Ubisoft, one of the world’s leading videogame publishers, today announced that they have signed a deal with Stardock Entertainment to publish The Political Machine, a strategy game where players take on the role of campaign manager for a presidential candidate. Players must raise money, take out advertisements, win endorsements and appear on popular TV news shows to answer tough questions about today’s most pressing issues. The Political Machine is scheduled to launch late summer 2004 for the PC. In development by Stardock Entertainment, The Political Machine gives players a taste of the challenges real candidates face and uses actual demographic … Continue reading UBI To Publish Political Machine →

The IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association), the trade organization representing the video and computer game industry’s category-leading retail companies, today announced that Yair Landau, the vice-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment and President of Sony Pictures Digital, will deliver the keynote address at the 2004 IEMA Executive Summit – the association’s annual conference. "Many of the six hundred attendees are leaders in the broader entertainment category, which includes games, music and movies," said Hal Halpin, president of the IEMA. "We’re very excited to have Yair provide our members and exhibitors with his insights for the future of packaged goods entertainment and … Continue reading Sony Chair to Speak at IEMA →

Fresh off a successful Electronic Entertainment Expo, O~3 Entertainment announced today that they have signed the following independent game developers: The Behemoth, Espaço Informática, SyberSoft, Virtual Toys and XPEC Entertainment to publish games on multiple platforms. "Our experience enabled us to hit the ground running, so it's no surprise that we're fairly far along in the process of bringing several titles to market already," said Bill Gardner, O~3's CEO. "Whether the selected game project is from a well-established company like Virtual Toys or a lesser known brand such as SyberSoft, the common factor is that these development teams are all … Continue reading O~3 Sings New Talent →

DreamCatcher Games and the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) today announced NVIDIA Corporation as the title sponsor for the $25,000 NVIDIA "Painkiller" 1-on-1 Deathmatch Tournament at the upcoming Cyberathlete Extreme World Championships in Dallas, Texas. Overwhelming demand prompted an increase in number of competitors, bringing the final number to 64 and 5 additional waiting list spots. The world's top competitive solo game players have signed up for the tournament, including the #1 player in the world, Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel. Fatal1ty will be challenged by other top-ranked players such as Sander Kaasjager (VoO), Christian Dotzki (Deatz), Daniel Sturdivant (carnage), Roman Tarasenko (Polosatiy) … Continue reading Nvidia to Sponsor CPL Event →

Jesper Kyd the electronic and symphonic composer of the Hitman series, today announced he has partnered with Nile Rodgers' Sumthing Else Musicworks record label and Sumthing Distribution to market and distribute the original soundtrack for Eidos' No.1 selling Hitman: Contracts. The album is released today at music retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, CDNow, HMV, Musicland, Tower, and Virgin. Hitman: Contracts takes you into the mind of Agent 47, the most ruthlessly efficient contract killer in history. Enter a world of crime, sin and greed as Agent 47 encounters his greatest adversaries to-date. Hitman: Contracts explores the dark psychology of killing … Continue reading Hitman Contracts Soundtrack Released →

Infinium Labs, Inc. (OTC BB: IFLB) has added Michael L. Whitaker as vice president of operations. Whitaker will oversee operation of the data center and consumer support call centers, distribution of hardware from factory to retail and internal corporate IT, leading up to the launch of the company’s flagship offering, the Phantom Gaming Service, the first end-to-end, on-demand game distribution service. Whitaker brings to Infinium Labs more than 15 years of operations experience in engineering, customer service, network management, central operations and project management. "Mike brings multi-faceted experience to our management team which will contribute to long-term development of our … Continue reading Infinium Labs Hires New VP →

GameOver-Games proudly announces the release of Brave Dwarves – Back for Treasures, the sequel to the critically acclaimed hit Brave Dwarves. In this superb adventure epic of good versus evil, you must rescue the subterranean world of dwarves from raging Evil and drive it back to its cave. As you go through underground passages, you must overcome powerful forces and collect hundreds of gems to seal up the Gate to the world of Evil. Brave Dwarves – Back for Treasures lets you immerse into the fantasy world of dwarves, magic and secrets. Become a dwarf and explore bizarre passages and … Continue reading Brave Dwarves: Back for Treasure Ships →

Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) today announced the appointment of Terri Durham as Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel effective immediately. Ms. Durham will oversee all aspects of VU Games’ legal affairs on a global basis reporting to CEO Bruce Hack. Most recently, she served as Vice President and Counsel for VU Games’ parent company, Vivendi Universal. "Terri brings extensive corporate legal experience to VU Games, including intellectual property matters, licensing negotiations and litigation," said Mr Hack. "She is a strong addition to our global management team and will play a key role in driving business issues for the … Continue reading VU Gets New General Counsel →

China has banned a Swedish-made computer game for "distorting history and damaging China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Ministry of Culture (MOC) for China said Friday. The PC game, "Hearts of Iron", was accused of distorting historical facts in describing the Fascist regimes of Japan, Germany and Italy during World War II. Moreover, "Manchuria", "West Xinjiang", and "Tibet" appeared as independent sovereign countries in the maps of the game. In addition, it even included China’s Taiwan province as the territory of Japan at the beginning of the game. All these severely distort historical facts and violate China’s gaming and Internet … Continue reading China Bans Hearts of Iron →

Sumea Interactive today announced the launch of the Survivor mobile game, based on Castaway Television Productions’ international hit TV show Survivor. Castaway has granted Sumea exclusive rights to Survivor-branded mobile games throughout EMEA, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Sumea’s Survivor mobile game includes the all-embracing adventure aspects of the Survivor format, featuring exceptionally smooth gameplay and amazing graphics. The game will be available in Q3, 2004 exclusively at www.nokia.com/shop and at Nokia Software Market, www.softwaremarket.nokia.com. "Proving their creativity and gaming design expertise, Sumea have brought the Survivor TV brand into a compelling, visually intriguing and easy-to-learn mobile game. The Survivor … Continue reading Sumea Puts Survivor on Nokia Phones →