– 9th September 2009 – Namco Bandai Partners and Monte Cristo today announce that the demo of the highly anticipated next-generation city building game CITIES XL™ is now live. The demo period will run for the month of September and will give players the chance to build a city of up to 22,000 citizens on a persistent planet (the full version of the game lets you create megalopolises of millions of citizens).

Players will be able to build their city across three available maps (the full version of the game will include 25 maps for solo mode and 50 for the Planet Offer). Inter-city trading, the chat function and a limited avatar builder have all been included, along with the possibility to visit Capital City, a town that offers an example of what can be created with Cities XL.

Players can also create their own city journals and start a new city as often as they wish for the duration of the demo period. Developed by Monte Cristo Games, CITIES XL™ expands upon all the features that make city builders fun and interesting, while also letting players take their game online, as they interact with others in a persistent online environment.

Realism will be pushed to the limit with cities that are bigger, more realistic and more sophisticated than ever before. Cities XL will launch exclusively for PC in October 2009. For more information about CITIES XL please visit the official website at www.citiesxl.com

About NAMCO BANDAI Partners NAMCO BANDAI Partners, one of the industry’s leading video game distribution companies, is wholly owned by NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe. The company operates in 50 countries excluding North America (USA and Canada) and Japan, and distributes titles from NAMCO BANDAI Games, Atari and other major publishers on an international and local basis. About Monte Cristo Games Created in 1995 Monte Cristo is a leading game production company with over a decade of experience, having successfully published 30 games worldwide. Backed by leading international venture capitalists, we are currently focusing a team of over 80 people on the development of CITIES XL™ which merges video gaming with social networking and virtual worlds.

Melbourne, 9 September 2009 – AVG (AU/NZ), the Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific distributor of the award-winning AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security products, has announced its first subscription deal for business customers.

Until 30 October 2009, the purchase of a qualifying two-year licence through any of AVG’s more than 2400 resellers, or from the AVG (AU/NZ) website (www.avg.com.au), automatically entitles the customer to a third year of protection at no additional cost.

The deal is valid with any new purchase, as well as on all renewals and upgrades.

AVG (AU/NZ) Marketing Manager Lloyd Borrett said: “We’re always looking for ways to value add for our customers. This is the first time we’ve offered a deal like this and we know it will be very popular.”

The products included in the special offer are: AVG Anti-Virus Network Edition, AVG Internet Security Network Edition, AVG Anti-Virus SBS Edition, AVG Internet Security SBS Edition, AVG Email Server Edition and AVG File Server Edition.

AVG Internet Security recently became the first product to receive the Checkmark Anti-Malware Dynamic Certification from West Coast Labs. It has also won a string of recent awards, including the coveted VB100 Award from UK-based Virus Bulletin, “Best Channel Product” in two categories — Email Security and Endpoint Security – from Business Solutions Magazine.

“The timing is ideal for business customers who are coming up for renewal. They can continue to benefit from the protection of our products and be rewarded for their loyalty,” Borrett added. ”And for anyone thinking about buying a new business security solution, it provides the best value business security product on the market.”

The renewal options are: Renewal, Renewal+Upgrade and Renewal+Increase. (Renewal+Increase is not available for online purchases but can be made by contacting AVG (AU/NZ) or AVG resellers.

This special SMB customer offer also applies to government, education, church, charity and non-profit organisations making use of AVG business network product discounts of up to 50%.

ENDS

About AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd — www.avg.com.au

Based in Melbourne, AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd is the Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific distributor of the AVG range of Anti-Virus and Internet Security products. AVG solutions provide comprehensive real-time protection against everything from viruses, spam, spyware, adware, worms, Trojans, phishing and exploits to cyber-criminals, hackers, scammers and identity thieves. AVG products actively protect more than 80 million users worldwide, providing outstanding technical solutions and exceptional value for home, small to medium business and enterprise clients. AVG provides always-on, always up-to-date protection across desktops, servers and email in the home plus corporations, government agencies, utilities and educational institutions. AVG (AU/NZ) has over 2,400 resellers across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Tuesday 8th September 2009 – SEGA Australia is pleased to announce Total War™ Anthology, the definitive collection of the Total War™ series now available as one collectable box set. Consisting of the Gold Editions of Medieval™, Medieval II™, Shogun™ and Rome™, plus Empire: Total War™ Special Forces Edition, the collection contains hundreds of hours of real-time strategy gaming. Total War Anthology is exclusive to Australia and New Zealand.

