Village Gamer

Vancouver – Academy of Champions takes its place on store shelves all across North America today. The inaugural title from Ubisoft Vancouver, Academy of Champions features Brazilian soccer great Pelé as the headmaster at Brightfield Academy, where teamwork and good sportsmanship are the rules of the day. We’re helping the studio celebrate with three prize packs to give away. Read on for details about how you can win.

As the story’s main character, you are given the chance to live your dream by being chosen to attend Brightside Academy, where you will work towards becoming an international soccer star. Upon acceptance to the Academy, players must use their soccer skills and follow Pelé’s teaching of friendship and respect in order to form teams and play matches in order to move forward, unlocking new skills, fields and characters. American soccer star Mia Hamm is also a student at Brightfield Academy, and she lends her skill to help the team move up in rank as the storyline progresses.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ5D45RuAJM]

Every game is better with a little competition, and Academy of Champions has a rival who doesn’t believe in following the principles of good sportsmanship; in fact, the school teaches just the opposite. Scythemore Academy is led by villain headmaster Von Trappe, who believes in doing whatever it takes to win the game – and that includes underhanded recruitment of Brightside’s players. Luckily Pelé and Mia come to the rescue and our character can continue his soccer education at Brightfield. There are 19 teams to play in Academy of Champions – including a team comprised completely of insane Rabbids. Rumour has it that this is the toughest team to beat.

If amazing soccer play isn’t enough to wet your appetite, then the incredible graphics will certainly stimulate your visual senses. The artwork in Academy of Champions is of very high quality. Rich colouring, highly detailed characters and environment are only the beginning. As players win their five-on-five matches, new scenery is unlocked and added to each of the seven fields. Players can also buy new equipment in the Academy’s store and earn new moves as the team moves up the tournament ladder.

To further enhance their skill, players can participate in mini-game skills clinics, honing their abilities for goalkeeping, shooting, passing and tackles. Check out this list of Special Moves:

Super tackle: Take the ball off your opponent’s toes in a blink of an eye with this lightning-fast slide tackle.
Helix Kick: Bamboozle the goalie with this insane corkscrew shot.
Banana Kick: Put extreme bend on the ball – the keeper won’t know which way to turn.
Chopper: A spinning tackle frenzy that will send anyone in your path flying – including your own teammates!
Unstoppable Rush: Release that pent up aggression by knocking over anyone that gets in your way as you charge towards goal.
Cat-like Grace: Glide through tackles and defense like a knife through butter.
Stealth Attack: When Sam Fisher turns on his night-vision goggles nobody can see him – ideal for getting through on goal undetected.
Eagle Strike: Altair’s assassin training helps him to launch into the air and unleash a lethal strike that will take out the keeper before it hits the back on the net.
Acrobatic Leap: Why go through the defence when you can just leap over it? The other team won’t expect that!
Plunger Shot: The Rabbid weapon of choice makes for a very potent shot at goal.
Photo Fanatic: Jade will use the flash of her camera to temporarily stun her opponents and make them lose the ball.
Perfect Dribble: Opponents will be stunned by Pele’s unbelievable ball skills rendering them unable to stop him.
Bicycle Smash: Mia Hamm’s stunning backflip bicycle kick makes her one of the best strikers around.
Speed Burst: An explosion of pace that will help you catch up to opponents.
Dodge Move: Jump over or go around players quickly with these cool and easy to use tricks.

Academy of Champions is one of the easiest games ever to learn how to play. Prior to my in-studio game play preview, I had never played a soccer game, and being a 360 player, I was apprehensive about my sparse Wii skills. The apprehension was inconsequential – the player controls are very intuitive, and the in-game tutorials help newcomers pick up the necessary skills very quickly. As an added bonus, Academy of Champions will work with or without Wii MotionPlus™, and even incorporates the Wii Balance Board. You can also play the game solo or recruit a friend to help you defeat other academies or play against you. I have no qualms about recommending Academy of Champions as a great family title – and have done so to everyone I know, including the EB Games outlet in Langley where we purchase all of our titles (where they’ve had the box on display for awhile now) .

