Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has made success on its own. The title was #1 in units and dollars for calendar year 2007, making it the #1 best-selling video game of all time in a single calendar year. Total sales for the Guitar Hero franchise have exceeded 14 million units since 2005 in North America.

“Guitar Hero is one of the biggest brands and one of the most powerful distribution platforms in all of entertainment today,” said Michael Griffith, President and Chief Executive Officer, Activision Publishing, Inc. “Guitar Hero’s popularity with broad audiences is a confirmation that video games have become a true mass medium.”

Blizzard excerpt on this additional Protoss unit:

“These small drones are employed to survey vast wasteland areas or observe and record battles for study within the protoss archives. Their complex sensor array leaves little energy for defenses, but they can detect cloaked or concealed enemies with ease. This ability makes observers invaluable auxiliary units on the battlefield.”

Battalion Wars 2 is a hybrid of third-person action and real-time strategy games and features 20 single-player missions. Players can command a variety of vehicles, from tanks and helicopter gunships to battleships and submarines to complete missions and progress through the game.

Gamers can also battle head-to-head in the skirmish and assault modes or team up with another player in co-op mode through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection online gaming service.

“Battalion Wars 2 promotes smarts over brute force,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Players are in complete control of what happens to them – and to their battalion – using the precision of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.”

Visit battalionwars.com for more info.

Three generations of the popular Command & Conquer series are now available in one bundle! The Command & Conquer Saga includes 13 Command & Conquer titles.

The Command & Conquer Saga contains the following titles:

• Command & Conquer™ (August 1995)
• Command & Conquer The Covert Operations™ (April 1996)
• Command & Conquer Red Alert™ (October 1996)
• Command & Conquer Red Alert Counterstrike™ (March 1997)
• Command & Conquer Red Alert™ The Aftermath™ (September 1997)
• Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ (August 1999)
• Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ Firestorm (February 2000)
• Command & Conquer Red Alert™ 2 (October 2000)
• Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ Yuri’s Revenge™ (October 2001)
• Command & Conquer Renegade™ (February 2002)
• Command & Conquer™ Generals (February 2003)
• Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour (September 2003)
• Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™ (March 2007)

The bundle has a US MSRP of $49.99. Visit commandandconquer.com for additional information.

“Natasha and Carl are a perfect fit for the live-action video sequences that will bring our epic story to life,” said Mike Verdu, General Manager of EALA and Executive Producer on Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath. “We had great success with the cast and story for Command & Conquer 3, and I’m very excited to be working with such talented actors on the expansion pack. We’re doing something really unique with the campaign this time around – and I think fans will be thrilled to see how the story unfolds.”

Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath will ship in Spring 2008 for Windows PC and Xbox 360. Visit CommandAndConquer.com

Blizzard’s Description:

“Top terran military analysts all agree that “Knowing is half the battle” and that early warning is one of the keys to victory. The sensor tower is a vital tool for long-range surveillance of enemy movement and the detection of stealthed aggressors.”

“By using both passive and active thermal and electromagnetic scanning mixed with millimetric radar sweeps, input from seismic sensors, and Doppler analysis, a sensor tower can quickly pinpoint any target within range.”

Find additional information at the Sensor Tower StarCraft II page.

Each trading card is embedded with a CyberCode, a proprietary technology that allows PLAYSTATION Eye to read the cards and cause the trading card character to materialize on screen. Players use mana, the form of currency used to summon creatures, as they take turns strategically placing cards and summoning creatures to take control of the board. The winner is the first player to conquer five of the nine squares of the “9 Fields” battle mat.

“Wizards of the Coast [Developer] brings experience and credibility to the table as the market leader in the collectable card game industry,” said Jeff Reese, director, software marketing, SCEA. “Combined with the immense power of PS3 and the new PLAYSTATION Eye camera, we collectively looked to deliver a revolutionary spin on the trading card game genre. The ability to visually interact with cards built around a new franchise will bring in core trading card fans and video gamers alike.”

The PLAYSTATION Eye will also allow players to link up on the PLAYSTATION Network to battle online. THE EYE OF JUDGMENT will be bundled with PLAYSTATION Eye, 9 Fields battle mat, stand, a starter deck of 30 cards, and a booster pack of 8 cards for a MSRP of $69.99. Booster packs will cost you $3.99, and themed decks will cost $14.99.