Featured in the anthology is the recently released Special Forces Edition of Empire: Total War, making this the ultimate collection for Total War fans. This premium-packaged edition of the title offers true aficionados of the series the chance to build their empire with the help of a range of exclusive elite units and plot their next move on a detailed print of the globe-spanning Campaign Map.

Bonus exclusive content for the next installment to the series, Napoleon: Total War™ is also included in the collection. Hitting shelves in February 2010, Napoleon: Total War expands on the successful Total War series by taking all the features from previous games such as the full 3D land and naval battles, the detailed campaign map, and an in depth diplomacy system and pushing them one step further. Total War: Anthology offers exclusive Napoleon: Total War collectable artifacts including a letter from Napoleon to his generals, a map of the battle of Waterloo and six character cards.

Total War: Anthology is released on October 1st 2009. For more information on the Total War series please visit www.sega.com.

Mary Dinkle, a chubby lonely eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs
of Melbourne, and Max Horovitz, a 44-year-old, severely obese,
Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome living in the chaos of New York,
strike up an extraordinary bond.

Spanning twenty years and two continents, Mary and Max’s friendship
survives much more than the average diet of life’s ups and downs.
Their story is innocent but not naïve and takes you on a journey
exploring friendship, autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism,
where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, sexual difference,
trust, copulating dogs, religious difference, agoraphobia and much
much more.

A powerful and inspiring tale not to be missed,
released on DVD 25 November 2009

Fifteen young sailors, six months of intense training and one chance at victory in the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race. MORNING LIGHT is the exhilarating and uplifting documentary that traces the path of a group of intrepid and determined young men and women as they embark on a great adventure. Don’t miss MORNING LIGHT when it’s released to DVD 25 November 2009.

MORNING LIGHT producers ROY E. DISNEY and LESLIE DEMEUSE present a true-to-life, unscripted account of the selection and training of a crew of young adults for the oldest and most prestigious open sea race in the world.

In creating MORNING LIGHT, DISNEY, having sailed the Transpac 16 times, and DEMUSE, who first participated in the Transpacific over 30 years ago and again in 2007, assembled the youngest ever group of sailors to participate in the race to crew the Morning Light, a 52-foot racing sloop.

Fifteen novice sailors compete for the once-in-a-lifetime experience to race the Transpacific from Los Angeles to Honolulu, a gruelling competition that covers nearly 2,500 ocean miles and attracts elite competitors from all over the world. Chosen from over 500 applicants, the group spends six months in intensive training before the final 11-member crew are selected in an exhausting and thrilling test of their endurance.

MORNING LIGHT writer-director MARK MONROE and editor and co-producer PAUL CROWDER (Dogtown and Z-Boys, Amazing Journey: The Story of The WHO) document the team’s selection, preparation, emotional journey and sea-going adventures in a fast paced, rhythmic style.

Captained by 21-year-old Australian Jeremy Wilmot, MORNING LIGHT is a fascinating look at both a unique and challenging sporting event, and, at its heart, the story of a bond that does not waver as the team’s endurance is put to the ultimate test on the high seas.

MORNING LIGHT features over 60 minutes of exciting bonus features, exclusive to DVD, including ‘Stories from the Sea’ with host and Hannah Montanna Star JASON EARLES, and the ESPN Special ‘Morning Light – Making the Cut’.

An unforgettable story of endurance and teamwork that will appeal to the sense of adventure in everyone, don’t miss your chance to sail the ocean blue when MORNING LIGHT is released to DVD 25 November 2009.

Available to own: 25 November 2009
Rated: PG
Running time: 94 Minutes

Creating an unparalleled gaming experience for all ages, Australia’s biggest interactive games event, the eGames Expo returns to Melbourne at a new, fully dedicated venue on October 30 –
November 1. Now in its 4th year, eGames will showcase some of the world’s leading game publishers and developers as well as the latest news and products from the digital entertainment and video game
industry.

