NEWS: Princess Peach To The Rescue!

Bowser’s up to no good again, but this time it’s Princess Peach to the rescue!

Bowser’s finally gotten wise and kidnapped the Mario Bros, figuring that since they’re the guys who normally do the rescuing, no one will be around to rescue them. He’s in for a big surprise, though, because Peach is armed (with a parasol) and dangerous.

Besides whacking Bowser’s minions with her parasol, Peach can channel emotional vibes into special abilities: floating through the air when she’s happy, burning through bridges when she’s mad or making vegetation grow with her tears.

Game Storyline
After Bowser gets hold of something called a magical Vibe Scepter, he kidnaps Mario and Luigi and heads back to his castle on Vibe Island with an emotional troop of minions in tow. Intent on rescuing the Mario Bros., Peach gives chase, only to find herself affected by the emotional vibes given off by the island. Using these newfound vibes to channel special abilities, she sets off to rescue Mario and Luigi.

Characters
Peach; her magical parasol, Perry; Bowser. Mario and Luigi have minor roles, as they’ve been kidnapped.

How to progress through the game
Players play through eight areas, each composed of several stages and a boss, as they search out imprisoned Toads and collect coins. While running and jumping through stages, players must use Peach’s vibes to break through impediments, conquer impossibly high cliffs and defeat enemies. To build up Peach’s vibe powers, players collect gems or pick up enemies with her magic parasol and absorb them.

Special powers/weapons/moves/features
Peach can run, jump and slide, not to mention use her parasol to whack things, pick items up and even float across water. Besides that, she has four vibes that give her special abilities.

Joy: Peach whirls about like a cyclone, creating air currents that will spin windmills, clear away enemies or even lift her high into the air.

Rage: Peach catches fire, burning enemies and wood impediments.

Gloom: Peach weeps and runs incredibly fast, during which time she’s invincible. Her tears can cause plants to grow, among other things.

Calm: Peach becomes invincible and slowly regains health.

NEWS: Epic Awards For Epic Titles

God of War takes top spot and six categories

Anticipation builds for the PAL release of Shadow of the Colossus with two awards

The year has started for Sony Computer Entertainment with an epic haul at the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The members votes looked back to the title of 2005, God of War, which picked up no less than seven awards including Game of the Year and Console Game of the Year – and looked forward to one of the most eagerly awaited titles of 2006, Shadow of the Colossus which arrived on European shelves in PAL territories this week.

Colossus, with nominations in no less than seven categories, re-inforced its arthouse credentials seeing off strong opposition to take the Outstanding Achievement: Art Direction and Outstanding Achievement: Visual Direction Awards. The ceremony marked the end of a year which saw God of War sell its first million copies, enjoy a Platinum release and win Gamespot.com's 2005 PlayStation 2 Game of the Year and IGN's 2005 Game of the Year.

David Jaffe, creative director of SCEA Santa Monica Studios and the man behind God of War commented:

"God of War was a long time in the making, a project inspired by my first viewing of Raiders of the Lost Ark. But God of War is much more than a sit-back-and-watch action adventure; it is I hope for the players a true classic – a dark and brutal game with a strong story line that lets you be the ultimate anti-hero.

"The challenge for the industry today is to pull together the wealth of talent that we have. Talent in visual engineering, in art direction, in sound design, in music composition by focusing on creating excellent story lines and engaging roles. Only then will we start to realise the true market potential of gaming."

Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido, co directors of Shadow of the Colossus also attended the Awards. Ueda San added:

"Our work is clearly cinematic in scale, but it is about much more than that. We set out to create an environment and experience that capture the emotional impact and engagement that you get through living the experience. Our work goes into asking one question of the player - if they have what it takes not just to watch - but to perform. We look forward to hearing nominations for GDC."

Jaffe finished off by saying:

"God of War and Shadow of the Colossus make, at first glance, unlikely bed fellows. But when you look more closely you will see that they both drive forward the gaming experience: through the quality of animation; art direction; sound design; visual engineering and music composition. But most importantly they bring these attributes together in a well-considered framework driven by captivating story lines. This is where the future of the industry is to be found."