FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE FRANCHISE HISTORY SKYLANDERS UNLEASHES TWO NEW ELEMENTS

New Light and Dark Element Trap Master Skylanders to be included in special

Elemental Quest Packs launching this festive season

Never-Before-Seen Elemental Zones and Villains now can be accessed and captured in

Skylanders Trap Team

For the first time since the launch of the Skylanders® franchise, two entirely new elements – Light and Dark – will be unleashed in the world of Skylands, announced Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI). Two new Trap Masters - Knight Mare and Knight Light, will hit store shelves nationwide this festive season, via special Light and Dark Elemental Quest Packs, ushering in new adventures in the lore of Skylanders® Trap Team. Each Elemental Quest Pack contains a Trap Master, a special Trap capable of capturing either Light or Dark villains, as well as a location piece that unlocks a special level in the game. The Light and Dark Elemental Quest Packs will be available at all major retailers nationwide.

Portal Masters will have the opportunity to explore new levels within the Skylanders Trap Team universe, where they will find never-before-seen villains to capture and environments to explore. Amongst these villains are Luminous and Nightshade, who belong to the Doom Raiders - the elite members of Kaos’ army of Skylands’ most notorious bad guys.

“It’s amazing to see how deeply engrossed and fascinated our fans have been with the Skylanders franchise,” said John Coyne, vice president of Consumer Marketing at Activision Publishing, Inc. “By unveiling new Light and Dark elements and heroes to theSkylanders universe, our fans around the world will have new ways of exploring all the magic, excitement and fun of Skylands.”

The introduction of Light and Dark elements reveals additional backstory of the Skylanders universe for fans to explore.  Long ago, Knight Light and Knight Mare were both protectors of Skylands until being sealed off in other realms. Now that they have joined the Trap Masters, Knight Light wields his Traptanium^TM Blade and Knight Mare unleashes her deadly Traptanium Lance to bring down evil everywhere!

 Skylanders Trap Team is playable with more than 175 unique toys from all previous games – Skylanders^® SWAP Force^™, Skylanders^® Giants and Skylanders^® Spyro’s Adventure. Every character is able to defeat and trap villains using Traptanium Traps, providing fans more ways to enjoy their collections. The game is available on the following platforms: Nintendo's Wii™ system and Nintendo's Wii U^™ system; Xbox One and Xbox 360 games and entertainment systems from Microsoft; and PlayStation^® 3 and PlayStation^® 4 computer entertainment systems from Sony. A different adventure is also available on the Nintendo 3DS^™hand-held system. Additionally, the complete Skylanders Trap Team experience is available on Kindle Fire and Android tablets, as well as a variety of iPads®, including iPad® (3^rd  Generation), iPad® (4^th Generation), iPad Air™, iPad Air™ 2, iPad mini™,  iPad mini™ 2 and iPad mini™ 3.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Skylanders Trap Team

Formats:  3DS, PS3, PS4, Wii, WiiU, X360, XO Out:  10/10/2014 Publisher:  Activision

Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island Is Now Available

The Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island expansion is available now exclusively on Xbox One and can be purchased from the Xbox Live Store for £15.99. Forza Horizon 2 VIP owners will receive a 50 percent discount on the expansion, making the price just £7.99 for VIP members.

Here’s a breakdown of the new content available with the Storm Island expansion.

Dangerous Beauty

This expansion pack for Forza Horizon 2 features a new location to explore, the mysterious and foreboding Storm Island. It features the most severe weather conditions ever seen in a Forza game, including fierce tropical storms and thick fog that will add an entirely new level of challenge to the game.

Storm Island has been built with the Forza Horizon 2 engine and infused with brand new technology that showcases the beauty of the world. New features like swaying trees in extreme windstorms and the rays of the sun cutting through thick fog bring the adventure of Storm Island to life in ways players have never experienced before.

Action-Packed Fun

The expansion features 90 new events with five new event types players can test their skills in, and all have been designed to bring the most out of both the driver as well as every vehicle in the game. These new events include:

Rampage

Rampage events are point-to-point off-road sprints, where the driver will contend with obstacles and smashables (including the brand new smashable chicanes) before crossing the finish line.

Brawl

Grab your favourite four-wheeled weapon and strap in for these off-road circuit races featuring extreme terrain, lots of obstacles to take advantage of, and new smashables to wreck.

Extreme Cross Country

Fans have played Cross Country events in Forza Horizon 2 but have never played them quite like this. With more extreme elevation changes, a variety of different terrain types, and strong storms to contend with, Storm Island’s Extreme Cross Country races are not for the faint of heart.

