If I wasn’t informed that this was a browser-based game, I wouldn’t have known. Impressive what web-browsers can do nowadays.

So, what’s this game called? Kartuga. It’s a pirate-themed game that can run on almost any PCs with web-browser. And it’s free-to-play (as far as I know). The closed beta begins on February 27th, 2013 so if you’re interested, head onto Kartuga’s official website - http://www.kartuga.com

Attending Anime Conventions for more years than you can remember, or just your 1st time experiencing the magic and mischief of it all. Kumoricon’s 2012 retrospective panel is something all attendees can enjoy. After attending Sakuracon and recognizing that the Portland, OR / Vancouver, WA metro area NEEDED a dedicated Anime Convention, a handful of students got together, and thus Kumoricon was created and got its start November 29, 2003 in Springfield, OR. 2012 being Kumoricon’s Tenth Anniversary, there were a plethora of events and memories that everyone can share or reflect upon in its history. It was interesting to hear all the hardships and intricate planning that the staff had to undergo to get Kumoricon up and running and continuously improving upon itself throughout the years.

Although most of these obstacles probably gave most of the staff headaches and a dose of stress at the time, they have now become comedic tales of grandeur. Being fairly new to Anime Cons in general, what I found charming about this panel was all the hilarious hijinks and events that most people may have missed in between and behind the scenes. One of them involves a running gag that trolls a particular staff member with various Barbie doll paraphernalia. Each year his Manhood is demoralized by the various Barbie related gags that appear when he least expects it. Sadly for him, and a delight for everyone else, the culprit or culprits have yet to be identified and caught! There is another story about a large stuffed duck named Kamo Momo that would mysteriously appear at a different staff member’s door. Later this duck prank would evolve into a traveling adventure where people would take pictures of Kamo Momo at different conventions and post its pictures to its Facebook page! Kamo Mamo’s current whereabouts are unknown, so if you or anyone you know has any information that can lead to Kamo Mamo’s safe return to Kumoricon! Please respond in his Facebook page or contact Kumoricon staff!

Kamo Mamo’s Facebook page!  https://www.facebook.com/KamoMomo?amp%3Bref=ts

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyways, I can go on about all the other stories that were presented, but I find hearing it from someone who experienced it first hand with their own passionate words would do it better justice than anything I can write. You can see just how precious these memories and times were for many of the people that attended past Kumoricon’s. Some people found adventure, that rare manga, friendship, and even the love of their life. So by the end of this panel, it gave you that warm and gooey feeling inside like everyone was family! So come out to the next Kumoricon and build your own memories to share with a new family!

Snail Games, one of the top 10 Chinese game companies and a leading developer of MMO and interactive online games in China, reported on June 6th that, in the first 12 hours after launch of open beta in China for Age of Wushu, the company acquired another 500,000 players and had $215,000 (USD) in item sales.

Age of Wushu is the most highly anticipated new MMO, worldwide.  The game has more than 20 million players, in China.   AoW features the martial arts style of Wuxia fiction.  Players direct their character to not only do the kicks, punches, and jumps of martial arts professionals, but also to fly across the screen doing gravity defying moves.  Characters can walk on water, run vertically along walls and between roof tops.

International action star Jet Li is the new face of Age of Wushu.  Li, multiple times a national champion in Wushu before he became first a Chinese and then Hollywood star, has signed to endorse the game, do a commercial and make appearances.
About Suzhou Snail Digital Technology Co. Ltd.

Check out the Age of Wushu website for screenshots, trailers, wallpaper, and a fun guide to the 8 different martial art forms in the game.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Call of Duty®: Black Ops II delivers the most groundbreaking and visceral  Call of Duty® experience ever.  Set in the year 2025,  Call of Duty: Black Ops II propels players into global conflict featuring advanced weaponry, robotics, and drone warfare in a new Cold War scenario whose seeds are being sown in today’s headlines.  New graphics technology drives the stunning cinematic action of the single-player campaign’s branching storylines and non-linear missions.

“Hands down, this is the most ambitious  Call of Duty ever,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “We are bringing disruptive innovation to the franchise and we are doing it on several fronts. We’re pushing the boundaries technologically, graphically, and from a narrative and gameplay perspective. At the same time, we need to stay true to the epic realism, authenticity, heart pumping adrenaline, and cinematic action that so many people love and expect from a  Call of Duty  game. Treyarch’s vision for  Call of Duty: Black Ops II will redefine the  Call of Duty franchise for the future-both literally and figuratively.”

