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IBM is launching a free multiplayer online game (PowerUp) challenging teenagers to help save the planet “Helios” from ecological disaster. The game is part of IBM’s TryScience initiative and will be launched at Engineer’s Week 2008 opening on February 16 in Washington, D.C. The game, which can be played alone or together, features a planet in near ecological ruin where three exciting missions for solar, wind and water power must be solved before sandstorms, floods or SmogGobs thwart the rescue.

Activision made announcement today that it is working on a new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game built around the legendary music of America’s Greatest Rock ‘N Roll Band: Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer. Slated for release this June, this latest installment puts players in the shoes of Perry (guitar), Whitford (guitar) and Hamilton (bass), as they rock out alongside frontman Tyler and drummer Kramer. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 entertainment systems. The Wii version is being developed by Vicarious Visions, while the PlayStation 2 game is being made by Budcat. To mark the announcement, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock owners will have the opportunity to download Aerosmith’s Dream On song for free from February 16-18 on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360. “We are extremely excited that Aerosmith chose to team up with Guitar Hero, bringing one of the world’s all-time best-selling artists together with one of the biggest video game brands, to deliver a new and unique interactive way for our customers to connect with artists and their music,” said Dusty Welch, head of publishing for Activision/RedOctane.

Electronic Arts has set a launch date for Spore, the anticipated computer and Nintendo DS game from “Sims” creator Will Wright. Spore was first announced a couple years ago, and is the first major project for Wright since his phenomenal success with the Sims franchise. It allows players to create their own creatures, their own environments, and even their own planets. The goal of the game is to successfully manage a universe through five phases of evolution. The game will launch simultaneously on PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, and mobile phone platforms, on September 7. Last year, Electronic Arts announced a partnership with TransGaming to use the Cider Portability Engine as a way to more quickly port PC games to the Mac platform. Since then, EA has released several titles on both formats simultaneously, getting rid of huge delays that previously plagued the Mac community.

Crytek’s first person shooter game, Crysis, has been reported for selling over 1 million copies in less than three month during the Electronic Arts third quarter earnings conference call yesterday. Even though the game has gone platinum, CEO John Riccitiello said that EA is “not satisfied” with the overall third quarter financial results. The company was disappointed that none of the big successes were developed internally. “We did not have any internally developed breakaway titles,” said Riccitiello. “The closest thing we had to breakaway titles in 2007 were Skate and FIFA,” he continued. Riccitiello expects Burnout Paradise to be another big hit, but he didn’t give any more indications than that at this early stage in the game’s shelf life.

Blizzard has issued a new World of Warcraft US/AUS patch, updating version 2.3.2 of the game to version 2.3.3. The 4.3MB update offers improved load times and more bug fixes. Click here to download it manually.

It looks like OCZ is planning the future of gaming with its Neural Impulse Actuator - the world’s first gaming control system that allows users to play games by monitoring muscle movement, brain waves and eye movement. After calibration, the device allows the wearer to carry out actions such as moving, turning, strafing and changing weapons without needing a keyboard, simply by thinking what they want to do. This allows for more fluid gameplay and faster reactions - things that are essential to hardcore gamers. The mouse is still used to aim, but absolutely no keyboard inputs are required. Apparently the device is almost ready to go into production, and has been designed to take advantage of DirectX and multithreading as much as possible to minimise the performance impact. There are no details on pricing or availability yet, but if OCZ has its way, gaming could be very different in a few years time.

Publisher Ubisoft has announced Far Cry 2 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Set in Africa, the exploration-heavy first person shooter is slated to arrive within the 2008-2009 fiscal year, which begins in April. A PC version of the game was first revealed last summer. All editions of the game are being developed by Ubisoft Montreal, which previously handled the Xbox, Xbox 360, and Wii spin-offs of the first Far Cry (PC). Original Far Cry creator and developer Crytek is not involved with the project, as Ubisoft acquired the Far Cry and Crytek Engine rights in 2006.

Source: Shacknews

The upcoming World of Wacraft expansion (Wrath of the Lich King) will feature a large area dedicated to PvP (Player vs. Player) battles, Blizzard has revealed. A “cool part of Northrend is new big PvP zone. It’s about the size of Westfall, and will be all-PvP - in no way, shape or form will we support PvE [Player vs Environment] players in it”, the developer’s Jeff Kaplan has told PC Zone. He continued, “It’ll be optional, but it’ll be completely non-instanced, have multiple objectives, siege weapons and destructible buildings”. In the interview, Kaplan went on to promise that WoW adventurers will be pleasantly surprised when they first enter the new continent of Northrend. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is expected to launch this year, though Blizzard has yet to confirm when.

Source: ComputerAndVideoGames.com

Hot on the heels of the announcement of two Devil May Cry 4 bundles for the PlayStation 3, Microsoft and Capcom have announced a Devil May Cry 4 Xbox 360 bundle. Available for only ¥37,800 ($330), the Xbox 360　Devil May Cry 4 Premium Pack includes a Japanese Xbox 360 “Standard Model” (which is almost identical to the U.S. Premium Edition except for the lack of a headset) and a copy of Devil May Cry 4. Furthermore, this pack is ¥10,000 cheaper than the PS3-DMC4 bundle. The Xbox 360 Devil May Cry 4 Premium Pack is scheduled for release on January 31, 2008.

Source: TeamXbox

Online retailer Amazon.com has revealed that it managed to sell an average of 17 Wii consoles per second whilst they were in stock during the build up to the holiday season, with Super Mario Galaxy and Call of Duty 4 being the top selling video games. The company is claiming that the Christmas period this year was its most successful to date, with Monday 10th December being the busiest day when it received orders for 5.4 million items.

Source: Next Generation