Digital Trends
Sierra Entertainment has announced that its next-generation strategy and combat game World in Conflict has gone gold and will arrive at retailers September 18. World in Conflict is based on the premise that the Cold War didn’t end; instead, western bloc and eastern bloc powers are duking it out on completely destructible battlefields around the world with modern weaponry—including nuclear weapons.
Game publisher Ubisoft has announced it’s bringing its 3rd person shooter War World to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade. Scheduled to be available “later this summer”—c’mon folks, there’s more than one hemisphere—War World hopes to redefine thenotion of an “arcade shooter” by combining tactical game play, fast action, and next-generation visual effects. In the game, players take on the roles of one of 10 “mechanoids” (think two-leggedbattle robots), each with their own unique strengths, and take them on a string of havoc and mayhem in a 100-level single-player campaign. Or, if that’s not challenging enough, War Worldwill also offer a four different multiplayer games through Xbox Live, supporting up to 8 players. War World is rated T for “Teen” by the ESRB, but neither Microsoft nor Ubisoft havereleased any pricing infomation.
And on an utterly different note, Ubisoft also announced at this week’s E3 conference in Santa Monica that it plans to launch a new line of video games specifically intended for girls aged 6 to 14, after conducting “extensive lifestyle research” into that audience. Video games specifically aimed at girls have so far failed to make serious dent in the traditionally male-dominated, shoot-and-blow-things-up world of video gaming, although there have been some noteworthy efforts from Sierra and other publishers.
Sierra Entertainment has announced the second installment in the current Spyro the Dragon franchise—The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night. The new game will continue the Legend of Spyro trilogy, and again features the voices of actors Elijah Wood as Spyro and Gary Oldman as Spyro’s mentor Ignitus. The game will feature several all new powers, including four new breath attacks, four new elemental melee moves, four new Fury attacks, and a new “Dragon Time” feature which lets Spyro bend time to dodge attacks and maneuver through tricky environmental puzzles.
Sierra Entertainment has announced it plans to ship World in Conflict for the Xbox 306 “this fall” and for PCs this September, combining elements of strategy and first-person action in a military action game pitting Cold War rivals against each other in completely destructible battlefields.
World in Conflict takes place in an alternate-history scenario where the Berlin Wall never fell, and begins in 1989 as the Soviets advance into Europe in an effort to forestall their own economic collapse. Conflict ensues as NATO moves to block the Soviets…and then faces conflict on a second front as the United States comes under attack.
Sierra Entertainment has announced it will be offering the hit 2D arcade game Geometry Wars: Galaxies for the Nintendo Wii console and Nintendo DS handheld.
“The Geometry Wars: Galaxies video game is an entertaining title blending old-school arcade fun with next-gen gameplay and action,” said Al Simone, Sierra’s SVP of Global Marketing, in a statement. “We are excited to bring the Geometry Wars brand to the Nintendo platform as both the Wii and DS enable a fun and frenetic experience for gamers.”
Sierra Entertainment’s new video game Scarface: The World is Yours is scheduled to hit retail stores October 8, and will feature sound design and audio effects on par with big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, mixed at George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch by Oscar-winning sound designer Randy Thom.
“Scarface is an icon of American cinema and the game needs to live up to not only the film’s enduring legacy but also quality level of today’s best blockbuster films,” said Cindy Cook, Vivendi Games’ chief strategy and marketing officer. “Our goal from the very beginning was to deliver the best possible experience as Tony Montana. By partnering with the best sound studio in the world and working with a Hollywood legend like Randy Thom, we have ensured that the sound quality in Scarface: The World Is Yours will be second-to-none.”
More depressing news for the industry, Vivendi Universal Games has cut 350 staff and shut down Seattle-based Sierra. The venerable games company created some of the most popular action and adventuregames in the 80’s. The Sierra brand will live on in name only and projects tied to the Sierra pipeline, Half-Life 2, Ground Control II and Tribes: Vengeance are already beingdeveloped by other teams within Vivendi. Also affected by the restructuring, the Hoyle brand of card and board games have been canceled.
The Serial ATA Working Group announced today two specification development milestones at the Intel Developer Forum here. One centers on doubling the signaling speed for Serial ATA, the other on new cable and connector solutions to support additional applications and usage models.
The specification for the second generation Serial ATA signaling speed – 3Gbps – has been completed and the release candidate of that specification has started its ratification process. The second-generation speed of 3Gbps (300MB/s) is double that of the first-generation Serial ATA speed which is 1.5Gbps (150MB/s).
This confirms the rumours that have been flooding the net, speculating as to just who the mystery manufacturer is. Sierra Wireless are best known for making the AirCard range, which enable wireless access for laptop computers.
The Voq has taken the standard candy-bar phone orientation and applied one major innovation: a flip-out QWERTY keyboard lurking behind the standard numeric affair. This makes it an attractive proposition for those with larger data-input requirements, and differentiates the product from the Mitac flip-phone and the popular Canary / Tanager design of the SPV.
The USB Keyboard has a suggested retail price of $29.95 USD and the Optical Mouse has a suggested retail price of $19.95 USD. Both products are on display at the Logitech booth (#1008) at theGame Developers Conference.
We’ve taken our experience and leadership in keyboards and mice and used them to deliver two quality products that offer new control options to PlayStation®2 fans,” said Fred Swan, Director ofMarketing for Logitech’s Audio and Interactive Entertainment Business Unit. “As more and more titles provide the option of using something other than a gamepad as a controller, gamers are looking forreliable, high performance devices. We’re meeting this need with products designed for them.”
Logitech has created a quality USB Keyboard for PlayStation®2, with a familiar keyboard layout and comfortable, quiet keys. The keyboard, especially ideal for gamers who chat online, features a compact design that sits easily on the lap or tabletop.
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