The first in the revered tennis simulation series for the new console generation, Smash Court Tennis 3 for Xbox 360 tests the player’s skills against 16 of the world’s finest international tennis players. From established stars such as Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, Martina Hingis, and recently retired Justine Henin, to rising talents including Italy’s Andreas Seppi and Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, each player has their own strengths and weaknesses which come into play on the game’s painstakingly rendered courts. Making the most of the power of Xbox 360, Smash Court Tennis 3 boasts enhanced graphics including improved player animations, realistic shadows, skin shaders and High Dynamic Range rendering which combine to deliver a greater level of realism and immersion for the player. A host of customizing options allows players to choose rackets, shoes, hairstyles, skin tone and clothing to create their own unique star of the courts. New gameplay includes a system which lets all players, no matter what their skill level, benefit quickly from the powerful shots and finely honed skills of the star players.

Smash Court Tennis 3 has been rated E for Everyone and will sell for $39.99.

Press Release

The perilous world of street racing is about to get a whole lot more exciting with the release of Powerbike! When an anonymous sponsor offers the resources to compete with the best street racers in the world, the only thing left to do is jump on your bike and show everyone who is boss. Speed through dangerous streets and jump trains, bridges and traffic congestion while fleeing from the cops on eight challenging courses across the desert, city, shipyard and more. Riders can earn even more cash by performing jumps, burnouts, wheelies and drifts in Stunt Mode. Go head-to-head with friends via local DS multiplayer in both Race and Stunt Mode, and use your hard earned cash to upgrade your bike’s speed, acceleration, traction and stability in three different difficulty modes.

No idea on pricing, but it shouldn’t break the $30 barrier. Powerbike for the DS will be out before the holiday season.

Press Release

This time round, you will have to go undercover in order to infiltrate an underground racing scene (hmmm, sounds real familiar, no? Ah well, if the formula works, who am I to say that the wheel needs to be reinvented?) that somehow or rather has a connection to an international crime scenes. Makes me wonder whether baddies always have such high profile hobbies. Can’t they just stick to gardening or stamp collecting? In order to make the game more realistic, Electronic Arts has enlisted the help of actress Maggie Q to play the role of Chase Linh, the one who oversees the entire undercover operation.

No idea on what the pricing will be, but you can be sure that it will be competitively tagged alongside other premium titles for each platform. Hopefully the 16 months it took to come up with this game will be reflected in the gaming experience itself.

Source: 1Up

Part of Nintendo’s success was due to new hot games released, including Guitar Hero: On Tour on the DS that moved a whopping 309,700 units while Wii play took the number 2 spot at 369,600 units with Wii Play staying two notches below at 284,000 units. Mario Kart Wii is at seventh place and Rock Band for the Wii stays comfortably at number 8. Interestingly enough, Rock Band for the Wii is the most watered down version, but it doesn’t look as though the market bothers too much about graphics. I suppose this is where the power of a huge user base comes in, reflected in the sales of software done.

Sony could only muster 224,900 PS3 units while the PSP hangs tough at number 4 with 221,700 units. Metal Gear Solid 4 amazingly did not break into the top 10 software sales charts, which is pretty disappointing since many people have claimed that this will help move more consoles. As for Microsoft, they aren’t too shabby either as the Xbox 360 takes fifth place at 204,800 units. The PS2 remains in last position, but it’s practically out of the equation now.

Source: Arstechnica

The player’s goal in HISTORY Civil War: Secret Missions is to disrupt the armies of both the North and the South by any means necessary, including conducting train raids, stealing ironclad ships, stopping enemy supply lines, destroying enemy artillery and more. All events are drawn from the real life actions of famous partisans, scouts and rangers - fight as a member of Mosby’s Rangers, Sheridan’s Scouts and Grant’s Secret Service and receive your mission commands from famous generals including Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, and Ulysses Grant. The action in HISTORY Civil War: Secret Mission accurately reflects the guerrilla tactics of the time period. Weapons include the shotgun, the pepperbox revolver and the coffee mill gun, and there is heavy reliance on scouts and naval warfare.

This title has yet to be rated by the ESRB, but at least the pricing details are already available. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will retail for $49.99 a pop, while the PS2 version is $10 cheaper with the PC version being the least damaging of all, retailing for a mere $19.99.