Attracting visitors from across Australia, the 2009 eGames Expo will provide a unique opportunity for visitors to see, try and buy some of the latest and yet to be released products on the market.
Introducing to a new market, the eGames Expo is an ideal platform for a new audience of game players looking to discover what’s going on in the world of video games. For the competitive gamer, head-to-head challenges and activities in the designated competition areas will enable gamers to test their skills against some of the best eGames players in the industry. This year will feature the inaugural eGames Masters, a national eSport competition designed to introduce the general public to the serious world of game play. For those keen to discuss the latest advances, industry experts will be on standby for one-on-one discussions about all the latest technology and products.

Visitors to eGames will also have the opportunity to purchase some the latest products from retailers such as Madman (voted Australia’s best independent distributor), Mittoni, and Transreality as
well as access to specialist retailers such as Gamerz Bunker, who specialise in sourcing extremely rare and hard-to-find products.

Defined features such as the ‘Kids Zone’ ensure there is something for every playing level and a huge number of prizes up for grabs. eGames Expo is part of the International Digital Entertainment Festival 2009. Located at the Royal Exhibition Building Carlton, a single ticket will enable entry into the eGames Expo, Digital Lifestyle Show and Develop ICT Skills and Careers Expo.

Tickets now on sale www.idef.com.au

WD Caviar® Black™ and WD RE4 Four-platter Hard Drives Set New Benchmarks in High-Feature, High Performance Storage

Sydney, Australia – Sept. 2, 2009 – WD today announced that it is now shipping desktop 7200 RPM 2 TB hard drives and is qualifying with OEMs enterprise-class hard drives based on WD’s 500 gigabytes-per-platter technology. The popular family of WD Caviar Black drives, now led by the new 2 TB capacity, is perfect for gaming, high-performance desktop systems and workstations; while the WD RE4 2 TB is suited for servers, network attached storage and storage networks.

High-performance hard drives by an industry leader in performance, WD Caviar Black and WD RE4 2 TB drives combine 7200 RPM spin speed, 64 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 3 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a maximum-capacity drive.

“WD Caviar Black 2 TB hard drives maximize the features and functionality of power computing applications such as gaming, photo editing, user generated multimedia and video,” said Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s client storage systems. “With the selection of WD Caviar Black hard drives, WD desktop customers receive the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability that is required for intense desktop computing.”

“Specifically designed for enterprise-class applications, WD’s RE4 2 TB drives incorporate the best combination of features, optimum performance, and superior reliability that customers have come to expect from WD,” said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of enterprise storage solutions for WD. “Our enterprise products are directly aimed at customers who require additional features and extensive testing that are necessary for high-end enterprise environments.”

WD Caviar Black 2 TB and WD RE4 2 TB hard drives feature the following:
Dual processor – Twice the processing power to maximize performance.
Dual actuator technology – A head positioning system with two actuators that improves positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.
IntelliSeek™ – Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration.
StableTrac™ – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.
NoTouch™ ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

Additional Features for WD RE4 2 TB Enterprise Hard Drives
WD RE4 drives feature 1.2 million hours MTBF, Active Power Save™, enhanced RAFF™ technology, multi-axis shock sensor, native command queuing (NCQ), pressure sensors, third generation dynamic fly height, time limited error recovery (TLER), and an extensive and enhanced testing process to ensure long-term reliability for demanding enterprise applications.

Product and Pricing Summary
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Product Name: WD Caviar Black 2 TB and WD RE4 2 TB
RRP for WD Caviar Black 2 TB : AU$ 429, NZ$529
RRP for WD RE4 2TB: TBC
Website: www.westerndigital.com
Australian Distributors: Achieva Australia and Synnex Australia
New Zealand Distributors: Ingram NZ, VST, Synnex NZ
Availability: Now

Download High Resolution Images
http://www.gapmarketing.com.au/press_images/WD/CaviarBlack_RE4.zip

About WD
WD, one of the storage industry’s pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users’ data accessible and secure from loss. Its advanced technologies are configured into applications for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own consumer storage and media products. WD was founded in 1970. The company’s storage products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD® brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company’s Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to qualification by OEMs of the WD RE4 2 TB drive.  These forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations, and actual results may differ materially as a result of several factors, including: challenges faced in new product development, business conditions generally, and other risks and uncertainties listed in WD’s recent SEC filings, including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year 2009.  WD undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or for any other reason.

