Author - Jerry Paxton

Omerta – City of Gangsters Xbox 360 Demo Out

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Ridgewood, NJ, February 28, 2013 – Kalypso Media has released a new single-player demo of Omerta – City of Gangsters for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft today.

The demo features two levels from the Prohibition-era gangster game that mixes city conquest with turn-based combat and heist planning. Grab the demo to get a taste of Omerta, and see if you can become the ultimate crime lord in 1920’s Atlantic City.

Omerta – City of Gangsters is a simulation game with tactical turn-based combat. Taking the role of a fresh-off-the-boat immigrant, with dreams of the big life, the player will work his way up the criminal hierarchy of 1920’s Atlantic City, New Jersey. Starting with small jobs, his character recruits a gang and expands his empire by taking territory from other gangsters. Eventually he establishes his own crime syndicate and becomes the de facto ruler of Atlantic City.

The player strategically manages his business and his minions in a real-time format, slowly but steadily increasing his influence over the city. The player sends his henchmen out on missions ranging from assassinating an informant, to raiding a warehouse, springing a friend from prison, robbing a bank or attacking a rival gang’s hideout. Nobody is above the law in Atlantic City, so it always helps to have a little cash handy to bribe a policeman or pay off a politician.

The turn-based combat in Omerta – City of Gangsters focuses on the tactical command of “The Boss” and his henchmen. Cover and stealth are essential parts of any shootout in the game. Finding the best vantage point to gun down an enemy, while taking cover from a hailstorm of bullets, can be just as satisfying as sneaking quietly behind a foe and taking him down.

For more information about Omerta – City of Gangsters, please visit http://www.cityofgangsters.com, or follow us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OmertaCityofGangsters and on twitter via @OmertaGame.

Swann Announces Sky Duel RC Helicopters

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Santa Fe Springs, Calif. – (February 28, 2013) Swann, a global leader in do-it-yourself security monitoring solutions and cool gadgets, launches the latest addition to its helicopter line with the Sky Duel. The Swann Sky Duel twin indoor helicopters allow you to shoot infrared beams at your opponent, complete with real whizzing sounds and flashing lights when you fire a missile. After you’ve registered three hits, your opponent falls from the sky. Once your duel is over, you can start again and give your challenger a chance to make a come-back. Don’t worry about damaging your new toy- the Sky Duel is built for indoor flying and will withstand impacts and crashes!

The Sky Duel helicopters are easy to control and even harder to put down since they are equipped with Swann’s Easy-Fly Gyro Technology. The controllers feature two analog control joysticks, styled after classic video games. The trim controller comes equipped with a laser fire button, operated with little or no practice, making it easy for anyone to be flying like a pro in no time. The precise 6-way multi-directional Up/Down, Forward/Backward & Left/Right turn movements are simple and easy to execute.

The Sky Duel helicopters make charging on-the-go effortless, using either the cable in the remote control or your computer’s USB port so you can take your battle anywhere. Every time you charge up your Sky Duel, you’re ready for 7 minutes of flying per chopper.

Included with the Sky Duel are spare main and tail rotor blades, a screwdriver and parts. You also receive a bonus landing pad game for you to perfect your take-off and landing skills, so you’re battle-ready for the next challenger. Take to the skies, grab a wing man and let the sky duel battle begin. May the best pilot win.

ROCCAT to Show Ryos MK Pro at CeBIT

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Hamburg – February 28th, 2013 – German gaming peripherals manufacturer, ROCCAT Studios, celebrates the fifth anniversary of the release of the successful Kone gaming mouse. The occasion is marked with the announcement of the Kone Pure Color at CeBIT 2013. The mouse comes as a direct response to the expressed wishes of ROCCAT customers, and only a limited number of the special edition mouse will be made. Other variations of the Kone will follow later in the year. The Kone Pure Color boasts the same features as the existing Kone Pure – complete with a 8,200 DPI laser sensor, high quality Omron© switches, and the popular Easy-Shift[+]™ function. The mouse will be available in four different designs: Hellfire Red, Polar Blue, Inferno Orange, and Phantom White.