Related Post: Read more about my introduction to Academy of Champions.

As I mentioned at the top of this article, we are celebrating Academy of Champions’ North American debut with three prize packs, courtesy of Ubisoft Vancouver. Each prize pack consists of the following:

1 copy of Academy of Champions Wii game
1 adult T-shirt
1 child’s T-shirt
1 Pelé trading card
1 Academy of Champions pin
1 set of Academy of Champions shoe laces
1 mini Academy of Champions soccer ball

…and it all comes packed in an Academy of Champions mini backpack.

To enter for a chance to win this great prize pack, simply email the answers for the following questions to contest-at-villagegamer-dot-net, along with your name and mailing address, using Academy of Champions Contest in the subject line. This contest is open to residents of Canada only. Entries will be accepted until 9:00 a.m. on Friday, November 6, 2009. Winners will be chosen from a random draw of correctly answered ballots. Winners will be announced at noon on Friday, November 6 on Village Gamer, and prize packages will be sent directly from Ubisoft Vancouver.

The contest questions:

1. Who is the Assassin on the Ubisoft team?
2. Who is the American soccer star featured in Academy of Champions?
3. Pelé played for which country’s National Soccer Team?

Once again, congratulations to the team at Ubisoft Vancouver for presenting a highly-polished, very well put together debut product – you have much to be proud of with Academy of Champions.

Montreal – Electronic Arts Inc. has also announced that the award-winning Need for Speed™ NITRO is in stores across North America and will hit store shelves in Europe on November 6. Developed specifically for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™, Need for Speed NITRO brings an unrivaled sense of speed to the streets as players evade cops and take down competitors to become the world’s top racer.

“Need for Speed NITRO pushes the limits of racing on the Nintendo platforms to deliver the ultimate racer of the holiday,” said Joe Booth, Senior Producer. “With deep track designs and intense speeds, as well as accessible controls, NITRO promises insanely competitive races that will appeal to all levels of players.”

Need for Speed NITRO features a very diverse and impressive list of the world’s hottest muscle cars, exotics, and tuners including the Tesla Roadster, Pagani Zonda, Audi R8 and the Nissan Skyline. Players can custom-design their own ride with an incredibly deep yet intuitive visual customization system that lets players hit the streets in style with their personalized dream car. The game also includes unlockable cars that feature exclusive skins designed by lifestyle brands, tokidoki, Upper Playground and i am 8-bit.

Need for Speed NITRO delivers the thrill of high-speed racing to all types of gamers with exciting gameplay, accessible controls, and competitive multiplayer events including four player co-op career mode. Recently crowned IGN’s Best Racing Game on the Wii and Nintendo DS at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Need for Speed NITRO is this holiday’s most fun and exciting arcade racing game.

Developed by EA Montreal, Need for Speed NITRO is available on the Wii and Nintendo DS and is rated E10+ by ESRB.

Edmonton – Bioware’s Dragon Age™: Origins is now available on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC. Dragon Age: Origins introduces a dark and gritty approach to the fantasy genre where players must make ruthless decisions and be willing to sacrifice their friends and loved ones for the greater good of mankind. Several downloadable content packs are also now available, including Warden’s Keep, The Stone Prisoner and the Blood Dragon Armor.

“The launch of Dragon Age: Origins is the fantasy event of 2009,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group at EA. “I am extremely proud of the entire development team – and we’re all very excited to release one of our best games yet!”