Western Digital, WD, the WD logo and WD Caviar are registered trademarks; Black, IntelliSeek, NoTouch, RAFF, Active Power Save and StableTrac are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks herein are property of their respective owner. As used for storage capacity, one megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, and one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. As used for buffer or cache, one megabyte (MB) = 1,048,576 bytes.  As used for transfer rate or interface, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second, and gigabit per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second.  

The development team at Bizarre gets together and shows us some of the power-ups in the upcoming game Blur. Watch the trailer here

SYDNEY – Monday 7 September, 2009 – In keeping with the blockbuster extravaganza being promised by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra for their forthcoming ‘A Night in Fantasia 2009’ concert, the Eminence team have released a fantastic new look website and trailer to provide fans with more information and insight into what they will be in for when Eminence takes to the stage at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Saturday 26 September, 2009.

The new site has lots of information about all the international guests coming to Australia to take part in the concert – Steve Jablonsky, composer of the musical score for Transformers 2 the movie, Inon Zur (Crysis, Prince of Persia and Fallout 3); Cris Velasco (Starcraft II and God of War); Wataru Hokoyama (AFRIKA and Resident Evil 5); Go Shiina (Tales of Legendia and Tekken: Dark Resurrection); Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Chross and Xenosaga); Kow Otani (Godzilla series, Shadow of the Colossus); Chiaki Takahashi, singer for The Idolm@ster, model and actress and the celebrated singer Aubrey Ashburn.

“We wanted to give people a real picture of just what they are going to see and experience at ‘A Night in Fantasia 09’. We felt that it was important to enable fans to familiarise themselves with our wonderful cast of special guests and get a sense of excitement – before they even take their seats on the night,” commented Hiroaki Yura, Founder and Director of Eminence Symphony Orchestra.

Fans can also view lots of different videos, featuring performances by some of these international guests as well as past concert performances by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra.

Visit www.anif09.com and check out the ‘A Night in Fantasia 2009’ trailer on YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jnlcha-Up0 to get a taste of just what’s in store on September 26, when Eminence will blow the roof off the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Featuring a full Symphony Orchestra, a mind blowing choir, special guest performers and boasting a score of popular tracks from the worlds of video games and anime, A Night in Fantasia 2009 is a must see for both ardent Eminence fans and lovers of good music.

The score of tracks to be performed include AFRIKA, Ace Combat V, Darksiders: Wrath of War, Metal Gear Solid, Prince of Persia, Red Alert 3, Shadow of the Colossus and a wide range of anime titles, including Astro Boy (which will hit cinemas in September), Studio Ghibli, Totoro, Laputa, Princess Mononoke, Deathnote and many, many more ….

The concert will be recorded and released on CD in the weeks following A Night in Fantasia 2009. A special CD with a ‘behind the scenes’ DVD will be released – in limited editions. Packages can be pre-ordered via the Eminence website, www.eminenceonline.com

“As the website and the trailer will show you, ‘A Night in Fantasia 2009’ is one concert that you will never forget. We look forward to presenting a night of music that will both inspire and entertain,” Mr Yura added.

‘A Night in Fantasia 2009’ is a ‘don’t miss’ event…
so, make sure you don’t miss out!

-ends-

Eminence Group Pty Ltd reserves the right to add, withdraw or substitute artists/special guests and/or vary advertised programmes without prior notification.

Date: Saturday 26 September, 2009

Time(s): 6.00pm (doors open at 5.00pm)

Venue: Sydney Entertainment Centre
35 Harbour Street
Darling Harbour

Ticket prices:
Adult

A Reserve $95.00

B Reserve $85.00

C Reserve $75.00

Bookings through: Tickets can only be booked via Ticketmaster.
Phone 1300 883 662, visit www.ticketmaster.com.au or go to a Ticketmaster outlet.

All attendees will receive a full colour program booklet.

For more information, visit www.eminenceonline.com