World’s Finest Virtual Footballers Prepare To Face Off at FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 Grand Final - SCEE Press Release

Zurich, Switzerland, 22nd April 2009: Following months of heated online competition and qualifying events around the world, the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) 2009 is set to reach its dramatic climax at the Grand Final in Port Olympic, Barcelona on 2 May. Over the last seven months, over 500,000 virtual footballers from around the world been competing for a shot at glory and now, just 32 players from 24 countries remain. The finalists will go head-to-head in Barcelona on EA SPORTS™ FIFA 09 on PLAYSTATION®3 for the title of FIFA Interactive World Champion 2009. Among the finalists this year is reigning champion Alfonso Ramos, who will be returning to defend his crown against a strong field of challengers including FIWC 2006 winner Andries Smit and a number of previous FIWC finalists keen to go one better this year.

Spectators at the grand final on 2nd May will enjoy an action packed day of football, gaming and top music action in a fantastic party atmosphere. In addition to watching the FIFA Interactive World Cup Grand Final unfold live, they can check out all the latest EA™ and PlayStation games in the interactive arenas and test their real-life football skills at the FIFA beach soccer clinic with FIFA Beach Soccer World Player 2008, Ramiro Amarelle. There will also be exclusive freestyle football performances from Komball throughout the day as well as live music from guest bands and DJ’s including top Salsa Band, Ray Callao.

The 2009 Grand Final winner will receive a cheque for US$20,000 and a brand new KIA ‘Soul’, along with an invitation to join the world’s elite football talent at the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich to receive their official FIWC champion’s award. The 2009 runner up will receive $5,000 whilst 3rd place will receive $1,000.

“With more than half a million participants, the FIFA Interactive World Cup has set new records and I am really impressed how fast this tournament is growing”, says FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer, who will attend the Grand Final in Barcelona. “I am a passionate gamer myself and I am really looking forward to learning some new tricks from the world’s best virtual football players! I know they practice very hard and as for every other FIFA tournament, players will have to perform at their best in order to be crowned FIFA Interactive World Champion 2009.”

“The FIWC 2009 grand final in Barcelona promises to provide a fitting finale to this year’s record breaking competition in one of the world’s greatest footballing cities” said Matt Bilbey, Vice President International Marketing, EA SPORTS. “We believe that FIFA 09 is our best ever football title and it is fantastic to see a such an overwhelming number of gamers connect to the PlayStation Network and come to qualifying events all over the world in order to play the game and stake their claim to the trophy.”

“This year’s final in Barcelona promises to be a fantastic event, with great football, top class entertainment and a perfect venue,” said Darren Carter, Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “This year has shown what can happen when you take a great game like EA SPORTS FIFA 09 and combine it with the most powerful and complete entertainment system available in the market, PLAYSTATION 3. This season’s FIFA Interactive World Cup has most certainly been the best yet and we look forward to welcoming the finalists to Barcelona in May.”

Admission to Grand Final is free to the public. Media are requested to pre-register at the FIFA Media Channel - http://media.fifa.com

Interactive Areas open at 11am. Gaming Tournament kicks off at 1.15pm, the final is scheduled at 7 pm.

To find out more about the FIFA Interactive World Cup please visit www.FIFA.com/FIWC

For images of FIWC 2008 winner Alfonso Ramos receiving his award at the FIFA World Player of the Year Gala, please visit: http://www.fifa.com/newscentre/photogallery/gallery=992184.html#992139

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Full list of 2009 FIFA Interactive World Cup Finalists and Nationalities:

1. Stephen Coorey (Australia)

2. Jason Mac (Australia)

3. Michael Pommer (Australia)

4. Markus Serkan Boyer (Austria)

5. Andre Buffo (Brazil)

6. Samuel Lage Liberato (Brazil)

7. Radim Kluka (Czech Republic)

8. Frederik Nordmark Laursen (Denmark)

9. Ryan Haywood (England)

10. Chris Bullard (England)

11. Danny Taylor (England)

12. Adam Winster (England)

13. Hesham Khater (Egypt)

14. Bruce Grannec (France)

15. Patrick Straschek (Germany)

16. Andries Smit (Holland)

17. Péter Kovács (Hungary)

18. Daniele D'Alterio (Italy)

19. Omar Jaleel (India)

20. Mergim Sadriji (Switzerland)

21. Jose Alberto Reyes Loera (Mexico)

22. Ruben Morales Zerecero (Mexico)

23. Daniel Sykes (New Zealand)

24. Marcin Raptis (Poland)

25. Francisco Cruz (Portugal)

26. Mohammed Nasser Al Khathlan (Saudi Arabia)

27. Gordon Butler (South Africa)

28. Alfonso Ramos Cuevas (Spain)

29. Marcus Lee (Singapore)

30. Mustafa Aguez (Turkey)

31. Giuseppe Guastelle (USA)

32. TBD

What Have You Played This Week?