Award-winning rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars will headline the in-game soundtrack for the new epic RPG, Dragon Age™: Origins. The title song from the band’s new album “THIS IS WAR” will make its world debut in Dragon Age: Origins before the highly-anticipated album (EMI’s Virgin Records) drops on December 8th. Available in the game today, fans and press can also get a first-listen of “THIS IS WAR” in an exclusive game trailer co-produced by Thirty Seconds to Mars front-man, Jared Leto.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmYfRt-hGpI]

“EA has always had a forward-thinking relationship with Thirty Seconds to Mars and we are overwhelmed with excitement about the band’s involvement and creative contribution to Dragon Age: Origins,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Music Marketing at EA. “This exciting song debut exemplifies our continued commitment to working with great bands that move the needle to where music is going.”

“We always like to push the envelope in the entertainment and media space and debuting our title track in a game of this caliber is a great way to communicate our music to fans around the world,” said Jared Leto, lead singer of Thirty Seconds to Mars. “We’ve come a long way from having to rely solely on radio to approach and engage music fans, and Dragon Age: Origins is the perfect game to do this with.”

BioWare has also launched a robust package of downloadable content (DLC) for Dragon Age: Origins. The Stone Prisoner gives players access to new environments, items, hours of additional gameplay and the mighty stone golem Shale who can become one of the most powerful party members in the game. The Warden’s Keep premium DLC provides players of Dragon Age: Origins with a new dungeon-exploring adventure, new loot including a set of ancient Grey Warden armor, a chance to gain two of six mysterious new abilities, a new base complete with merchants and a party chest to store their hard-earned items. In addition, BioWare has released the Blood Dragon Armor DLC, a set of themed armor that gives players additional protection in combat and will be available for use in both Dragon Age: Origins on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC and in Mass Effect™ 2 on the Xbox 360 and PC.

Players who previously downloaded the Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator to create their player character can now bring their hero to life in Dragon Age: Origins for PC. Screenshots, game data and story information can be uploaded to the new BioWare Social Network where players share great moments of their own personal adventure with other community members.

In Dragon Age: Origins, players take the role of a Grey Warden, one of the last of an ancient order of guardians. Now, as a rising evil threatens to destroy all life, it is up to players to unite the shattered lands and slay the corrupted dragon known as the Archdemon. On this journey, players will need to make critical choices that affect them and various members of their party.

Dragon Age: Origins is available today in North America on PlayStation®3, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC. In Europe, Dragon Age: Origins will be released on November 6th on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC and later in November on PlayStation®3. Dragon Age: Origins is rated M by the ESRB.

Vancouver – IUGO is proud to announce the release of Cliffed, its latest game featuring casual play with online, multi-player action!

Challenge your friends to the most addictive race to the bottom! IUGO presents its latest sensation in casual gaming with this frantic 2D scrolling racer. WARNING: This game will get your heart and fingers racing!

Features:

• 10 unique and playful characters to choose from
• Pick up and play! Great for all ages
• Endless game play
• Online multiplayer! Race up to 8 players in real time over 3G and wireless networks
• Local and global leaderboards
• IUGO’s new VIP program: Tell your friends, earn points and unlock an exclusive mystery character sooner
• Stylized, clean graphics
• IUGO’s signature quality and polish

Edmonton – On the eve of the release of Dragon Age™: Origins, Seattle’s Umbra Software has announced that Bioware has licensed Umbra’s visibility optimization technology for Mass Effect™ franchise, Dragon Age™: Origins and other future titles.

Umbra is a highly robust, GPU based, visibility optimization solution that allows game developers to create highly dynamic game worlds without pre-processing. With Umbra game developers can increase their polygon budgets significantly and create highly complex game worlds which were previously impossible.

“BioWare has proven their excellence with a multitude of award-winning projects,” said Farhad Taherazer, VP of marketing for Umbra Software. “We are proud to have a studio with their track record recognize our abilities with a broad integration of our tech, it gives us credibility in this market place and puts us closer to becoming an industry standard.”

Montreal – Ubisoft Montreal has announced that the soundtrack for Assassin’s Creed 2 will be released for digital download on November 16, one day before the game’s official release.

