– June 4th 2009 – Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH in partnership with Atari Australia has announced Kojima Productions is working on a new Metal Gear Solid title, which will mark the series’ first simultaneous multi-format release. Entitled Metal Gear Solid: Rising, the game will be available for Xbox®360, PLAYSTATION®3 and PC-DVD.

The first Metal Gear Solid game in the series’ history to be released simultaneously on three platforms, Metal Gear Solid: Rising stars Raiden – one of the most popular characters within the MGS universe. Raiden made his debut as a playable character in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for PlayStation®2, and appeared as a non-playable cyborg in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for PLAYSTATION®3.

“The Metal Gear Solid series has always pushed the bar with its cinematic visuals and entertaining story line,” commented Martin Schneider, European Marketing Director for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “Now even more gamers can immerse themselves in the franchise and experience the groundbreaking series as Metal Gear Solid: Rising heads to the platform of their choice.”

For more information on Atari’s entire product line up visit www.atari.com.au and log on to the Atari Trade Site for all box shots, demos, trailers and online screenshots.

Milton Keynes, 5th June 2009 – 505 Games and Bohemia Interactive, creators of award winning military simulations Operation Flashpoint and ArmA: Armed Assault, are pleased to announce the release of ARMA II: The Flash Game.

A short introduction to the beginning of the ARMA II story is now available for all dedicated fans that are eager to explore the world of the Post-Soviet Republic of Chernarus, a small country chained by the thread of an upcoming civil war.
 
Marek Spanel, CEO of Bohemia Interactive talks about the new Flash game: “At Bohemia we’re known for our innovative, original, approach to game development and our intent was to create additional content based on the original world of ARMA II, using it in a way which makes it possible to connect with hundreds of thousands of gamers worldwide.“

In a further nod to its dedicated community, Bohemia Interactive announces a competition. For each of the following 5 weeks, the two flash game players with the highest score will win a free copy of ARMA II via digital download!

ARMA II offers the ultimate realistic combat simulation experience in a modern day setting. With unprecedented freedom of movement, actions and tactics, the game will allow players to immerse themselves into intense large scale battles as never seen before on a home PC.

ARMA II will be released across Europe June 19th exclusively for PC. For all the latest information please visit www.arma2.com 

 And remember: If you see the Flash, it’s already too late!

Name:  Bakugan
Publisher: Activision
Developer: NOW Production
Platform: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2
Release Date: Spring 2009

A young man named Rikku dreams of joining in the Bakugan Battles despite not owning a single Bakugan of his own. One day, his dream comes true.

Rikku gets his first taste of what a battle is like when his friend Dan lends him Drago, a Bakugan with immense arena experience. Completely swept up in the intensity of the Bakugan Battles after his first taste, it is with a heavy heart that Rikku returns Drago to Dan. However, on his way home after the most exciting day of his life, Rikku comes across a never-before-seen Bakugan named Leonidas.

Leonidas confides to Rikku that he has mysteriously found himself in this unfamiliar world, and agrees to stay with Rikku for a while until he can sort things out. Now armed with his own unique Bakugan, Rikku is ready to enter his first tournament and change both Leonidas’ and his own life forever.

GAME OVERVIEW

Bakugan: Battle Brawlers is the first video game based on the smash hit Bakugan toys, card game and anime show. In it, players start off as an untrained Bakugan Brawler and must fight their way to the top of the heap. Combining the drama and story of the cartoon series with the skill and strategy of the card game, players will become completely immersed in this unique title. Throw Bakugan cards onto the battlefield, and then try to carefully shoot your Bakugan balls onto the cards to unleash their monstrous powers. When two Bakugans stand on the same card, they transform into gigantic creatures and fight to the finish!

Features:

• Deep Storyline: Take part in an epic and unique story penned by the writers of the anime series specifically for the video game.

• Unique Battle Arenas: Choose from a variety of arenas to battle in, each with its own shape, size, traps and features.

• Create Your Own Bakugan Brawler: Make your avatar that you play as throughout the game, or play as your favourite character from the anime series.

• New Bakugan: Collect up to 40 Bakugan and hundreds of cards, some of which have never been seen before!

• Multiplayer: Face off in custom matches where players can adjust the arena, characters, and even the rules themselves.

– 4th June, 2009 – Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH in partnership with Atari Australia has announced it will return to the singing genre, with the advent of Karaoke Revolution, an all-new sing-along title for PLAYSTATION®3 and Wii which will be released in Q4, 2009.

Developed by Blitz Games, Karaoke Revolution allows up to 16 players to get together and take each other on in singing contests in an ongoing quest for fame! Perfect as either a solo game or a multi-player get-together, the new game offers 50 licensed tracks, with players charged with hitting a range of notes and earning points as they do so. The better they sing, the more they are rewarded, and the more opportunities are available to them.

