PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES GARDEN WARFARE 2: GRAVEYARD VARIETY PACK DELIVERS A NEW MAP, MISSIONS AND MORE

The biggest, baddest, craziest battle in the PvZ universe just grew even bigger! PopCap Vancouver announced today that the Plants vs. Zombies™ Garden Warfare 2: Graveyard Variety Pack, the first free content update to Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2, releases on March 8 for all players on Xbox One, PlayStation®4 and Origin™ on PC. This free content update delivers a new map, missions, gameplay features and balancing improvements, including the brand new Zomburbified Garden Center map: Aqua Center. First appearing in the original Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, the Garden Center has since been taken over by zombies and Dr. Zomboss has rebuilt it to become the Aqua Center.

Some of the incredible new content coming in Graveyard Variety Pack includes:

• The all-new Aqua Center map.
• New quests located throughout the Backyard Battleground offering up exciting challenges.
• New gameplay and control options.
• Character tweaks, improvements, and balances.
• A nighttime version of The Great White North map.

For complete details on what’s included in the Graveyard Variety Pack, please visit the Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 blog

To learn more on how to join the battle for Zomburbia, visit the Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 website.

Play Overwatch^™ free May 6–10 during open beta for all three platforms

Pre-purchase the team-based shooter of tomorrow TODAY at www.playoverwatch.com/buy and get a head start on the open beta for you and a friend^†

SYDNEY, Australia—March 8, 2016—Assemble your team and prepare your defenses—the fight for the future is about to begin! Blizzard Entertainment today announced that Overwatch™ will arrive in stores on Windows^® PC, PlayStation^®4 computer entertainment system, and Xbox One starting May 24.^†† Heroes from around the world can join the coming conflict by pre-purchasing Blizzard’s team-based first-person shooter today at www.playoverwatch.com/buy.

In addition to receiving the previously revealed Noire skin for Widowmaker, Overwatch’s ice-cold assassin, players who preorder or pre-purchase the game for PC, PS4™ system, or Xbox One will also get a two-day head start on the upcoming Overwatch open beta for themselves and a friend.^† In the open beta, players will have an opportunity to play all 21 heroes and experience the intense action, tactical depth, and vibrant world of Overwatch prior to the game’s release. Following the head-start period on May 4–5 for those who have preordered, gamers everywhere will be able to assemble a team of friends and check out the game free during the all-access period from May 6–10. To learn more about the open beta, players can visit the official website.

“Overwatch is a team shooter for everyone, with deep, cooperative gameplay, fast and fun competitive action, and a diverse range of larger-than-life heroes,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We think PC and console players everywhere will have a great time in the game, and we’re excited to give everyone a chance to try Overwatch out for themselves ahead of its May 24 launch.”

The Story So Far. . . .

In Overwatch, players join the ranks of a legendary force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities, and clash on the battlefields of a near-future Earth. The game features a diverse cast of 21 heroes—each with their own unique arsenal of extraordinary weapons and incredible abilities. Teamwork is critical as players complete objectives, swap heroes on the fly, and combine their powers to game-changing effect—the action is intense, immediate, and fun.

Since the world last caught up with Overwatch at BlizzCon^® 2015, Blizzard has introduced a number of game features in the ongoing closed beta test. In a new map type, Control, teams battle to capture and hold objectives in locations such as an omnic village in the mountains of Nepal and a high-tech skyscraper in a Chinese metropolis. Overwatch’s new progression system awards players with Loot Boxes containing an array of cosmetic items to personalise heroes, including sprays, emotes, voice lines, and skins such as Punk Tracer and Safari Winston.

In addition to Quick Play mode, which automatically matches players with teammates and opponents of similar skill online, players can test their mettle against computer-controlled opponents in a new Play Vs. AI mode, while Custom Games allow players to set special rules for hero switching, damage modifiers, and more. And there’s more to come in the future: Blizzard plans to patch in new heroes and maps post-launch at no additional cost. To keep up with the latest Overwatch news, head to the official website.

Meanwhile, In Stores Everywhere. . . .