Award-winning composer Jesper Kyd has created an epic soundtrack for Assassin’s Creed II, the

North American Collector's Edition

sequel to the fastest-selling new IP in video game history. Following his atmospheric score for the original Assassin’s Creed, Kyd takes the music in an adventurous new direction and crafts an immensely diverse, melodic and progressive musical pallet featuring acoustic and symphonic orchestrations with emotional depth and diversity. The original score was recorded with A-List musicians and a Hollywood orchestra and choir at the world-renowned Capitol Studios.

“Jesper Kyd’s score for Assassin’s Creed II brings players into the Italian Renaissance by providing a true sense of depth for the poignant moments, while also giving a jolt of adrenaline to the action-packed sequences. We are thrilled to have Jesper Kyd back with us in making Assassin’s Creed II an epic title on all levels,” said Patrice Desilets, Creative Director at Ubisoft, while Jesper Kyd had this to say about the new soundtrack: “We created a unique musical identity for Assassin’s Creed II that reflects the character and story of Ezio and elevated the music, both in terms of creativity and live production, to a whole new level.”

Assassin’s Creed II is the product of over two years of intensive development by the original creative team behind the Assassin’s Creed brand, featuring a new hero, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young Italian noble, and a new era, the Renaissance. The game tells an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence’s most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin. The music propels the action, captures the allure and mystery of the story and immerses players in the breathtakingly detailed settings.

Vancouver – Grab your machete and run! To the App Store that is. Zombie Attack! Second Wave has hit. The elaborate sequel to IUGO’s smash hit Zombie Attack! has launched with more maps, hordes of zombies, bigger and better weapons and tons of brand new challenges.

Zombie Attack! Second Wave

Just when you thought it was safe…ZA! is back! Lovers of zombies and tower defense-style games combined have a second chance to tear into more zombies with more weapons and in more locations than ever before.

IUGO built upon what you loved best about the original Zombie Attack! game making it bigger, better and bloodier! Your mission: play as a survivor from the ultimate Zombie Apocalypse, protect your shack and stay alive. Kill zombies, earn points and cash to upgrade your weapons and bolster your fire power. Easy tilt and touch-screen controls make ZA! 2 an instant iPhone-exclusive favorite.

Features:

• 7 turrets (3 new, including the Pulsewave)
• New upgrades to super turrets
• 4 maps of varying sizes including Backyard and Trailer Park
• Hordes of challenges, 5 for each map
• 6 zombie types (4 new, including the Hound and Cheerleader)
• Instantaneous save when quitting the app
• Online high scores list for each map, local lists for challenges and personal records
• Automatic iPod music support (Just play your music and start the game)
• 3.0 USERS!! Additional iPod music playback option
• IUGO high-quality and polish

Quebec City – Beware of living deads around Halloween…Frima Studio’s Zombie Tycoon is launching today as a PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) mini title in North America, Europe and Asia. The hilarious zombie horde has been released to contaminate and infest the PlayStation®Network.

Zombie Tycoon was specifically designed for the PSP minis,” commented Frima’s CEO Steve Couture. “One of the biggest minis up to this date, our zombie game will give the player several hours to build his army and achieve complete world domination… It is not a port from a mobile game, but a whole new strategy game with a lot of funny and horrifying content.”

Frima’s team thought that it was about time their zombies got some brain food being in prison for 6 months in our offices! While usually, players have to face and stop an undead menace, as human, Zombie Tycoon lets you maneuver your very own ravenous zombie horde through towns and buildings.

This unique tale of intrigue and betrayal spans over 10 challenging levels, animated cut-scenes and in-game dialogues, and lots of humorous references. The combat system allows players to burn cities to the ground as they attack humans and the places they call home. As players alternate fast-paced action and strategic execution, they can choose from over 100 quirky items to arm their zombies and attempt to spread the undead across the globe!

