Award-winning Franchise Offers the Richest Anno Experience Ever

Sydney, AUSTRALIA – April 5, 2011– Today, Ubisoft announced Anno 2070, the latest iteration of the award-winning real-time strategy and simulation franchise. Set to release in Summer (AU) 2011 for PCs, Anno 2070 moves the Anno franchise into a new era, taking players into a world inspired by today’s challenges and tomorrow’s technologies.

Developed by Related Designs in collaboration with Blue Byte , Anno 2070 takes place in a near-future environment where climate change has forced humanity to adapt to rising sea levels that have left stretches of once-fertile land completely inhospitable. Players need to master new technologies while facing numerous ecological challenges to build their empires. Anno 2070 offers players the ability to be architects of the future and create the world of tomorrow.

“Anno 2070 is a very ambitious game that will feel both familiar and fresh to fans of the series,” said Caroline Stevens, EMEA Brand Director at Ubisoft. “Due to the game’s futuristic setting, the development team wasn’t restricted by historical boundaries and was able to dream bigger than ever before. It’s a new take on a great franchise that both newcomers and longtime fans will love.”

Key Features of Anno 2070:

– A new era: while adhering to the fundamentals that made the Anno franchise a success, the near-future setting will bring numerous new gameplay mechanics, architectural breakthroughs, and all new challenges. Additionally, players will be able to build massive cities, the scope of which has never been seen in prior Anno games.

– A dynamic world: the world of Anno 2070 will evolve differently depending on each player’s playing style and choices. Players’ decisions will have an impact on the environment, the architectural look of their world, and the needs of their populations, leading them to refine and better understand the impact of their personal approaches to managing the world’s resources.

– Factions: players will be able to select between two factions when building their empires. Players can choose between an industrial and efficient course by joining the Tycoons or a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly direction by siding with the Ecos.

– Rich and varied game modes:

o Single player campaign: a story-driven single player mode with a deep variety of challenges.

o Single player “continuous mode”: the renowned endless game mode where the objective is to build the biggest civilization possible without time constraints.

o Multiplayer and Online features: Anno 2070 will include innovative online modes offering players brand new possibilities to get in touch with gamers all around the world.

– Outstanding graphics: A new version of the game engine, developed specifically by Related Designs for Anno 2070, allows the game to deliver a breathtaking visual experience never before seen in the Anno franchise.

For more information on Anno 2070, please visit: www.annogame.com

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 offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2009-10 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of € 871 million. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

© 2011 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Anno 2070, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Produced by Blue Byte. Blue Byte and the Blue Byte logo are trademarks of Red Storm Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Red Storm Entertainment Inc. is a Ubisoft Entertainment company.

FIND US ON FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/UbisoftAustralia

Solutions range from cutting-edge, performance-optimised Pulsar® solid state drives, to performance and capacity-balanced Savvio® hard drives, to capacity-optimised Constellation® hard drives

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., — 5 April, 2011 — Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) today announced its latest enterprise solutions designed to deliver storage for the widest range of application environments. Joining the industry’s most award-winning enterprise lineup, these solutions include: two new members of the Pulsar® Solid State Drive (SSD) family that deliver the ultimate enterprise performance, endurance and reliability; two next-generation Savvio® 15K and 10K hard disk drives (HDD) optimized for a balance of high performance and capacity; and the latest Constellation® ES.2 3TB HDD for pure capacity-optimised mass storage needs.

“The surge in storage consumption is being driven not only by the growth of content and use within the enterprise, but also by new applications and devices that directly or indirectly consume enterprise storage,” said Kurt Richarz, Seagate EVP of Product Line Management. “Seagate’s new family of enterprise storage solutions meets the diverse storage needs of these high growth application environments, whether it’s fast transactional database servers, bulk storage and archiving, or everything in between.”

“When we increase the possibility for storage at any point in the world wide web, we increase the possibility for storage at every point in the world wide web,” said John Monroe, a research vice president in Gartner’s Data Centre Systems group. “Media tablets and other smart handheld devices will serve to generate an even greater need for enormous amounts of both high-capacity and high-speed storage in the cloud, which will in turn require diverse new breeds of storage building blocks to manage this explosive and complex data growth in more efficient, reliable and cost-effective ways.”