Windows PC, PS4™ system, and Xbox One gamers will be able to join the fight for the future by picking up Overwatch: Origins Edition (RRP $89.95 AUD / $104.99 NZD on Windows PC; $99.95 AUD / $114.99 NZD on PS4^™ system/Xbox One), which comes with hero skins for five characters based on their storied pasts—Blackwatch Reyes (Reaper), Strike-Commander Morrison (Soldier: 76), Overgrown Bastion, Security Chief Pharah, and Slipstream Tracer. It also includes a cache of Overwatch-themed content for several Blizzard Entertainment games, including a Baby Winston pet for World of Warcraft^®, Tracer hero for Heroes of the Storm^®, and more—visit www.playoverwatch.com/buy for the complete Origins Edition details.^†††

Overwatch will also be available in a limited-edition, retail-only Collector’s Edition (RRP $189.95 AUD / $214.99 NZD on Windows PC, RRP $199.95 AUD / $229.99 NZD, PS4^™ system/Xbox One), which contains the digital content from Origins Edition along with a full-colour visual sourcebook, the Overwatch soundtrack, and a high-quality collectible statue of Soldier: 76—the vigilante alter ego of former Overwatch commander Jack Morrison. Windows PC gamers also have the option to download a digital PC edition ($69.95 AUD, digital only), which provides the core Overwatch experience.

Overwatch will be available in English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, European Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean (PC only), Japanese (PC and PS4™ system only), and traditional and simplified Chinese (PC only).^†† Overwatch has been rated Mature by the Australian Classification Board.

For more information about Overwatch, visit the official website. For screenshots, videos, and other media, visit the Blizzard Entertainment press site at http://blizzard.gamespress.com/overwatch.

ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED SMASHES THE DAM WITH GIANT BEAVERS, TERROR BIRDS AND GRAPPLING HOOKS IN XBOX ONE UPDATE

ARK Coming This Week to Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, and Turkey

SEATTLE, WA – Monday, March 7, 2016 – In its quest to provide Xbox One players with the newest, most imaginative changes in ARK: Survival Evolved, Studio Wildcard unveiled today several new dinosaurs, gadgets, weapons, and upgrades that bring the Xbox One version to near parity with the PC iteration of the game. Survivors can now tame, train, and mount Giant Beavers, saddle up on the flappy Terror Bird, and equip themselves with the multi-use Grappling Hooks, while taking prisoners into custody using the newly implemented Handcuffs.

• Watch the Spotlight videos on YouTube HERE (Giant Beaver and Handcuffs) and HERE (Terror Bird and Grappling Hook).

Hello! Hallo! Cześć! Lēe hò! Coming this week, players in 11 new countries will be able to purchase and download ARK: Survival Evolved as the game will become available in their regions. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan and Turkey are the latest areas to join the island as Studio Wildcard continues to expand the game into all areas of the world.

The Terror Bird makes a good combat mount for harassing and scouting.

Survivors can now enact G.I. Joe fantasies with the new Grappling Hook.

Don’t like that person who keeps stealing your Terror Bird? Cuff ‘em!

ARK Survivors will find the Giant Beaver, aka Castoroides Feliconcisor, to be super-cuddly, but also super useful since it can build dams, harvest and carry vast quantities of wood, and act as a mobile crafting station. Plus, they can swim! The Terror Bird, or Phorusrhacidae Rapidesultor, is a tamable, aggressive avian capable of high-speed sprints and brief leaps, but it doesn’t technically fly, as its flight is comprised of short, sustained “Joust”-like glides or leaps.

Amongst the human population, Studio Wildcard has introduced two new game-changing tools, the Grappling Hook and Handcuffs. The Grappling Hook gives Survivors the ability to scale cliffs, hitch a ride by attaching to a flying creature, or even wrangle other players, prisoners, or small creatures to drag along. Learning how to regularly use this tool will alter the nature of player attacks and dramatically expand the range of their travels with greater ease. The new Handcuffs ensure that prisoners don’t escape and aren’t violent. Wildcard Studio encourages Survivors to get onto their ARK now to ensure they’re the ones doing the Handcuffing, and not the other way around!

The full list of today’s updates for ARK: Survival Evolved on Xbox One includes:

• DINOS: Tame, Train and Ride the Giant Beaver and the Terror Bird
• TOOLS: Use new tools including the Grappling Hook and the Handcuffs
• TRIBE ALLIANCES (PvE and PvP). Yes, finally, small Tribes can band together against larger ones!
• Approximately 20% performance increase!
• All options exposed for dedicated servers, finally! Even custom lists of Engrams & Dino Multipliers, etc!
• Numerous crash fixes
• Community-contributed Game Localization in 8+ languages — French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish

Come join the ARK community forums HERE: Survivetheark.com/

ARK: Survival Evolved will launch in summer 2016 on Xbox One via the ID@Xbox program, PlayStation^®4 with Project Morpheus support, and full release on Steam PC. The game is currently playable in Microsoft’s Game Preview on Xbox One and Steam’s Early Access program, which includes Oculus Rift VR support and an integration of Steam community features such as Steam Economy and Steam Workshop for custom maps and mods. Players can host private/LAN servers and have access to a custom-built version of the Unreal Engine 4 Editor for creating mods. The world of ARK is designed to be modder-friendly and ever-expanding!