The game is ready just in time for Halloween at a mini cost! Zombie is available for all models of PSP systems exclusively as a download through the PlayStation Network at $7.99 in North America and is rated T by the ESRB

Meanwhile, Big Blue Bubble invites gamers to Give ‘Em Hell…in High Heels with Garters & Ghouls for iPhone/iPod touch

Get ready to command the not-too-dead Marie Dupois in the haunting new franchise, Garters & Ghouls, now available on Apple’s App Store. Namco Networks has announced the release of Garters & Ghouls for iPhone and iPod touch, available for $4.99.

In this new action shooter, players control Marie as she is summoned to battle the minions and horrors beyond description! Garters & Ghouls features a twisted world in the form of 25 action-packed levels, providing hours of unique game play. Players help Marie on her quest by unearthing devastating weapons and massive power-ups! With downloadable content the fun never dies!

“Interesting characters, a compelling and humorous storyline and lots of undead destruction are just a few things that distinguish this from other titles,” said Jonathan Kromrey, general manager of Apple Games for Namco Networks. “What will keep fans coming back is the insatiable appetite for more…just like a zombie.”

To produce Garters & Ghouls, Namco collaborated with Big Blue Bubble, an award winning developer specializing in casual games for mobile devices for over 6 years. “As we’re constantly focused on innovation, we were really excited about helping launch this new property,” said Damir Slogar, CEO of the Canadian based developer. “Working with a major publisher like Namco allows us a great opportunity to get these games out to ever-expanding audiences. Namco offers unparalleled reach and support.”

Garters & Ghouls also features Facebook Connect, allowing users to post their rankings on Facebook and share achievements with their friends. Garters and Ghouls is rated T.

Vancouver – After hanging in the review queue for nearly 3 months, IUGO’s Star Hogs game for the iPhone/iTouch has received a major update to its look, features and content. This massive update includes the following new features, tweaks and fixes:

New Features:

• Additional free 32-map Alpha Centauri Campaign! (This was originally intended to be DLC as in-app purchase but has been switched to a FREE update)
• In-game messaging system. Tease, taunt and congratulate each other in-game!
• Players announce their entry into online battles.
• Ability for losers in a 3 or 4 player battle to receive their earnings first then decide whether to spectate or leave an online battle.
• Improved in-game graphics with updated textures and parallexing background 3d objects
• Scrolling window will now remember their previous position
• Automatic backup & restore system to prevent save file corruption
• IUGO VIP System for rewarding game referrals
• Invite friends feature
• Save/Resume for Campaign & FreePlay modes
• NEW WEAPON: Nuclear Strike
• NEW WEAPON: Matter Missile
• NEW MINE: Paint Mines
• NEW circular map for FreePlay & Online
• NEW flat map for FreePlay & Online
• Camera control when it is not player’s turn
• Audio & Vibrate alarm when a match is found in QuickPlay

Fixes and Optimizations:

• Better disconnection handling (Online game delayed due to lag will resolve within 60 secs)
• Improved online multiplayer synchronization
• Certain detectable non-cheating disconnection situation will result in players being disqualified to avoid point deduction (However, the loss will still have to be taken)
• Numerous hanger issues/crashes fixed
• Possible rankings page crash fixed
• 10-pt font fixes
• Introduction camera panning issue fixed
• Airplane mode crash fixed
• Load to 50% crash fixed
• Username/password saving bug fixed

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Vancouver – No Robots Interactive has announced that Apple’s approval has been given for their massive update to Jamble, plus the free version Jamble Lite has also gone live on the App Store. New products Jamble Dance and Jamble Dance Lite are now in review at Apple and should be out in early November.

About Jamble:

With the touch of a finger, Jamble lets you combine a variety of musical loops from international hit songs into your own impossibly great mashup mixes immediately making you sound like a pro-DJ and mashup master.

Jamble comes with 24 musical loops that you can mashup into infinite combinations. You can play with 16 active loops at a time and easily hot swap them with additional loops in your Jamble loop library while you play.