“The release of THE EYE OF JUDGMENT is a fantasy come true for trading card and video game fans,” said Christy Newton, director of marketing at Hasbro. “The game blends cutting edge PS3 and PLAYSTATION Eye technology with the strategic element of trading card game play. It delivers an unprecedented experience that brings fantastic trading-card based creatures to life on screen in a way that players have been dreaming of since childhood.”

For more information on THE EYE OF JUDGMENT, visit EyeOfJudgement.

THQ Inc. has announced the Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance expansion pack has received a Gold status and is in the manufacturing process. The standalone expansion in the revolutionary Supreme Commander series continues to push the boundaries of scope and scale in the RTS genre, offering a mysterious new alien faction, the Seraphim, an all-new single-player campaign and more than 100 new units to master on the path to galactic domination.

“Supreme Commander delivered scope and scale on a level never before seen in the RTS genre, allowing gamers to live out their dreams of commanding massive armies on a global scale,” said Kevin Kraff, director of global brand management, THQ. “Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance will continue to push those boundaries and deliver more of what fans want.”

“Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance tells the story of the UEF, Cybran and Aeon’s desperate alliance as they fight for survival against the Seraphim, a long forgotten alien race that has returned to destroy all of humanity,” said Chris Taylor, CEO, Gas Powered Games. “Adding a new faction, and giving the existing factions some crazy powerful new units opens up a wide range of innovative strategic possibilities, taking the single and multiplayer game to a place never seen before in an RTS”.

Supreme Commander: Forge Alliance will be available November 6, 2007 for the PC platform.

This type of hand-eye training has been used by athletes to stimulate their reflexes and give them an edge on the competition. Nintendo jokingly adds, It’s a great tool for moms who like to keep a “peripheral vision” watch on their kids or for people who want an edge spotting holiday sales.

“Flash Focus represents another one of our software titles that delivers fun with a purpose,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Flash Focus should be in the training arsenal of every coach in the country, but it’s also ideal for casual game players of any age who want to keep their vision sharp.”

First time players take an “Eye Age” test to determine a starting point for improvement. As the player continues to train their hand-eye coordination they can track their Eye Age to see if it has lowered.

Some of the many fun activities in Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day include:

• A variation of the hidden ball “hat dance” seen at baseball parks: A circle is placed in one of three boxes, and the user must follow the location of the circle as the boxes shuffle rapidly on the screen.
• Watching two symbols flash on the screen, then tapping the touch screen to indicate whether they matched.
• Memorizing a target letter and counting how many times it appears in a fast-moving stream of letters on the screen.

Flash Focus: Training in Minutes a Day is now available for the Nintendo DS.

“Since their inception in 1989, SimCity games have served as excellent creative and educational tools to convey complex subjects. With SimCity Societies, we have the opportunity not only to demonstrate some of the causes and effects of global warming, but also to educate players how seemingly small choices can have a big global impact,” said Steve Seabolt, Vice President of Global Brand Development for The Sims Label at EA. “BP was one of the first major energy companies to publicly acknowledge the need to reduce carbon emissions and begin taking precautionary measures. As such, they are the perfect partner to help educate people on this important social issue in SimCity Societies.”

Just like all other SimCity games, the player has the freedom to choose what type of city, or in this case society, he or she wants to build. Similar to real-life, the least expensive and most readily-available buildings in SimCity Societies are also the biggest producers of carbon dioxide, an invisible gas that contributes to global warming. Alternatively, players can choose from a variety of BP Alternative Energy low-carbon power options. Using hydrogen and natural gas plants to wind farms and solar power, SimCity Societies encourages people to learn about some of the causes and consequences of global warming in an engaging, educational and meaningful way.

“The time was right for this partnership. EA was developing the next iteration of the SimCity series at the same time that we were looking for opportunities to raise awareness about low-carbon power choices,” said Carol Battershell, Vice President, BP Alternative Energy. “EA has a powerful reach to the next generation and BP has a suite of low-carbon power alternatives. In our collaboration through this innovative game, we can provide education on the issues surrounding climate change, its association with carbon emissions and the ability to take early positive action through low-carbon power choices.”

SimCity Societies will be available in North America and Europe on November 15, 2007. Visit simcity.ea.com for more information.