Eight expert gamers from Australia are heading to Hollywood to take on the world’s best Call of Duty Black Ops II competitors. On Friday night gaming publisher, Activision, brought together the best Call of Duty players from across Australia and New Zealand to battle it out for a place at the Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox tournament in Los Angeles on 5-7 April at the Hollywood Palladium Theatre.

After eight gruelling hours of gameplay against fierce competition from 32 expert gamers, Team Immunity and Mindfreak eSports, took out the honour of ANZ’s best Call of Duty teams, and booked their ticket to the Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox in April.

Captain of the Team Immunity team, Albert Nassif says “It’s a great feeling to take out the Call of Duty title in Australia, and we can’t wait to go to Hollywood and play for the big bucks against the world’s best”.

Senior Vice President Asia Pacific at Activision, Philip Earl says the response to the Call of Duty Championships is evidence of the franchise’s strong following down under.

“The successful launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops II last year showed the continued strength of the Call of Duty franchise locally so it’s wonderful to be able to give back to the loyal community with the Call of Duty Championships”.

24 teams from around the globe will now meet in Hollywood on 5-7^th Apri^l to battle for their share of the $1 million dollar prize purse, and the ultimate bragging rights as the world’s best Call of Duty players.

Last year Call of Duty: Black Ops II became the biggest selling entertainment product of all time, recording 1 BILLION dollars in sales in just 15 days.

– From the Crack House to the White House –

March 15, 2013 — Larkspur, Calif., Today Deep Silver announced that Saints Row IV™, the ball-busting next chapter in the Saints Row franchise, is starting a party in your pants this Fall.

In the next open-world installment of Saints Row, Volition continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the highest level – the leaders of the free world.  In Saints Row IV, the head honcho of the Saints has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. But the Saints are just getting started. Now the larger-than-life insanity of the Saints series gets a new twist with a catastrophic alien invasion, and the aliens have transported the Saints to a bizarro-Steelport simulation. Wield gargantuan superpowers and fight to free humanity from alien granddaddy Zinyak’s mental grasp. Escape the simulation that’s trapped the Saints crew, or die trying.

Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. Utilize out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, players can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the greatest, most insane installment of Saints Row yet.

Save the world, Saints Style.

Developed by Volition, Saints Row IV will launch on current-gen consoles and PC on August 20, 2013, in North America and August 23, 2013, in the rest of the world.

For more information about the Saints Row universe, please visit one of the following official sites:

Web:  http://www.saintsrow.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/saintsrow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/saintsrow
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/saintsrow

On April 26, STAR TREK^® The Video Game reunites the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise for an amazing, completely new Star Trek adventure – and alongside Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and Sulu will be two new characters making their first appearances in the Star Trek universe

As the game begins, Kirk and Spock are called to aid in the rescue of a mysterious space station that is heading towards catastrophe.  Upon their arrival, Kirk and Spock meet a female Vulcan scientist named T’Mar, who plays a prominent role in the action-packed journey that awaits.

“T’Mar is the captain of the space station and was a childhood friend of Spock,” says Paramount Senior Vice President and Executive Producer Brian Miller.  “Her blend of incredible intelligence and unexpected beauty prove intriguing to Kirk.”

As the story progresses, T’Mar joins Kirk and Spock as they travel to New Vulcan, a planet that orbits a binary star and was colonized by Vulcans after the destruction of their home world, seen in 2009’s Star Trek.  There, they find Surok – a great Vulcan leader.

“When we crafted this story we wanted to make sure the player realizes that the usually logical, Spock can have very emotional connections to the ones he cares about,” adds Miller.  “Surok was one of Spock’s childhood mentors and is also T’Mar’s father. Together, they are helping to lead the colonization of New Vulcan.”

As the game progresses, players will learn that Surok is one of the lone survivors of a vicious attack on the New Vulcan planet by the villainous Gorn.  Why they have attacked and what they want are at the heart of STAR TREK The Video Game.

“Video games are not only exciting to play, they’ve become a compelling medium for telling stories, so with Star Trek, we had an amazing opportunity to introduce new characters that are integral to the plot of our game,” Miller says. “Our game’s story is canon to the new Star Trek universe, so we had a great responsibility to get these new characters right, and to make them exciting and meaningful to players.”