Pulsar.2 and Pulsar XT.2 – Pure Performance with Enterprise-Class Endurance

The Pulsar.2 SSD is the first MLC-enabled, (up to 800GB) SSD from an enterprise HDD vendor delivering the price/performance, data integrity, and endurance needed for performance-hungry enterprise applications. Unlike other MLC SSDs that have been designed for consumer applications and lack the robust data integrity and endurance feature set required for enterprise applications, the Pulsar.2 SSD has been designed from the ground up for the enterprise. It has the intelligence to automatically detect and correct a multitude of data errors than can occur during normal drive operations to deliver the highest levels of enterprise-class data integrity and endurance. By enabling MLC NAND technology for the enterprise, this drive addresses the market concerns on SSD cost and endurance and will enable adoption of SSDs in the enterprise. The Pulsar.2 supports both native 6Gb/s SAS and SATA 6Gb/s interfaces.

The Pulsar XT.2 is a 2.5-inch, SLC-based, native 6Gb/s SAS, up to 400GB enterprise SSD from Seagate, the world leader in enterprise storage. The Pulsar XT.2 SSD delivers the highest levels of consistent performance, data integrity, and drive endurance for the most demanding enterprise environments. The Pulsar XT.2 is the fastest drive in the Seagate portfolio, with sustainable random reads at 48K and writes at 22K IOPS and sequential reads at 360MB/sec and writes at 300MB/sec. The Pulsar XT.2 is optimised for real world, complex, mixed workloads typical of enterprise environments.

Both the Pulsar.2 and Pulsar XT.2 drives leverage Seagate’s leadership in meeting enterprise customer expectations in product development, qualification, fulfillment and ongoing support on a worldwide basis. Over 200 man-years of development went into the 2nd-generation Pulsar SSD products, with enterprise reliability verified by a team with over 1,500 collective years of experience in the storage industry. And with a 0.44% AFR and 2 million hour MTBF rating, the Pulsar XT.2 and Pulsar.2 provide the storage reliability that enterprise data centres can count on. The Pulsar XT.2 is currently shipping to OEMs. Both the Pulsar XT.2 and Pulsar.2 will be generally available to the channel beginning Q2 of this year.

“HP continues to see new opportunities for solid state storage technology as customers increase virtual system workloads, needing higher performance while reducing power requirements,” said Jim Ganthier, HP Industry Standard Software and Systems vice president of Marketing. “HP continues to look forward to storage technology advances from Seagate including wider SSD enablement across HP systems and workloads.”

Savvio 15K.3 and Savvio 10K.5 – Greater IT Storage Efficiency
Seagate’s latest-generation Savvio 2.5-inch small form factor enterprise class HDDs are built to deliver high performance, reliability, and capacity for tier 1, mission-critical server and storage systems. The 2.5-inch enterprise small form factor has transitioned to becoming the form factor of choice over 3.5-inch, with Savvio drives further maximizing data centre capabilities without increasing footprint. By unifying an optimal small form factor size with higher performance and greater capacity and use of the latest 6Gb SAS interface, Savvio HDDs ultimately help provide IT data centres with improved storage efficiency.

The Savvio 10K.5 delivers the world’s highest capacity in a 2.5-inch mission-critical HDD with up to 900GB, enabling easier and more flexible storage upgrades to create high capacity, high performance systems. As the only 2.5-inch 10K-rpm drive family to provide four capacity points (900GB, 600GB, 450GB, 300GB) on a single platform, and a choice of 6Gb/s SAS or 4Gb Fibre Channel interfaces, the Savvio 10K.5 delivers the scalability and versatility that OEMs, system builders, and end users need.

The Savvio 15K.3 is the highest performing HDD available and is optimized for tier 1 storage applications. With capacities available at 300GB and 146GB, Savvio 15K.3 is well-suited for performance-oriented systems that can remain cost-effective to IT budgets and fit a wide range of applications.

“Dell is looking forward to launching Seagate’s new Savvio® 2.5 inch form factor hard drives. This will enhance our line of servers and storage systems, which are designed for the cost-conscious IT professional who requires a balance of capacity, performance, and reliability,” said Michael Mitoma, executive director of Storage Engineering at Dell. “Dell’s range of world-class enterprise server and storage systems using Seagate Savvio® HDDs can help drive business needs forward while delivering a great return for our customers’ IT investment.”