Karaoke Revolution offers a number of key game modes, including a Party option for 16 users, which allows participants to compete against each other and create bespoke playlists. The PLAYSTATION®3 version will also feature wide-ranging online play, allowing users to compete with rival singers all over the globe and can also download additional tracks in the future. Similarly, Karaoke Revolution’s online elements also allow users to download additional venues, plus new clothes and accessories.

Solo players can also enjoy Career Mode, wherein players can create their on-screen persona and lead them to singing glory. During the user’s career, players start in a series of smaller venues, before unlocking bigger stages and accessories. Karaoke Revolution has ten new venues, each boasting elaborate themes and special effects, with amazing pyrotechnics and visual effects designed to complement the onscreen action. Similarly, players can customize up to six venues, and even play music videos behind their character on a jumbo screen!

Karaoke Revolution enjoys compatibility with all available wireless and USB microphones, and the PLAYSTATION®3 version enjoys full use of the EyeToy camera.

4 June 2009, Australia – Let There Be Sims™! The EA Play Label of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that The Sims™ 3, the next generation of the global cultural phenomenon and best-selling PC franchise of all time, is at retail nationwide and available for digital download for the PC and Mac. Available in 60 countries and in 22 languages, The Sims™ 3 is also now available for download for the iPhone™, iPod® touch and mobile devices.

To celebrate the launch in Australia, Electronic Arts is hosting an exclusive event at Luna Park, Sydney. The event, designed to showcase the creative freedom made possible with this new game, will feature a guest performance by Australian singing star – Jessica Mauboy, The Sims™ 3 gaming zone, celebrity guests and a fashion runway event by Australia’s hottest young designers – bringing to life The Sims™ 3.

“The day is here and we can’t wait to see what kind of stories the players will tell, movies they’ll make, homes they’ll build and everything they’ll share using The Sims™ 3,” said Ben Bell, Executive Producer of The Sims™ 3 at EA. “Now you can create any Sim you can imagine. For the first time ever, you can explore a seamless, open neighbourhood and give your Sims real personality traits. Sims fans and new gamers alike will have something to love in The Sims™ 3.”

In The Sims™ 3 you can create lifelike Sims with a unique personality and take them anywhere in the neighbourhood. The powerful Create-a-Sim tool allows you to create Sims that are more realistic than ever. Select from dozens of personality traits such as brave, artistic, kleptomaniac, clumsy, paranoid and romantic. With Create-a-Sim, you can create a limitless number of truly unique Sims. The Sims™ 3 allows for infinite possibilities to design the interior and exterior of your Sims’ surroundings using the Create-a-Style feature. Additionally, you can enjoy the challenge of short-term and long-term goals and then reap the rewards! Based on personality traits, skills and career choices, your Sims have short and long term wishes that provide constant fun challenges and so many things to do and achieve. You have the ultimate freedom to choose whether to fulfill their destiny, giving them lifetime happiness and rewards or not!

Register your copy of The Sims™ 3 for PC and Mac at http://au.thesims3.com to enjoy the robust online and community features unique to your game including an all-new town called Riverview that you can download for no additional charge once you register*. You will also gain access to 1,000 SimPoints to purchase items from The Sims™ 3 Store including exclusive outfits, hairstyles, furniture, home décor, and architectural items to customise your Sims appearance and houses in all-new ways. Visit the store each month for new, never-seen-before themed items. Additionally, be the director of your Sims’ movies by capturing clips during your gameplay, visiting the official site, and editing the soundtrack, story, and transitions, then share it with the world! These easily accessible tools inspire creativity and allow you to share your masterpieces with your friends and other players on The Sims™ 3 official website, personal blogs, or any social media network. See what you can create with The Sims™ 3.

From EA Mobile, The Sims™ 3 is the first The Sims™ game experience for the iPhone and iPod touch. Full 3D Sims, 3D environments and the unique iPhone touch screen and accelerometer controls give players the opportunity to experience The Sims™ in a whole new way, anywhere, anytime. The Sims™ 3 is available globally from the Apple App Store on the iPhone and iPod touch. The game also is available for purchase, in Australia, from wireless carrier Three mobile.  Get it first on three!

Want to get the latest The Sims™ 3 stuff FREE for your mobile? SMS “SIMS” to 19 PLAYEA (19 752 932). Standard Wap and carrier charges will apply.

For more information about The Sims™ 3, please visit http://au.thesims3.com.  Developed by The Sims Studio, The Sims™ 3 is rated M (sexual references) by the OFLC. The game is available now for purchase at retail and online through digital distribution at http://eastore.ea.com/store/ea/ContentTheme/pbPage.the_sims3/ThemeID.718200.

June 4, 2009 – Autodesk has launched a new version of the AREA – the company’s online digital entertainment and visualisation community. The new version provides a more customisable user experience and makes it faster and easier to find and share content. The AREA is also now compatible with all standard browsers running on the Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems.