Jamble features live, real time music creation as well as allowing you to record, save and playback your mixes. Share your mixes with your friends via email, Facebook and Twitter.

You can get more loops directly from within the app and create custom set lists of your favorite loops to load them fast. The range of artists in Jamble include:

• Lady Gaga
• Gwen Stefani
• Kardinal Offishall
• Kid Cudi
• The Killers
• Asher Roth
• David Bowie
• Will.i.am
• All-American Rejects
• Gorillaz
• Blur
…and many others.

Edmonton – The first chapter of Dragon Age™ Journeys, a free to play browser based game set in the Dragon Age world, is now available over the internet. From Bioware, Dragon Age Journeys puts players in the role of a hero exploring the underground dwarven kingdom of Orzammar. Players will uncover a dastardly plot that threatens to unleash a great evil that won’t stop until it destroys all living things. Based on BioWare’s upcoming dark fantasy epic Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Journeys, sets a new standard of quality for browser-based games with addictive combat mechanics and fluid gameplay. Players of Dragon Age Journeys will have the chance to earn exclusive in game content for Dragon Age: Origins on the day of its release.

The game is produced by a new browser-based production team at EA and an all-star team of independent development talent, with the goal of creating premium quality browser games. Dragon Age Journeys represents EA’s commitment to supporting talented independent developers.

“Dragon Age Journeys continues our mission of working with talented game developers and artists to create high quality games, blowing away expectations of what is possible in the browser,” said Mark Spenner, VP of Development, EA 2D. “We are honored to be working with BioWare to introduce the Dragon Age franchise to a wide audience of gamers.”

“Dragon Age Journeys sets the stage for Dragon Age: Origins,” said Mark Darrah, Executive Producer, Dragon Age: Origins. “The team has shown the Dragon Age Franchise in a bold new light and the release of this game allows a broad audience of players to discover our dark fantasy universe for the first time.”

Dragon Age Journeys will feature intense tactical combat, a compelling story and deep customization. Players can choose from one of six different origin stories, each offering a unique background that shapes the lens of how the player perceives the world and how the world will perceive them. The game will deliver an amazing experience to fans looking for an introduction to BioWare’s dark fantasy epic, Dragon Age: Origins.

Dragon Age: Origins will be released in North America in…..twelve….more…..days……….

Surrey – KrabbitSoft’s Gothic Fantasy 3D Action RPG breaks the mold with Furious Fighter Style Game Play. A true Hybrid, RPG element defined as lite, Action/RPG/Fighter more accurately describes this game.

Hack n’ slash combat focused, KWO now includes Battle Modes for those too twitchy to satisfy with Story Mode. New dash attack and combat magic jump & multi-shoot level the playing field for earthbound and aerial battler alike. Not for the faint of heart, not for the weak in spirit, for you will be pwned.

Arcade Mode

Most profitable mode for gaining high level armor.
– 8 fights of three 2 min rounds
– choose comrade at start or between fights
– opponents are chosen for you (up to 24 opponents in groups of 5 depending on level)
– time remaining in Victory rounds is added to your XP
– to win a round you or your comrade must survive
– end of 3rd round player gets random loot
– end of 8th fight player gets special loot

Versus Mode

Potentially best mode for testing different comrades and practicing against various opponents.
– 1 fight consisting of three 2 minute rounds
– choose comrade at start
– choose opponent and opponent’s comrade
– time remaining in Victory rounds is added to your XP
– to win a round you or your comrade must survive
– at end of 3rd round player gets random loot drop

Survival Mode

Potentially the best mode for testing your skills. You must survive an onslaught of 60 opponents.
This mode is good for gaining a lot of XP. You can gain more loot than Versus plus you get special loot.
– 1 fight consisting of one 10 minute round
– time remaining in Victory rounds is added to your XP
– to win a round you or your comrade must survive

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