The Savvio 10K.5 and Savvio 15K.3 both deliver a record reliability rating of .44% AFR/2 million hours MTBF and include a 5-year warranty. They also feature Protection Information for enhanced data integrity and a Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) option for the protection of data-at-rest. Both Savvio models are currently shipping to OEMs, with channel availability for Savvio 10K.5 beginning Q1 and Savvio 15K.3 to follow in Q2.

Constellation ES.2 –Highest Capacity Enterprise Drive from the Nearline Market Leader

The new Constellation ES.2 HDD packs the highest capacity into an enterprise-class drive, providing the efficiencies demanded by capacity-intensive 24/7 applications, making it ideal for low cost-per-GB highly-valued business storage solutions. With massive 3TB capacities, the Constellation ES.2 HDD powers both server and bulk storage solutions, maximising the storage footprint by supporting up to 114TB per square foot.

Constellation ES.2 also introduces a new Seagate RAID Rebuild™ feature for enterprise HDDs. With large capacity drives comes longer RAID recovery times, but with the new Seagate RAID Rebuild development platform, customers can significantly reduce hours of lost productivity during RAID recoveries.

The Constellation ES.2 HDD leverages Seagate’s unparalleled expertise in enterprise technology by delivering the highest capacity, fifth-generation 3.5-inch drive at the lowest operating power, helping to maximize energy efficiency in the data center. Building on Seagate’s enterprise leadership with its 3rd generation SAS interface, the Constellation ES.2 also features the SAS-based Protection Information feature for end-to-end data protection, Self-Encrypted Drive (SED) option for protecting data-at-rest, best-in-class Rotational Vibration Feed Forward (RVFF) technology that sustains performance when placed in closely-packed multi-drive system environments, and PowerChoice™ on-demand low power options that keeps drives and systems running cool.

“SGI’s customers require systems that can deliver a combination of high I/O performance and highly reliable, dense storage for their technical computing and archive solutions,” said Jose Reinoso, vice president of Storage Engineering at SGI. “Seagate’s Constellation® ES family of HDDs provides this critical combination of storage benefits to maximize our customers’ productivity and helps SGI maintain its leadership in delivering world-class systems.”

“Capacity-optimised drives are in high demand with our customer base and this category is among the strongest growth and revenue areas for our business,” said Steve Ichinaga, senior vice president and general manager of Systems Integration Division at SYNNEX. “Seagate’s 3TB Constellation® ES will expand our customers’ ability to deliver greater value storage for a number of expanded opportunities, including systems built for growing nearline storage and cloud environments.”

The Constellation ES.2 is offered in both 6Gb/s Serial ATA (SATA) and 6Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interfaces. It is currently shipping to OEMs and will be available in the channel Q2 this year.

Madman is proud to present the DVD release of HOWL, featuring an all-star cast led by James Franco, the Oscar®-nominated star of Danny Boyle’s 127 HOURS.

In HOWL, the charismatic James Franco (SPIDER MAN, FREAKS & GEEKS) heads up a stellar cast as the young Allen Ginsberg, whose seminal, incendiary work comes to life through a mix of live-action and animation – crossing between the events that led to a young Allen Ginsberg finding his voice; the nature of the poem itself via surreal animation; and a San Francisco courtroom where Ginsberg’s work is on trial.

Utilising solely the text of Ginsberg’s autobiographical, homoerotic poem, transcripts of its trial for obscenity, and audio interviews with Ginsberg himself, HOWL is an in-depth profile of the man and the poem that woke America from its prim post-war malaise. Franco’s Beat poet finds his place in the counter culture of San Francisco in the late 1950s, alongside such icons as future-author Jack Kerouac, sowing the seeds for the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

HOWL is simultaneously a portrait of a renegade artist breaking down barriers and an imaginative ride through a creative masterpiece that rocked a generation.

HOWL is available on DVD June 1st, 2011 – $34.95srp.

New Multiplayer Online Action Adventure Now Available to Play for Free 

Tuesday 5^th April 2011 —SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that Spiral Knights™, the newest title from accomplished online game developer Three Rings, has officially launched, offering players around the world classic, console-style adventuring in a persistent world. Spiral Knights is completely free-to-play, meaning that anybody who dares to face the perils of these dungeons, whether alone or with a group of up to three other friends, can start their journey to the core of the Clockworks right now at http://www.spiralknights.com.

