Community Team’s Trish Ryniak and Multiplayer designer Elliot Lock go head to head in this first look at Multiplayer for Total War: ROME II. With Trish playing as Parthia vs Elliott as Pontus, they battle it out in Gor in an unfortified city assault.

Elliott takes the opportunity to talk us through some new features in multiplayer and how the stunning interactive campaign map allows for thousands of battle grounds and new battle types.

Total War: ROME II launches worldwide on September 3rd 2013. For more information, visit www.totalwar.com

From a galaxy far, far away, our favourite Angry Birds are flying in with a brand new multiplayer trailer and screens from Activision’s Angry Birds™ Star Wars ®, which will be available for home and hand-held consoles this October. To celebrate Gamescom 2013 in Cologne, Germany, these never-before-seen multiplayer assets are debuting at the show.

For the first time in the series, Angry Birds Star Wars introduces new multiplayer modes where players can take down the Empire together in two-player co-op or in four-player competitive mode.

The hit Angry Birds Star Wars game will be available on October 30th for the Xbox 360® games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system. Angry Birds Star Wars is not yet rated by the Australian Classification Board. For more information, please visit www.starwarsgame.angrybirds.com.

UK video game publisher Reef Entertainment announced that it will offer a choice of two limited-edition figurines as pre-order incentives for RAMBO ® THE VIDEO GAME. The figurines have been designed & manufactured to the highest standards exclusively for RAMBO ® THE VIDEO GAME giving Rambo fans a once-in-a-lifetime chance to grab a genuine collectable.

The highly detailed, hand-painted, 3-inch figurines are based on iconic images of John Rambo from FIRST BLOOD ™ & RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II ™ . Each figurine features authentic likeness, costume and weapons.

The figurines will be offered as pre-order incentives by select retailers globally, while stocks last, and will not be available for sale separately. Please check availability of the RAMBO ® THE VIDEO GAME pre-order offer with individual retailers.

RAMBO ® THE VIDEO GAME will put players in Rambo’s combat boots and take them on an action-packed adventure through the iconic action-sequences and story-arcs of FIRST BLOOD ™, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II ™ & RAMBO III ™.

The game will feature the original movie voice-tracks of John Rambo and Col. Samuel Trautman as well as selected music from the world famous series of movies.

RAMBO ® THE VIDEO GAME is planned for release on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC, Summer 2013.

From the makers of the award-winning smash hit Heavy Rain™ comes an original, psychological action thriller featuring a soundtrack from two of Hollywood’s greats

SYDNEY, August 23, 2013 – Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCE Aust.) have announced the addition of two more Hollywood powerhouses to the BEYOND: Two Souls™ production team. Developed exclusively for PlayStation®3 [PS3™] by Quantic Dream, BEYOND: Two Souls blurs the lines of movie-making and gaming. BEYOND: Two Souls will feature an original score developed by Grammy® award winning and BAFTA nominated film composer Lorne Balfe and Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and Grammy® winning composer Hans Zimmer.

Hans has received a total of 10 Golden Globe® nominations, 10 Grammy®, and 9 Oscar® with the latest being for Christopher Nolan’s Inception. His recent films include Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel; The Lone Ranger; and The Dark Knight Rises. Most recently, Lorne has composed music for The Dark Knight, Inception, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. He has also composed music for other video games including Assassin’s Creed® III and Skylanders: Giants™.

David Cage says, “I have always been fortunate to work with very talented composers on my games, from David Bowie to Angelo Badalamenti or Normand Corbeil. Working with such talented people as Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe has been an amazing experience. They did a great job at creating a very original soundtrack for the game, allying strong themes with very original sound textures. The soundtrack creates a fantastic landscape for the emotional journey of Jodie Holmes, and gives her a voice that players will remember.”

Of his work on the score for BEYOND: Two Souls, Hans commented, “One of the reasons I really enjoy the whole gaming world is because we are looking for that next thing where we can become immersive, that can involve us, that can really go beyond entertainment.”

Lorne added, “This game is so interesting. People ask, is it a film or is it a game? That’s the big thing and there is no difference, not to me. You could sit there and watch it as a film so the way of musically trying to tell the story is the same process.”