“With  Call of Duty: Black Ops II,  the team is crafting an experience that  Call of Duty  fans have never seen before,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head for Treyarch. “We are challenging assumptions on every front, with the single player campaign, Zombies and multiplayer.  In the campaign, we are creating a thought-provoking story that introduces branching storylines and meaningful choices that impact the narrative.  Running in the multiplayer engine for the first time, Zombies gives players a bigger and more diverse set of gameplay experiences, as well as entirely new ways to wage war with the undead.  And in multiplayer, we’re embracing all skill levels and play styles to give players more ways to engage. With  Call of Duty: Black Ops II, we’re all in and we won’t rest until we’ve launched nothing less than the best  Call of Duty we’ve ever made.”

On November 13th, award-winning developer Treyarch and Activision Publishing, Inc will deploy the sequel to the universally acclaimed  Call of Duty®: Black Ops, which, following its launch in 2010, set the record for the biggest entertainment launch in history.   

For more information, visit  www.callofduty.com/blackops or follow Call of Duty:  Black Ops II on  www.facebook.com/codblackops and on Twitter at #BlackOps2.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2K Games announced on May 9, 2012 that BioShock® Infinite from Irrational Games is now planned to launch worldwide on February 26, 2013.

Ken Levine, Creative Director of Irrational Games, stated, “When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing. Since then, we’ve uncovered opportunities to make Infinite into something even more extraordinary. Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need to deliver the best Infinite possible, we’ve decided to move the game’s release to February.”

BioShock Infinite, developed by Irrational Games, won over 75 editorial awards at E3 2011, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best of Show.

In this first-person shooter, the player assumes the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, who is sent to Columbia to rescue Elizabeth, a young woman imprisoned there since childhood. He develops a relationship with Elizabeth, augmenting his abilities with hers so they may escape from a city literally falling from the sky. DeWitt learns to fight foes in high-speed Sky-Line battles, engage in combat both indoors and amongst the clouds, and harnesses the power of dozens of new weapons and abilities.

Check out the above vid for a detailed look at the world and gameplay of BioShock Infinite.

For more information on  BioShock Infinite please visit  http://www.bioshockinfinite.com.

Deep Silver and Axis Animations, the production company behind the trailer for ”Dead Island”, recently won two prestigious marketing awards for their work on both the trailer and marketing campaign for the award-winning zombie action game.

First prize:

Gold award in the category for “Outstanding Promotional Trailer” at the Game Marketing Summit & Awards by PromaxBDA, the International Association of Entertainment Marketing Professionals.  Deep Silver also outshined other promotional videos for well-known brands.

Second prize:

First place in the “PR & Marketing” category for “Best Use of Social Media” At the MCV AWARDS 2012.

Deep Silver has published more than 200 games since 2003, including the action role-playing game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, successful adventures such as the Secret Files series and Lost Horizon, the role-playing game Risen and well-known licenses like the Chernobyl shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and Prison Break: The Conspiracy, the action adventure based on the popular TV series. Deep Silver has announced more upcoming highlights such as Risen 2, the sequel to the hit RPG, and Sacred 3. For more information please visit www.deepsilver.com

“Dead Island” has gathered a considerable following across all media all over the world since its announcement with a spectacular announcement trailer in February 2011, a trailer that surprised the masses everywhere and became an internet phenomenon. I myself was slack-jawed after watching the trailer, and have been aching to play the game ever since.  Despite a surprising number of people reporting that the game doesn’t live up to the expectation set by the trailer, “Dead Island” still received pretty decent ratings by sites like GameInformer, IGN, and GameSpot.

Activision announced today that PROTOTYPE 2^®, the sequel to Radical Entertainment’s original best-selling game of 2009, will be launched in the UK with the world’s first ever over-18 live outdoor advertisement.

At an iconic west London location at 9:00 p.m. (BST) on Sunday 22^nd April, the live ad will feature actors playing the parts of PROTOTYPE 2’s new protagonist Sgt. James Heller and his nemesis Alex Mercer, as well as Blackwatch military and the disease-ridden Infected.

Recreating action from the game, including a gruesome and bloody confrontation between the Heller and Mercer, the content has been recommended as only suitable for those over the age of 18 due its explicit nature.