“The AREA community is very important to Autodesk. It is a place where artists can share their work, expertise or opinions, look for jobs or staff and find great resources for the products they are passionate about,” said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Media & Entertainment, Autodesk. “Finding and sharing stories, content, tutorials or work-in-progress makes the community a valuable asset for every artist. The third version of AREA (AREA v.3) makes this easier than ever, so the site is even more powerful for everyone.”

With more than 270,000 members, the AREA is one of the best places for artists using Autodesk media and entertainment or design visualisation products to learn, share and discuss their craft – both with their peers and with people at Autodesk. Membership is free. To join the community, visit http://area.autodesk.com.au.

AREA v.3 New Feature Highlights
A demonstration video showing improvements to the AREA is available on the AREA and the Autodesk YouTube channel.

New features and enhancements in AREA v.3 that help users find information faster include:
customisable home page – users can now customise the home page to see only content relevant to their products of interest. The AREA also now offers the choice of a dark or a light user interface (UI)
new image gallery – the new image gallery makes it easier to browse the thousands of images uploaded by users to the site, and
improved search functionality – the search engine is far more robust and allows for faster and more accurate site-wide searches.

New features and enhancements that help users share information include:
new comprehensive Personal Profile section – the new profile section allows registered members to control all aspects of their account and to submit content to the site in one convenient location
updated forums with enhanced Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) – the new forums allow users to receive and post messages, including attachments, through a newsreader without having to log into the website, and  
new image and file uploading system – the image and file uploading systems have been enhanced to provide more visual feedback. The site now also allows for the creation of thumbnail images directly within its UI.
Autodesk is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. (c) 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

AUSTRALIA — June 4, 2009 — Ubisoft® has announced that R.U.S.E., the brand new real-time strategy game developed by Eugen Systems will be demonstrated at the Ubisoft booth during E3, using ‘Intuiface’, the new and innovative surface computing platform designed by IntuiLab.  Thanks to an unprecedented collaboration between Ubisoft, Eugen Systems & IntuiLab, R.U.S.E. can now be experienced on large multi-touch tables, allowing users to get one step closer toward a fluid and natural interface with a strategy game, providing the feeling of being a true commander of war. 

“Our goal is to provide an innovative gaming experience that enables players to become a strategist and lead armies in a true to life universe,” stated John Parkes, EMEA marketing director at Ubisoft. “With the IntuiLab technology, R.U.S.E liberates the player from having to master controls, empowering them to immerse themselves into the game and focus on using their brain to outwit the enemy.”

“Ubisoft’s constant drive to create new and exciting game experiences, matched with the natural user interface developed by IntuiLab gave us the perfect opportunity to develop a new and innovative partnership,” said Vincent Encontre, Intuilab CEO.  “The gigantic maps of R.U.S.E and fluid use of zoom to interact with the game combined with the abilities of surface computing is bringing a totally new experience to players.”

Anna Chance

PR & Promotions Executive

UBISOFT

p: 02 8587.1813 /  f: 02 9211 2615

About Ubisoft:

Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has teams in 28 countries and distributes games in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2008–09 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of 1.058 billion euros. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

QUESTION: Were you involved in the project from the time that it was to be a film called American Dog?
CLARK SPENCER: I was. I worked on Lilo And Stitch with Chris Sanders who originally had the idea of this character who thought that everything was real until he woke up one day and realised his whole life had been a lie. That story was evolving as American Dog and then when John Lasseter came in, he and Chris Sanders talked about it [American Dog]. One of the things that John Lasseter really stresses is believability and he felt that the dog, the cat and the hamster needed to be real with personalities that needed to come from the aspects of their characters. So the dog needed to be loyal, the cat independent and the hamster have a small brain. All those things needed to be true to the story. And that was different from American Dog because Chris Sanders was trying to develop an idea that was more about personalities that were put into an animal, as opposed to the animal’s personality. So John and Chris talked and agreed that they wanted to go in separate directions. It happens a lot in the industry where people have different points of view and that was when Chris Williams and Byron Howard came on to direct a story that became Bolt where the dog became the star of a TV show and it went from there.

QUESTION: What involvement have you had in putting together the DVD of Bolt?
CLARK SPENCER: We help to determine what extras will be on the DVD. One of the things that was created for the DVD of Bolt is that we did a Rhino short that comes from the idea that John Lasseter firmly believes that it is great to do lots of short films within your building because it gives younger people an opportunity to direct. So the Head of Story, Nathan Greno directed this Rhino short and that gives John Lasseter an opportunity to work with Nathan and see if he has the potential for directing a feature film. It also creates a great extra to go on to the DVD. In this case Rhino is a great character to create another story around and the idea of the story basically is if Rhino was to have super powers what would that be like. So we get to have a lot of fun with that in terms of the story. Then we also created a big segment around the Art Direction of the film because Paul Felix, the Art Director, really wanted to create a painterly look for the movie. So there is a section in the DVD that explains why we chose to do the art direction in this way and how it is hearkening back to our heritage at Disney with brush strokes and how those brush strokes are put into the computer. There is also a section with the voice talent, talking about their experience working on the film.

