Kids Fest: All Aboard!

All aboard for a festival packed with performances, activities and adventure trails celebrating leaving, journeys and arrivals. Navigate your way around the Museum, take part in travel craft activities, get your face painted, enjoy roving performers and learn about travel superstitions and traditions from other countries. Travel to journey’s end and create a huge city of dreams with artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan.
Date: 11am to 4pm, 21 and 22 January 2012

Oranges and Sunshine film screening (M rating)

This moving film tells the true story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered one of the most significant scandals of recent times – the deportation of thousands of children from the United Kingdom to Australia and other Commonwealth countries under child migration schemes. Harold Haig, a former child migrant and Secretary of the Association of Former Child Migrants and their Families, will introduce the film and talk about the work of Margaret Humphreys and the Child Migrants Trust, as well as the Association’s involvement with the film’s director and script writer. See the exhibition On their own – Britain’s child migrants following the film screening.

Date: 1pm to 4pm, Sunday 12 February

Cost: Adults $15.50, concession $5.50 (includes a glass of wine Museum entry)

Bookings: 13 11 02

On their own – Britain’s child migrants exhibition tour

Enrich your experience of the On their own exhibition with a tour led by two former Victorian child migrants. Hear from the perspectives of Sandra Anker and Margaret Martin, who will share their personal stories as they lead you through the exhibition.

Date: 11.30am to 12.30pm and 2.30pm to 3.30pm, Saturday 25 February and Saturday 14 April

Cost: Included with museum entry

Bookings: Essential, phone 13 11 02

Sweets: tastes and traditions from many cultures

Discover the delicious ways in which Victorian communities use sweet food and drink in their cultures. Explore the history and cultural significance of sweet food and find out how sweetness is important to everyone. Different cultures use sweets for many reasons and purposes – to mark important rituals, celebrations and life events. Discover special sweet foods from each of the Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mauritian and Turkish cultures, the ways in which many of them are made and the significance they hold. Featuring fascinating objects, lively photographs, multimedia and recipes, Sweets will reveal unique perspectives on a very common and popular food.

Part of the 2012 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

Date: 18 March 2012 to 7 April 2013

Sweets Festival

Celebrate our shared sweet tooth at this delectable one-day festival of food and culture, collaboratively developed with sweet-loving Victorian communities. Explore fascinating shared and unique traditions, rituals and contemporary practices surrounding sweet cuisines and refreshments. Enjoy a feast of toothsome food stalls, cooking demonstrations, films, workshops and displays.
Part of the 2012 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Date: 11am to 4pm, Sunday 18 March 2012

In-Flight

Construct a miniature aeroplane from a huge selection of recycled materials and contribute to an ever-expanding installation created by artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan. The planes will pile up, take off and soar over the second floor of the Immigration Museum, referencing a transitional place of leave-taking and homecoming.

Date: Until 31 January 2012

Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne. Open daily 10.00am to 5.00pm except Good Friday and Christmas Day. Admission: Adult $10, child/concession FREE. More info 13 11 02 or museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum

PARIS – January 18, 2012 – Indie development studio The Game Bakers has released the SQUIDS official soundtrack, a collection of catchy original compositions by Romain Gauthier. An underwater epic that stars a ragtag team of cephalopod heroes, SQUIDS swam up the App Store charts last autumn to become the App Store’s #1 RPG in 51 countries and the #1 paid app in France. The soundtrack can be downloaded from http://thegamebakers.bandcamp.com/album/squids-ost, with the title track offered for free. For a very limited time, customers can pay whatever price they choose for the full 11-track album, with all proceeds contributing to the independent production of an upcoming SQUIDS sequel. 

To celebrate the soundtrack’s release, SQUIDS for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch has been temporarily discounted to $0.99 — 50% off the usual $1.99 price. Using intuitive touch controls, SQUIDS players command a small army of stretchy, springy sea creatures to protect an idyllic underwater kingdom. Since its October release, this creative game has had more than 100k downloads and quickly became a fan favorite, earning an average 5-star user rating. To take advantage of the 50% off 48-hour sale, visit SQUIDS on the App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/app/squids/id467904350 

The game’s mix of grand adventure elements and whimsical cartoon fun is reflected in Gauthier’s music, which blends classic RPG tropes with lighthearted mandolins, steel drums, and synthesizers. The soundtrack purchase includes a digital booklet with colorful SQUIDS artwork and liner notes from the composer. After January 20, the soundtrack will cost a minimum of USD $4 with the “name your price” option still available for those who wish to support the developers further. 

