SYDNEY, Australia – April 7, 2009 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces Scooby-Doo! First Frights, the videogame that will be the complement to the upcoming Warner Premiere release. This action-adventure game lets players take on the role of young Scooby-Doo and teenage versions of the newly formed Mystery, Inc. crew to solve their very first cases.  The game will be released on the Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system in Spring 2009. 

In Scooby-Doo! First Frights, developed by Torus Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, players put their sleuthing skills to the test solving puzzles, combating enemies and collecting clues before unmasking each mysterious villain.  After solving each mystery, players can use unlockable character costumes for Scooby-Doo, Fred, Velma, and the rest of the gang to access new areas in every level.

“We are taking the family friendly Scooby-Doo brand to a new level in gaming with a twist on the fan favourite characters,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Development and Production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “And as a mother, I’m really excited to finally have a Scooby-Doo game that I can play with my son.”  

Scooby-Doo! First Frights brings fans more of what the love with exciting environments, innovative gameplay and graphics that take full advantage of each console.  Co-op play is made easy by allowing players to jump in or out of the game at any time.

Konami reinvents its first Silent Hill classic, as Shattered Memories arrives to scare on Wii, PSP and PlayStation 2 

– April 8, 2009 – Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH and Atari Australia is to bring its terrifying Silent Hill series to Wii™ as Silent Hill: Shattered Memories heads to the Nintendo system for the first time in Spring 09. The game, a clever reimagining of the now out of print first Silent Hill title, will also be released for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and PlayStation®2 at the same time.
 

While the game shares its twisting plot with the original PlayStation game, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories takes a different path in many, many ways. Characters can be approached but will offer different responses and be found in different places, while new clues and gameplay paths can be followed. The title follows Harry Mason, as he attempts to unravel the mystery of his missing daughter, Cheryl. A broken man, Mason’s investigations lead him to the mist-shrouded, snowy streets of Silent Hill: a malevolent town where the shadows play host to a wealth of evil, misshapen creatures.

Designed to make full use of the Wii’s unique controllers, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories uses the Wii Remote™ as a torch and cell phone as Mason looks for clues. The torch is vital for scouring the darkened, abandoned buildings of Silent Hill, while the phone acts as a secondary user interface, allowing the player to access maps via its GPS capabilities and take pictures of interesting elements. Likewise, the Wii Remote also can be used to pick up, examine and manipulate items to solve puzzles along the journey. Such technology was not available when the original Silent Hill was released in 1999, and its inclusion showcases Konami’s determination to enhance the playing experience with new, available technology. 

Also new to Shattered Memories is a psyche profile element, which monitors every aspect of player’s reactions – from where they explore first, items that have been examined, and their reaction to those they meet. Small visual elements will also be altered slightly, adding to the oppressing atmosphere where nothing is what it seems. The psyche profile will adapt Harry’s actions as and when he meets normal-looking people or the game’s many inhuman denizens.

While the PSP® and PlayStation®2 will feature a more familiar control system, both games will boast the new additions, and are certain to entrance hardened fans of Silent Hill and newcomers alike. All three games are being developed by Climax, the team behind the acclaimed Silent Hill: Origins for PSP® and PlayStation®2, and will also feature an all-new soundtrack by series creator Akira Yamaoka.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories will be released for Wii™, PSP® (PLAYSTATION®Portable) and PlayStation®2 in spring 2009.

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.

Leading software distributor and publisher, Manaccom, has partnered with portable technology
company, Mint Wireless, to launch the MiniMint portable payment solution (PPS) for small business.
MiniMint is a retail software package that allows businesses to process on-the-spot credit card
payments, record cheque and cash payments, and generate electronic receipts from a mobile phone.
All transactions can then be tracked and imported into popular accounting packages.

Administered directly through smart phones such as Nokia, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile enabled
devices, MiniMint provides businesses with the tools to process payments on the go and track all
sales. Mint Wireless’ CEO, Alex Teoh said that MiniMint will provide smaller businesses with the benefits of
a paperless payment and invoicing solution at a lower entry cost point.