Cross Country Circuit

One sprint in a Cross Country race will get players’ heart rates up. But how about multiple laps? In Cross Country Circuit events, players will be taking on those same challenges in multi-lap races that will test both their stamina and skill.

Gauntlet

These point-to-point races are held only at night, and are long and dangerous – with minimal signage to guide players during the race. Just completing a Gauntlet event is challenging enough. Victory will take a special combination of skill, bravery, and luck.

The Adventure Never Stops

In addition to new event types, Storm Island will include new items and locations to explore – including new roads and bonus boards, a brand new Car Meet, new Bucket List challenges, new speed trap and speed zone leaderboards, and additional Rivals events.

Players can head online to discover new content, including four new multilplayer Playground arenas, 20 unique online race routes, six Gauntlet events, three new Showdown events (accessible from the new Storm Island Car Meet location), and five online championship event types including Brawl, Rampage, Extreme Cross Country, Cross Country Circuit, and Mixed events.

The pack also includes five new iconic cars, plus a new barn find car. For players who enjoy upgrading their vehicles, new off-road suspension, tire, and transmission upgrades can be applied to any of Forza Horizon 2’s 200+ cars. In addition, new rally-inspired body kit upgrades have been added for a select number of legendary cars in game.

All of this content, plus 23 new Xbox Live achievements (adding up to 500 gamerscore points) makes the Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island expansion an amazing value for Forza fans.

For more on the Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island expansion, check out the livestream on the official Forza Motorsport Twitch channel, which will be beginning at 7 p.m.  GMT on Tuesday, 16 December.

Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island Car Descriptions

2013 Robby Gordon #7 Speed Energy Drink Stadium Super Truck

Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Truck is built to conquer practically any terrain. Gordon started the Stadium Super Truck series in 2012 and won its inaugural championship title in 2013. Modeled after the stadium off-road racing made famous by off-road legend Mickey Thompson, Stadium Super Trucks crash, bash, and jump their way around real-life road courses and unique arena courses. The trucks are tube frame, full-race vehicles, similar to a trophy truck.

2013 MINI X-Raid All4 Racing Countryman

Since its introduction to the Dakar Rally – the most grueling off-road race in the world – the MINI X-Raid has been the most dominant vehicle in the field. With veteran driver Stephane Peterhansel – aka “Mr. Dakar” – behind the wheel in 2012, the MINI won its first Dakar. Peterhansel came back in 2013 to win again in the MINI. Both years the other three MINIs of the four-car team all placed in the top ten. Built specifically for competition in the Dakar, the MINI X-Raid is all-wheel-drive and is powered by a BMW twin-turbo diesel engine. These rigs are built to withstand the conditions of racing across a multitude of surfaces at speeds in excess of 100 mph, and these ALL4 racing MINIs are bespoke chassis and drive systems.

2014 Ford Ranger T6 Rally Raid

Ford continues its endeavors to win in off-road racing with its 2014 Dakar Rally effort in the Ranger T6 Rally Raid. Drawing on the proven expertise of South African Neal Woolridge, who beat out several American constructors for the chance to build this effort, Ford has gone to great lengths to deliver a true contender for the Dakar. Under the hood is a military dust-proofed 32-valve V8 – a la Ford Mustang – connected to a Sadev six-speed sequential transmission. The body shell resembles a Ranger four-door 4X4 but, underneath, the chassis and suspension are completely custom. Suspension travel and durability are paramount since this truck will be travelling at more than 100 mph across surfaces that most trucks would crawl over.

1981 Ford Fiesta XR2

The smallest of Fords was a success from the moment it was produced in 1976. While not the first front-wheel drive Ford, it is the first widely-selling FWD car for the company. Upon testing the waters with the Fiesta Supersport, Ford built the XR2 which brought a stiffened suspension and a 1.6-liter crossflow Kent engine. Given the already nimble and light base, the nearly 100 horsepower of the XR2 really got the party started.

