Sony Online Entertainment Announce Free Realms Has Over 10 Million Registered Players

Sony Online Entertainment have revealed that Free Realms has over 10 Million Subscribers in less than a year of being online.

Sony Online Entertainment have also detailed some of the Birthday celebrations that are going to take place in Free Realms. by around Mid-April, part decorations will be going up in the game. there are also celebratory live community events planned, new combat mini-games, and new shirts for Avatars. the game will also get 15 birthday quests and a cake fight. New rides will also be introduced to the game.

Press Release

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – April 2, 2010 – Sony Online Entertainment’s family-friendly online game, Free Realms™ (www.FreeRealms.com), has surpassed 10 million registered players, hot on the heels of its first birthday celebration which kicks off with a festive, month-long in-game celebration. Free Realms launched April 28, 2009.

“Reaching 10 million registered players on the eve of Free Realms’ first birthday is an incredibly exciting event for SOE and our passionate online community,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “Millions of gamers have confirmed that the genre we pioneered over 11 years ago with the original EverQuestcontinues to evolve and expand to include new styles of gameplay that reach a wider audience than ever before.”

As early as mid-April, players will see party decorations in various areas of Free Realms that signal the kick-off of the birthday festivities. Celebratory live community events, two new combat minigames, party hats and commemorative t-shirts for player avatars are just some of the new extras to look forward to. A new series of 15 birthday quests will also be added. Players are urged to participate in a large scale cake fight in order to help prevent the ruin of the Free Realms birthday bash by Cakenstein, a colossal monster made from cake recipes gone wrong.

This month, Members can also look forward to the release of new types of Rides like the rainbow-mane Unicorn, Beetle and Balloon Animal Pets, and Chick and Rabbit Pet Pals.

To get a head start on all the April festivities, SOE is running a Double Station Cash Weekend where players pop into select retailers to purchase Station Cash™ cards (excluding Starter Cards), which can be redeemed from April 2 to April 4 for double their value in Station Cash, which is used to buy virtual goodies or upgrade to a Membership status in the game. Only cards redeemed between Friday, April 2, 2010 (after 4 PM Pacific Time) and Sunday April 4, 2010 (before 11 PM Pacific Time) will receive double Station Cash value.

Free Realms offers an endless array of activities and minigames to entertain players. From ninja fighting to kart racing to raising pets, Free Realms offers a safe, family-friendly environment to connect with old and new friends. Free Realms is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up with content descriptors of Crude Humor and Fantasy Violence. To play Free Realms, visit: www.FreeRealms.com.

About Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games which have entertained millions of players around the globe. SOE creates and delivers compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchise EverQuest®, its successful online trading card game Legends of Norrath®, as well as the recent kids’ phenomenon Free Realms™, SOE continues to raise the bar for online gaming and players worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, with additional studios in Austin, Seattle, Denver and Tucson, SOE has a slate of engaging, high-quality games currently in development across new genres for all platforms and audiences.

SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. Free Realms and Legends of Norrath are trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC.

All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

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Nintendo Celebrates The DSiWare's 1 Year Anniversary

Nintendo is celebrating the 1 year anniversary of the DSiWare service. in that year, over 150 games and applications have been released on the DSiWare store. Nintendo have released a new video showing some of the games that are already out on DSiWare as well as some upcoming titles.



Press Release

In just one year's time, the Nintendo DSiWare™ service has offered more than 150 downloadable games and applications that illustrate the service's reputation as a playground for creativity.

Trajectile™, Starship Defense™ and Link 'n' Launch™ are just a few examples of original games published by Nintendo exclusively for the Nintendo DSi™ system that have been well-received by reviewers. Art Style™ series games like Art Style: Pictobits™ and Art Style: DIGIDRIVE™ also showcase the system's versatility.

Flipnote Studio™ is among the best reviewed software of all time for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, while Mario vs. Donkey Kong™: Minis March Again! is a perennial fan favorite.

Third-party developers, big and small, have taken advantage of the unique properties of the Nintendo DSi system to create some outstanding software. Glow Artisan won the Independent Games Festival's Best Mobile Game Design Award, while titles like DRAGON QUEST® WARS™,Mighty Flip Champs and Dark Void Zero all continue to deliver fun game play.

Nintendo DSiWare has a lot of exciting original, exclusive titles on the horizon, including Nintendo's Photo Dojo™, which uses the Nintendo DSi camera to put players right in the midst of a side-scrolling street brawl. With Nintendo's 2-D shooting game, Metal Torrent™, players try to convert a shower of opponents' bullets into cubes that, when collected, increase their score and fill an energy meter that powers special weapons. And X-Scape™ from Nintendo immerses players in an exploratory adventure involving more than 20 planets.

Upcoming third-party games include Earthworm Jim from Gameloft, Tetris Party Live from Hudson, Surviving High School from EA and Frogger Returns from Konami.