“Given current economic conditions, businesses are continuing to focus on critical issues such as cash
flow and reducing bad debt, and MiniMint is a cost-effective solution that will assist businesses to
offset both the effect of extending payment terms and lags in customer payment,” Mr. Teoh said.
“We are very pleased to be working with the market leaders in software publishing and distribution,
Manaccom, to launch MiniMint. The partnership will provide MiniMint with a wide market reach,
including all of the major IT retailers.”

Manaccom Pty Limited’s Managing Director, Ian Mackay, said the MiniMint system is perfect for
Australian businesses who want to cut administration overheads and paperwork whilst boosting
productivity and efficiency. “MiniMint is also secure software that works with a standard bank’s credit card merchant account, and
even gives the option of setting a transaction fee to recover these costs from customers,” Mr. Mackay
said.

“Further, MiniMint provides unprecedented insight into sales transactions and you can have from one
to hundreds of users all reporting to the same back end system.”

MiniMint also comes with training video and locally-based technical support to get you started.
MiniMint is priced at $199.95 and it is a subscription-based product with an annual renewal fee of
$199 and $0.99 for every credit card transaction. Included in the initial pricing is a 12month licence,
as well as 20 bonus transactions.

MiniMint is available through major national IT and mobile phone retailers.

AUSTRALIA, April 8th 2009 – Today Ubisoft announced the launch of its first game created specifically for the new Nintendo DSi™: My Cooking Coach. Already a worldwide leader on Nintendo DSTM, Ubisoft is one of the first independent developers to launch a game created to take advantage of the new functionality of the Nintendo DSi.  My Cooking Coach is an easy-to-use, fun game for anybody who wants to eat balanced and fresh healthy meals.  

With more than 240 recipes created by a culinary school and in collaboration with a renowned nutritionist, My Cooking Coach offers player tips and tricks to create healthy and delicious meals that will delight friends and family. My Cooking Coach is available on Nintendo DS™ as well as Nintendo DSi, in June 2009.  

Thanks to the new functionality of the Nintendo DSi, My Cooking Coach offers enhanced content and gameplay experiences. Ten recipes will be exclusively available on the DSi version, and budding chefs can use the system’s camera to personalise their profiles.  

In addition to My Cooking Coach: Prepare Healthy Recipes, Ubisoft will soon launch several other new games specifically created for the Nintendo DSi™.

Intel Executives Share Vision, Updates at Beijing Tech Event

BEIJING, April 8, 2009 – Celebrating the 1-year anniversary of Intel Corporation’s introduction of its wildly popular Intel® AtomTM processor family, Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Ultra Mobility Group, introduced two new processors for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and several other milestones during his keynote today at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing.

Chandrasekher was joined by two other Intel executives, whose keynotes before nearly 2,000 attendees focused on the company’s directions for the next year and beyond. The event, held at the Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel, was geared toward the Chinese market in support of local innovation and Intel’s industry leadership in the region.

Mobility Keynote
During his keynote, titled “Mobility’s Next Wave of Growth,” Chandrasekher demonstrated the first live demo of Intel’s next-generation Atom-based MID platform, codenamed “Moorestown.” Chandrasekher provided a sneak peek into the low-power innovation of the platform by showcasing a greater than 10x idle power reduction compared to today’s Atom-based platform in a side-by-side demo. This dramatic reduction is made possible through a combination of new power management techniques, a new partition optimised for the MID segments and Intel’s Hi-k 45nm manufacturing process.

Due in 2010, the Moorestown platform is comprised of a System on Chip (codenamed “Lincroft”) that integrates a 45nm Intel® Atom processor core, graphics, video and memory controller and a companion input/output (I/O) hub (codenamed “Langwell”). The platform will be accompanied by a new Moblin software version that is optimised to enable the rich, interactive, PC-like Internet experience along with cellular voice capabilities.