To join our growing band of survivors, journey to Steam or Microsoft’s Game Preview on Xbox One to download the game. For the latest updates follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube, visit the Website at playark.com and watch us tame and train leviathan dinosaurs on Twitch.TV.

THE WITCH AND THE HUNDRED KNIGHT: REVIVAL EDITION IS NOW AVAILABLE ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND FOR PLAYSTATION®4! 

NIS America is happy to announce that The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition is now available across Australia and New Zealand or PlayStation®4! The game is available both as a physical and digital release. 

Story:

Fed up with being unable to travel beyond the borders of her swamp, the witch Metallia forges a contract with the legendary Hundred Knight to help her realize her ambition of spreading her swamp throughout all of Medea. As the Hundred Knight, your mission is to do whatever your master, the Swamp Witch, commands. Explore the world, destroy Pillars built to prevent her swamp from spreading, and wreak indiscriminate havoc. However, in the back of your inhuman mind, you begin to wonder… What prevents Metallia from leaving the swamp? Why do the other witches shun her, and how can she survive in a swamp that is notorious for how poisonous its fumes are? Is Metallia really a witch to respect, or is she one to fear? 

New Features:

Shiny New Graphics—Using the power of the PlayStation®4, these swampy lands have been updated with new textures, lighting, and models.

The Tower of Illusion—A brand new area will allow you to offer up your favorite weapons to battle foes whose strength is determined by the strength of the sacrificed weapon. This new area will enable you to acquire powerful new loot.

Be the Witch!—Entering the Tower of Illusion and collecting Concentrated Mana will enable you to summon and play as Metallia for the first time ever!

Alchemy—You might not be making gold, but you can now upgrade your weapons using catalysts from the Tower of Illusion to increase their ATK, DEF, and more!

For more information, please visit www.nisamerica.com/games/witch100revival

Click here to watch the Launch trailer for The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ-RkHrSa_w

STELLA GLOW ON NINTENDO 3DS™ IN STORES NOW ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 

NIS America is very excited to announce that the strategy RPG, Stella Glow, in out in stores now for the Nintendo 3DS™ as both a physical and digital release! 

About the game:

As most reluctant heroes do, Stella Glow-protagonist Alto starts as a country boy in a small town. One day, he hears a song coming from the forest (which is odd, since song has been absent on the planet for thousands of years), where he discovers the lone Hilda. But after the chance encounter, Hilda reveals she’s the Witch of Destruction, hellbent on destroying the world with her Harbingers. As Hilda is about to destroy Alto’s hometown, he and Lisette are rescued by the Royal Knights and whisked back safely to the kingdom. Alto joins the 9^th Regiment for the sole purpose of gathering the other Witches to stop Hilda. 

Key Features:

Song Magic –  Famous Japanese voice actors sing more than 20 songs in the game. Plus, the soundtrack is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears). The songs are part of Song Magic – a vital combat and story element. Players can even choose to “tune” the Witches’ hearts to increase their abilities.

Solid Strategy Gameplay –  From the team behind the classic Luminous Arc games comes a brand new IP with the same renowned level of strategic combat.

Free Time – Players will get an allotment of Free Time where they can upgrade or buy items, tune Witches’ hearts, explore, and grind experience, but that’s in limited supply as Combat Time will drive along the game’s story.

Forming Bonds – Several Free Time options allow players to deepen relationships with their comrades, even form romances, which can unlock new powers and special events – make sure to use your Free Time accordingly!

Plenty of Fight – Stella Glow will have 40-60 hours of story and sidequest content, with multiple endings, New Game+ mode, and more than 50 maps to battle on. The world of Stella Glow is rich and vibrant with tons to do!

For more information, visit http://www.atlus.com/stellaglow/.

DOWNLOAD DUNGEON OF THE ENDLESS ON iPAD FOR FREE THIS WEEK ON THE APP STORE

Get in on the Fun for Free March 7-14!

Paris, France – March 7, 2016 – Award-winning indie developer Amplitude Studios announced today that Dungeon of the Endless will be free to download starting today through next Monday, March 14, for iPad® on the App®Store. Featuring a smart interface with quick, one-touch controls, a well-balanced blend of do-or-die gameplay, dungeon-defense strategy, and RPG elements, Dungeon of the Endless is a must download game. Defend your dungeon for free now!

