Vanquish Special Edition Gets Sweet Figurine

Sega has announced a special edition of Vanquish which will feature a figurine of kitted out super soldier Sam Gideon. This special edition is available at Zavvi in the U.K. and at Micromania, Game and Fnac.com in France.

“Get Sam Gideon on your desk as part of this rather tasty special edition of Vanquish that will be available in the U.K. and France,” reads the official blog. “The pack contains a figurine of Sam in full amour and is about 7″³ tall base to top.”

Source: Sega Europe Blog

Capcom Goes For Broke At Tokyo Game Show

Capcom today made several important announcements at the Tokyo Game Show, not the least of which is the next Devil May Cry. Titled simply DmC, the game is being developed in collaboration with U.K. based Ninja Theory, with the stylish action the series is known for now injected with a dark and brutal gameplay that promises to redefine the franchise.

Other announcements include Asura’s Wrath made with Japanese developer CyberConnect2, where the Asian deity Asura is stripped of his powers and promises to mix action, science fiction and drama in a way not unlike God of War. Finally, more DLC for Dead Rising 2 was announced in Case West, where Frank West does indeed return for some co-op action exclusively on Xbox Live, with an episode that will deliver more about the Fortune City outbreak and show links to the Willamette incident.

Mario: A History

As part of the ongoing celebration of 25 years of Super Mario, Nintendo released this video. Note that it tells the history from the Japanese perspective, so Super Mario Bros. 2 is different .

Firefall: Bugs Everywhere!

It kind of looks like a cross breed of StarCraft and Starship Troopers, but Red 5’s first project sure looks promising. Promising to be like a free-to-play version of Tribes, it is sure to turn heads.

Norton Pits The Hoff Against A Fan

Norton really has to be credited with their crazy situations that they’ve made up for their latest series of ads. In this one, we have David Hasselhoff vs. an oscillating fan!

Dark Tower Coming From Universal

Universal’s film and TV divisions officially working to adapt Stephen King’s epic fantasy series The Dark Tower. Ron Howard is set to direct the first film and first season of the TV show, which will be written by Akiva Goldsman, bridging to the second film, with the TV series then showing The Gunslinger as a young man as a bridge to the third film and then more if they get to it.

I’ve been waiting for the right team to bring the characters and stories in these books to film and TV viewers around the world, King said. Ron, Akiva, Brian along with Universal and NBC have a deep interest and passion for the The Dark Tower series and I know that will translate into an intriguing series of films and TV shows that respect the origins and the characters in The Dark Tower that fans have come to love.

The worlds of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series are richly detailed, inter-locking and deeply connected, Goldsman said. By telling this story across media platforms and over multiple hours and with a view to telling it completely we have our best chance of translating Roland’s quest to reach The Dark Tower onto screen. We are proceeding with tremendous excitement, fidelity to the source material and, quite frankly, no small amount of awe at this opportunity.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Kevin Butler Mistaken As Real Person, Says SCEA Exec

Kevin Butler is a larger than life personality, but isn’t too implausible for an industry where corporate executives become minor celebrities within certain circles. Vice president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America Peter Dille indicates that Kevin Butler’s status as a real person has tricked more than just a few fans.

While you might think that a consumer or two might be that naive, we’ve gotten contact from media people that aren’t aware that he’s a character, asking for an interview! said Dille.

Source: IndustryGamers

Gatorade In-Game Ads Worked

Nielsen recently researched the effects of in-game advertising on buying habits. Working with EA on behalf of Gatorade, they found that in-game ads for the energy drink increased household dollars spent on Gatorade by 24 percent, and offered a return on investment of $3.11

This is the first time that this type of sales lift analysis has been done for advertising within video games and it s all part of our efforts to help marketers better understand the potential of advertising in the gaming space, said Gerardo Guzman of Nielsen. In this case the story is simple dollars put into video game product placement result in more retail dollars.

Source: Blog.Nielsen.com

Trials HD Sees One Millions Downloads

RedLynx announced today that Trials HD has sold over one million units on Xbox Live Arcade. The game’s second expansion, Trials HD Big Thrills, is set to release later in 2010.

“Only a handful of downloadable console games have reached this plateau,” said Tero Virtala, CEO of RedLynx. “For a company of about thirty-five people, it’s a significant achievement, and it validates our strategy of focusing on online and downloadable games that have the potential to evolve into long-term, successful game franchises.”

“Congratulations to RedLynx for creating such a beloved, fun game that powerfully showcases the Arcade experience,” said Scott Austin, director of digitally distributed games at Microsoft. “We look forward to bringing more Trials HD content to the Xbox Live community with the upcoming release of Big Thrills.”

“This is a satisfying milestone,” said Antti Ilvessuo, creative director and co-founder of RedLynx, as well as the lead designer on Trials HD. “But it’s just the beginning. With the Big Thrills DLC, we are including ten of the very best user-created tracks right alongside our own.”

NCsoft Teams With PopCap

NCsoft and PopCap have announced an alliance. The two will work together to launch PopCap World in Korea, as a social service with casual games that with premium features being rolled out slowly.

“When Disneyland first opened, it revolutionized the amusement park industry and ushered in the era of the modern theme park. In the same way, we believe PopCap World has the potential to redefine casual games in Korea and beyond by offering players the most immersive PopCap experience yet,” said PopCap’s Asia and Pacific vice president, James Gwertzman. “We are very excited about our partnership with NCsoft their formidable presence in the online market combined with PopCap’s leadership in the casual and social spaces makes for an interesting recipe that we look forward to serving up to players in Korea and beyond.”

“We look forward to a successful launch, and to opening up this new world of fun to both our existing Korean users, as well as a whole new audience for whom this may well be their first online game, said Ncsoft’s vice president of web business Mr. Whang.