Intel also announced two new Atom processors for MIDs: the Z550 and Z515. The Z550 extends the performance of the MID product line to 2GHz with Intel Hyperthreading technology support, setting a new standard for the highest performance processor in the under-3-watt power envelope. The Z515 incorporates the new Intel® Burst Performance Technology (Intel BPT), which enables the processor to run at 1.2GHz when performance is needed in existing small and sleek MID form factors.

These new Atom processors further extend customer choices to enable the best Internet experience in pocketable MIDs. Chandrasekher also announced several new MID designs for the China market.

Discussing Intel Centrino 2-based laptops, Chandrasekher pointed out additional OEMs choosing to include Intel ultra low-voltage processors to create ultra-thin laptop designs that are less than 1 inch thick. While lighter in size and weight, these notebooks still offer great performance and battery life consumers have come to expect. Chandrasekher then described the next-generation processors for laptops based on the Nehalem architecture that will be available in the second half of this year on the “Calpella” platform. These processors will be more powerful then their predecessors by including such technologies as Intel Hyper-Threading Technology and Intel Turbo Boost Technology.

Enterprise Keynote
During his keynote, titled “IA: The Intelligent Architecture Investment,” Pat Gelsinger, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group, discussed Intel’s latest client, server and embedded product lines and gave developers an update on the latest programming tools available for the Larrabee architecture.

Intel’s complete Intel Architecture future product roadmap was also revealed. Gelsinger said the “Nehalem” microarchitecture has received worldwide acclaim with the Core® i7 processor launch in 2008 and the recent Nehalem-based Xeon 5500 series introduction. The Xeon 5500 series combines the world’s leading processor microarchitecture with a new memory and I/O subsystem, QuickPath Interconnects and Intelligent Power Technology to control power consumption.

Gelsinger said Intel and the industry now look to adopting more mainstream PC and laptop versions of the Nehalem microarchitecture, including 32nm manufactured versions with on-processor graphics, as well the multi-socket Nehalem EX server processor, all in production in the second half of 2009. The future Nehalem-EX processor will provide eight cores for the multiprocessor “intelligent server” market.
For embedded computers, Gelsinger discussed a range of recently announced Atom processor solutions with industrial temp for applications such as in-vehicle infotainment and industrial automation. He also disclosed, for the first time ever, the Nehalem-EP based processor (codenamed “Jasper Forest”) that is specifically designed to deliver increased compute density and integration required for embedded and storage applications.

Gelsinger also addressed Larrabee, which is Intel’s first many-core architecture designed for high throughput applications and features a programmable graphics pipeline that enables developer freedom. The Intel executive discussed availability of at C++ Larrabee Prototype Library and a future parallel programming solution based on “Ct” technology. The first Larrabee discrete graphics products are due in the late 2009/2010 timeframe.

Vision & Leadership Keynote
During the conference’s opening keynote, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett described how technology is a tool for improving education, health care, economic development and the environment. He challenged the developer community to use its collective technology expertise to develop solutions that tackle these challenges.

“Nothing beats investing in good people and good ideas,” said Barrett, whose conclusions are drawn from observations from trips to more than 30 countries a year. “Public-private collaboration is fundamental in driving solutions that confront global challenges.”

Barrett announced that Intel had selected the four winners of the INSPIRE•EMPOWER Challenge he launched last August. The winners will each receive US$100,000 to further fund their innovative solutions that apply technology to address unmet needs related to education, health care, economic development and the environment.

The INSPIRE•EMPOWER Challenge winners are: Bibek Chapagain of Winrock International in Kathmandu, Nepal; Daniel Fletcher of the University of California, Berkeley; Eric Morrow of the Maendeleo Foundation in Kampala, Uganda; and Michael Potts of Catholic Relief Services in Nairobi, Kenya. Details on the winning solutions are available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

Intel Developer Forum
IDF spans the worlds of mobility, digital enterprise, digital home and technology and research. The Beijing IDF, as announced in December, was scaled back from a two-day event due to current economic circumstances and business pressures the industry is facing globally. Next up on the IDF schedule is a three-day event in San Francisco, which will be held Sept. 22-24 at Moscone Centre West. Further information is available by visiting http://developer.intel.com/idf.

