordably set-up. Ideavibes is designed to fill this niche,” said Paul Dombowsky, CEO of Ideavibes. “What Ideavibes delivers is akin to an online focus group – to gain a better understanding of what is important to your market, stakeholders or staff with specific input that you can use to build a strategy or set direction – all in a cost-effective manner that is transparent to the crowd, building community and trust.”

FTCThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission has permanently halted the operations of Canadian con artists who allegedly posed as domain name registrars and convinced thousands of U.S. consumers, small businesses and non-profit organizations to pay bogus bills by leading them to believe they would lose their Web site addresses unless they paid. Settlement and default judgment orders signed by the court will bar the deceptive practices in the future.

In June 2008, the FTC charged Toronto-based Internet Listing Service with sending fake invoices to small businesses and others, listing the existing domain name of the consumer’s Web site or a slight variation on the domain name, such as substituting “.org” for “.com.” The invoices appeared to come from the businesses’ existing domain name registrar and instructed them to pay for an annual “WEBSITE ADDRESS LISTING.” The invoices also claimed to include a search engine optimization service. Most consumers who received the “invoices” were led to believe that they had to pay them to maintain their registrations of domain names. Other consumers were induced to pay based on Internet Listing Service’s claims that its “Search Optimization” service would “direct mass traffic” to their sites and that their “proven search engine listing service” would result in “a substantial increase in traffic.”

The FTC’s complaint charged that most consumers who paid the defendants’ invoices did not receive any domain name registration services and that the “search optimization” service did not result in increased traffic to the consumers’ Web sites.

A federal district court judge in Chicago, Robert M. Dow, Jr., ordered a temporary halt to the deceptive claims and froze the defendants’ assets, pending trial. The settlement and default judgment orders announced today end that litigation.

The orders bar the defendants from misrepresenting: that they have a preexisting business relationship with consumers; that consumers owe them money; that they will provide domain name registration; and that they will provide “search optimization services” that will substantially increase traffic to consumers’ Web sites. The defendants are also required to disclose any material restrictions or aspects of any goods or services they provide.

The settlement order, entered against defendants Isaac Benlolo, Kirk Mulveney, Pearl Keslassy, and 1646153 Ontario Inc., includes a suspended judgment of $4,261,876, the total amount of consumer injury caused by the illegal activities. Based on the inability of the settling defendants to pay, they will turn over $10,000 to satisfy the judgment. The default judgment order was entered against defendant Steven E. Dale and includes a judgment in the amount of $4,261,876.

Charges against Ari Balabanian and Data Business Solutions were dismissed by the court at the FTC’s request. Stipulated orders are for settlement purposes only and do not necessarily constitute an admission by the defendants of a law violation. Stipulated orders have the full force of law when signed by the judge.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 11:47 am and is filed under Action Adventure, Business News, Casual, Contests, Digital Products, Education, Events, Everyone, Everyone 10+, Game Dev, Government, Mature, New Releases, Platform, Shooters, Social Media, Teen, Upcoming Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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