 Omega Sektor, the brand new gaming and entertainment centre, today opens its doors in the heart of Birmingham. The venue, the largest of its kind in the world, features 450 state-of-the-art Intel Core 2 Quad-based PCs from leading UK manufacturer SCAN, a dedicated next-gen console room, and offers visitors more than 100 games to choose from. The Intel quad-core equipped SCAN PCs, and specially selected Razer peripherals enable gamers visiting the centre to experience all the action using the best gaming technology available. The centre is the largest permanent collection of Intel based gaming PCs available in Europe.
Commenting on Intel’s support of the centre, Adrian Le Mans, sales and marketing director for Omega Sektor says,
“Intel is synonymous with quality and performance, and its continuing investment in creating the ultimate gaming experience and supporting serious gaming talent, is a perfect match for Omega Sektor.â€
“At Intel, we’re excited at the emergence of mainstream gaming, and Omega Sektor gives gamers, both serious and casual, the chance to try out our latest quad-core technology. It represents a new breed of centres that enable a gaming experience that the whole family can enjoy, and emphasises the fact that gaming is a thoroughly engaging and hugely sociable pastime,†Graham Palmer, at Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd. says.
The centre offers something for all types of gamers from casual right through to professional, with a number of tournament organisers signing up to use the centre for major events, and top-class gamers coming from all over Europe to play at the centre. In addition to externally organised tournaments, the centre will also host its own smaller tournaments, offering visitors the opportunity to try out multi-player gaming and win prizes.
The venue houses a range of brand new and classic games from major publishers including Activision, THQ, Square Enix, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Blizzard Entertainment – with 12+ and under games on the ground floor – and 15+ and above games on the first floor. Membership for the first 5,000 people to register for the centre is free, and there are a number of different gaming price packages available, including one hour of gaming for £3 and three hours of gaming for £5. The centre also has a VIP gaming room, the OS Club that can be hired for private events and special tournaments.
Omega Sektor is located at 90-98 Corporation Street (corner of Bull St), Birmingham, B4 6SX. The centre opens daily from Monday to Saturday from 8am until 11pm, and on Sundays from 9am until 11pm. There will also be late night sessions available on Fridays and Saturdays.
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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will launch the Speed Racer videogame based on the upcoming film written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. The game will be available in 2008 on the Wii and Nintendo DS systems along with the Playstation 2 system.
In the Wii and PlayStation 2 system games, players will be able to take on the role of the characters from the film, getting behind the wheels of each character’s signature vehicles to experience firsthand the film’s high-adrenaline, combative racing style. The car-fu style of action within the game will closely represent the action style being designed by the Wachowski brothers for the film itself as they lend direction and assets to the development team directly from their Berlin set. John Gaeta, a long-time Wachowski collaborator and Co-VFX Supervisor on the Speed Racer film, is working with Sidhe and WBIE to assist in maintaining a close film-to-game aesthetic connection.
“Speed Racer is an exceptionally creative property and teamed with the Wachowski brothers’ vision it makes for action-packed racing gameplay,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Development and Production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The game will capture the intensity of the racing in the film to give gamers and movie fans a chance to take the wheel after they experience the film.”
“We are very excited about this natural extension from the Speed Racer film to the videogame. Larry and Andy are videogame fans themselves, so they believe that an interactive game is a key component to the entire Speed Racer experience,” said film producer Joel Silver.
The game’s development for the Wii and PlayStation 2 system platforms is led by the New Zealand-based Sidhe, a game development studio recognized for producing high-quality entertainment titles with world-class creative and software development skills. Developing across console, handheld, and PC, Sidhe has created a range of innovative products including a variety of racing titles.
Written and directed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta) and produced by Joel Silver, Speed Racer is based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida. A live-action family adventure, Speed Racer follows the young race car driver Speed in his quest for glory on and off the track in his thundering Mach 5. The film will feature other characters that fans of the show will remember, including Speed’s family and his mysterious arch-rival, Racer X. The new high-octane actioner will combine the kind of revolutionary visual effects and cutting-edge storytelling that have become the benchmarks of the Wachowski brothers’ films, bringing Speed Racer into the 21st century. The film stars Emile Hirsch (”Alpha Dog”) as Speed, Christina Ricci (”Black Snake Moan”) as Trixie and Matthew Fox (TV’s “Lost”) as Racer X as well as Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (”Dead Man Walking”) and John Goodman (”Evan Almighty”) as Mom and Pops Racer.