Intel [NASDAQ: INTC], the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at http://www.intel.com/pressroom/and blogs.intel.com.

– April 9, 2009 – Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH in partnership with Atari Australia has announced that its forthcoming PES 2010 title will benefit from the most exhaustive raft of new features in the series’ history, with every aspect of the game benefiting from key improvements. Major gameplay additions will make PES 2010 the most realistic football simulation available.

PES 2010 is scheduled for release on PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PSP® (PLAYSTATION®Portable), PlayStation®2 and mobile phones in the Spring, and follows months of analysis and feedback monitoring to enhance the game in every area. PES Productions, Konami’s Tokyo-based development team, has collated feedback on the series’ strengths and weaknesses via fan forums, both ardent and casual PES players and press comment, and has incorporated a wide range of requests in the new game. The result will be the most challenging, realistic and satisfying PES to date.

Konami has spent the last year expanding the development team’s numbers, and created a number of dedicated departments, each striving to further improving their respective parts of the game both in the short and long terms. Key additions for PES 2010 include:

• Gameplay: PES 2010 focuses on enhancing the excitement of matches between players, making for a truly challenging experience that will constantly test the player. Intuitive zonal defending will cover spaces and players need to look constantly for new ways to attack. PES 2010 focuses on being a real football simulation, as it requires both strategic play and quick reactions, as in real life. In addition to key out-field elements, goalkeepers are more versatile and with abilities matching those of modern shot-stoppers. The game’s referees have also been reworked, with smarter AI elements allowing them to make more balanced calls during matches.

• Improved Visuals: PES 2010 has undergone a major visual revamp, with its celebrated player likenesses and animations now even closer to those of real-life players – including live player expressions to be depicted with an improved lighting system which differentiates between various conditions! Stadium detail is also massively improved, with the grass and other in-stadium elements finely depicted.
 
• All-new animation and moves: Animations now dovetail into each other seamlessly, with dribbling and shots on goals worked into dribbling animations. More individual skills are also on show, including new flicks and tricks that have a definite showing on the way a game flows. Several elements have been completely reworked, with the dribbling, turning and kicking animations greatly enhanced, while there is a noticeable change in pace when a player passes a ball from a standing position than from within a run.

• Match-Day Atmosphere: Crowd reactions to the on-field action are now more varied, with all new chants and cheers. The subtle difference between Home and Away matches will be reproduced, and the crowd will react spontaneously to specific situations in a game, showing their disdain or pleasure as fouls are committed and goals scored. Likewise, the commentary has been altered to offer a fresher, more concise overview of the game. 

• Enhanced Master League: Master League has been thoroughly renewed with the enhancement of managerial aspects, which enables users to enjoy managing a team for a longer career lifespan. Seen by many as a key contributor to the series’ success, the Master League elements in PES 2010 have been bolstered by far-ranging and vital new additions, dedicated to enriching the mode. Further details will be announced shortly.
?  
• AI: The Tokyo team has worked to improve the AI of the game, with Teamvision 2.0 implemented. Midfielders and defenders now work together to cover open space and close down attacks, meaning that cover can be provided for lower-ranked defenders. This also has the additional effect of removing soft goals, thus returning PES 2010 to its simulation roots. In terms of attacking, players can also now move several players once, sending them into different areas, opening up more goal-scoring possibilities than ever before. As such, PES 2010 necessitates a new level of control from the player. Strategic thinking is as important as quick passing, but the new system greatly opens the way the player oversees control of the team. In free kick scenarios, for instance, players can now instigate the runs of the players awaiting the ball in the penalty area.