Press Release

According to Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, “NetEase has been a leader in the Chinese game market, and we look forward to working with them to deliver high-quality entertainment to Chinese gamers. This partnership is a sign of our continued commitment to our players in China and to the local industry.” As for William Ding, CEO of NetEase, he mentioned, “We’re excited to be partnering with Blizzard Entertainment to bring StarCraft II and Battle.net to China. We hope to combine Blizzard Entertainment’s expertise in developing world-class games with NetEase’s strength in online-game operation in China to bring the best gaming experiences to our players.”

It will be interesting to see just how the Chinese gamers will fare on Battle.net – will they conquer all before them as how their athletes are currently doing at the summer Olympics, decimating most of their adversaries with a single-mindedness that is almost scary? Whatever the case is, now sounds like a good time to buy even more Blizzard stock since there are like, a billion plus people in China. With royalties being paid back via this 3-year license, this is but one huge cash cow (that gives significant value to its consumers too, of course).

Press Release

On the PC, PhysX technology harnesses the power of any CUDA-enabled general-purpose parallel computing processor, including any NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series or higher GPU, to handle 10-20 times more visual complexity than what’s possible on today’s traditional PC platforms. All of the 80 million plus GeForce 8 Series and higher GPUs in the field are CUDA-enabled, the largest installed base of general-purpose, parallel-computing processors ever created. And, unlike competitive solutions which do not offer hardware scaling capability, only PhysX technology can leverage the best of both CPU and GPU architectures to deliver the ultimate, immersive, end user experience. Upcoming PC titles that incorporate PhysX technology include Cryostasis, Backbreaker, Aliens: Colonial Marines, with close to 20 more PC titles expected before the year-end holiday seasons.

This is an interesting dilemma to have, will gamers stick to the Nvidia camp even though they do not have the fastest graphics card of today, just because of PhysX technology?

Press Release

According to David Geudelekian, Producer, Atari, Inc., “N+ has taken its amazing acrobatics and simple-but-fast gameplay and has clearly become a standout hit, winning top award recognition at this year’s E3. With an impressive set of new features including wireless multiplayer, downloadable content and over 200 levels exclusive to each version, gamers will be able to settle, once and for all, who is the greatest ninja.”

N+ offers equal parts platformer and action gameplay with incredibly fluid animation, fast action, amazing acrobatics and instant playability. N+ embodies the same brisk pick-up-and-play style that has endeared gamers worldwide and improves on the adored flash game with downloadable content, multiplayer components and a built-in level editor. New impressive features like cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes and level sharing over the ad-hoc PSP system and wireless Nintendo DS connections will expand upon the gameplay possibilities that have made the original flash game a sensation. Complimenting the game’s ‘old-school’ feel, the control layout uses directional buttons and one of the face buttons to jump and move. With the built-in level editor, players can use the stylus to design maps and share them with friends or the world and downloadable content will continue to add exciting elements long after the game’s initial release.

Well, $20 won’t get you much these days, so there is no harm in picking this up at the end of this month.

Press Release

With NVIDIA PhysX, the world literally comes to life: walls can be torn down, trees bend in the wind, and water flows with body and force. PhysX technology harnesses the power of the CPU as well as any CUDA general-purpose parallel computing processor, including any NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series or higher GPU, to handle 10-20 times more visual complexity than what’s possible on today’s traditional PC platforms. Unlike competitive solutions which do not offer hardware scaling capability, only PhysX technology can leverage the best of both CPU and GPU architectures to deliver the ultimate, immersive, end user experience.

According to Roy Taylor, vice president of content development at NVIDIA, “The gaming industry and gamers themselves are excited to see the return of Bionic Commando. The addition of physics effects using PhysX technology is going to add a huge amount of extra fun and depth to the game play. We can’t wait to see what the talented team at CAPCOM and GRIN can create using the NVIDIA PhysX technology and hands-on support from our developer technology team.” Would the inclusion of PhysX technology make you pick up a title?

Press Release

Joining Ozzy in Guitar Hero World Tour as a playable character is his lead axe-shredder and founder of Black Label Society, Zakk Wylde, performing their hit track “Stillborn.” In addition to Metallica releasing their highly anticipated Death Magnetic album in its entirety as downloadable content in both Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero World Tour, the 2008 OZZFest performers and GRAMMY winning recording artists will be appearing for their on-disc encore with “Trapped Under Ice.” Finally, taking the Guitar Hero stage for the first time is fellow OZZFest artist, System of a Down with their 2006 GRAMMY for Best Hard Rock Performance winning single “B.Y.O.B.”

I know for sure Guitar Hero World Tour is a surefire winner, but just how many copies will it sell remains to be seen.

Press Release