Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince India Prices Announced by EA

The video game, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the latest in the series and is a highly anticipated one at that. Earlier we reported that the game would be releasing this month. Now EA has revealed the various platform prices for the game in India.

The game gives players the option of selecting from single and multi player gameplay modes. Players assume the role of Harry, Hermione or Ron and try to discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. Gamers can also take part in wizard duels and dabble in potion making, as they explore the magical Hogwarts and cast spells.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game will release on July 3, 2009 and will be distributed in India by Milestone Interactive. The game is expected to be available at Landmark, Croma, Planet M and other retail outlets. The PC and PS2 versions will cost Rs. 999 while the Xbox 360 and Wii versions can be purchased for Rs. 1999. The PSP version can be bought for Rs. 1599 and the PS3 version of the game is listed at Rs. 2499.

Maroon 5 and Warped Tour Artists to Hit Rock Band Music Store This Week

After recently revealing the full set-list for the Rock Band Country Track Pack featuring songs from famous country stars, Harmonix and MTV Games announced that they will be introducing more tracks to the Rock Band Music Store. They plan to add songs by Maroon 5 and artists featuring on this year’s Warped Tour, to the Rock Band Music Store this week.

The Warped Tour is an annual international music and extreme sports festival which started in 1994 and this year’s Warped Tour is going to be held between the end of June and August. Five tracks by artists performing on this year’s Warped Tour and a pack of three tracks from Grammy Award winning band, Maroon 5, will be released this week. The band holds the distinction of selling nearly 15 million albums worldwide.

The five songs from this year’s Warped Tour are The Downfall of Us All by A Day to Remember, 21st Century Digital Boy by Bad Religion, I didn’t Say I Was Powerful, I said I was a Wizard by Chiodos, The Flood from Escape the Fate and Underoath’s Reinventing Your Exit. The three tracks from Maroon 5 coming this week are Little of Your Time, Makes Me Wonder and Wake Up Call. The tracks can be availed of as part of the Warped Tour Pack or the Maroon 5 Pack and can also be purchased individually. All the 8 tracks are master recordings.

Harmonix and MTV Games will make the tracks available on the Xbox Live Marketplace on June 23, 2009 and on the PlayStation Store on June 24, 2009. Individual tracks can be bought for USD 1.99 (approx. Rs.95) or for 160 Microsoft Points. The Maroon 5 Pack can be purchased for USD 5.49 (approx. Rs.265) or for 440 Microsoft points while the Warped Tour Pack costs USD 8.49 (approx. Rs.410).

Fight Night Round 4 Demo Impressions

Boxing fans rejoice for yet another Fight Night game is nearly upon us. EA was kind enough to drop a demo of the game on both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network and here’s what we thought of the game.

The Fight Night series has always been well known for their graphical prowess and FNR4 is no different. Simply put, the game looks phenomenal. Boxers have been created with intricate detail; in fact every time your boxer lays a punch you can actually see the muscles on his body tense up, just like it would in real life. Sweat drips down his body and every time he eats a blow, the skin around the hit region ripples in a totally awesome way. Also hit detection has been improved significantly so you no longer have to witness hands actually clipping through faces and heads.

On the flip side, they’ve completely removed button support, which means you can no longer punch using the face buttons on your controller. This caused a minor uproar among people (yours truly included) who actually played through FNR3 using face buttons. Still total punch control has been handled really well so once you get used to it, it feels like second nature.

There’s a tutorial at the start of the demo that allows you to try out all your moves like jabs, hooks, uppercuts and signature blows on a relatively peaceful opponent who doesn’t mind you beating the crap out of him. Unlike the previous game, blocking is of the utmost importance this time round and learning how to counter attack incoming punches can turn the tides in your favor. Once you feel you’re comfortable with the control scheme you have one A.I. match to choose from after which you could play against a human opponent as well. Oh and if you feel you’ve performed exceptionally well during a particular match you can now save your replays and upload them to www.easportsworld.com.

Overall I’d have to say that I did enjoy the demo but I was sad that EA completely axed button mashing from the game. Still I hear that they got a significant amount of feedback regarding that decision so they may (and I repeat may) just about implement it in the final version. We’ll have to wait patiently till the 30th of June to find out, which is when Fight Night Round 4 releases for both the Xbox360 and PS3.

The Sims 3 is EA's Best-Selling PC Launch

EA’s The Sims 3 comes with full online and community features and at the same time does not have DRM protection, which can be a pain. The game was released to retailers on June 2, 2009. Now we have word from EA that The Sims 3 has sold over 1.4 million copies for PC and Mac in its first week. This is the best-selling PC launch in EA’s history, and so far there have been over 7 million downloads of content created by players, including houses, stories, and even Sims. The Sims 3 for the iPhone and iPod Touch hit the number one spot on the Apple App Store on the first day of its launch and hasn’t renounced that spot yet.

“The Sims 3 for the iPhone and iPod touch soared to the number one Top Paid App position in the U.S. Apple App Store in just 18 hours of its launch and reached the number one Top Paid App position in 37 countries worldwide within two days of launch, making it EA Mobile’s 3rd game launched at $9.99 to reach the number one Top Paid App position,” VP of Worldwide Publishing for EA Mobile, Adam Sussman stated. “The game’s sales success along with its strong critical acclaim demonstrates that The Sims 3 mobile experience is a worldwide hit with our customers.”

“With more than a dozen press awards, strong reviewer scores and positive feedback from The Sims community, we are thrilled with the success of The Sims 3 launch and the early sales indicate that we have another hit on our hands,” Head of the EA Play Label, Rod Humble commented. “The volume of items created with The Sims 3 and downloaded online is a testament to how passionate The Sims players are. It’s their world now, we can’t wait to see everything players create and share.”

The Sims 3 allows players to create Sims with unique personalities and character traits and take them anywhere in the neighborhood. Players can also enjoy many online and community features, and visit The Sims 3 Store to purchase clothing and furniture for their Sims. The game even allows Sims fans to make Sims movies using the clips captured while playing the game, in conjunction with editing tools provided. These movies can then be shared across the community.