50% off all PC digital downloads until end of January  

MELBOURNE, VIC – January 23, 2012 – THQ APAC today announced shopTHQ’s Summer Sale. Exclusive to the shopTHQ store, the Summer Sale sees all PC digital download prices slashed by 50%. 

Budget conscious gamers can pick up some great value deals including: 

Homefront – watch the future unfold for a thoroughly reasonable $29.97 

With Darksiders 2 due in Winter 2012 there’s never been a better time to pick up Darksiders for a post-apoclayptic $14.97. 

While you’re at it, why not pick up 2010s newest kid on the Eastern Bloc – Metro 2033 for a Ruble-rousing $9.97? It’s essential playing ahead of the sequel, Metro: Last Light. 

Possibly the best deal of all, is Saints Row the Third and the Saints Row the Third Season Pack (consisting of 4 DLC drops) for a ghettofabulous $59.95. Super Ethical! 

For more glorious deals, check out the direct link here: http://store.thq.com/store/thq/en_AU/list/pc-games/categoryID.39206600

For a more leisurely browse of shopTHQ, hit the homepage, here: http://store.thq.com/store/thq/en_AU/home

These offers expire at 11.59PM, Tuesday 31st January 2012.

Post-Apocalyptic Adventure on Xbox LIVE Arcade to Begin March 7, 2012 

SYDNEY – January 24, 2012–Ubisoft announced that I Am Alive, a believable post-apocalyptic action-adventure game, is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade House Party for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system on March 7, 2012.

I Am Alive follows an everyman’s journey to find his wife and daughter, who were lost during the “Event.” A year later, he finds Haventon, his hometown, in shambles. Buildings are destroyed, toxic ash fills the streets and society has been torn, causing inhabitants to take all necessary actions to survive.

In I Am Alive, players will be challenged by both the environment and the enemies. Stamina and resource management are key when being exposed to deadly atmospheres and scaling enormous buildings in search of supplies. The unique combat system requires players to utilise intimidation – cowards are easily swayed with an empty gun, while other enemies will put players to the test.

I Am Alive will be available for download for 1200 Microsoft Points. For more information on I Am Alive, please visit: http://iamalive-game.ubi.com

you’ll need a BenQ W1060…

and your nearest Officeworks can make it happen

Australia, January 2012:  The number one DLP projector brand in the world, BenQ, has released their W1060 – a Full HD Home Entertainment Projector with 1080p definition, 3D colour management and brilliant image performance – for just $999.00.

The projector is ideal for all your home entertainment applications – video gaming, watching movies (including Blu-ray) or sporting events, and with a full 10-bit panel driver, 2000 ANSI lumens and high contrast ratio of 5000:1, this 1080p HD projector provides exceptional visual detail even in a relatively bright room. 

Its super-easy to set up with dual HDMI cables, has its own 10watt in-built speaker and will throw from 60” to 120” diagonal projection in any sized room.  Furthermore, it’s white in colour so it blends in to modern contemporary surroundings, sleek in design and lightweight, but most impressive of all is this little projector’s price tag at under $1000.  Big screen AV has never been more affordable. 

Available now from Officeworks nationally – $999.00 online or instore. 

Features include:

• Long lamp life (6000 hours in eco mode – most competitive projectors offer 3000-4000 hours making this projector ‘low-cost’)
• Sharp, full HD, brilliant image performance (reliable adjustable picture quality with true to life colour performance which is virtually immune from colour decay)
• Hassle-free HDMI connectivity (easy set-up and pack-up)
• Digital zoom
• Big built-in speaker

To find out more, go to Officeworks, or visit them online at www.officeworks.com.au or alternatively contact BenQ at www.BenQ.com.au or call (02) 8988 6500.

Sydney, 24 January 2012. SMBs that do not implement effective backup and disaster recovery plans are putting at risk, on average, 100GB of new business data every day1 – despite the availability of new-generation solutions that allow them to create a simple and affordable offsite backup plan between the office and home, according to leading backup specialist Acronis.

The latest backup solutions, which make ‘office to home’ offsite backups possible, eliminate many of the barriers, expenses and difficulties of setting up and managing an effective offsite backup solution.

Until recently, the ultimate solution to avoid major disaster was to build an offsite disaster recovery centre with duplicate computing equipment and dedicated staff – an unaffordable option for smaller businesses.

Some businesses typically do not have an offsite backup plan or at best physically transport their backup media between offices and home to maintain an offsite copy – a tedious and risky manual process that makes the copy more vulnerable to loss or damage. Outsourcing the transport or storage of backup media is also costly and involves complex security issues SMBs do not typically have the resources to address.

Karl Sice, General Manager – Pacific at Acronis, said: “With the amount of new data SMBs create each day, businesses that are not backing up information to a separate location from their office are asking for trouble. They could lose that data forever in the event of a disaster such as theft, fire, flood, earthquake or system failure.

“While many SMBs are struggling with backup requirements because they believe it is too complex and costly, changes in technologies have presented them with new options – including the ability to simply back up office files to their home devices using a stable Internet connection.”

All SMBs need to create this ‘office to home’ offsite backup is reputable backup software that supports FTP (file transfer protocol), such as Acronis Backup & Recovery® 11 software, a reliable Internet connection (with a router provided by your ISP) and Network Attached Storage (NAS), which provides the storage location for the backup. And once it is set up, the Acronis software will automatically do backups on schedule, so business owners no longer have to remember to do it themselves.

The ease and affordability of this office to home-style backup is an important development for smaller business owners who do not have the financial resources or trained IT managers to deal with the technical complexities of some other types of backup solutions.

