New friend referral scheme offers FREE Amazon vouchers for current LOTRO players
 
Thursday 5th February 2009 – Atari, one of Australia’s leading sources of interactive entertainment and Codemasters Online have today unveiled a fantastic, new “Refer a Friend” programme for its award-winning, massively multiplayer online role-playing game, The Lord of the Rings Online™ (LOTRO).* Now players can earn themselves Amazon vouchers simply by encouraging their friends and family to join them in-game by creating their own LOTRO accounts.

“With its immersive storyline, innovative features and breathtaking world to explore, The Lord of the Rings Online is well regarded as one of the world’s premium MMOs and a game that really excels when experienced with friends,” explained David Solari,  Vice President & General Manager, Codemasters Online. “What better resolution to make for the start of the New Year than to encourage your friends to start playing with you, while earning rewards for yourself at the same time?”

To take part in the programme, which launches on 4th February all current players need to do is visit the LOTRO Refer a Friend page at www.lotro-europe.com/refer and enter their friends’ email addresses to send them a personal invitation to a fantastic 14-day free trial and a 25% discount off the game.** In return, players can look forward to a £5 or €5 Amazon voucher for each friend who goes on to create a full game subscription for themselves.

The Lord of the Rings Online is the ultimate online adventure and has just celebrated the launch of its first retail expansion pack, Mines of Moria™, which continues the epic story of Middle-earth and introduces new character classes, hundreds of new quests and the revolutionary new Legendary Items system. For more information on The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™, please visit www.lotro-europe.com

For full terms and conditions for the Player Referral Programme visit www.lotro-europe.com/refer

Atari Australia is the exclusive distributor of Codemasters games in Australia and New Zealand.

For more information on Lord of the Rings Online and Atari’s entire product line-up please visit www.atari.com.au and log onto the Atari Trade Site for all box shots, demos, trailers and online screenshots.

Sydney, 05 February 2009 – Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCE Aust.) today released details of its 2008 retail performance, highlighting exceptional software sales across all PlayStation® platforms, with another stellar software line up anticipated in 2009. 

Based on GfK 2008 calendar year retail data, a 42% unit share of all Australian software sales for the year by platform was achieved across the three PlayStation formats – selling over 7.45 million units. Hardware sales were also strong, with GfK reporting PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) sales of almost 213,000 units for the 2008 calendar year. Available in the market for less than two years, the PS3 now celebrates a solid install base of 460,0001 consoles in Australian homes. In addition to the device’s impressive range of high definition entertainment features, including a Blu-ray player and the ability to showcase music, movies and pictures, plus connect to others through the PlayStation®Network, all on the living room TV, it’s the suite of games that are really attracting consumers to the console. As a result, the PS3 is experiencing a high software attachment rate, representing over seven games sold for every unit purchased to date.

Goblins with chainsaws, fireballs from the sky and on-the-field gameplay are all featured in today’s video.

Today is the big day for fans of “Blood Bowl” — the sometimes humorous, and often brutal, fantasy sport game based on American Football and the Warhammer world! Today, Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio have released an explosive extended-length trailer, which wraps up our four-part series and gives you a look at the in-game elements of the title!

Watch the video and experience the game’s real-time and turn-based modes, and see how you can customize your teams – from choosing specific characters, to designing individual players before sending them out to do battle on the pitch. Along with actual in-game video, we’ve included some cinematics that showcase some of the famous gameplay concepts of “Blood Bowl” – including dirty plays, underhand tactics and all-out cheating.

An ultra-violent mix of Warhammer Fantasy and American football, Blood Bowl allows players to create the ultimate “fantasy” sports teams. Coaches can build bone-crushing teams of Orcs, Elves, Humans, Dwarfs and many more fantastic creatures – then throw them into the stadium for the ultimate blood sport! Blood Bowl is strategic, action-packed and violent, requiring coaches to use their best tactics, team design – and a dose of pure ruthless bloodlust always helps too!

Published by Focus Home Interactive and developed by Cyanide Studio, Blood Bowl is being developed for the PC and the Xbox 360™ as well as for the handheld systems Nintendo DS™ and Sony PSP™ and is set for release on Q2 2009.