• Individual Play Characteristics: In previous PES games, the team formation has determined the movements of the players. PES 2010 introduces a new system wherein the individual attacking and defending nature of the players is integral to the way they play. Each player enjoys unique AI tied into their best abilities, and is reflected in the actions of their team mates – i.e. if a player who is known to be a good crosser of the ball is in possession, more players will flood the penalty area to receive it. Similarly, if a player is known to be good with close control, defenders will work to cover their stronger side, while lone strikers will be automatically supported by midfielders on receipt of the ball.

• Strategy Use: A new power gauge system allows users to balance their strategy in a quick, but wide-ranging way before a match. Every element – pass frequency, movement, the line of defence, width of play, or the position of the front line – can be altered to match those of a favoured club: Juventus Turin are a dangerous side on the counter-attack, for instance, while FC Barcelona use width in their attack. These formulations can be altered at any point, too, with Home and Away matches forcing different circumstances on the user, as does the rigours of a Master League season.

• Penalties: An all-new system has been implemented, offering greater control, placing and accuracy.

• Enhanced Online: A new dedicated section of the Tokyo team is committed to improving the online side of PES 2010. More downloadable content is also planned. Konami has supported PES 2009 with the release of new licensed teams, transfer updates, etc, and this support will grow for PES 2010. Team and content updates are planned throughout the game’s lifespan. These will make the game even more bespoke to the player’s match day needs.

Konami has strengthened its relationship with UEFA and can announce it has secured the exclusive video game rights for the Europa League Licence (formerly known as the UEFA Cup). In addition Konami will be enhancing and developing the use of the UEFA Champions League within PES 2010 to make even better use of the best club football competition in the world.

Further details of these new features will be released in the coming months. Konami has also confirmed that Lionel Messi will also be a key endorsement player for the new game, and will feature in the promotion and development of the game later this year.

“We have been monitoring feedback and comments on the progression of the PES series for some time now, and PES 2010 will see us implementing a great deal of the ideas players have been requesting,” commented Naoya Hatsumi, Producer for PES Productions at Konami Digital Entertainment Japan. “We aim to make PES 2010 a more user-friendly, immediate experience that places the emphasis on getting straight into the gameplay for which the series is famed. PES 2010 will look better, will play better, and will recreate real football as closely as the current hardware will allow.”

“The preparations for PES 2010 have been in place for some time now, with the reorganisation and increase of the Tokyo-based studio allowing expert teams to concentrate on their particular area,” commented Jon Murphy, PES European Team Leader. “We are now in a better position to implement the greatest raft of changes and improvements to the series we have seen, and thank the PES community for their input.”

PES 2010 will be released for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PSP® (PLAYSTATION®PORTABLE), PlayStation®2 and mobile phones in the Spring
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.

? The ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 processor raises the bar, delivering new levels of compute power, flexibility and performance –

– Graphics engine clock speeds capable of nearly 1GHz ?
Sydney, Australia – 6 April 2009 – AMD (NYSE: AMD) today introduced the ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 graphics card, driven by the world’s most powerful graphics processor i. The newest addition to the award-winning ATI Radeon™ HD 4000 series boasts a whopping 1.36 TeraFLOPs of compute power, superior GDDR5 memory, and super-high engine clock speeds capable of nearly 1GHz.  The advanced design of the ATI Radeon HD 4890 delivers the best game experience in its class, including the latest ground-breaking DirectX® 10.1 titles.  In addition, with the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 4890, AMD continues to enhance its “Dragon” desktop platform technology, designed to provide exceptional value to OEMs, channel partners, and do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers.

“The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card represents the AMD sweet spot strategy reloaded,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “With last year’s launch of the ATI Radeon™ HD 4850 and ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 products, we gave gamers great performance and an incredible value proposition. Today, we’re doing it again. ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards are incredible performers, priced to sell in all major markets worldwide.”

The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card continues AMD’s proud tradition of technology leadership with support for the latest DirectX 10.1 games, including Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.™, Electronic Art’s BattleForge™ and SEGA’s Stormrise™ released last month, as well as GSC Gameworld’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky.  When compared to DirectX 10 game play, DirectX 10.1 games have proven to deliver higher game performance and an improved visual experience.  

