Bus Simulator 2008 will test your driving and business skill

Bus Simulator 2008 is a driving game where you will be the bus driver and drive through busy metropolitan roads and reach your destination in time. Bus Simulator 2008 combines driving and business simulation which tests both the player’s driving and business skills.

The game has 34 missions in a fictional megacity. According to your reputation and skill, the routes will become more difficult. Your goal is to reach your destinations in time and transport as many passengers as possible. You will lose points for reckless driving and late arrival. You have to choose from eight different bus models. Upon his success, the player will accumulate money and will be able to buy larger buses and he has to maintain them and have to devise ways to attract more passengers.

The game has a detailed city model with traffic and pedestrians. As a driver, you can have different view modes. You will also know about the weather conditions of the day. The user interface is very easy and there is an online score table. For more information about the game, visit the official website: http://bussimulator.icebytesgames.de/index.php?id=71&L=1

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will released on PS3

If you are a Penny Arcade game fan then this is good news for you. The Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will be released on Sony’s Play Station3. Developed by Hothead Games, earlier this year, the first episode of the game was released on PC and Xbox 360 platform. On Wednesday, Hothead Games announced that they will release the game for PS3 in late fall.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is an episodic video game. The entire game will be released in four episodes. The first episode was launched on May 21, 2008, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and Xbox Live Arcade. The game is revolves around the story of alternated world of New Arcadia in the 1920s. The central character, Gabe and Tycho set out to discover the evil machinations.

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Star Wars The Clone: Wars: Light Saber Duels the new Star Wars game on Nintendo Wii

A new Star Wars game will be released on Nintendo Wii. The game will be released after October. In August, a new 3D animated movie will be released which will be followed by TV series in October and after that the game will be released in the holiday season. The game titled Star Wars The Clone: Wars: Light Saber Duels, will come with a remote control that will look like a lightsaber which the players will use to slice and dice their opponents. In the game the player will see the old characters of Star Wars series and new characters as well.

One of the new characters introduced in the game is Ahsoka Tano who belongs to the Togrutan race. The overall controlling system of the game is similar to that of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.

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Fallout 3 is coming this Fall

Bethesda Game Studio is going to release Fallout3 the third version of Fallout game. Fallout is a role playing action game that deals with post nuclear war United States. The games character lives in a vault built to survive the disaster. They will get out of the vault and face various creatures. Till now, Fallout has been a fist person shooting game but Fallout3 will have first person and third person perspective. The Fallout3 comes with developed environment. You will see vast stretch of wasteland filled with mutants and other creatures. Worth Playing reports:

Experience S.P.E.C.I.A.L.! – Vault-Tec engineers bring you the latest in human ability simulation – the SPECIAL Character System! Utilizing new breakthroughs in points-based ability representation, SPECIAL affords unlimited customization of your character. Also included are dozens of unique skills and perks to choose from, each with a dazzling variety of effects!

In 2001, PC gamer declared Fallout and Fallout2, the best game of all time. The new version of the game will be released this fall.

Warner Bros. is going to release Watchmen games along witht the movie

Alan Moore’s graphic novel ‘Watchmen’ will be adopted into film by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is going to develop a game which will be released along with the movie in 2009. Warner Bros. is planning to release the game on Xbox 360, Playstation3, and PC. Watchmen will be developed by Deadline games. It will be an episodic downloadable series. Earlier, the company developed games like Chili Con Carnage, Total Overdose, Faith, and a.45.

The Watchmen will be an action game and it will serve as the prequel of the movie. Aside from building back stories, the game will introduce new characters. The game will also have a similar story to that of the comics.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor game released in the USA

The third installment of The Mummy series, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, will be released in August. The game of the movie has been released today in North America with the same title. Developed by Eurocom Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a third person action game that follows the same story line of the movie. The game has all the major characters of the movie. However, I am not sure whether the gamers will be able to play with all the characters. Like the movie, the gamers will also follow the character in a thrilling adventure in the Himalayas and many exotic locations in China. The gamers will have to face fierce enemies and they have to destroy them. Players can switch between using guns or hand-to-hand fighting. The characters have a fast paced combat style and they can chose a wide range of weapons to destroy the enemies. The game will be released for three gaming platforms: Wii, PS2 and Nintendo DS.For more information, check the official website of the movie.

