Today's round up includes news of
Super Monkey Ball heading to Nintendo's Revolution platform, an online marketing effort based around ABC's
Lost, and free Xbox Live Gold access for the week of E3, as well as the latest GameSetWatch and Serious Game Source updates, product news and Gamasutra job postings.
- Sega has announced
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, its second confirmed title to be shown at E3 in May, this time for the upcoming Nintendo Revolution platform. Developed by Sega Studios,
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz will feature all new single-player levels, as well as single and multiplayer party games made to take advantage of the Revolution's unique controller. In addition, the developers have included the ability to jump when players flick the Nintendo Revolution controller in an upward motion, which will make for the possibility of very different puzzle designs. "The Nintendo Revolution presents a totally unique avenue for our developers to explore the art of game design," said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, Sega of America, Inc. "
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz will present a mind-boggling array of gameplay innovations that will excite and challenge gamers while pushing the boundaries of imagination forward."
- The popularity of ABC's television drama Lost has made its way to the Internet, as ABC, Channel 4 Television in the UK and Australia’s Seven Network today jointly announced the
Lost Experience, an "online interactive marketing endeavor", effectively an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) similar to titles such as
ilovebees for
Halo 2, that incorporates over twenty broadcasters from five continents, and will follow a parallel storyline not featured in the television broadcast. The
Lost Experience is being designed so that both fans of the series and those unfamiliar with the show can search for clues both on and offline in order to unlock some of the island’s secrets.
- Following on from the Verizon-sponsored
first Free Xbox Live Gold Weekend held from March 31 through April 2, Microsoft's Peter Moore has confirmed through an interview posted on the company's recently
launched E3 website that Verizon will be sponsoring a full week of free Xbox Live Gold access during the week of E3, taking place from May 8 through May 14. In addition, during that same week, many of the same demos experienced by attendees to the annual conference will also be made available over Xbox Live. "It is our goal to bring E3 home to Xbox Live members as best we can, all the videos and the news as quickly as possible," said Moore. "We will give you the flavor of what's going on, on the show floor and some of the stuff that we are showing and debuting here."
- The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include
an interview with Dr. Sonya Brady regarding her controversial research regarding video game violence, a nostalgic look back at
the world of vintage video game magazines, and a walk through the
adventuresome world of interactive fiction.
- Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on
DDR being showcased at an upcoming education convention in Utah, and
the schedule for the upcoming Games for Health event, plus Gamasutra product news regarding
the addition of social networking by Game Trust to Game Frame 4.8, as well as the latest
Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from BioWare, Blockdot, Datascope Recruitment, Electronic Arts, Electronic Arts Canada, LucasArts, Radical Entertainment, The Art Institute of Phoenix, and Vivendi Universal Games.