“SEGA is wonderfully impressed with the world Three Rings has brought to life in Spiral Knights,” said Haruki Satomi, Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA of America. “The Clockworks is rich with character and mystery, and the accessibility of the gameplay means that anyone can jump in and explore. This launch marks a tremendous addition to SEGA’s portfolio of universally enjoyable titles.”

“The response we have seen from players during the preview has been fantastic,” said Daniel James, CEO of Three Rings. “We are tremendously proud of the team; they have worked hard over the last four years to bring the co-operative fun of Spiral Knights to life and we are delighted to be bringing their game to the world in partnership with SEGA. All that is left to say is: Watch out for those jelly cubes!”

Spiral Knights pits players against the creatures of Cradle, where they must fight to survive by scavenging materials from the ever-changing worlds beneath the surface. The game features:

• A constantly changing world brought to life in a vibrant, retro-inspired visual style
• Intuitive pick-up-and-play controls (including both mouse-only and gamepad control)
• Opportunities for players to create guilds, craft new gear, and customize the looks and abilities of their characters
• Easy matchmaking for co-op mayhem with parties of up to four players
• Gear and weapons upgradeable through adventuring or through the purchase of Crystal Energy

Players can download and play Spiral Knights for free today by visiting http://www.spiralknights.com.

To view the Spiral Knights launch trailer, head to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7OQRA2kDyE

JOIN THE FIGHT TODAY! BATTLEFIELD PLAY4FREE OPEN TO PLAYERS WORLDWIDE

5 April 2011, Australia & New Zealand – The wait is over! The Battlefield experience is now available to anyone, anytime, anywhere – for free*. Yes, for free.

Today, EA launched Battlefield Play4Free, a deep, rich, adrenaline-filled Battlefield all-out war experience. Battlefield Play4Free delivers an endlessly entertaining experience on the PC that combines the most popular maps from Battlefield 2™ with the popular classes and powerful weapons of Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2, all rendered with stunning visuals. Battlefield Play4Free raises the bar in the free-to-play space even further with 16 different vehicles including the Mil Mi-28 attack helicopter, its nemesis the F35 VTOL jet fighter, the massive Russian T-90 main battle tank, and the hard to catch LSV light strike vehicle.

Play now at http://battlefield.play4free.com.

Insiders such as IGN have proclaimed that the game “…has all the components of what someone would expect from a Battlefield game, for free.”

Players progress through the game to learn new combat skills, and earn in-game currency to spend on a massive array of devastating weapons and equipment to propel players to victory in 32-player online battles. Battlefield Play4Free simulates the career of a professional soldier and as player’s progress, they can upgrade their physical capabilities, available equipment and combat expertise. At every level the player is creating a more unique, more customised soldier and creating their own, personal playing style to take to the battlefield.

Players can also rock out on the battlefield to the latest song ’Age of Rage’ from Swedish heavy rockers CORRODED. This heart pounding single is featured in the game and the launch trailer released online today. ‘Age of Rage’ will be included in the band’s upcoming second album, ‘Exit to Transfer’.

For more information on Battlefield Play4Free, please visit http://battlefield.play4free.com. Players can follow the game on Twitter® at: www.twitter.com/bfplay4free.

*Internet Connection Required.

Video Game Inspired By Disney Channel Original Movie to Feature New Agent, Cool Gadgets and Off The Wall Worlds

MELBOURNE, Australia – Disney today announced Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension is currently in development for the Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems. “Phineas and Ferb” has been leading the charge on the Disney Channel – the #1 subscription TV channel for kids 5-15 in Australia – and this lively new video game is inspired by the upcoming Disney Channel Original Movie inspired by the series. Fans can play as their favourite characters including Phineas, Ferb and Agent P as they journey through all-new dimensions filled with action-packed fun, in a quest to battle the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension is slated for release from Winter 2011.

“We collaborated closely with Disney’s video game development team to ensure that the video game captures the humour and style of our movie,” said Dan Povenmire, Emmy Award-winning Creator/Executive Producer, Phineas and Ferb. “The antics of the characters and the immersive new worlds of the video game will extend the experience fans will encounter in the Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension.”