Mega Man 9: Your favorite Nintendo game is coming back

News has come out that Capcom Co. Ltd. (TYO:9697) is going to release a new version of its popular game Mega Man. The first game was released with Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. Following the popularity of the game, several versions were released but they were not so successful. After 11 years, Capcom is now recreating a new series Mega Man 9.

Mega Man 9 can be downloaded with Wii Ware service. It is an 8 bit game. Keiji Inafune, who created the series, is now working on the design team. Inafune is very happy to work on an 8 bit game after a long time.

The most prominent feature of this game is that you will find yourself in the 1990’s gaming era. All the features are kept intact with tough to kill bosses. The strategy is the same; kill each boss, collect their power and use them to kill the next boss.

Aside from the old features, you can remove Mega Man’s helmet and you can also buy weapons such as armor, spike shoes, energy balancers etc. According to news reports, Mega Man will be launched in Japan in September. After Japan, it will be released in the USA.

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All the Halo Fans: Bungie day is coming next week

Famous Halo creator Bungie Studios will be giving free goodies of Halo on July 7. The July 7 is known as “Bungie Day” among Halo fans. Among them there is going to be a new downloadable multiplayer map; Cold Storage. It is a multiplayer map based on Chill Out from Halo: Combat Evolved. Along with this multiplayer map you will get 7 new gamer pictures and a dashboard theme. The products will be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. You will also get the “Halo 3 legendary Map Pack” in lower price in 600 Microsoft points.

As I have mentioned earlier, this new map, Cold Storage is mainly based on Chill Out. It was once a vibrant research facility on Installation 05. An accidental contamination started outbreak and compromised the Forerunner center.

This year, eight million users can download Cold Storage. If you are Halo fan then make sure you download them on July 7. The goodies are available only for that day.

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Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger coming for PC and Xbox360

Famous Game publisher, South Peak Interactive, LLC is going to launch Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger; an action genre games that requires both Real Time Strategy (RTS) and First Person Shooting (FPS). The game will be launched for both Xbox 360 and PC. Developed by Atomic Motion, Raven Squad is about a mercenary squad that crash lands behind the enemy lines in the Amazonian jungle. As a gamer, you will control this squad. The squad is divided in two groups each consisting of eight members and each members have different sets of skills. You have to use FPS, RTS to achieve your goals in the game. The player can instantly switch between two modes. South Peak is going to release Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger in autumn.

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Sony Computer Entertainment will launch new version of playstation 2 in India in Diwali

Sony Computer Entertainment is going to launch a fourth version of its popular game console, Play Sation-2 (PS2). The device will be launched in Diwali this year. Along with India, PS-2 version 4 will be released in Europe. This new version of Sony PS-2 is a high end product with a more slim and sleek built. This time, there will be no external AC adapters. The new product will cost Rs. 6,990. For Play Station-3 users in India, Sony Computer Entertainment is going to launch playstation network. Already available in Europe and the USA, PS3 network will allow the gamers to download new games and updates of various games from the internet. The players will also be able to buy new games through internet. Sony Computer Entertainment’s country manager, Atindriya Bose, said that the playstation network is ready for India. Only the integration of the payment system has to be made.

Like the car market, India is also an emerging market for gaming consoles. Console gaming is still at its early stage and Sony has plans to further expand its market. Currently, Sony has 3,40,000 bases in India.

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Japan Game Industry in 2008: Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G dominates the market

Sony and Nintendo mainly dominated the Japanese game market for the first half of 2008. Japan’s famous game magazine, ‘Famitsu,’ conducted a bi-yearly survey. So far, the biggest success was enjoyed by Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. The game was sold over 2 million copies in Japan. The game is a prime example of what one great game can do. Players could also download new quests from the website. According to game journalist, Kiyoshi Shin, the Pokémon generation has shifted over to 2nd G and one could see this as a shift in the Nintedo DS’s audience.

Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii enjoyed a great time as well. So far, Nintendo DS sold over 100,000 copies. Till now, Nintendo sold 20 million DSes in Japan. Nintendo Wii was very successful with its three games: Wii Fit, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii. Sales of all these games touched million mark.