“The new ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card could very well be the must-have gaming product of this spring,” said Adrian Thomson, vice president, Marketing, Sapphire.  “With breakthrough levels of game performance, cutting-edge feature support like DirectX 10.1, and high degree of performance tuning flexibility, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 is one of the best performers in its class.”

Making the best even better
The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card delivers exceptional value to gamers, handling even the most intense games at high resolutions and image quality settingsii. For overclocking enthusiasts, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 offers tremendous performance tuning potentialiii. Those looking to get even more performance out of their gaming rigs can combine as many as four ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 cards in one PC utilizing ATI CrossFireX™ technologyiv.

“Gamers that want The Ultimate Visual Experience™ demand the best performing card, and our new ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards will give them exactly that,” said Eddie Memon, vice president, Marketing, XFX.  “With the new ATI Radeon HD 4890 we’re approaching the holy grail of clock speeds, targeting 1GHz, achievable through XFX’s superior design and the quality of the new graphics processor from AMD.”

ATI Stream technology
By harnessing ATI Stream technology in combination with a number of ATI Stream-enabled applications, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card can also help accelerate the conversion of standard and HD video into multiple formats for use on differing consumer electronics devices. CyberLink, an innovative software developer for digital media creation, playback, and sharing applications, has optimized its award-winning video editing software, PowerDirector 7 to make use of ATI Stream technology. The recently released update to PowerDirector 7 incorporates ATI Stream technology to provide GPU accelerated video conversion, featuring higher levels of performance and functionality when compared to CPU-only acceleration.

“CyberLink is committed to helping consumers create digital content quickly and easily,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink Corp. “PowerDirector 7, Cyberlink’s award-winning video editing software, takes advantage of ATI Stream technology, making a great experience even better. With PowerDirector 7 and ATI Stream technology, anyone can edit high definition video, create an amazing movie, and encode it for playback on virtually any device faster than ever before.”

A multimedia experience that’s beyond HD
While the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card was bred to be a gaming powerhouse, it also offers exceptional HD multimedia performance. All ATI Radeon HD 4800 series cards allow users to enjoy HD digital contentv with uncompromising visual fidelity while helping to enhance the definition and clarity of lower resolution media. Through AMD’s second generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2.0) users can be assured of smooth HD video playback, sharp, crisp images and vibrant colors. With support for HDMI, picture-in-picture and the latest HD audio technologies like 7.1 surround sound, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card enables an impressive cinema-quality home entertainment experience.

Ecosystem support
The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card is supported by a dozen add-in-board companies offering a variety of custom board and cooling solutions.  Partners include ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology, VisionTek and XFX. It is available immediately at price ranging from $399 (AUD) to $449 (AUD) including GST.

        For more information, visit www.amd.com/radeon4890/presskit.
        Check out the supporting videos for the new ATI Radeon HD 4890:

DirectX 10.1: What the Experts Say
Experience The DirectX 10.1 Difference
Dr. Jon Peddie’s Thoughts On The Future of Discrete Graphics and the Video Game Market
The Making of an ATI Graphics Card

About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

©2009, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, Avivo, CrossFireX, Radeon, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.  Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SYDNEY AUSTRALIA – APRIL 4, 2009 – Xbox Australia today announced that Activision’s “Guitar Hero® Metallica®” will be the first music title to support the “Lips” wireless microphones, so it’s time to break free from the cords and belt out your favourite songs like a true rock star with music games on the Xbox 360®console.  

The high quality “Lips” wireless microphones have set the standard for music game peripherals. Using the latest in motion-sensing technology and built-in LED lights that pulse to the rhythm of your performance, these microphones help Xbox 360 stand out as the best place for your home music experience.

Now these mics will help people jam like never before with other great music games on Xbox 360, first with “Guitar Hero® Metallica.” Additional titles that support the “Lips” microphones will available later this year, and only on Xbox 360.

