Hull, UK / UK based games software publisher, The Gamer Creators encourage independent games developers the world over to create and self-publish games for platforms like the Intel App Store using their accessible game creation software, DarkBasic Professional and DarkGDK.

With user-friendly game creation software, DarkBasic Professional and flagship game development package, DarkGDK, The Game Creators provide the necessary tools and support for the growing ranks of games development enthusiasts to create quality content with a reach in the millions. Intel’s new digital platform, AppUp Store, bundled with millions of Intel powered Netbooks, is being projected to rival the magnetism of Apple’s App Store, and will enable creators to accelerate brand recognition and monetise their own games.

Independent gamers can also publish their original creations through The Game Creators pipeline – perfect for those new to Intel’s submission process. The Game Creators bring an unrivalled experience in the development of sticky games on multiple platforms, from testing and building a robust application, to marketing the product effectively. This paternal support will inspire new entrants to games development with the confidence to achieve success.

The Game Creators have already created 9 titles for Intel’s AppUp store, with 5 of them, including the retro football simulation, Goals and highly addictive, Tilted Video Poker – itself a product of The Game Creator’s passionate community – being selected for ‘Dollars for Downloads 2010’ and ‘Fast Track 2010’ under the Intel Atom Developer Program Million Dollar Development Fund.

A compilation of The Game Creator’s 10 best iPhone applications is available from the Apple App Store for the princely sum of $0,99. The compilation includes the infectious physics based iDork Lite, brain stretching DropSum – enjoyed by over 7.5 million PC users worldwide – and the kamikaze finger-stabbing, iDare Deluxe.

The Game Creator’s boast downloads of their applications on the iPhone that stretch well into the millions, but their easy to use game making tools – DarkBasic Professional and DarkGDK – make it possible for everyone to create, play and share. So visit: www.thegamecreators.com to join the game creation revolution today and make your mark on the digital platforms of tomorrow.

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About The Game Creators:
The Game Creators develop and publish game making tools for hobbiest and Indie game developers. Flagship titles include the Dark Basic range and the FPS Creator products. The team are dedicated to bringing affordable and easy to use software tools to the mass market.

www.thegamecreators.com

About Thirteen1:
Thirteen1 – www.thirteen1.com is an independent free-to-read online games magazine. Each new issue is released on the 13th of every month at 13.00 GMT. Thirteen1 have published 25 issues to date, as well as 2 supplements.

Thirteen1 is read in 151 different territories, with the majority of readership coming from North America, UK and growing hots in Europe: Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.

Thirteen1 is currently pushed out to an International audience of 28,000. This is a 28% growth over the first quarter of 2010.

Thirteen1 can be viewed in all browsers and is also available as a PDF which generates thousands of additional monthly reads.

Thirteen1 enables its clients to achieve successful launch campaigns of new games and products by offering tailored marketing campaigns and dedicated public relations that meet objectives and match budgets.

In the small town of Dillon, Texas, one night matters: Friday Night. This is when the Dillon High School Panthers
football team, the town’s pride and joy, play for the victory. Friday Night Lights: Season 2 picks up from Season 1
following the young team as they deal with the pressures of growing up with the expectation of those around them.

Friday Night Lights: Season 2 begins as a new school season challenges the Dillon Panthers who find themselves
without their beloved Coach Taylor. Taylor has just begun a college teaching job in Austin, however finds himself
back in Dillon, which, in his absence, seems to have fallen apart without him.

Follow the ups and downs of this small town and its people for whom hope revolves around the successes of their
high school football team. Friday Nights Lights: Season 2 is the story of one team’s journey and ultimately how
they come together on their way to victory.

DVD BONUS FEATURES: ALL TBC

Tom Ford’s stunning directorial debut featuring Colin Firth’s Academy Award nominated performance.

The New Accessible Tool Will Give Players the Ability to Put Any Pattern Design Imaginable into The Sims 3 and its Expansion Packs This Winter!

