Aqua Teens coming to PS2

Midway Games and Cartoon Network recently announced that the Aqua Teen Hunger Force will be making its way to the Playstation 2. The new video game, called Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am, will be an action-adventure, combat golf and cart racing game. As if the entire concept behind the game isn't weird enough, it even has a whole storyline in which Frylock gets accepted into a country club called Jersey Pines Golf Club. Jealous of Frylock, Master Shake decides to show the club's members that he deserves a place in the club too, and Mea twad somehow gets sucked into it all too. Unfortunately, not much has been explained about how the gameplay will work other than, “ the three crime-fighting food products use golf clubs and a variety of other weapons in ways not intended as they battle numerous villains, fan favorites and other show characters.” It all makes about as much sense as the show's storylines. So that probably means it will be really popular. The game is set to release this fall.

Video Games Live coming to Yale

The Video Games Live music event will be making its way to Yale University at the end of this month. On Saturday, March 31^st at 8:00pm at Yale's Woolsey Hall, the Yale Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by a full choir, will perform the music of Video Games Live with synchronized video footage, a light show, special solo performers, electronic percussion, and more. This performance will mark the first time a university has performed the show, or any other symphonic video game music for that matter.

The show will also include special events on Friday, March 30^th, including a free video game industry education panel, which will be open to the public. Entitled “Video Games – Past, Present and Future”, the panel will be held from 3:00pm to 5:00pm in Sudler Hall and will consist of industry veterans Seamus Blackley (XBOX creator, game designer, CAA), Lorne Lanning (OddWorld Inhabitants), Hal Halpin (IEMA, ECA) as well as Video Games Live creators and industry composers Tommy Tallarico (Earthworm Jim, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Metroid Prime) and Jack Wall (Myst III, Myst IV, Jade Empire, Mass Effect). There will also be a pre-show festival in Yale's Commons Dining Hall from 6:00pm until just before the show starts. The pre-show festival will include a costume contest, playable games, interactive music demos by Cakewalk, Intel computers, an Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) info booth and a variety of game competitions, including Guitar Hero II and Halo 2 being hosted by Connecticon.

The show's organizers also have some good news for people planning on attending the show. “In keeping with the tradition of making each and every show unique, Video Games Live has put together a special Castlevania arrangement which will be performed by the Video Game Pianist - Martin Leung on a 104 year old 3-story Newberry pipe organ. The organ has been in Woolsey Hall since 1903 with the hall itself being built in 1901. Other special performers include original Civilization IV solo vocalist Ron Ragin of the Talisman African Choir who will be reprising his amazing vocals for the exclusive Civilization IV segment. Aside from the extraordinary line-up of game industry luminaries and performers, also on hand for the post-show meet and greet will be video game composer Tom Salta whose soundtracks for games such as Red Steel, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 & 2 and Need for Speed Underground have gained him critical acclaim.” It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Tickets have already become available through Shubert Theater - CAPA Ticketing and range between $15 and $35 USD. For more information on Video Games Live, you can check out www.videogameslive.com.

EA extends LOTR license

Electronic Arts announced today that it has renewed its license for The Lord of the Rings from New Line Cinema. That means that you should expect to see more Lord of the Rings games from EA through 2008. Thoughts were shared by different people at EA and New Line, but the most important part of the renewed agreement was the success of the franchise, which is what really brought EA to renewing it. Development for a new title, currently scheduled for 2008, has already begun.

POGO Island has begun shipping

Electronic Arts started shipping POGO Island to retailers today. The game is a small collection of the most popular puzzle games from EA's online entertainment service, Pogo.com. The collection contains Word Whomp, Poppit!, Phlinx, Tri-Peaks Solitaire and Squelchies. You can check out a more in depth description of the game in a previous edition of News Pop!. POGO Island is only available for Nintendo DS, and will cost $29.99 USD/$39.99 CAD when it arrives in stores. For complete information on POGO Island, check out www.pogoisland.com.

Mario and Sonic to be in a game – Together!

SEGA and Nintendo just blew our minds. It's not like we didn't think that a game featuring Mario and Sonic together wasn't a possibility, we just didn't expect it to ever happen. The companies announced a new game for Wii and Nintendo DS, called Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Granted, it's a bit of an odd title to put the two characters in, but it doesn't take away from how cool it is. The game will have players compete in events that take place in environments based on the official venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Using a supporting cast of characters from the amazing worlds of both Mario and Sonic, gamers will be able to compete as or against a range of lovable personalities including Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Knuckles, Yoshi, Tails and more. Each version will take advantage of its systems' unique controls to control the characters in events like swimming, track and field, table tennis and more. The game is currently scheduled for release during the 2007 holiday season.

Civilization IV to go Beyond the Sword

2K announced an approximate release date for the new expansion pack for Sid Meier's Civilization IV today. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will be available July 2007. Beyond the Sword is the second expansion pack for Civilization IV. It will focus on the late-game time periods after the invention of gunpowder and will deliver 12 challenging and decidedly different scenarios created by the development team at Firaxis Games, as well as members of the Civilization Fan Community. The expansion will also include ten new civilizations, 16 new leaders, five new wonders, and a variety of new units that will offer even more fun and exciting ways for players to expand their civilization’s power as they strive for world domination. The full list of enhanced features is quite long, so you'd best check out www.civilization.com for complete information on the expansion.