Fans of “Lips” have even more reason to grab their wireless mics and sing with their friends, as more popular hits are added to Xbox LIVE® Marketplace and the “Lips” in-game “Get Music” store. Song packs featuring Ne-Yo, Coldplay and Creedence Clearwater Revival will be available this month, as well as new songs from Incubus, Fall Out Boy, Yellowcard, Mika and more, worldwide in all Xbox LIVE enabled regions.

Available April 4:

·         Wish You Were Here – Incubus

·         Sugar, We’re Goin Down – Fall Out Boy

·         Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Available April 11:

·         Ne-Yo Song Pack – Closer, So Sick, and Hate That I Love You by Rihanna feat. Ne-Yo

·         Coldplay Song Pack – Speed Of Sound, The Scientist, and In My Place

·         Looking Out My Back Door – Creedence Clearwater Revival

·         Closer  – Ne-Yo

·         So Sick  – Ne-Yo

Available April 18:

·         Creedence Clearwater Revival Song Pack – Looking Out My Back Door, Bad Moon Rising and Who’ll Stop the Rain

·         Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down

·         All My Life – K-Ci & Jo Jo

·         Sing – Travis

Available April 28:

·         Love Today – Mika

·         Ocean Avenue – Yellowcard

·         Linger – The Cranberries

Xbox 360 puts the music experiences you love all in one place – letting you watch music videos, listen to music, and of course, perform as your favorite artists with games like “Lips,” and “Guitar Hero® Metallica.” And with nearly 60 million songs downloaded to date, Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network Game Add-ons keep you rocking out at the forefront of the music scene with dozens of great songs and albums for your favorite music games.

“Lips,” the singing party game from Xbox 360 and iNiS, includes 40 songs on-disc and two wireless, motion-sensitive microphones.  More information on “Lips” is available at http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/games/l/lips/

With the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine the video game around the corner, an exclusive behind-the-scenes trailer has been released. Watch the trailer here and see Logan make the lunge from comics to games with all his powers intact.

For more information visit http://www.uncaged.com

All six classes of vehicles revealed in new vehicles gameplay video

– Thursday April 1st 2009 – Showcasing FUEL’s wide ranging on and off-road vehicle line up, including its Cars, Bikes, SUVs, Trucks, Quads and ‘Specials’ classes, Codemasters® and Atari Australia, one of Australia’s leading sources of interactive entertainment, today launched the new ‘Vehicles’ FUEL gameplay video, now available to view and download from www.fuel-game.com.

FUEL’s 70 strong, garage tuned vehicles, each designed to perform differently according to the terrain, are perfect to race and explore the unique and diverse 12,000 square kilometre gameworld. The full range of vehicle classes is showcased in the video, demonstrating how the broad line-up gives players the freedom and scope to choose how they navigate the challenging environment to take the chequered flag.

Supercharged road bikes tear up the asphalt, dirt bikes and scramblers career off-road and roadsters burn rubber on twisty mountain roads. Meanwhile, customised quad bikes perform stunts at breakneck speeds, buggies and SUVs charge across beautifully rugged terrain and, from the ‘Special’ class of vehicles, a dragster speeds across the iconic Utah salt-plains and a hovercraft breaks free of the constraints of terra firma.

Coming this May, FUEL is the ultimate racing sandbox and the bulging roster of vehicles with their accessible, arcade handling delivers a compelling experience for racing fans everywhere. The 70+ strong career mode races and hundreds of extra challenges offer countless hours of high-octane thrills and route editor, which ships with the game, provides almost limitless opportunities for players to create their own fuel-filled races. The FUEL experience is extended yet further online as up to 16 players are able to go head-to-head or explore the entire map in free roam.

With a full day/night cycle and dynamic weather effects including snowstorms, thunderstorms, blizzards, rainstorms and tornados, FUEL is set to revolutionise open world multi-terrain racing when it launches this May for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and Games For Windows® LIVE. Get tanked up on FUEL by downloading the trailer video at www.fuel-game.com.

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.