Accreditation awarded to Academy of Interactive Entertainment 

Sydney, 21 May 2013 – Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCE Aust.) has today announced the launch of the PlayStation®First Academic Partnership Programme in Australia.  PlayStation®First is the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and SCE World Wide Studios (SCE WWS) Academic Partnership Programme designed to inspire innovation across the suite of PlayStation platforms. PlayStation®First establishes partnerships with higher education organisations deemed to be at the cutting edge of development and research.

SCE Aust. has selected the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) as the first Australian participant in the company’s PlayStation®First Academic Partnership Programme. As part of the global program, which sees the AIE awarded PlayStation®First status, the educator will receive 6 PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) development kits for its students and will feature PlayStation game development as part of its syllabus.

PlayStation®First status is awarded by invitation only to leading university courses, educational organisations and talent incubators around the globe. As the leading educator for the Computer Game Development and 3D Digital Arts Industries, the AIE was the perfect partner for PlayStation®First’s Australian debut.  The AIE will roll out the initiative across its Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne campuses offering all students the opportunity to learn, create and innovate using the PlayStation Vita as the initial platform of choice.

The driving force behind PlayStation’s talent initiatives is Dr Maria Stukoff, Head of Academic Development for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.  “PlayStation®First is about integrating the latest PlayStation developer kits into the curriculum to ensure students have cutting edge industry tools,” commented Dr Stukoff. “Our first academic partnership in Australia, with the AIE, allows us to foster the next generation of game developers and to support the wider video games industry in this country.”

“The opportunity to work with the PlayStation suite of platforms ensures our students are getting industry relevant skills to step confidently into the video game development sector,” said Neil Boyd Director of Business Development and Marketing at the AIE. “The students are eagerly anticipating the access they will get to this leading platform, and having it built into the heart of their curriculum really adds to the possibilities for their future careers.”

The PlayStation®First Academic Partnership Programme is designed to champion the highest quality of university game development through the PlayStation tools licensing programme, student talent initiatives, game jams and exclusive incubation labs. PlayStation®First offers platform specific licences for academic development covering:  PlayStation®3 (PS3™), PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita), as well as software agreements for Move.me™ and PlayStation®Mobile (PSM).

Today SEGA revealed that ROME II is already the fastest pre-ordered Total War game to date, with over six times the number of gamers ordering the title in its first official week as did for previous title SHOGUN 2. The exclusive and highly-limited Collector’s Edition has also pre-ordered well, with over half the available copies already sold out in the US.

With over two million Total War sales last year alone, without a major release, the strong start to ROME II’s presales indicates a continuing and growing profile for the long-running series from UK studio Creative Assembly.

Pre-ordering ROME II grants the first DLC, The Greek States Culture Pack  (http://youtu.be/z2edQWxdztI), free on the day of release – last week announced to be the 3^rd Sept.

WARGAME AIRLAND BATTLE PRESENTS ITS DYNAMIC CAMPAIGN IN SCREENSHOTS!

Wargame AirLand Battle, the spectacular real-time strategy game for which the official release date is May 30th, will surprise players with its brand new Dynamic Campaign system, that we are pleased to unveil for the first time with a series of 4 screenshots!

Willing to make something very different from the solo campaigns of Wargame European Escalation, Eugen Systems made great efforts to offer Wargame AirLand Battle an exciting campaign, both innovating and fascinating. As you can see on today’s screenshots, you will first handle in this campaign your army and your battle groups, on a huge strategic map representing Europe: ordering movements, asking for reinforcements, but also launching support strikes such as intelligence missions, special forces strikes, satellite spying, bombardment, tactical nuclear attacks, etc…

When a zone is under attack and you need to defend it, or when you send your own battle groups to assault, you are thrown at the heart of the spectacular battles happening in real-time. Your army is persistent all along the campaign: your units and battle groups will earn experience, making them perform better with every battle they survive…. but keep in mind losses are definitive as well!

Last but not least, the campaign is also playable in multiplayer against another player!

War is about to begin… pick your side and lead your army to victory!

Wargame will be available on PC on May 30th.

- Visit the official website

18^th May 2013 – The next game in SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog series will be exclusive to Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announcing details of a worldwide partnership with SEGA during a new Nintendo Direct video announcement today. Sonic: Lost World is a new action-adventure platforming game, and more information about it will be announced before the E3 2013 video game trade show begins on 11^th June.
The Nintendo Direct also announced a new addition to the Mario & Sonic series, the first appearance for the series on Wii U, as well as revealing launch dates for Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and New Super Luigi U.

To view the Nintendo Direct in its entirety, visit http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendodirect

Today’s Wii U announcements included:

• A new game in the Mario & Sonic series: The game includes a variety of sports including curling, skiing, snowboarding, figure skating pairs and snowboard slopestyle. Different events might use the Wii Remote Plus controller, Wii U GamePad or both. In addition to realistic events, the game also includes those set in the worlds of Sonic and Mario that let players perform moves not possible in real life. Launch details and timing will be announced at a later date.
• New Super Luigi U: The Year of Luigi-themed downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U offers players 82 updated courses. But it also includes a new playable character in multiplayer mode: Nabbit, the thief who steals items from Toad Houses. New Super Luigi U will be released as downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U on Nintendo eShop on 21^st June. But in honour of the Year of Luigi, Nintendo is also offering a standalone packaged version of New Super Luigi U that doesn’t require New Super Mario Bros. U, due for release on 27^th July, at a suggested retail price of $59.95.
• The Wonderful 101: The superhero action adventure from Platinum Games launches on 24^th August. More details about the game will be released gradually between now and launch.
• Pikmin 3: New playable characters Alph, Brittany and Charlie are to take over from Olimar, the main character who appeared in previous Pikmin games. Another announcement is the use of the GamePad (known as the KopPad in the game), where players can view the overall map and grasp what each character and Pikmin are up to. Pikmin 3 is coming to Australia and New Zealand  on July 27^th.
• Game & Wario: The game launches across Australia and New Zealand on 29^th June, and includes 16 games that use the GamePad in different ways. Newly revealed games include: ISLANDS, which lets two to five people launch little creatures called Fronks onto islands in the sea to score points; PATCHWORK, a puzzle game that tests players’ pattern-recognition skills; and KUNG-FU, which challenges players to help Young Cricket navigate a course safely using the forward-looking view on the TV and the top-down view on the GamePad. A new Iwata Asks feature just published offers more details about the game at http://nintendo.co.uk/iwataasks.
• RESIDENT EVIL REVELATIONS: Capcom’s survival horror game is launching in stores and on Nintendo eShop on 23^rd May. The game originally released for Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U version offers players updated HD graphics, GamePad controls and new game content. The game is Miiverse-compatible, and a demo version is currently available on Nintendo eShop.

A separate Nintendo Direct sharing further news on future Wii U content will be aired around the time of E3.