Throughout the story, both T’Mar and Surok play key roles in helping Kirk and Spock uncover more about the brutal attacks that the Gorn have been engaging in across the galaxy.  They also reveal that the Gorn have stolen a mysterious machine known as the Helios Device – one whose functions could prove disastrous in the hands of an enemy as ruthless as the Gorn.

“For players who want to simply enjoy the experience of playing as Kirk and Spock, Star Trek is going to be a great game experience,” Miller says. “But for those eager to dig deeper into a robust story, we hope it’s an adventure that will excite both longtime fans and game enthusiasts alike.”

Second massive expansion for critically acclaimed Civilization V features new gameplay systems, strategies, scenarios and more 

Sydney, Australia – March 15, 2013 – 2K and Firaxis Games announced today that Sid Meier’s Civilization® V: Brave New World, the second expansion pack for the award-winning Civilization V, is currently in development and will be released this winter for Windows-based PC and brought to the Mac® by Aspyr Media. Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World brings a massive amount of new gameplay to the Civilization V experience, providing gamers with even more rewarding ways to achieve world domination.

“Civilization V: Brave New World continues the strong tradition of ambitious expansion packs that fans have come to expect from the Civilization franchise,” said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for 2K. “Brave New World is destined to continue the strong Civilization lineage that already includes massive expansions such as Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword and Civilization V: Gods & Kings.” 

Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World provides new depth and replayability through the introduction of international trade and a focus on culture and diplomacy. The player’s influence around the world will be impacted by creating a number of Great Works across a variety of crafts, choosing an ideology for their civilization, and proposing global resolutions in the new World Congress. As players move through the ages of history, they will make critical decisions that influence relationships with all civilizations in the game world.

“After adding a number of great new features to Civilization V with the Gods & Kings expansion, the team continued to search for ways to create even more exciting gameplay through new systems and features,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development for Firaxis Games. “We’re happy to bring our fans another ambitious expansion that will provide hours and hours of new Civilization experiences.

Key features include:

–       New Civilizations, Units and Buildings: The expansion features nine new civilizations, each with unique traits, units, buildings and all-new leaders, including Casimir III of Poland.

–       New Culture Victory: Spread your culture across the globe, dominating all other cultures. Create masterpieces with Great Artists, Writers, and Musicians that are placed in key buildings across your empire, like Museums, Opera Houses and even the Great Library. Use Archaeologists to investigate sites of ancient battles and city ruins for priceless cultural artifacts. Become the first civilization with a majority influence in all other civilizations to achieve a Culture Victory, becoming the envy of the world.

–       World Congress: The importance of diplomacy is intensified and city-state alliances are more important than ever. Change the diplomatic landscape through a new World Congress that votes on critical issues like implementing trade sanctions against rogue nations, limiting resource usage, designating host cities for the World Games and the use of nuclear weapons. Game-changing resolutions, vote trading, intrigue, and a new lead into the Diplomatic Victory ensures that the end of the game will be more dynamic than ever before.

–       International Trade Routes: Build your cities into hubs of international trade by land and sea, creating great wealth and prosperity for your people, while also spreading religion, cultural influence, and science. The number of trade routes increases through the advancement of economics and technologies, the creation of wonders and the unique abilities of your civilization. Will you connect to a closer city for a lower payoff and a safer route, choose a longer route with more risk for the bigger payoff, or perhaps point your trade route inward, sending vitally important food and production to the far corners of your own empire?

–       New Wonders: Eight new Wonders are introduced, including the Parthenon, Broadway, the Uffizi, and more. 

–       New Game Scenarios: Two new scenarios let gamers fight the “War Between the States” and embark on the epic Scramble for Africa. Fight the American Civil War from either the Union or Confederate side, as you focus on the critical action in the Eastern theatre of operations between the capital cities of Richmond and Washington. In “Scramble for Africa”, the great colonial powers of the world are racing to explore the Dark Continent and extend their reach into its interior. Search for great natural wonders in the heart of Africa, as you explore a dynamically-generated continent each time you play.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World is not yet rated by the Australian Classification Board or the OFLC in New Zealand and will be available for Windows-based PC and Mac this winter. For more information on Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World, please visit www.civilization.com or become a fan on Facebook.

2K is a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).