Apple Announce 300,000 iPads Were Sold In The USA By 4th April

Apple has announced that the iPad has sold over 300,000 Units by the start of 4th April. Apple have also announced that iPad users have downloaded over 1 Million apps, and over 250,000 eBooks from the iBookstore during the first day.

Press Release

CUPERTINO, California—April 5, 2010—Apple® today announced that it sold over 300,000 iPads in the US as of midnight Saturday, April 3. These sales included deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores. Apple also announced that iPad users downloaded over one million apps from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 ebooks from its iBookstore during the first day.
“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world—it’s going to be a game changer,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.”
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Audio Re-Cap of The Weekends News (oldest to newest)

Here is today's Audio Re-Cap of The Weekends news.
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Re-Cap of The Weekends News (oldest to newest)

• QTE Blog: Re-Cap of Yesterdays News (oldest to newest) http://ow.ly/16Yct0

• QTE Blog: Audio Re-Cap of Yesterdays News (oldest to newest) http://ow.ly/16YdoH

• iPhone: Apple has patented a head mounted (that looks like glasses) iPhone display/case http://ow.ly/1ureZ

• PS2: The ESRB has changed the Syphon Filter Logan's Shadow rating, saying its now coming to the PS2 http://ow.ly/1urfO

• GameStop reveal Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions pre-order Cosmic Spider-Man costume http://ow.ly/1urgH

• PS3: Sega accidentally released Metal Sonic and the Egg Hangar DLC for Sonic & Sega All Star Racing in UK http://ow.ly/1urhO

• PS3: Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades believes stereoscopic 3D will be limited, Consoles not powerful enough http://ow.ly/1urig

• 360: Rising Star Games announce Samurai Shodown Sen has a UK release of 16th April http://ow.ly/1urkg

• Aaron Greenberg, 360 has "best development tools", 3rd party publishers struggle on Wii, 70% 3rd party working on Natal http://ow.ly/1urkZ

• Arcade: Capcom have announced that Super Street Fighter IV is getting a Arcade Release in July/August http://ow.ly/1urlP

• PS3: The ESRB has rated the PS1 Games, Star Wars: Dark Forces, XS Airboat Racing, and XS Jr. League Dodgeball http://ow.ly/1urmA

• QTE Blog: What Have You Played This Week? http://ow.ly/16YFxU

• QTE Blog: QTE Tweets Of The Week http://ow.ly/16YImV

QTE Tweets Of The Week

Here are this weeks most clicked tweets from the QTE Gamers News In Brief. there was a large amount of interest either in Natal or Burnout this week. Also, post 8 turned out to be a April fools. There was a very large interest in the new Firmware from Sony for the Playstation 3 and what happened to Xbox Live when the Modern Warfare 2 DLC was released.

10 1UP have a list of gaming April Fools from across the web http://ow.ly/1tKDk

9 Apple have filed patents for frames that have buttons and d-pads on them. the iPhone/Ipod/iPad would fit inside http://ow.ly/1u1Jg

8 PS3: A Magazine scan has revealed that a multiplayer fighting mini game could be coming to God Of War III via DLC http://ow.ly/1sCvB

7 360: A Video has been found of the Burnout Paradise Project Natal Demo being played (its about half way through the vid) http://ow.ly/jysM

6 360: Rumoured pictures have emerged of the 360 Slim http://ow.ly/1sIBC

5 PS3: George Hotz has also said that he'll start looking into custom firmware for those who want to keep Linux support http://ow.ly/1slqN

4 Its reported that Sega Studios San Francisco is shutting down, and it could happen by tonight http://ow.ly/1u1GX

3 PS3: Walmart flyer has been spotted saying Killzone 2, inFamous, Resistance 2, UFC Undisputed 2009 will be Greatest hits http://ow.ly/1t5W4

2 360: Xbox Live became unstable when the Modern Warfare 2 update went live. it appears to be fine now though http://ow.ly/1sPJr

1 PS3: Firmware 3.21 is out now http://ow.ly/1twVJ

What Have You Played This Week?

Some of you may have noticed that I have a new PS3, the old broken one was collected and I was given this as a replacement. I spent many days having to download PSN games and updating games so I didn't play too many games.

Football Manager 10 – PC – Still with Annan but in the first division now.

Critter Crunch – PS3 – I loved the demo for the game and jumped at the chance to get it. It has some of the best HD art in any game and a simple and effective puzzle mechanic. The animals are really cute, and the game has fun with them. I do recommend people get the demo just to see how good HD art can be on the PS3, and hopefully that'll hook you.

Uncharted 2 – PS3 – I was in the Uncharted 2 beta and really enjoyed the online multiplayer, but I never really played it after the game came out. Now i've done the game i've started working my way back into the multiplayer and i'm glad to see that its still great. Its all working great and there seems to be a load of people still playing it.

what have you been playing this week? feel free to add your weeks gaming selection in the comments, or comment on my selection for this week