11 May 2010, Australia – EA’s The Sims Studio is putting the power of pattern creation directly into The Sims 3 players’ hands! Available Winter 2010 as a free download on www.TheSims3.com, The Sims 3 Create a Pattern Tool allows players to create and share their own original patterns. Registered The Sims 3 players will be able to design a pattern easily, whether simple or elaborate, using dozens of images available in the Sticker Library or layer and modify their own images to create any pattern their heart desires. Players’ creativity is the limit and once satisfied they can then share their pattern creations online on The Sims 3 Exchange.  

FEATURES

• Pattern Masters – As the official pattern tool for The Sims 3, The Sims 3 Create a Pattern Tool makes it easy for players to make their own patterns and safely add them to their game
  

• Customise Sims’ Surroundings – Players can apply newly created patterns to their Sims’ furniture, clothing, floors, walls and more
  

• Powerful and Easy – This powerful yet easy-to-use tool is perfect for all types of users ranging from beginners to advanced designers
  

• Preview  to Check it Out – Players can view their patterns in 3D with the click of a button, then export directly to their game  
  

• Share! Fans around the world can share and download creations through The Sims 3 Exchange
  

The Sims 3 Create a Pattern Tool is a robust creative tool, which allows players to create millions of patterns and place them on objects in their Sims’ world for a completely unique look and feel to their game. Whether they’ve been hankering for a new plaid for their Sims’ PJs or an exquisite flourish of tiles for their floors, everything they want to create is now within their grasp! For more information and  assets, please visit info.ea.com. 
 

Adobe Advances Flash Platform Media Delivery Solutions

Adobe Delivers New Distribution, Content Protection, and Media Player Framework Technologies

SYDNEY, Australia — May 11, 2010 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced major new advancements to the Adobe Flash® Platform — Adobe’s design and development platform for creating and delivering content, video and applications that run consistently across operating systems and devices. Highlights include the immediate availability of Adobe Flash Access™ 2.0 software, a content protection solution that enables the distribution and monetisation of premium video content, which can help create new sources of revenue for media publishers. In addition, Adobe is also showcasing HTTP Dynamic Streaming, a new protocol support for media streaming on the Flash Platform; and the Open Source Media Framework, to accelerate development of custom media players.

These powerful new Flash media delivery tools come in advance of the much-anticipated releases of Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR® 2, which are optimised for high performance on mobile screens and designed to take advantage of native device capabilities for a richer, more immersive user experience.

Quotes
Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of Digital Imaging and Rich Media Solutions at Adobe

• “Adobe continues to innovate and develop media playback solutions that enable our customers and partners to build their businesses and become more profitable; whether it’s by helping to protect and monetise video content or by offering new options for delivering media to the Flash Platform. With approximately 75 percent of video on the Web delivery with Flash technology, Adobe and its broadcast and media customers are leading the industry and revolutionising how the digital video industry creates and consumes rich media.”

Protecting and Monetising Premium Content

• Further advancing the Flash Platform, Adobe today made available Adobe Flash Access 2.0, a scalable, flexible content protection solution that enables the distribution and monetisation of premium video content.
• Adobe Flash Access 2.0 provides a way to combine the unprecedented reach and interactivity of the Adobe Flash Platform with robust security and flexible usage rules so that businesses can enforce necessary constraints, such as limiting viewing to a given rental period.
• Adobe Flash Access 2.0, previously known as Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server, enables media publishers to effectively monetise video content using a variety of business models, such as pay-per-view, electronic sell-through or advertising funded business models.
• New in this release, content protected with Flash Access 2.0 will play back securely online via Flash Player 10.1 software as well as Adobe AIR 2.0. Also new in Flash Access 2.0 is support for output protection, which can be used to protect content sent to external displays.
• Adobe® Flash® Access 2.0 is one of the first approved content protection solutions selected by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE). DECE is a consortium of leading content providers, consumer electronics companies, technology vendors and service providers working to enable improved consumer access to entertainment content.