“Now SMBs can back up their business-critical data anywhere, anytime via inexpensive broadband connections that are commonly available – and probably already in place at many SMBs’ locations. It is a time-saving, low cost and easy way to provide offsite protection for vital business data,” Sice added.

Notes To Editors:
1Acronis Disaster Recovery Index, February 2011 (second report due 1 February 2012).

About Acronis
Acronis is a leading provider of easy-to-use disaster recovery and data protection solutions for physical, virtual and cloud environments. Its patented disk imaging technology enables corporations, SMBs and consumers to protect their digital assets. With Acronis’ disaster recovery, deployment and migration software, users protect their digital information, maintain business continuity and reduce downtime. Acronis software is sold in more than 90 countries and available in up to 14 languages. For additional information, please visit www.acronis.com.au. Follow Acronis on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acronis.

SYDNEY, 24 January 2012: Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH today confirmed the launch date for its clever Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation®Network puzzler, Puddle. The publisher also released a number of new images of the prize-winning title.

Puddle will be released via Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and via the PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on January 25th. The game challenges the player to guide a number of liquid properties rocket fuel through a series of stages, each more inventive than the last.

The new screenshots showcase the broad variety of courses available to navigate. Players must dodge heat beams and rays of electric current that can fry their puddle, or handle a blob of radioactive fluid with care, follow a virtual puddle of rocket fuel through a hand drawn blueprint, and even follow a sip of water as it makes its way through a human body!

Players guide their respective liquid by tilting the environment, balancing each fluid’s unique properties with the environmental factors of gravity, friction, and each course’s obstacles. Players can only see one small section of a stage at a time, thus Puddle will offer plenty of unexpected twists, keeping players alert and ready for the next challenge. Puddle for the PlayStation® Network also supports motion controls using the Playstation® Move or Sixaxis controller.

Puddle began as a student project and duly won a Student Showcase prize at the Independent Gaming Festival at the Game Developer’s Conference 2010. It arrives now as a fully-fledged downloadable game unlike anything players have experienced before. “

24 January 2012

The Last Story is the latest action-packed RPG to come from Final Fantasy developer Hironobu Sakaguchi, and will be available exclusively on Wii from 23 February 2012.

The Last Story features time-honoured RPG gameplay and story elements but also adds modern twists to the traditional RPG formula. Customise your items and character and master the innovative combat system to succeed in this epic new universe.

During The Last Story you take control of Zael and from time to time his partners, a band of mercenaries in search of their fortune. You undertake a series of missions and explore Lazulis Island and its sprawling medieval capital Lazulis City, while trying to help Zael achieve his ultimate goal of leaving his life as a mercenary behind and becoming a true knight.

The Last Story features a high level of customisation for both items and characters appearance. There are two main ways of customising your party’s equipment including visiting blacksmiths to increase their abilities and using dyes to change their colour. By visiting the various blacksmiths who are situated within Lazulis City and within some dungeons, you can upgrade your weapons and armour.

Unlike many other RPGs, The Last Story not only features a thrilling single player campaign with an engaging story, but also Online Multiplayer options including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Co-Op modes. Now you can battle against or alongside up to five other RPG fans using your own customised character from the Single Player game.

For more information on The Last Story, please click here

Featuring Iconic Justice League Characters, Multilayered Campaign To Leverage All Time Warner Advertising
Platforms Generating Significant Awareness of the Crisis

Multi-Million-Dollar Commitment Will Support Three Aid Groups Working in Africa:
Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps

(January 23, 2012 – New York, NY) DC Entertainment, home of the world’s greatest super heroes, today unveiled an unprecedented giving campaign to fight the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. This multi-million-dollar commitment over the next two years will be supported across all Warner Bros. Entertainment’s and Time Warner’s businesses and feature DC Entertainment’s iconic Justice League characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, issuing the call to action, “We Can Be Heroes.” The announcements were made at a press conference today in New York by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros.; Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group; and Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment.

We Can Be Heroes will support the efforts of three humanitarian aid organizations working in Africa—Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps—as part of the global effort to fight the current hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. The region is suffering its worst drought and famine in over 60 years, with 13 million in need of critical assistance and 250,000 facing starvation in Somalia alone. Each partner organization was chosen for its track record of effective and expeditious humanitarian aid efforts in Africa.

We Can Be Heroes will be supported via promotional exposure across all of Time Warner’s divisional advertising platforms (Warner Bros., Turner Broadcasting, Time Inc., HBO), generating millions of consumer impressions and creating crucially needed awareness of this crisis worldwide. Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps will equally share a corporate donation of at least $2 million over the next two years comprised of cash donations, employee matching funds and consumer matching funds.

Hertfordshire, January 24th, 2012 – TECMO KOEI Europe[i] announced today that Warriors Orochi 3 will be released in Australia on March 29th 2012 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. Warriors Orochi 3 combines the much loved heroes of the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series in an all new story that for the first time also features characters from Ninja Gaiden, Warriors: Legends of Troy, Bladestorm, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll and Dead or Alive!

Years after the battle against Orochi, the Serpent King, the heroes of the Three Kingdoms and the Warring States struggle to seize control of the new universe they were thrown into when a new threat arises! A terrible and colossal monster, resembling a serpent with eight heads, casts its shadow across the land and defeats most of the brave warriors.

The ones that survived, assisted by the mysterious Kaguya, travel back through time to save fallen heroes and forge new alliances, collect powerful weapons and build an army so they can have a chance to defeat the terrible Hydra.

But that is not all the help they’ll get this time, as the vortex created by Orochi drags a few more allies to their universe. Dragon Ninja Ryu Hayabusa, Achilles, Jeanne d’Arc, Nemea and Ayane are only a few of the new additions to the 120+ playable character roster!