BURBANK, Calif., February 4, 2009 – Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announced today the acquisition of Snowblind Studios, an award winning, independent game development studio specializing in action and fantasy-based games, strengthening Warner Bros.’ growing presence as a full scale games publisher. 

 “This is a good fit for Warner Bros. and Snowblind Studios,” said Tsujihara. “The arrangement broadens our portfolio with quality games and provides Snowblind with access to our global distribution and publishing capabilities.  Snowblind has a great reputation and we are pleased to welcome them into the Warner Bros. family.”

Located outside of Seattle in Bothell, Washington, Snowblind Studios is known for the popular action role-playing games, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath and Justice League Heroes.  The studio was founded in 1997.

“The acquisition of Snowblind is an important milestone for our games business, allowing us to expand our development capabilities even further,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “We are proud to be associated with such a talented team that is focused on executing innovative and captivating game designs.”

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is a worldwide games publisher of internally developed as well as third party game titles.  Snowblind Studios will become the third development studio under the Warner Bros. umbrella along with Monolith Productions and TT Games.  Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions will launch “F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin,” the much anticipated sequel to the hit game “F.E.A.R.” this month and TT Games’ “LEGO Batman: The Videogame” is one of the best-selling games of 2008. 

 “We look forward to working as a part of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on creating several distinctive games with wide appeal,” said Ryan Geithman, Studio Head, Snowblind Studios. “Our team is committed at every level to making the best gaming experience possible for our audiences.”

About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all current and future platforms, including console, handheld and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to Publish New LEGO Game for Nintendo DS™ 

Sydney, Aust. – Feb 5. 2009 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games are teaming up with The LEGO Group to deliver LEGO® Battles for Nintendo DS™, a videogame based on classic play scenarios in evergreen themes that include LEGO Castle, LEGO Pirates and LEGO Space.  Produced by TT Games, developed by Hellbent Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, LEGO® Battles pulls three LEGO themes together to create a unique extension of the LEGO build-and-play experience that stays true to the customisation and humour that are the foundation of LEGO videogames.  The game is scheduled to be available this winter in Australia and New Zealand. 

LEGO® Battles offers a new kind of “build and battle” LEGO gameplay. Through six distinct story lines, players build their own LEGO bases and battle teams as they engage in over 70 different levels, mixing and matching units to create the ultimate customised LEGO squad. These unique LEGO battles teams see pirate swordsmen fighting side-by-side with wizards and aliens; dragons battling ninjas; and pirate ships launching broadsides against spacecraft and knights! Players can also challenge friends on the battlefield in multiplayer mode through wireless DS multi-card play. 

“LEGO® Battles offers players the action-packed and humour-filled gameplay that make LEGO games great, along with the added bonus of linked multiplayer battles on DS,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games Publishing. “We are excited to introduce a new LEGO videogame experience to fans and young gamers and look forward to expanding upon the beloved toy lines.”  

About TT Games

TT Games (www.ttgames.com) is the combined publishing and development group behind the hit games LEGO Star Wars™, LEGO Star Wars II and BIONICLE® Heroes. Incorporating renowned UK developer Traveller’s Tales, TT Games has a distinctive focus on console, handheld, mobile and PC games of the highest quality, aimed at young gamers and their families.

CAMBRIDGE – August 05, 2008 – The zombie infestation spreads to the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft as D3Publisher (D3P) announces Onechanbara™: Bikini Samurai Squad™. The videogame features Aya and Saki, sisters with a passion for obliterating zombies, and an equal enthusiasm for showing off their assets, as they battle hordes of enemies in their skimpiest outfits in an effort to save their city. Bikini Samurai Squad will ship to retail stores at the same time as Onechanbara™: Bikini Zombie Slayers™ for Wii™ in early 2009, giving gamers two complete stories of the long-awaited Onechanbara series, famous for its iconic bikini-clad characters and heart-pounding third-person action.

Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad (For Xbox 360)
In Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad, Aya, a descendent of the family known as IMICHI, meaning blood that goes out of control, reconciles with her sister Saki and live together in peace for a while. But the peace doesn’t last for long as an infestation of zombies plague the city. The sisters join together to draw their swords and rid the city of evil. Gamers can play with a friend in Co-op Mode or switch between any of the three beautiful playable characters in single player.  Each character has a variety of unique moves that can be mastered during combat to destroy enemy zombies. Get too much blood on either sister and be driven into Rage Mode and gain more power and agility to destroy enemies faster and deadlier.

Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (For Wii)
Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers is the sequel to Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad.  In the videogame, Aya is out to find the meaning of her IMICHI ancestors, even if it leads to the answer she does not wish for. Players can master the sword to take full advantage of the Wii Remote™ motion controls by slashing, swinging and thrusting into zombie enemy hordes. Play as either sister Aya or Saki in single player or with a friend in Co-Op Mode and utilize each of their unique fighting styles and set of moves . Get too much blood on either sister and be driven into Rage Mode and gain more power and agility to destroy enemies faster and deadlier. Every person met and enemy battled gets the sisters closer to understanding who or what is behind the zombie outbreak and putting an end to it.

About D3Publisher

D3Publisher, a subsidiary of D3, Inc., is a leading interactive entertainment publisher and distributor for licensed and original titles for personal computers, major console platforms and handheld systems.  D3Publisher has operations in the U.S., U.K., and Japan.  The company also owns development studio Vicious Cycle Software, Inc., and its technology platform, Vicious Engine.  Recent releases have included Dark Sector®, Dead Head Fred®, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords®, and Ben 10™: Protector of Earth.  For more information about D3Publisher, please visit: www.d3publisher.com.

Yuji Naka’s Next Creation Set to Revolutionize How Gamers Interact with Nintendo™ Wiis 

Thursday 5th February 2009 – SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. today announces Let’s Tap™, a game that is blazing new ground in Nintendo Wii™ control design. Developed by Prope, the studio that Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka established in 2006, Let’s Tap is the first product from the new studio to be released to in North America and Europe. Developed exclusively for Nintendo’s Wii™ system, Let’s Tap utilizes a ground-breaking control scheme where the Wii controller is placed on a box or flat surface so that the controller can detect minute vibrations. Players of all ages and skill levels then tap the box or flat surface to interact with the game; there’s no need to hold the controller. Let’s Tap is slated for a winter 2009 ship for the Nintendo Wii in Australia and New Zealand.

Friday 6th February 2009 – SEGA Europe Ltd. and SEGA of America, Inc. today announced they will be publishing Virtua Tennis™ 2009.  Virtua Tennis 2009 will smash into action on Sony PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and downloadable for PC fans in May 2009.

Virtua Tennis 2009 will again allow you to take on the world’s top tennis players in some of the most realistic courts to be found on gaming consoles.  Take on the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer or play as Maria Sharapova against Venus Williams to recreate some classic court battles. Joining this impressive roster of tennis stars are several new players for 2009, including men’s World No.4 Andy Murray and ladies French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.  In addition to the traditional singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches, Virtua Tennis 2009 will also have the official Davis Cup license, giving players the coveted opportunity to lead their country to glory!

Virtua Tennis 2009 has extensive additions and detailed improvements to the classic arcade-style match engine like no other tennis game available. Player stumbling adds a new dimension to matches, while improved volleying, serving and net play allow you to express yourself on court like never before.  In addition, the popular World Tour Mode has been given innovative new features offering a fully integrated online system, and new online ranking system available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.  Along with numerous other additions the Player Creation System in World Tour Mode has also been expanded, and a new look Tennis Store containing over 800 items will enable players to create their own unique Virtua Tennis Champion!
“The return of Virtua Tennis promises to be a real treat for both fans of the series and sports game fans everywhere” commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director for SEGA Europe.  “The tennis season is shaping up to be the most exciting in years, and with new players, courts, an Online Tour and extensive on-court updates – Virtua Tennis 2009 is sure to maintain its spot as the standard by which all tennis games are judged.”

Finally, no Virtua Tennis game would be complete without the ever popular Court Games and Virtua Tennis 2009 doesn’t disappoint!  Fan favorites will be returning alongside each other in completely new minigames, ensuring the tradition is carried on into this new iteration of the series.  But look out for crocodiles, fruit and pirates in Virtua Tennis 2009’s collection of unique Court Games, available to play as single player, multiplayer and online, and sure to have players coming back for more!