Initially an iOS exclusive, SQUIDS will also release for PC, Mac, and Android in the coming months. To learn more, visit the developer’s website at http://thegamebakers.com or join the SQUIDS Facebook community at http://www.facebook.com/squidsthegame. 

About Romain Gauthier

Romain Gauthier has been composing music for video games since 1997. Between 2001 and 2007 he was the worldwide audio director for Gameloft, where he worked on sound and music for more than 60 games and was responsible for training and managing all audio staff across Canada, the US, France, Romania, and China. Now a full-time independent composer, Gauthier has written soundtracks for a number of short films and indie games, including Godzilab’s iBlast Moki and Mobigame’s Edge. His compositions have a “Nintendollywood” vibe strongly influenced by the game soundtracks and film music of the 1980s, with effective melodies that listeners find themselves humming for days. Gauthier currently lives in Tokyo. To view his credits and hear samples of his work, visit http://romaingauthier.net. 

About The Game Bakers
The Game Bakers is an independent video game studio based in Paris and Montpellier, France. Founded and staffed by industry veterans whose credits include numerous AAA console games, The Game Bakers focuses on creative projects that combine traditional gaming values with the emerging opportunities afforded by touch devices and the exploding mobile market. Their first game, SQUIDS, is available now for iOS and is coming soon to Android, PC, and Mac. To learn more, visit the company’s website at http://thegamebakers.com. The Game Bakers are also on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/thegamebakers) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/thegamebakers).

Thursday 19^th January 2012 – SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announce the content of the pre-order bonuses planned for the new episode in the Yakuza series, Yakuza: Dead Souls, to be released on March 13^th in North America, March 15^th in Australia and March 16^th across Europe.   

Yakuza: Dead Souls features gunplay for the first time in the Yakuza series, where everything from pistols, machine guns and rocket launchers can be employed against your enemies. Just remember to save some ammo in case you run into something more terrifying than zombies! With all the depth and story of a Yakuza title, plus the addition of exciting shoot-outs and previously unplayable characters Ryuji Goda and Goro Majima, Yakuza: Dead Souls is definitely worth dying for.   

In Australia, pre-order Yakuza: Dead Souls at EB Games, JB Hi-Fi, GAME and Gamesmen and receive the Limited Edition complete with the Steel Book and Densetsu DLC Pack. This pack includes 8 unlockable new weapons, 14 new firearms for your favourite lovely ladies, 8 new hostess costumes, and a huge assortment of extra items to help you survive the zombie horde. If you like guns, girls, or the two combined – this pack is for you!

Yakuza: Dead Souls will be available the 13^th March in USA, the 15^th March in Australia, and the 16^th March in Europe, exclusively on PlayStation®3. 

For more information please visit www.sega.com/games/yakuza-dead-souls/

London – January 17 2012 – UTV Ignition Games, together with developer Denki, is pleased to announce that the much-acclaimed and award winning “Quarrel” will be released on Xbox Live® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft for 400 Microsoft Points on 25th January 2012.

Already released on iOS devices to great critical acclaim, Quarrel – IGN: “an ingenious mixture of board game strategy and Scrabble-esque wordplay,” and the recent winner of an IGN “Best of 2011” award and BAFTA Scotland “Game of the Year,” is now set to ana-gram-a-ding-dong in the Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 arena.

Gary Penn, Creative Director/Denki, “AMAZING (24 points)! At last console owners will be able to revel in a full-on 3D HD Quarrel experience with exclusive ways to play, including the awesome Xbox LIVE multiplayer mode. I’m like a sugar-fuelled child on Christmas Eve and can’t wait to put my finely-honed word war skills to the test against the rest of the world.“

Quarrel combines the need for quick thinking, dictionary smarts, and a lot of guile. Whether you choose speed and fast reactions or slow methodical planning, the key to success is in the players’ control. Quarrel takes place on islands where two, three or four forces battle for total control of each island, which is split into territories – twelve levels across four differently themed environments. The aim of the game is simply to take over all the territories.

