Games

News Pop! 10/25/06

By Eli Green
October 25, 2006 - 18:30

Hands-On gives you $25,000 reasons to play

Hands-On Mobile is a lot like Gameloft, except that it also makes other mobile products such as lifestyle and personalization products. Oh, and one other thing, it just announced its biggest ever online sweepstakes, the “$25,000 reasons to play” promotion. The contest is open to anybody , living i n the U.S. at least (excluding Florida and New York), who purchases one of the following four Hands-On Mobile games – World Poker Tour: Texas Hold ‘Em, Monopoly Tycoon, Connect Four or Lego World Soccer. From today until November 30^th, buyers of the games will automatically be entered to win the grand prize of $25,000, two first prizes of $5,000 each or twenty-five second prizes of free premium cell phones. Hands-On Mobile is also partnering with Shockwave.com to target consumers with its “$25,000 Reasons to Play” promotion. The sweepstakes will be promoted at Shockwave.com and AddictingGames.com in addition to Hand-On's own website. Still weird that New York is excluded though.

Lookout Chicago, EA's moving in

Electronic Arts opened the doors to its new studio in Chicago today. Located at 215 West Ohio Street, the studios is now home to the development team responsible for the Fight Night franchise and is currently working on three next gen titles for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. EA Chicago is one of the fastest growing studios at EA with 150 employees currently on staff. EA is planning to increase the number of developers by 100 next year. “We are pushing next generation development and technology to the limits and looking for the best talent to help us to create innovative games,” said Kudo Tsunoda, Vice President and General Manager, EA Chicago. “We are in a great location downtown in a unique building that gives us access and visibility to the best resources and creative minds of this thriving city.” And that's all we have to say about that.

The ECA adds more membership benefits

The Entertainment Consumers Association announced two new additions to its growing library of member resources and content. The first addition was the ECA's acquisition of GamePolitics, a critically acclaimed clearinghouse for politically-oriented news and opinions about video games. The second addition is a partnership with NCsoft on the PlaySmart Information Program, a first of its kind public service program geared toward educating consumers on Internet safety and protocol. GamePolitics is the brainchild of Dennis McCauley, a longtime video game journalist and columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He will now be the ECA's official political editor. PlaySmart is a new public service program initiated by NCsoft, a leading developer and publisher of online games. Launched in September, PlaySmart was created to advance online gaming and security by providing gamers a comprehensive set of common-sense guidelines drawn from industry standards. The ECA's decision to partner with Ncsoft came from the fact that it complements the ECA's services and content. A new PlaySmart web page, dedicated to online safety and security tips, and a panel of experts for updating the PlaySmart guidelines will be put together by the partnership and other cooperative efforts will be put together for events and will even extend to Ncsoft's games. ECA membership is still $19.99 USD a year.

Civilization Box set now available

Fans of the Sid Meier games now have something new to look out for in stores. Sid Meier's Civilization Chronicles, a box set of the entire franchise, is out in stores today and includes Civilization: The Card Game, The Chronicles of Civilization (a 96 page book covering the entire history of Civilization through the eyes of the designers), a DVD and much more. “We’ve taken much pride in developing each installment of the Civilization series, so it’s exciting to have the entire set bundled together,” said Sid Meier, Firaxis Creative Director. “By including lots of really cool extras from collectibles to behind-the-scene documents, fans of the franchise and those just discovering it are going to have the most exciting and immersive experience possible.” Sid Meier's Civilization Chronicles is available for $69.99 USD/$89.99 CAD and is rated differently for each game, up to E10+ for Everyone ten and up.

Activision releases Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Activision and Raven Software's new RPG is now available for every console and PC. The brand new game allows players to take on the role of some of their favourite Marvel characters and form teams in a battle against the largest alliance of villains ever. Players can form teams and play solo missions or play cooperatively with up to four friends. The game contains over 140 characters from the Marvel universe and a brand new storyline that will keep players hooked for hours on end. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is available for Xbox 360 for $59.99 USD/$69.99 CAD, for Xbox for $39.99 USD/$59.99 CAD, for Playstation 2, PC and PSP for $39.99 USD/$49.99 CAD and is rated T for Teen. A version of the game is also available for Game Boy Advance for $29.99 USD/$34.99 CAD and is rated E10+ for Everyone ten and up.

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Last Updated: March 3, 2025 - 20:40