Watch the Dungeon of the Endless trailer HERE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4-VL3Nfsko

Originally distributed on Steam PC in October 2014, and nominated at the D.I.C.E. Awards for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Game Deign, DotE on iPad offers a unique rogue-like experience with a retro 2D look, colorful animations, and eye-catching visual effects. Mobile iPad gamers will get all of the latest updates including bring the original PC version and the “Deep-Freeze” and “Bookworm” add-ons for the full DotE experience.

Players will have the chance to build and equip their own team, gather resources and construct defenses, all while exploring an infinite number of randomly generated dungeons and fighting bizarre alien monsters, in an effort to reach the planet’s surface. The hybrid styles of rogue-like, tower-defense, and RPG elements are built around a strategic core giving DotE a gameplay experience like none other.

Known for its deep, engaging, and gorgeous 4X strategy games, Amplitude Studios won the venerable 2013 Golden Cube and Community Choice Unity Awards for Endless Space. For more on Dungeon of the Endless, visit Amplitude Studios on its Website (www.amplitude-studios.com), like it on Facebook, and follow it on Twitter.

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ABOUT AMPLITUDE STUDIOS
Amplitude is an independent team of experienced video game lovers (and developers) with a single goal: Create the best strategy games with the players’ help! Based in Paris, the studio boasts an international team that has worked all over the world on major AAA titles. Since Amplitude’s creation in 2011, the studio has released Endless Space, Dungeon of the Endless and Endless Legend, all critically acclaimed. A pioneer in its working method, while developing its first game Amplitude launched an open crowdsourced development process called “GAMES2GETHER.” This platform enables the community to participate in the creation of a video game from the early stages of development. Today, this methodology enables the studio to fulfill the expectations of its players while earning international recognition for the quality of its productions. Read more at www.amplitude-studios.com.

Free Range Games Releases Labyrinth Into Early Access

Genre-Defining Game Now Available on Steam

SAUSALITO, Calif. – March 7, 2016 – Strategy fans now have a new type of game to challenge themselves with as Labyrinth, from independent video game studio Free Range Games, releases through Steam Early Access for $9.99. Combining the playing experience of a tactical role-playing game (RPG) with the deck building of a collectible card game (CCG), Labyrinth features an immersive 3-D universe where players battle one another, via customized dungeon decks, using strategic attacks, defenses and positioning. Players interested in jumping into Early Access can download and navigate the Labyrinth at bit.ly/1QwNwLy.

Created in partnership with Skybound Entertainment, the multimedia company founded by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and his longtime business partner David Alpert, Labyrinth enables players to take on the role of both Adventurer and Dungeon Master. While playing gamers must assemble Hero decks to attack dungeons in Player vs. Player (PVP) raids for loot, and also customize dungeon decks with Boss, Monster and Trap cards to guard their own treasure. During battle players will use RPG tactics to attack, defend and heal their characters, which is all seen visually in gorgeous 3-D universe. Thanks to asynchronous combat, players are able to calculate their attacks and defenses during multiplayer battles without any time constraints.

“Labyrinth is the start to an exciting new genre that melds a perfect union between tactical-RPGs and CCGs,” said Chris Scholz, CEO at Free Range Games. “With tactical-decision making, deck building and RPG elements, Labyrinth has something for players who love the challenge of strategy games. At the same time, the game’s easy-to-read cards and unique cool-down system make it accessible for those new these types of games.”

Labyrinth is set in a vast and wondrous cosmos with the world of Hylea at its center. The core set starts in a city called Starfall. Once a peaceful and thriving market city, Starfall has spun into turmoil due to the breakdown of age-old pacts and alliances. The earliest settlers have consolidated their power and look to push out rivals while newcomers to the city seek to carve out territory for themselves. As night falls, every player must battle for survival in the ancient city’s tunnels, alleys and halls.

“Skybound is all about embracing creators with an authentic voice willing to tackle the risk of surprise,” said Daniel Murray, President at Skybound Interactive. “Launching Labryinth on Early Access with Free Range Games is just the beginning. We can’t wait for players to join our long journey ahead.”

For more information regarding Labyrinth please visit the game’s website, or Free Range’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

About Free Range Games

Free Range Games was established in 2009 to explore new ways of making and distributing quality games. The company’s goal is to develop games out in the open, with the community, and evolve them organically. The studio employs 25 passionate and talented game makers who have worked together for the better part of a decade. Based in Sausalito, Calif., Free Range Games has launched more than 15 games since its inception, including Free Fall Tournament, a popular free-to-play, sci-fi third person shooter that is played by millions of fans all over the world.
About Skybound Entertainment

Founded in 2010, Los Angeles-based Skybound Entertainment is a multiplatform entertainment company specializing in television, film, digital content, interactive, gaming, and merchandise. The company is led by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and his longtime producing and business partner David Alpert.