Success is achieved by creating the best scoring word from a selection of letters – each with a designated value. The length of the word you can make depends on how many troops you have on each territory. In the case of a tie, whoever made their word fastest is the victor. Deciding whether to attack, defend, retreat, transfer troops around, or reinforce your armies, while successfully winning the ongoing word challenges, will win the day.

Quarrel features full multiplayer for up to 4 players where you can take on your friends online. Vip Patel, Sales Director UTV Ignition, “The Xbox 360 platform is the perfect platform for real-time Quarrelling and takes the height of battle to a whole new level – now it really is about who has the biggest dictionary.”

Quarrel also offers the classic single player modes in which you can compete against nine fiendish artificial players, all of whom have unique personalities and play styles. Rex is methodical and plays great words, but takes his time so is vulnerable to trigger fingered players like Caprice (but she’s not got so good a vocabulary). Malik is a great all-rounder, but too many times he is bent on revenge and lets his pride cloud his judgement. Kali is an all round genius and should be challenged by expert players only and Dwayne is a simpleton. There’s also challenge mode, pitting you against the AI like never before, setting new mini-objectives of battle.

Features:
• Collins Official SCRABBLE Dictionary (2nd Edition 2007 © HarperCollins Publishers 2005, 2007)
• Social network features including Leaderboards / Achievements / In-Game messaging and Voice Chat
• MS Avatar Support
• Online 1-4 Player Multiplayer
• All-new Single-Player Challenge Mode.

Fun fact – “UTV Ignition Games” is an anagram of “Motivating Genius”

Price 400 Microsoft Points

Hamburg, January 17, 2012 – Countless testers have taken part in the first phase of closed beta testing of UFO Online – Fight for Earth in the past few weeks and put a stop to the aliens. Hard-working stategists have been busily making constructive suggestions, and the first beta phase will be ending on January 17, 2012.

The feedback from the community will be implemented into the continued development of the turn-based strategy MMO through developers Funatics. gamigo would like to thank all the testers for participating as well as for the countless suggestions and is looking forward to seeing everyone again in the second phase of beta testing, which will be announced soon.

SYDNEY, Australia., January 18, 2011 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced the beginning of an extensive and exclusive creative collaboration between Katy Perry, one of today’s biggest superstars, and The Sims™, one of the most popular gaming series of all-time***. In collaboration with Perry, the world-renowned The Sims Studio plans to develop multiple games within The Sims franchise featuring special Katy Perry themed in-game content and virtual goods. The relationship kicks off with a special Collector’s Edition for The Sims™3 Showtime, launching in March 2012. Katy Perry will also be featured in all-new advertising and marketing campaigns for the brand.

“Today marks the start of the most integrated and exciting collaboration with any artist in the history of The Sims,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music for EA. “Katy Perry has been a fan of The Sims for several years, and her Simlish recording of her hit ‘Hot and Cold’ featured in The Sims™2 series quickly became the most popular Simlish music video to date. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Katy and bring her distinctive talents, style and personality to the franchise’s global fan base. No performer could better represent the humor and fun of The Sims brand.”

“I love how you’re able to play out different stories through your Sims characters – giving them different careers and watching them succeed,” said Perry. “It’s cool to see the Sims’ stage performances in The Sims 3 Showtime decked out just like my California Dreams Tour – even my cotton candy video screens are in there! I always like to think of myself as a cartoon, and now I’m a Sim!”

Katy Perry became the first artist in history to spend 52 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Perry’s Teenage Dream produced five #1 hits, an accomplishment equal only to Michael Jackson’s Bad album and making her the only female artist in history to achieve this feat.

Katy Perry will work closely with The Sims Studio to create accessories, clothing, hairstyles, furniture and props in The Sims games that truly celebrate the imagination that she brings to her performances, music videos and life. Katy Perry will also be featured throughout The Sims television advertising campaigns, online communications and retail marketing around the world.

