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.

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.

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:

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.