The original Kone gaming mouse was launched in 2007, and laid the foundation for an impressive success story. At ROCCAT, 2013 therefore belongs to the mice in the award-winning Kone series, which are amongst the most popular gaming mice worldwide. CEO and Founder René Korte, on the Kone Pure Color and other planned special editions: “Based on customer feedback, the Kone series has evolved steadily and consistently over the last five years. Often there are requests and questions about features which, for various reasons, cannot be easily integrated into the regular versions. For the five-year anniversary of the Kone, we are excited to satisfy of the most popular of our customers’ wishes with these special edition mice. The Kone Pure Color is the first of the special edition mice, and we have lots more planned for 2013.”

Besides the Kone Pure Color, ROCCAT will also be presenting the latest version of Power-Grid at CeBIT 2013. The software turns your smartphone into a sophisticated, fully-customizable remote control for your PC, extending the gaming environment of the user onto their smartphone. At CeBIT ROCCAT announces the start of the closed beta testing phase for Power-Grid on iOS and Android.

Also at CeBIT, ROCCAT will be showcasing the eagerly-anticipated ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro mechanical gaming keyboard. The MK Pro features fully programmable, individually illuminated keys. The keyboard will be available with four different CHERRY MX key switches: blue, black, brown, and red.

PowerSkin for iPhone 5 Now Shipping

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Costa Mesa, Calif. – February 28, 2013 – PowerSkin®, maker of shock-absorbing, battery-boosting cases for smartphones and gaming accessories, launched its second Apple-certified external charging solution for the iPhone 5 this month with the release of its silicone battery case, just a couple weeks after the PoP’n external battery charger announcement.

“PowerSkin® has been striving to bring to market Apple-certified Lightning charging solutions for the new iPhone 5 that are unique in their feature sets and modern in their designs,” said Jeniece Aragon, Marketing Director for XPAL Power. “Both the iPhone 5 silicone battery case and PoP’n are shipping to consumers already, whereas a majority of external battery cases are only available for pre-order at this point.”

The PowerSkin® for iPhone 5 packs 1500 mAh of power capacity, extending talk time by up to 6.5 hours and music time up to 32 hours. An on/off button located on the back gives users power-on-demand with LED battery lights displaying the amount of charge left.

The PowerSkin® for iPhone 5 is available now at www.power-skin.com or www.power-skin.com/battery-cases/apple/iphone5.php for $79.99, with free express shipping through March 7th, 2013.

To learn more about PowerSkin® products visit www.power-skin.com, and follow PowerSkin® onFacebook.com/PowerSkinCases, on Twitter @PowerSkinUSA and onPinterest.com/PowerSkinUSA.

EVE Online Surpasses 500k Subscribers

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REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – Feb 28, 2013 – CCP Games, the world’s leading independent massively multiplayer game studio, today announced their award-winning, sci-fi MMO EVE Online® had surpassed the 500,000 subscriber mark worldwide for the first time in the game’s history. The milestone continues ten consecutive years of subscriber growth and follows the December 4 release of EVE Online: Retribution, the game’s 18th free expansion and its most successful ever.

Also in December, EVE Online relaunched in China with new partner Tiancity to bring the same sandbox-style gameplay to a massive new audience where it has been thriving ever since.

In January, CCP’s DUST 514® a free-to-play massively multiplayer online first-person shooter, went into open beta and became available for free download exclusively to PlayStation®3 users worldwide. DUST 514 shares the same, real-time universe as EVE Online and player corporations can coordinate attacks between the two games. This marked the first time two games from different genres have been linked together into one, massive online experience.

“Ten years after release, it is incredibly inspiring that, through a lot of hard work from our EVE Online team, we are crossing the half-million subscriber mark,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP. “For me, this is a true testament that EVE can live on forever, as long as we do right by her. We have not come to this point alone; millions of players have helped push us to this milestone. I now know in my mind what I previously only believed in my heart: that EVE will outlive us all.”

CCP will commemorate EVE Online’s tenth anniversary throughout the year under a unified “Second Decade” theme. The year-long celebration will kick off in late April in Reykjavik, Iceland with the sold-out EVE Fanfest, EVE Online’s annual player festival which will be streamed live online. EVE’s official tenth birthday follows on May 6th and will mark the official start of the second decade of the EVE Universe.

Throughout the year, CCP will be supporting player gatherings around the world and holding in-game events to further the storyline of the combined universe as it continues to grow.

Bound by Flame Announced

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Focus Home Interactive and Spiders Studio have announced Bound by Flame, an upcoming action-RPG due out at the end of this year for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 platforms. The game promises a “dark fantasy universe” where players take on the role of a mercenary possessed by a “flame demon”. More information can be found below, or you can click on the announcement screenshot above for a larger view.