In the title match, the Chicago Chimera trumped the Carolina Core 22-21 in the Championship Gaming Series North American final, broadcast live and in HD on DIRECTV’s The 101.
For Chicago, who precariously held pole position in the league standings through most of the league season, victory did not come easy. Falling behind 12-4 on defeats to Carolina in DOA female (2-5), FIFA (0-2) and DOA male (5-2), Chicago appeared to be giving the final away.
But the Chimera found its footing in Counter-Strike, running away with a 13-5 romp over the Core to pull even with a 17-all team score.
Waiting in the wings all night was the dominant force of Wesley “Ch0mpr†Cwiklo and Jason “Jason X†Exelby, the dynamic PGR duo. Carolina’s Brent “Rex†Dimapilis did his best to run Cwiklo off the road early in the race, but the 18-year old from Camarillo, CA slipped through to finish first, giving Chicago the championship.
“I thought we were out of it,†confided Chicago GM, Brian Flander. “But our Counter-Strike guys really showed up for us tonight and the PGR team finished it off. This is just unbelievable.â€
Chicago Chimera receives an additional $100,000 team bonus on top of their salaries for the win and their overall record improves to 10-4. Both teams go on to the global finals to be held in Los Angeles this November.
I can’t wait for the day when more game makers finally forget about trying to latch onto the so called latest “craze†and try to bring something new to the game market. The average game player is 33 years old and we have just about seen it all when it comes to games.
We need something new, something different in our games. Don’t just add a number to the title, change the graphics and the maps along with maybe adding a new weapon or two, and then call it “SameOldGame 3†**cough, cough Halo 3**. It’s almost like what is going on with the movie industry now days. How many remakes or sequels have you see at the box office in the last 5 years? (Way to many to even count) Full Story »
Electronic Arts Inc., the world’s leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment, today announced the creation of a new EA entity in Russia. The new office, established to directly serve Russian consumers and retailers, is another step in the company’s growth strategy in Central and Eastern Europe and adds to EA’s global presence in over 40 markets outside of North America. EA intends to contribute to the rapidly growing market for interactive entertainment in Russia. The Moscow-based team will focus on bringing more localized game offerings to Russian players, more direct engagement with the gaming community and greater collaboration with retail partners.
At an event planned later today in Moscow, EA will host members of the government, industry and media to outline plans for bringing the best and latest innovations in interactive entertainment to Russia. Later this year, two of EA’s most popular franchises among Russian consumers, Need for Speed and FIFA Football, will launch in fully localized Russian versions for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, adding to the company’s existing portfolio of games localized in Russian for the PC.
“Russia represents a significant opportunity for the games industry,” said Peter Laughton, EA Vice President and General Manager of Central and Eastern Europe. “This is a very dynamic marketplace, with a world class retail environment and consumers who have the intellect and appetite for interactive entertainment. We’re looking forward to bringing tailored offerings to Russian consumers that incorporate local language, music, and celebrities into some of our most popular titles”.
The Russian video game market is estimated at $250 million today, and is expected to more than double in the next three to five years. An increasing number of gaming consoles, PCs and game-enabled mobile phones will encourage the trend, along with compelling games content and a vibrant retail environment.
The Video Game Voters Network is a place for American gamers to organize and defend against threats to video games by registering to vote and letting Congress know how important this issue is to the community. Without a critical mass of adult video game players who are registered to vote and willing to stand firmly behind their games, politicians will continue to fire criticism at games and game players in order to score easy points for their political campaigns.
Video games are fully protected speech under the Constitution, and receive the same First Amendment protection as books, movies, music and cable television programs. The Network opposes efforts to regulate the content of entertainment media, including proposals to criminalize the sale of certain games to minors, or regulate video games differently from movies, music, books, and other media. The Network also enables gamers to stay educated about issues, reach out to federal, state, and local officials, and register to vote. The Video Game Voters Network is a project sponsored by the Entertainment Software Association, a trade group representing America’s video game publishers.
[youtube wy3hhyQfsKs nolink]
The Video Game Voters Network brings you this web video about the attack on video games, which is in the spirit of a game trailer. The “Fight For Video Games” trailer shows how politicians and media critics have set their sights on video games, just as they have with comic books, movies and music before, but now you can ensure they lose this struggle, just as they lost in other battles against free speech.
Do your part to raise awareness of the attacks on video games and help promote the “Fight For Video Games” Trailer - Watch It, Share It, Comment on It, and Embed It on your website.
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