QUESTION: What about the possibility of Bolt 2?
CLARK SPENCER: You always hope of course that you create a franchise. At Disney the goal is to create things that live on through additional films or television shows or whatever. One of the reasons for doing the Rhino short for the DVD was to see to what extent does that continue to launch Rhino as a character.

QUESTION: Is there a competitive element between Disney and Pixar?
CLARK SPENCER: People always ask if there is competition between Disney and Pixar and there is always healthy competition because we are trying to push each other. No doubt Pixar has been a pioneer in CG animation and this is Disney’s third CG film, so we are still at that point where we are building our own ability to make these movies and we have learned so much from Pixar.  What is unbelievable about the merger is that we can share ideas back and forth. So when it came to making Bolt there were moments in time when we would fly up to northern California and show the movie to Brad Bird and Pete Docter and get their feedback. There were also things we did, like the painterly look of the film, that they were very interested in. So there is this great sharing and ability for both studios to build.

QUESTION: Was the owner of Bolt always going to be a girl or did you ever consider that it might be a boy?
CLARK SPENCER: The thought was always that the dog would be a male character and that the character on the TV show would be a female character. It was that contrast.

QUESTION: There are lots of locations in Bolt?
CLARK SPENCER: Doing a road trip movie in CG is difficult because you have to create all those environments. In an ideal world you would have two or three environments but in this story you had to show several locations or you would be cheating the audience on that journey. So we knew from the beginning we had to make choices about the locations.

QUESTION: Is there any pressure because of the standards you have set in the field of animation?
CLARK SPENCER: There is no doubt that everyone out there is doing unbelievably great animation. On the positive side you can say that if everyone makes great animated films it will expand the market. But there is that intimidation of how we raise the bar. But that keeps you on your toes as you try to figure out something that someone else has not done. So on Bolt the art direction was the key element.

BOLT SUPERBARKS HIS WAY TO DISNEY DVD           & BLU-RAY HI-DEF 1 JULY 2009!

Widely regarded as the blockbuster gaming title of 2009, Red Faction: Guerrilla is an open-world game where guerrilla tactics and never-seen-before levels of destruction are used to fight against an invading force to reclaim your home on Mars. As Alec Mason, part of the rebel cell Red Faction, you will use explosives, giant mining Walkers and high-tech weaponry to rid Mars of the enemy and take back your homeland for the people.

Red Faction: Guerrilla has been praised by gaming media for featuring the greatest destruction ever seen in a video game (Official Xbox 360 Magazine) and has been called one of the most exciting games of 2009 and this console generation (Australian 360 Magazine).

The newest laugh out loud comedy to hit Australian TV screens!

“The premiere episode… is laugh-out-loud hilarious…”
Sunday Mail TV Guide

Sanjeev Bhaskar (Goodness Gracious Me and The Guru) is back with new comedy TV series
Mumbai Calling. Currently airing on the ABC (9.35pm Tuesday) and opening to strong
reviews, Mumbai Calling is set to be a hit amongst Australian audiences and will be available
to own on DVD from July 29th.

Set in a call-centre in Mumbai, Mumbai Calling follows Kenny Gupta (Bhaskar), a British-born
Indian who is sent to Mumbai to turn around Teknobable, a failing call-centre being run by
Dev Rajah – a manager more interested in chasing his female staff and using the centre for
his own profitable side lines.

After losing his girl and his way, Kenny wants out of Mumbai and longs for the
drizzle, tarmac and supermarkets of England. Dev continues running the centre but a call
from the London head office advising they are sending an ‘assessor’ over to visit, soon brings
Kenny back into the game and throws everything into chaos.

When the assessor Terri Johnson arrives, she fulfils her brief and shakes up the office. Little does
she know she will have to stay in Mumbai to help Kenny run the call centre!

If you like Kath & Kim or The Office, then you need to join Kenny, Dev and Terri as they fight to
keep the call centre going at all costs in the hilarious Mumbai Calling, available to own on July
29th as a seven disc DVD collection.

Mumbai Calling DVD Special Features

o Interview with Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nitin Ganatra
o Behind The Scenes Feature
Mumbai Calling DVD
Cast: Sanjeev Bhaskar (Goodness Gracious Me, The Guru, Love Soup)
Nitin Ganatra (Bride & Prejudice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Daisy Beaumont (The World is Not Enough, Shanghai Knights)
Price: $39.95
Duration: 7 episodes (2 Discs) + extras
Genre: Comedy TV series