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Clank, Hot Shot, R-Type Command: PSP's most popular three

Launched in 2005, Playstation Portables have changed a lot within these three years. Now, with a PSP, you not only play games but call your friends through the Skype service, watch movies, listen to music and connect to the television and play games. Yes, PSPs are serious machines now. However, it is still gaming that draws PSP users. The three most popular games of PSP are:

Secret Agent Clank: It is the sequel of Sony’s popular game “Ratchet & Clank.” Ratchet is a Lombax (an alien creature) and Clank is the robot. Ratchet is very good with machines and gadgets and carries a large wrench. In this new version, Clank goes out to save Ratchet, as he is imprisoned.

Hot Shots Golf (Open Tee 2): Personally, I am not a golf lover. Cricket has already made my life miserable. However, if you are a Golf lover then you should try Hot Shots Golf. The game is developed Clap Hanz. The first version for PSP was launched in 2005 in the USA and became one of the most popular PSP games.

R-Type Command: This is one of the most popular outer-space shooting games. The new version is much more tactical.

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Sony takes Firmware 2.40 offline within one hour of release

Within one hour after uploading on the internet, Sony stopped its latest PS3 update, firmware 2.40, as it started to receive complains from users. Firmware 2.40 was released on 2nd July 2008. Sony said that a small number of people submitted complaints about the update. They were facing problems while installing the firmware. Still, Sony has temporarily stopped the download and trying to identify the problem. Information week reports:

"I downloaded version 2.40, put in Metal Gear Solid 4 [video game] and I get a black screen forever," one customer wrote. "I can't even get demos to start."

A Sony spokesman confirmed that the company pulled the firmware off its servers while it investigates the problem, which he said was experienced by a "limited number of consumers."

After releasing the update, Sony started to receive complaints about it on its official PS3 message board.

There is no news of the owners whose PS3 consoles stopped working after downloading the update. Whether they will be able to fix it for themselves or have to send it to Sony. Sony said that in order to further assess they had temporarily taken the firmware offline for further testing. The firmware 2.40 was created to add Trophies and “in-game access.”

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Activision, Konami and MTV Games fight to take over the music games market

Action, adventure, puzzle, and now, a new kind of game is on the horizon; the music game. Already, the competition has been heated up by Activision, and MTV Games. Activision’s Guitar Hero: World Tour, and MTV Games’ Rock Band are two of the most popular games. Now, Konami is going to release Rock Revolution.

This week, MTV Games is releasing a new version of Rock Band for Nintendo Wii. Activision will release another version of Guitar Hero for Nintendo DS. None of the companies are pulling any punches when it comes to promote their games through various television shows and advertisements. For example, Guitar Hero was showcased on ‘American Idol’. Rock Band will be showcased on MTV. After the release of Rock Revolution this fall, the competition will become more intense.

However, there is a big problem, all these games support different consoles and requires different plug ins which could cost the gamers pretty penny.

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Xbox 360: Microsoft cuts price of its Xbox consoles to catch up with Nintendo and Sony

Microsoft has announced price cuts over its Xbox products. Now, the Microsoft Xbox360 will cost $349. This makes Xbox 360 the cheapest next generation console. The current price of Nintendo Wii is $50 more than Xbox360. However, prices of Xbox 360 Pro and Xbox 360 Elite are still higher then Wii. After price cuts, the current price of Xbox 360 stands at $499 and Xbox 360 Elite at $649.

Microsoft’s price cut comes in the face Xbox 360’s lower sales volume compared to Nintendo Wii and Sony’s Playstation 3. The new pricing policy will be applied to the 16 retailers listen on Microsoft’s website.Rumor is that Microsoft is going to update Xbox 360 later this year.

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Mortal Kombat Unchained on PSP

Now, you will enjoy the latest version of Mortal Kombat on PSP. Mortal Kombat Unchained has all the major characters of the game with its high voltage fights and violence. You will get some serious finishing moves, new dodging techniques and combos. The fighting style is also new with newly developed battle arenas and backgrounds.

All the popular characters of Mortal Kombat: Sub-Zero, Shinnok, Goro, Baraka, Scorpion, Raiden, Noob Saibot, Mileena can be found in Mortal Kombat Unchained. Though this new version is based on former version Mortal Kombat Deceptions, there are few new additions such as weapons and game modes. You can chose more deadly weapons. There are chess Kombat mode, puzzle mode and a story mode as well where you will be fighting against the evil. Last but not the least, Mortal Kombat Unchained comes with great sound effects and physical appearances.

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