Available for pre-order** today, players can make their rise to fame in The Sims™3 Showtime Katy Perry Collector’s Edition. This Collector’s Edition includes The Sims 3 Showtime Expansion pack, plus downloadable content including an Ultimate Stage bonus venue, iconic Katy Perry themed items, and an exclusive poster. This iconic content includes fashions, a guitar, a hairstyle and various Katy Perry themed stage props.

In The Sims 3 Showtime, the latest expansion pack to the critically-acclaimed The Sims 3, players can venture into a new world and play out a rags-to-riches story with their Sims as they become superstar singers, acrobats and magicians, or even moonlight as a DJ. Players can watch their Sims rise to fame – or go down in flames – as they perform on stage in front of cheering crowds in all new venues. On the way to the top, players will have more tools to tell their Sims’ stories the way they want to including the ability to customize stages, create Sims with all-new clothing options, traits, skills and lifetime wishes and interact with objects like the new pool table, karaoke machine and mechanical bull. New connected features allow players the opportunity to share their big moments and connect with friends and fans of The Sims like never before. Using the all-new optional SimPort feature, players can send their Sim on tour to perform in their friend’s world. Along the way, players can earn achievements for accomplishing special challenges that will be rewarded with new badges and that can be viewed and shared on the new in-game player profile and wall.

In addition to the Katy Perry themed Collector’s Edition, a Limited Edition version of The Sims 3 Showtime is also available for pre-order** while supplies last. When pre-ordered, these products feature the Ultimate Stage bonus venue. Players can place this fully customizable venue in their world and will be able to use it as an additional stage for their Sims to perform on, complete with in-game props, backgrounds, lights and special effects.

For more information, please visit http://thesims.com/katyperry or http://thesims.com/showtime, like the game on Facebook and follow us on Twitter®. For more information on The Sims 3, please visit http://www.thesims3.com/.

*Requires The Sims 3 for PC/Mac to play.
**While supplies last. Conditions and restrictions apply. See http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/pd/productID.241940500?sourceid=ea5068 for details.
***In North America and Europe according to NPD data, Chart-track, Gfk France, Gfk Spain, Gfk-MCC Germany and EA internal estimate.

In 2069 the world is divided into regions controlled by three mega-corporations known as Syndicates. Starting the end of January with the release of the four-player Syndicate™ co-op demo*, gamers have the power to create their own Syndicate to take down the competition. Some takeovers will be more hostile than others. The co-op missions tell the story of a new Syndicate on the rise, Wulf Western. As agents of Wulf Western, gamers must dominate their rivals – Cayman Global, Aspari and Eurocorp – by acquiring their technology and headhunting their senior executives. Just like in the single player campaign, at the frontline of this war are the Agents, the Syndicates’ bio-engineered and chip-augmented enforcers. Through the DART6 bio-chip technology implanted in their heads, they can breach anything in the wired world – enemies, weapons, even the environment – making them the most efficient and deadly technological weapons in the world.

The Syndicate co-op demo will feature one of the nine missions in the game, all of which can be played with up to four players and many of which have been reimagined from the original hit game. In this mission called Western Europe, gamers must team up and infiltrate Cayman Global, assassinate Colonel Enrico Gabron, steal his technology blueprints and force his people back across the Atlantic. The odds of success look promising with Cayman Global badly weakened after their war against Eurocorp, but it won’t come easy. The Syndicate co-op demo will be available worldwide for a limited time on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace** and the PlayStation®Network.

Syndicate is the re-imagining of a cult classic franchise from 1993 – a unique and brutal action shooter set in a not too distant future, where Business is War. The gamewill be available on February 24, 2012 in New Zealand for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC.

For more information on Syndicate, please visit www.syndicate.ea.com. Become a fan of Syndicate on Facebook at www.facebook.com/syndicate to download the exclusive remixed tracks of the original Syndicate theme song from three of the world’s top DJ’s, Skrillex, Digitalism and Flux Pavilion.

• Internet connection and Origin Account (EA) account required to play. Must be 13+ to register online.

** Xbox LIVE gold membership is required to download the demo.
Please contact me with any questions.

Get ready for the next video in the Max Payne 3 Design and Technology Series, which focuses on the game’s cutting-edge targeting system and explosive weaponry.

Look for it debuting here at the Newswire and at www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne3 in high-definition tomorrow Wed, January 18th at noon Eastern.