Expanding Content Delivery with HTTP Dynamic Streaming

• Building on the success of Adobe’s Flash Platform for the delivery of streaming content, Adobe’s new HTTP Dynamic Streaming leverages industry standards to provide content publishers, distributors and developers the tools they need to utilise HTTP infrastructures for high-quality media delivery in Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2.
• While Flash Media Server 3.5 remains the choice for delivering interactive media experiences over RTMP (Real Time Message Protocol) with features like new trick modes, smart caching technology, protection and real time communication, customers will now have the flexibility to use HTTP Dynamic streaming which enables the use of existing network infrastructures and standard Web server hardware to deliver rich media experiences on a massive scale.
• HTTP Dynamic Streaming includes integration of content protection powered by Flash Access 2.0, allowing publishers to encrypt and apply business rules to their premium video content for both live and Video on Demand (VOD). Protected HTTP Dynamic Streaming allows publishers to secure valuable video content with a flexible workflow while maintaining the robust and persistent content protection features of Flash Access.
• HTTP Dynamic Streaming supports all of the high-quality media codecs supported by the Flash Platform today, including H.264 and VP6, and all of the uses cases media companies rely on, including high quality live and recorded media with adaptive bit-rate and network DVR support to the Flash player.

Accelerating Media Player Development

• Rounding out Adobe’s media delivery solution for the Flash Platform, the Open Source Media Framework (OSMF) is an open framework for building custom media players.
• The new framework will help establish an industry standard for media players and will offer production-ready components to help streamline the development process, reducing the time content publishers spend creating and integrating playback technologies.
• OSMF enables developers to easily assemble pluggable components to create high-quality, full-featured playback experiences.
• The open framework enables collaborative development focused on Web video monetisation with lower costs and faster turnaround.
• Multiple partners are already providing plug-ins for OSMF, including advertising, analytics, content delivery and platform services companies Adap-tv, Akamai, Anvato, Conviva, Edgecast, FreeWheel, GlanceGuide, KickApps, Level 3Limelight Networks, MediaMelon, Omniture (an Adobe company), Podaddies, Quantcast, ScanScout, Streaming Media Hosting, Tremor Media Videoplaza and YuMe.

Helpful Links
Adobe Flash Access website: www.adobe.com/go/flashaccess
HTTP Dynamic Streaming for the Flash Platform website: www.adobe.com/go/httpdynamicstreaming
Open Source Media Framework website: www.osmf.org
Adobe Flash Media Blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/flashmedia
Kevin Towe’s Blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/ktowes
FlashStreamWorks.com: www.flashstreamworks.com
Streaming Media East website: www.streamingmedia.com/Conferences/East2010

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Flash Access 2.0 is available immediately. For pricing information related to Adobe Flash Access 2.0, please contact an Adobe sales representative at www.adobe.com/go/flashaccess_rfi. HTTP Dynamic Streaming for video on demand is expected to be available at no charge. Pricing for HTTP Dynamic Streaming for live streaming is available upon request. Both products are scheduled to ship in late May. OSMF is free, and is expected to be available in late May.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionises how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

Have brand new adventures, explore the imaginations of millions – and Play, Create and Share not just levels, but whole games… 

SYDNEY, 11^TH May 2010: Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCE Aust.) has confirmed the return of the world-conquering, award-collecting Sackboy in LittleBigPlanet™2 for PlayStation®3 (PS3™) – a game that will let your creativity run riot in ways you never imagined. Developed by the visionary team at Media Molecule, LittleBigPlanet 2 will provide fans with a new means to PLAY, CREATE, and SHARE, including a revamped graphics engine supplying stunning visuals, a fresh storyline, added accessories and equipment for SackBoy, and revolutionary gameplay mechanics providing players a level of control and customization. This time, the game in the box really is just the start. 

The multi-million unit selling LittleBigPlanet had the critics raving when it arrived in 2008. The game, where players meet on a colourful, patchwork planet to play as the charming, fully-customisable Sackboy, and create new levels for others to play via PlayStation®Network, heralded a new age of creative gaming, where players are constrained only by their imagination. Since launch, more than 2 million levels have been created by LittleBigPlanet fans, and uploaded to share with the rest of the community. Now, LittleBigPlanet 2 will explode the concept of Creative Gaming, offering exciting and unprecedented new possibilities – as well as backwards-compatibility with all of the existing LittleBigPlanet community levels and content.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – 10^th May, 2010 – Available in stores today, Xbox 360 introduces the 250GB Hard Drive which offers more space to store your favourite games and entertainment content.  Available for $199.99*, the 250GB Hard Drive offers more freedom to download the latest demos, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, the latest titles from Xbox Movies on Demand and more straight to your Xbox 360 console.