“Due to the nature of PROTOTYPE 2’s content, the game has been rated by the BBFC and PEGI as certificate 18.  This live action advertisement reflects the game in its hard-hitting, fantasy nature and whilst we’re excited to bring this new game to our legions of fans, it would be inappropriate for under 18s to view it” commented David Tyler, Activision’s Minneapolis Business Unit EU General Manager.

The five minute long experience will be streamed live on the PROTOTYPE 2’s official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/prototype for those of age unable to experience the action live, offering fans around the world a chance to watch the production unfold.  I’ve checked it out and it’s definitely a very well-made and adrenaline-pumping trailer.

As the PROTOTYPE 2 live ad reaches its crescendo, fans will have the opportunity to vote for one of two endings via the PROTOTYPE 2 Facebook page from 20^th April.  The ending that receives the most votes will feature as part of the grand finale of the advertisement.

I always love these live action trailers for video games, like this one for Portal 2:

Click here to view the embedded video.

To watch the PROTOTYPE 2 live ad stream and vote on the ending, head over to www.facebook.com/prototype.  While there, be sure to join the PROTOTYPE Army – a community of over 453,000 (and growing) fans that receive constant updates from the team at Radical.  To find out more about PROTOTYPE 2, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/radical_ent and check out the game’s official Web site at www.prototypegame.com for the latest trailers, screenshots, special promotions and more!

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About PROTOTYPE 2
The sequel to Radical Entertainment’s best-selling open-world action game of 2009, PROTOTYPE 2 takes the unsurpassed carnage of the original PROTOTYPE and continues the experience of becoming the ultimate shape-shifting weapon.  As the game’s all-new infected protagonist, Sgt. James Heller, players will cut a bloody swathe through the post-viral wastelands of New York Zero with unparalleled locomotion, building up a vast genetic arsenal of deadly, biological weapons and abilities as they hunt, kill and consume their way toward the ultimate goal — to kill…Alex…Mercer.

PROTOTYPE 2 will be available for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation^®3 computer entertainment system on 24^th April 2012, and for Windows^® PC on 24^th July 2012.

Dungeon Blitz- a free-to-play, side-scrolling brawler with light RPG and MMO elements – has been launched by Blue Mammoth Games.  

The start-up’s founders, both with deep experience developing AAA titles for hardcore gamers, set out to create a game that offers players a full featured, multiplayer game challenge, even if they only have a few minutes to play.

Dungeon Blitz combines the fast paced combat of side-scrollers with the character development and customization of RPGs and the social interaction and cooperative combat of MMOs. New players can immediately jump into the action and play a full game session in as little as 10 minutes.

Dungeon Blitz’s combat system is extremely easy to learn with simple point-and-click controls; no tedious menu driven combat here. Players unleash physical and arcane abilities while actively moving and dodging enemy attacks in real time. Players can also join together to combine abilities from different classes to create even more powerful attacks.

Players choose from three classes, each with their own play styles:

• Paladin (stalwart strength)
• Rogue (swift, deadly attacks)
• Mage (mastery of the elements)

Players upgrade their abilities, gain new powers and take on greater challenges through leveling up, collecting loot and crafting.

While the game can be played solo, Dungeon Blitz really shines when friends gather to party. Gamers can quickly team with other random players or use the in-game communication and guild features to easily organize a few spare minutes of play with buddies.

“Talking with friends, we realized there are tons of guys like us who used to be hardcore MMO players but just don’t have the time anymore. Our goal was to create a fun, light, but still challenging title that would let us get together with friends as well as get an online fix — but to do it in bite-sized chunks,” Lincoln Hamilton, Founder, Blue Mammoth Games, explains. “By taking advantage of the browser environment, we’ve created a new twist on side-scrollers with a mash up of the best features from brawlers, RPGs and MMOs.”

Dungeon Blitz is set at the crossroads between the mundane Human World and the mystical Sleeping Lands. The free-to-play game features optional micro transactions that can be used to purchase in-game items and boosts.

As a non-fan of MMOs, but a huge fan of side-scrollers, I’m excited to dive in and see if I can jump on the MMO bandwagon and experience a bit of what my other MMO friends are raging about.  The trailer definitely piqued my interest.

Dungeon Blitz is now available at http://www.dungeonblitz.com.