1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4

The Galant VR-4 was the platform that Mitsubishi developed its impeccable AWD system and, in the process, won no less than six rally championships. The VR-4 ignites off the line, cuts into corners, and brakes with precision. The engine develops potent horsepower put to the wheels via a center differential that detects wheel slippage and re-directs power to the axle with the most traction. Four-wheel steering engages at speeds more than 31 mph and turns the rear wheels up to 1.5 degrees to enable optimum turn angle and cornering stability.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Forza Horizon 2

Formats:  X360, XO Out:  3/10/2014 Publisher:  Microsoft

Shadow of Mordor Lord of the Hunt DLC and Trailer

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions today releasedLord of the Hunt DLC, a new Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ story mission expansion pack along with a new trailer showcasing the content. Lord of the Hunt is available now for purchase and to Season Pass holders for download for PlayStation 4™, PC and Xbox One™. In Lord of the Hunt, Sauron has dispatched lethal Beastmaster Warchiefs to exterminate the monsters of Mordor. Talion will join Torvin the Dwarven Hunter and use his powers of Domination to turn these menacing new beasts against the Warchiefs, proving that Mordor cannot be tamed.

Lord of the Hunt adds hours of new gameplay, and includes the following:

·New Story & Lore – Discover more tales from Torvin, the Dwarven Hunter, as you work together to tame the beasts of Mordor and fight Sauron’s minions.

·New Nemeses – Face off against the Beastmaster Warchiefs, powerful new Uruks who have the ability to ride monsters and engage in perilous mounted combat.

·New Monsters – Ride into battle on the Wretched Graug to vomit toxin at your foes, stalk your enemies on the predatory Caragath and attack from the shadows or raise an all-consuming Ghul Horde.

·New Missions & Challenges – New Beast Hunting challenges and collectibles open up new trophies and achievements.

·New Epic Runes – Make your Mount unstoppable with five new epic Runes that make you the ultimate hunter.

·Test of the Wild – Test your skills against the Beastmasters and mount your trophies on the leaderboard.

·New Character Skin – Lord of the Hunt skin transforms Talion into the ultimate Beastmaster.


Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor delivers a dynamic game environment where the player orchestrates their personal plan of vengeance as they bend Mordor to their will. The game begins on the night of Sauron’s return to Mordor, as his Black Captains brutally execute the Rangers of the Black Gate. Players become Talion, a ranger who loses his family and everything he holds dear, only to be returned from death by a mysterious Spirit of vengeance. Based on the player’s actions with the in-game Nemesis System, every enemy encountered is distinct and can evolve to become a personal archenemy through the course of the game.  As Talion’s personal vendetta unfolds, players uncover the mystery of the Spirit that compels him, discover the origin of the Rings of Power and confront the ultimate nemesis.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is available for PlayStation 4™, Xbox One™, PC, Steam™, Xbox 360™ and PlayStation 3™.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Formats:  PC, PS4, XO, PS3, X360 Out:  30/9/2014 (PC)   03/10/2014 (PS4)   3/10/2014 (XO)   21/11/2014 (PS3 X360) Publisher:  Warner Bros. Developer:  Monolith Software

Today we are happy to present a new trailer for the four-player co-op mode for Grand Theft Auto Online that allows players to plan, prepare and execute multi-tiered Heists across Los Santos and Blaine County. These will require tight communication and coordination, with players taking on specified roles at each point to accomplish multiple objectives on the way to each Heist’s epic finale. Featuring new gameplay, new vehicles, new weapons, new clothing and much more.

GTA Online Heists are coming early in 2015 to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Grand Theft Auto V

Formats:  PS3, X360, PS4, XO, PC Out:  17/9/2013 (PS3 X360)   18/11/2014 (PS4 XO)   27/1/2015 (PC) Publisher:  Rockstar Developer:  In-house

‘A penguin is for Christmas but a console is for life!’

- GAME launches first-ever free “gift rap” service with a message to Monty –

·         GAME trials personalised gift rapping service

·         Festive-themed raps from the Christmas Rapper available to all on the GAME website

·         First rap released today addresses a penguin’s ‘unethical’ desire for a ‘mail order bride’

What to buy a lonely pet penguin for Christmas? That’s a question addressed head-on as GAME, the UK’s leading video games retailer, launches the first-ever free gift rapping service for customers.

Rather than old-fashioned paper and sticky tape, a series of lyrical gift raps are being offered to customers making in-store and online purchases this year, totally free of charge.

GAME is trialling the service in-store for the first time by offering visitors to their Westfield Stratford store personalised gift raps on Tuesday 16^th December, from 10am-1pm.

In addition to this, Gamers and gifters with the GAME App simply have to visit the GAME website:www.game.co.uk/giftraps and hold their phone to a correlating image to benefit from one of four exclusive gift raps on their phone.