The PlayStation®3 system and Wii versions will allow fans to play as up to 10 characters. Players will have the option to work together in two-player cooperative mode while navigating through an old time 1928 style cartoon world, a lawn gnome land and a gelatine world. In a mission to save the world, players will journey through 25 exciting levels while overcoming obstacles and upgrading cool new gadgets including the Carbonator – that fires carbonated orange soda to melt enemies – and ninja gloves, which allow players to stick to walls. Along the way, fans will collect cool items and unlock additional playable characters, including a new OWSA special agent created specifically for the video game. The PlayStation 3 system version will also be the first time a Phineas and Ferb video game features PlayStation®Move motion controller compatible gameplay.

In the DS version of Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension, fans will play as Phineas, Ferb or Agent P. Players will jump, dodge, race and battle through five outrageous worlds featuring over 30 levels. Along the way, players will work to earn gadget upgrades including a baseball launcher and Agents P’s favourite gadget the grapple gun, while solving environmental puzzles in an effort to save Danville.

In addition to lending their voices to the Disney Channel Original Movie, several of the actors from the popular TV series will be voicing the Wii and PlayStation 3 system versions of the game including Vincent Martella as Phineas, Thomas Sangster as Ferb, Alyson Stoner as Isabella and show creators/executive producers Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh as Major Francis Monogram.

Published by Disney, Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension will be released from Winter 2011.

5 April 2011, Gold Coast, Australia – Following the rampant success of the Zumba® Fitness title on Kinect for Xbox 360, international publisher, 505 Games, together with All Interactive Entertainment, has released the game for the Nintendo Wii™ into the Australian and New Zealand markets with the PlayStation®Move to follow soon.

The Zumba Fitness exergame is based on the successful global dance fitness program that has helped melt the pounds and inches off ten million Zumba® enthusiasts in more than 110 countries.

In Zumba Fitness, players can learn and perfect nine different dance styles: Reggaeton, Merengue, Salsa, Cumbia, Hip-Hop, Mambo, Rumba, Flamenco and Calypso. The game features 30 different infectious music tracks and routines–some exclusive to the game–led by Zumba® creator and Colombian dance icon Beto and fan favourite celebrity instructors Gina Grant and Tanya Beardsley. No matter what your skill level, the Zumba fitness video game is accessible to all with Learn the Steps training, plus Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced routines in five dynamic venues. As you hit each move in rhythm with your on-screen Zumba® instructor, the stage transforms into a high voltage party atmosphere with special effects and additional crowd dancers.
Both new formats come bundled with a specially designed belt to hold the Wii Remote™ or the PlayStation®Move motion controller. Players wear the exclusive Zumba fitness belt to track their hip movements as they join in with the contagious dance moves.

“The Kinect version of Zumba Fitness was a huge success for 505 games and we were proud to bring such a successful brand into the world of interactive entertainment,” commented Ralph Pitt-Stanley, Commercial Director, 505 Games. “By introducing the game on the PlayStation®3 and Wii platforms we are able to bring that same Zumba® experience to a whole new legion of fans!”

Players can partner with a fellow dancer to try to earn the highest collective workout score or dance off against each other in Zumba® Attack multiplayer mode.
Zumba Fitness on Kinect for Xbox 360 and Wii is available now to buy from leading outlets and PlayStation®Move motion controller is available to pre-order, available soon to buy. For more information go to our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zumba-Video-Game/152788208112886?sk=wall

Over the years Australian artists have featured once or twice on karaoke games, but never before has there been an all Australian line-up till now.

Available in stores on 31^st of March, We Sing DownUnder features family favourites such as Guy Sebastian’s “Like it Like That” and The Veronicas’ “Hook Me Up” as well as golden oldies like Jimmy Barnes’ “No Second Prize” and Men at Work’s “Down Under”.

The 30 strong track list has been months in the making, when last year we asked the nation what they would like to sing in an all Aussie karaoke game.  Thousands of songs were suggested, making the task of selecting 30 a mammoth feat!

The final song list is a great representation of decades of Australian music that everyone can relate to.  Artists range from Olivia Newton-John and Choirboys to The Whitlams and the Rogue Traders.

We Sing DownUnder offers a host of game modes that includes solo and karaoke.   Players can also battle it out against each other in Group Battle, Pass the Mic and First to 5000 Points, encouraging everyone’s ever present competitive streak.

Exclusive to the Wii™, We Sing DownUnder allows up to four players at a time with any compatible microphone plugging directly into the Wii console.

We Sing DownUnder is a must have for family barbeques or dinner parties where everyone will love belting out Daddy Cool’s Eagle Rock!