Official Press Release

While part of Spiders Studio’s team finishes development of Mars War Logs, releasing soon on digital distribution platforms, we are pleased to unveil Bound by Flame. Bound by Flame is their bigger project, under development for months now and targeted for release on PC, PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® at the end of 2013.

We present Bound by Flame to you with the very first screenshot of the game. This action/role-playing game lets you play a mercenary possessed by a flame demon in an ambitious Dark Fantasy universe.
As a victim of this demonic influence, players will have to choose between the powers offered by this evil or to reject the demonic influence, developing heroic talents instead. Dangers, and enemies becoming more terrifying and fearsome in battle, will be temptations to acquire more power by giving up part of the hero’s soul to the demon. Progression of the demonic influence will be reflected by the transformation of the hero’s body.

Through its different chapters, Bound by Flame will offer many quests around a primary, epic adventure. Depending on the choices made by the player and the influence of the demon, some chapters will offer different scenarios and a different experience, adding important replayability to the game. Real-time battles are impressive and dynamic. If the player begins the game knowing only the basics of combat, fire magic, and assassination, he will be able to specialize by unlocking and improving many skills and powers, through 3 different skill trees.

Bound by Flame lets the players customize their character. During the creation of their hero, players will be able choose their gender and freely alter their facial characteristics. This will of course have an influence on the demon’s appearance. Bound by Flame also includes a crafting system, allowing them to create and improve equipment, including their armor and weapons. Several companions will join the player during his quest, and will, depending on the player’s actions, develop friendship, romance or rivalry.

Finally, the bestiary of Bound by Flame is rich and spectacular. Today’s screenshot introduces you to the terrifying Swamp Beast, but you will get to fight many other impressive creatures: shadow dragons, liches, undead, ice creatures… epic confrontations abound. Which path will the players take? Will they lust after the demon’s power and magic to annihilate their foes, or will they favor their combat skills and their bravery?

Bound by is targeted for release on PC, PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® at the end of 2013.

SteelSeries and EA Unveil Mobile Gaming Headset

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CHICAGO – February 27, 2013 – SteelSeries, the leading manufacturer of premium-quality, gaming peripherals and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) the world’s leading mobile games publisher today introduced the Real Racing™ 3 Gaming Headset. The slim-profile, on-ear headset was chosen for its lightweight, comfortable and portable design allowing gamers to take the complete racing experience on the road. Its loud and clear sound is powered through 40mm driver units, picking up the low tones and deep bass for the game’s soundtrack and the high tones of approaching cars, gear shifts, and screeching tires.

The all-white headset showcases stylish, glossy ear plates with a chrome-colored game logo and speedometer design. Featuring an adjustable, FluidFIT headband they are also outfitted with SteelSeries’ sound isolating, SNDBlock ear cushions created with a breathable, mesh-cloth material. Designed for maximum portability, the headset can fold up and each earcup can be rotated flat for easy storage or to comfortably show it off around the user’s neck. The Real Racing 3 Headset comes equipped with 2 cable options, one for PC and the other for Mac and mobile devices, both with an in-line microphone.Additional features include 2 input jacks, one on each earcup, allowing users to choose which side the microphone cable can be plugged. The remaining input jack can also be used to share sound bysimply plugging another headset into the Real Racing 3 Headset so that multiple users can listen to the same device.

“For Real Racing 3 we focused on harnessingthe full power of mobile technology to produce  incredible, detailed environments and really deliver an amazing gaming experience for racing fans,” said Tony Lay, General Manager of the EA Firemonkeys studio. “We partnered with SteelSeries because of their reputation for developing premium-quality products and with their new Flux headset designed for mobile gamers; it was a natural choice to launch a Real Racing 3 version to support that new level of immersion.”

“EA is the leading publisher of the world’s biggest iOS and Android games and we’re proud to partner with one of their most recognized mobile game franchises,” said Bruce Hawver, SteelSeries CEO. “As the newest and first SteelSeries headset that was designed specifically for mobile game-play, we’re excited to see players get their hands on the Real Racing 3 Gaming Headset and actually have a chance to experience great in-game audio on their handheld device.”

Available now online in the SteelSeries Web Shop, the Real Racing 3 Gaming Headset is $99.99/€99.99 MSRP.  For more information, about the headset check out http://steelseries.com/realracing3 and be sure to follow SteelSeries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news, contests and promotions surrounding these products.