Over the four raps, the GAME Christmas Rapper* delivers a series of spoken-word monologues that bust the sentimental baubles of the festive period from an obsessive gamer’s perspective.

In a first exclusive teaser video, a ‘Message to Monty’ concerns Christmas Rapper’s relationship with his depressed pet penguin. His lyrics reveals the difficulties in communication, concerns over its short-life span in the British climate, irritation at having to bleach its pee stains and, ultimately, his gift solution to cheer the penguin up:

So I concocted a plan and this I'll share with you,

To console his tortured soul I bought him a console or two!

He opened them both and gasped with the heaviest breath,

I'm not gonna lie, at first he was less than impressed,

He confessed that what he desired and expected to get,

Was a mail order penguin bride...don't think he's assessed his ethics just yet!

The moral of the tale and this he learned over time,

A mail order penguin is for Christmas but a console is for life!

The other online raps paint a picture of a familiar picture of overcooked turkey, tipsy Nans in paper hats, Queens Speeches and interminable board games – which all conspire to frustrate the Christmas Rapper who simply wants to escape with the likes of FIFA 15, Skylanders and Destiny.

In ‘I Want a PS4!’ and ‘I Want an X Box One!’ the raps look at the pain of wanting a console so badly and the frustration of not being able to play on them until after the rituals of the family Christmas are over.

The final two Christmas raps include a gansta-rap style interpretation of the classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas and In The Dugout in My Bedroom in homage to those who all those football video gamers who’d rather lead Accrington Stanley to the Champions League than partake in family festivities:

Mum shouts through the door ‘Did you open your card?’

But I’m playing away with Eden Hazard

Stephen Lynn, GAME said: “This Christmas Day there will be millions of Brits, young and old, who will be doing cold turkey in paper hats until they can finally escape to their new consoles and video games. And while the Christmas Rapper is a caricature of our collective passion for gaming he would be a far better playmate than an emotionally unstable penguin.”

“Lots of big retailers charge customers extra just to add some shiny paper and a bow on a purchase. The free gift rap service uses the latest technology, is a first for any retailer and our present to anyone who visits the GAME website or our Stratford store over the festive season.”

WWE® AND WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT TEAM UP FOR WWE IMMORTALS™

Free-to-Play Mobile Game Developed by NetherRealm Studios Scheduled for Worldwide Launch Next Year

WWE and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are creating WWE Immortals™, a free-to-play mobile game that will feature epic Superstar battles in a fantastically re-imagined WWE world. WWE Immortals is being developed by NetherRealm Studios, the creators of the best-selling Mortal Kombat franchise and Injustice: Gods Among Us, in conjunction with Phosphor Game Studios, and will be available worldwide on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices in 2015.

“It’s amazing to be working with WWE to offer a new way for fans to experience the brand on mobile platforms,” said Greg Ballard, Senior Vice President, Mobile, Social and Emerging Platforms, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “NetherRealm Studios are experts in creating award-winning games and the team is working hard to deliver the same quality of engaging gameplay with WWE Immortals.”

“We are excited to partner with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios to create WWE Immortals and bring a new action-packed mobile experience to our passionate fan base,” said Casey Collins, Executive Vice President, Consumer Products, WWE. “By tapping into NetherRealm’s legendary game development studio along with the unparalleled reach of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, we are creating a new way for fans to engage with the larger-than-life WWE characters.”

PRODUCT INFORMATION

WWE Immortals

Formats:  An, iOS Out:  2015 Publisher:  Warner Bros.

Dying Light’s Intro Reveals the Origin of the Harran Crisis

Techland today unveiled the opening cinematic for the studio’s highly anticipated open-world action survival game -- Dying Light. After a thought-provoking story trailerreleased last week, players can now catch a glimpse of the events that set the game’s dramatic storyline in motion. The intro paints the background for a mysterious outbreak in the ill-fated city of Harran which the rest of the world can do little to help, setting the stage for a political tug-of-war between Harran’s Ministry of Defense and the Global Relief Effort – a privately funded international humanitarian organization.     

Entering the quarantine zone established to contain the unknown plague, players will assume the role of Kyle Crane, an undercover operative sent on an infiltration mission that at first seems both necessary and morally clear, yet in reality turns out to be just a move in a game of chess for the highest stake. 

Dying Light is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC, and is scheduled for release in 2015 on January 27th in the Americas, January 28th in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and January 30th in Europe.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Dying Light

Formats:  PC, PS4, XO Out:  27/1/2015 Publisher:  Warner Bros. Developer:  Techland