A Stellar Cast for a Genre Defining Game:

BEYOND: Two Souls will feature Oscar nominee Ellen Page in the lead role of Jodie Holmes, a young woman who possesses supernatural powers through her link to an invisible entity. Ellen is supported by Willem Dafoe who plays Nathan Dawkins, an enigmatic scientist working for a government division studying paranormal activities. Dawkins’ professional curiosity in Jodie, driven by personal tragedy, is a central theme in BEYOND: Two Souls, and provides a rich and evocative narrative that only Dafoe’s subtleties of performance could fully realise.

The methods used by developer Quantic Dream to track facial, voice and body animations simultaneously create a true performance from the actors, and result in the most realistic and emotionally charged and gameplay experience to date.
Play Through A Lifetime:

In BEYOND: Two Souls, gamers will play through fifteen years of Jodie’s life, experiencing the most striking moments of her life, in what promises to be one of the most thrilling and spectacular journeys on PS3. As she traverses the globe, Jodie will face incredible challenges set against a backdrop of emotionally-charged events the likes of which have never before been seen in a video game. Like its predecessor, Heavy Rain, BEYOND: Two Souls will allow players to shape the course of the story through their decisions and actions taken in the game.

KEY FEATURES:

· Delve into a gripping and unpredictable story with a Hollywood blockbuster cast featuring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe.
· Take full control of Jodie as well as the mysterious entity in spectacular action and adventure sequences.
· Create your own personal journey as your decisions and actions shape the outcome of the story.
Experience the new cutting-edge technology from Quantic Dream in what promise to be one of the best-looking games ever to be seen on PS3.
· Will feature an original score developed by world renowned composers Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer.

BEYOND: Two Souls is due for release in October 2013, only on PlayStation 3.

The next iteration in Activision’s number one selling game for the first half of 2013 is delivering a whole new world of innovation with Skylanders SWAP Force, which introduces the groundbreaking new feature — dynamic swapability. The pioneers of the toys-to-life genre are presenting kids and gamers with unprecedented levels of choice in how they explore Skylands and battle Kaos by swapping the top and bottom halves of the toys to transform 16 SWAP ForceTM characters into more than 250 unique combinations.

Set in a richly detailed next generation world, Skylanders SWAP Force takes kids on an all-new adventure with 32 brand new heroic characters that each offer unique powers and personalities. The game also features new abilities – such as flying, climbing, and teleporting – which can be used in special areas of Skylands. Additionally, fans can play with their entire collection of 100+, forward-compatible toys from both Skylanders Spyro’s AdventureTM and Skylanders Giants™. Skylanders SWAP Force is set to release in Australia on October 16.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – August 22, 2013 – Ubisoft® has announced that Fighter WithinTM, the first fighting game designed specifically for the next generation of hardware, will be available for Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft at launch. Fighter Within makes full use of Kinect for Xbox One technology, providing players the excitement of a real fighting competition while battling their friends to earn their bragging rights.

Fighter Within delivers on the long awaited motion fighting promise, inviting players to prove their fighting skills and sharpen their plan of attack in order to beat their opponents. Fighter Within lets players throw punches, kicks, counters and combos in the most immersive, brutal and liberating fighting experience yet.

“Fighter Within taps into the ultimate fighting game fantasy by offering players the most engaging and physical motion fighting experience on Xbox One,” said Geoffroy Sardin, EMEA Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, Ubisoft. “Players will square off against their friends to test their skills, prove their dominance and unleash their Fighter Within.”

“With more precise and responsive voice, vision and motion technology, the new Kinect for Xbox One will immerse players into games and entertainment like never before,” said George Peckham, General Manager, Global Publishing Group at Microsoft. “Ubisoft has delivered a wide variety of innovative, exclusive titles for Kinect for Xbox 360 and will no doubt give gamers another one-of-a-kind experience with Fighter Within on Xbox One.”

Fighter Within delivers real-time wounds, sweat and facial impacts in order to propel players into the fight. With its impressive movement tracking, varied attack moves and the thrill of competing against friends, Fighter Within re-envisions the climactic fighting experience for a new generation of players.

For the latest information on Fighter Within, please visit www.fighter-within.com.