Xbox LIVE is the premier destination to download the best games and entertainment at the touch of a button. Xbox 360’s online service features a growing library of movies available to download or stream instantly, Facebook and Twitter –  you’re bound to find something you love. With more than 525,000 Xbox LIVE subscribers across the ANZ region, it is one of the largest online communities anywhere in ANZ.

Want to express your personality and style on Xbox LIVE? With the added storage space of the 250GB Hard Drive, it makes it easy to download and save new Avatar clothes and props from your favourite clothing brands and games, including Roxy, Quiksilver, Adidas, “Halo”, “Gears of War” and more.

More detailed information can be found at www.xbox.com.au

In honour of Cinco de Mayo this week, we present “Revolution” – an all-new Red Dead Redemption video highlighting the rebel Mexican uprising that John Marston finds himself caught up in during his journey to Nuevo Paraiso. 

In his search for the former friends and outlaws who left him to die all those years ago, Marston finds himself traveling through the border territories of northern Mexico in the midst of the region’s brewing Civil War – caught between the revolutionary aspirations of the rebel leader Abraham Reyes, and the brutal Federal Army led by Colonel Allende.

As always, if you can please send me back links to wherever this clip goes live, that’d be much appreciated.

To View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmMwCu7scHo

EA Set to Deliver Dynamic 3D Monopoly GamePlay Experience to Help Celebrate 75th Anniversary of Hasbro’s MONOPOLY Brand 

10 May 2010, Australia –The EA Play Label of Electronic Arts Inc. has announced it is developing MONOPOLY Streets for the Wii™, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

For the first time ever, players will experience MONOPOLY, one of the world’s favourite family game brands, as a fully dynamic, living, 3D world that continuously evolves with the video game action.

Additionally, MONOPOLY Streets will feature online multiplayer and unique downloadable content for Xbox360 and PlayStation 3 players around the world.

Scheduled to launch Spring 2010, the experience will offer an assortment of features that add to the thrill of becoming a MONOPOLY real estate mogul. Hasbro’s classic MONOPOLY will also be available on the Nintendo DS™ in conjunction with the release of MONOPOLY Streets.

In recognition of the MONOPOLY brand entertaining families around the globe for 75 years, MONOPOLY Streets will offer players the ability to become completely immersed within a MONOPOLY-themed world, re-imagined to experience the game at street level.

Developing properties within high rent districts will produce lavish houses and hotels that appear within the world and further substantiate its visual appeal, while developing in the less expensive areas provide more modest, but no less interesting, establishments.

The game will also feature player-owned headquarters that rise and fall along with the Player’s fortunes – large and luxurious when winning, stunted and minuscule when losing. For purists, MONOPOLY Streets will also offer classic game board modes.

MONOPOLY Streets will come loaded with an array of imaginative twists such as the ability to establish “house rules” where players can save their own set of customised rules tailored to their group of friends.  In addition, players will be able to create and play as their own Wii Mii™ or Xbox 360 avatar, and have the city populated by their friend’s Wii Mii or Xbox 360 avatars.

“We’re taking Hasbro’s No. 1 family game brand and masterfully striking the balance of offering the classic MONOPOLY play experience and adding a spectacular new visual treatment as we bring the classic board to life with players walking the streets of MONOPOLY,” said Chip Lange, General Manager and Senior Vice President of EA’s Hasbro Division.  “MONOPOLY Streets will bring people together and connect families all over the world by offering online gameplay through their gaming consoles. We think this unique, combined offering will bring families together around the TV this holiday season for a classic family gaming tradition they’ll remember for years to come.”

In addition, EA will further extend its MONOPOLY franchise with MONOPOLY City, currently in development for Pogo.com. At launch, players will be able to download the game from www.pogo.com for instant fun on the PC.

*Internet connection required.  See pack for additional details.