LAFIG BELGIUM AND SONY PICTURES CONSUMER PRODUCTS, INC. SIGN UBISOFT® TO DEVELOP VIDEO GAME FOR “THE SMURFS®” FEATURE FILM
SAN FRANCISCO – January 20, 2011 – In anticipation of the August release of Columbia Pictures’ / Sony Pictures Animation’s 3D family comedy The Smurfs, Ubisoft announced today that it will develop and publish a video game based on the live-action / CG-animation hybrid film. Designed for the Wii™ system from Nintendo and the Nintendo DS™ family of hand-held systems, The Smurfs video game is scheduled to launch with the release of the feature film.
This summer, the Smurfs make their first 3D trip to the big screen in The Smurfs. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours – in fact, smack dab in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.
SEGA’S VIRTUA TENNIS 4 SMASHES INTO ACTION ON PLAYSTATION 3, XBOX 360 AND Wii
The World’s Top Tennis Stars Are Hitting the Courts Again as SEGA’s Best-Selling Tennis Series Releases in Spring 2011
LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (January 20, 2011) – SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. are thrilled to announce that Virtua Tennis™ 4 will be making its way onto North American retail shelves for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the Wii™ system from Nintendo in Spring 2011. As previously announced, the game will also be available for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system featuring PlayStation®Move compatibility and 3D technology.
Developed to take full advantage of Kinect™ for Xbox 360®, PlayStation®Move, and MotionPlus, Virtua Tennis 4 puts players closer than ever before to being out on the court. Fans of the world’s No.1 selling tennis series can also enjoy all of the new features using regular controllers. Boasting its strongest ever player line-up across all platforms, Virtua Tennis 4 features the world’s top stars such as world No.1 Rafael Nadal, 16-time major champion Roger Federer and UK No.1 Andy Murray. Joining them for the first time are seven new champions making their debut to the series, enabling players to take on the likes of Juan Martín Del Potro, Fernando Gonzalez, Caroline Wozniacki and Laura Robson.
– Surprise game for launch unlikely
– Launch-day games will be comprised of some selection of games shown at the 3DS preview event in New York
– Launch games possibilities are around 15 titles
– Kid Icarus: Uprising is not a launch window game
– Power cord will be longer than what was shown in Japan
– Bill Trinen on region locking: “One of the primary driving factors for that has to do with parental controls. Different regions have different ratings systems. The region-locking allows us to provide the different parental controls to deal with the ratings in each territory.”
– Trinen providing a multi-tasking example: “Specifically for an example with Zelda, if you’re stuck in the water temple and you’re trying to figure out where the last of the switches are that you have to hit to draw the water level down and get all the way down to the boss, you can immediately hit the home button, bring up the browser, go to whatever tip site you want to go to, figure out where that is, then switch over to the game notes, draw a map on your screen to refer to or go right back into the game.”
– Use the play coins you earn by walking to unlock game content/features in pre-installed apps
– Trinen says “the goal is there will be some messaging functions”
– Register around 100 friends
– Pause a game and visit the home menu at almost any time
– See apps running in the background at the top of the touch screen
– Applications: adjust brightness, display toggle for the bigger icons, Game Memos (notepad application), Friends List, Notifications List, and the web browser
– Smiley face icon is Friends List, not Pictochat
– Rep says he isn’t aware of Pictochat being built into the 3DS
– Notifications List collects SpotPass and StreetPass alerts
– Screen Brightness button: 5 settings
– Powersaving mode
– Up to 64 applications on the home menu
1. [NDS] Pokemon Black/White (Pokemon) – 4,914,813
2. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (Capcom) – 3,480,989
3. [WII] New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo) – 1,599,845 / 4,084,995
4. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) – 1,539,228
5. [NDS] Dragon Quest VI (Square Enix) – 1,297,344
6. [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 (Square Enix) – 1,276,303
7. [NDS] Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo) – 1,196,148 / 3,508,096
8. [WII] Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo) – 900,539
9. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven 3 Spark/Bomber (Level 5) – 890,440
10. [WII] Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) – 849,664 / 2,148,197
– Level up figurines that you have collected
– Figurines can unlock the ability to increase battle statistics and acquire advanced character figurines
– 500 figurines to collect
– Create “battle teams”
– “Standard” and “Light Mode” controls
– Standard: use one of four touch pads to map certain button combinations
– Light Mode: map entire specials or hyper combos to the screen
– Match-making option available to fight players using the same options as you