Virtua Tennis 2009 ™ is due for release on the Sony® PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360™ and PC in May 2009, please go to www.virtuatennis2009.com for further information.

About SEGA Europe Ltd.:
SEGA® Europe Ltd. is the European Distribution arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA Europe’s web site is located at www.sega-europe.com.

About SEGA of America Inc.:
SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home.  The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.  SEGA of America’s Web site is located at www.sega.com.

Sydney, Australia – February 6, 2009 – DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced Battlefield: Bad Company 2™, the sequel to last year’s blockbuster title. In this instalment, the Bad Company crew again find themselves in the heart of the action, where they must use every weapon and vehicle at their disposal to survive. The action unfolds with unprecedented intensity, introducing a level of fervor to vehicular warfare never before experienced in a modern warfare action game. To get ready for the assault players can prepare for action in Battlefield 1943™, an all-new multiplayer game available via PlayStation®Store, Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace and on the PC.

In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the ‘B’ company fight their way through snowy mountaintops, dense jungles and dusty villages. With a heavy arsenal of deadly weapons and a slew of vehicles to aid them, the crew set off on their mission and they are ready to blow up, shoot down, blast through, wipe out and utterly destroy anything that gets in their way. Total destruction is the name of the game, delivered as only the DICE next generation Frostbite™ engine can. Either online or offline, enemies will soon learn there is nowhere to hide. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be available for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and the PC.

Using the same Frostbite™ engine, Battlefield 1943 takes players back to WWII. The game offers endless hours of 24 player multiplayer action over three classic and tropic locations; Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Delivering the award-winning through-the-gun and vehicle warfare online experience DICE is best recognized for, Battlefield 1943 will have players battling in ruthless aerial dog fights and intense trench combat. Players can see the game in action at New York Comic Con (Booth #1441) from February 6th-8th.

“Bad Company 2 takes everything that players liked in the original and ups the ante – more vehicles, more destruction and more team play,” said Karl Magnus Troedsson, Executive Producer Battlefield Franchise, DICE. “Battlefield 1943 is a new take on a blast from the past classic coming to life with brand new technology that we’re eager to get into players hands.”

To sign-up for the Battlefield Heroes™ beta, players can visit www.battlefield-heroes.com. For more information on DICE, please visit www.dice.se or www.ea.com. For more information on the Battlefield franchise please visit: www.battlefield.com.

Sydney, Australia, February 6, 2009 – ASUS has launched the Xonar HDAV1.3 Series sound cards revealing the world’s first and only solution to offer Dolby TrueHD audio bitstream on the PC platform. The Xonar HDAV1.3 follows on from the success of ASUS’ first sound cards to be equipped with the next generation DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital Plus bitstream on the PC platform.

A powerful combination comprising of C-Media’s custom-made AV200 audio processor and ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Theatre software player lets users be the first to enjoy Dolby TrueHD’s lossless compression rate of 24bit/192KHz over to their AV receivers. This is a major leap forward in the emerging Blu-ray era and was unprecedented before the release of the Xonar HDAV1.3.

The ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3 is the world’s only solution capable of providing bit-to-bit exact lossless Blu-ray audio output, without any downsampling to DVD quality – allowing users to enjoy next-generation audio enhancements such as DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus on the PC. Furthermore, the Xonar HDAV 1.3 supports most video graphics cards on the market, offering delivery of both video and audio outputs through a single HDMI cable.

Working closely together with C-Media and ArcSoft to create the world’s first premium audio solution, ASUS hopes to not only address consumer audio needs, but also to showcase its outstanding R&D capabilities.

The ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Series sound cards are available in Australia and New Zealand from February 2009 at selected computer resellers. RRP from AU$249, NZ$329 (all prices inclusive of GST).

About ASUS
ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion US dollars. ASUS ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek’s “InfoTech 100”, and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years. ASUS was also selected by the Wall Street Journal Asia as No.1 in quality and service. For more information, visit www.asus.com.au.