Well, not much this week. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam took far too much of my attention, lol.and then there was the mystery game, which i can say what it is. lets just say i had completely forgotten about it, so i was pleasantly surprised when i got it.

Ratchet And Clank: Quest For Booty – PS3 – one of the games I got in the PSN sale, at a price I found easier to buy it than the normal price. It plays just like the previous, and the few little touches are interesting. Graphically it's good, and the story has been fun.

Dynasty Warriors:Gundam - 360- I could have played this game for hours, but I have a back log so reluctantly I sent it back. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by how good I found it.

PixleJunk Eden Encore – PS3 – had a quick play to update the game and give the Encore stuff a go. Still fun, and the new music is just as good as the old. I like that they make you work to find Encore and it was well priced.

Football Manager 09 – PC – a great game to play with a podcast on, or even another computer game playing. Still with AFC Wimbledon...about to get promoted again to league 1!

? - ? - I can't say what this one is. When I can i'll write about it in depth, but for now I can't. It's pretty good so far.

Feel free to comment on anything i've played and what you yourself has played over the last week.

Site Update

just a quick heads up.
The release calendar should have all of the games coming out in March, still a few without firm release dates at the moment.
i've added a RSS feed from Cheap Arse Gamer (the UK equivalent of Cheap Ass Gamer)which has some the best game deals on at the moment like Bioshock on the PS3 for under a tenner. it's more of a stop gap until i add a weekly feature of game bargains to the site.
The right column has had a little change round, but hopefully things should be easy to find.
whilst the focus is on the twitter feed, i may start to do more with the site, whether thats the weekly bargins i mentioned earlier, or doing actual blog posts in my more relaxed, easy to read style.
if anyone has any comments, feel free to share them.

Game Updates Via PC - @leddy2286 Question

@leddy2286 asked a question on the QTE Twitter feed regarding game updates and why don't sony offer them online via a PC like Sony do with Firmware Updates.
i was having no luck intially trying to get it answered. but once i tried another way, things got itneresting.
to get a answer, i made the question more tempting for Sony. if you enable a firmware update to be available remotely from the PS3, game or firmware, you open up a new possibility. if sony was to work with computer game shops, like Game, this would increase the amount of people going to these shops at a time when sony is doing alot of digital distribution, and therefore taking people out of these shops. so, will sony enable firmware downloads for games remotely from the ps3, and if so why didn't they do it before?

The problem was, the people who i sent this were far more interested in the idea of using computer game shops to offer the firmware, than answering the question as to why they don't currently offer it. they were so interested that they said they had a big discussion in their office and sent it to those who could do something with it. they also told me to send it to another email address, which i did and again they were interested and sent it else where.

So @Leddy2286 i'm sorry i couldn't get a answer to the question. but who knows, your little chat on Twitter might lead to something greater and beneficial to the PS3!

UK PSN Sale - How Are The Games Selling?

I asked Sony UK for sale figures, or estimates, for the games on sale, before and during the sale.
in response, Sony UK say "Unfortunately we never give out these specific sales figures or percentages", But they did say that "As with all sales, the items see an uplift".

Granted, it's an obvious response, still its nice to know that the games in the sale are selling well as there was a few games there that some people may have missed.

UK PSN Update 16/04/09

i left the sale games on the list, help promote them but to also help bolster the list, lol.
highlights are definitely the PixleJunk Eden expansion and OutRun

Anniversary Specials
Wipeout HD [£11.99]
High Velocity Bowling [£4.79]
Crash Commando [£4.79]
Pain [£3.99]
Ratchet And Clank: Quest For Booty [£7.99]
Siren Blood Curse [£14.99]
Riff: Everyday Shooter [£3.99]
Dark Mist [£3.99]
Echochrome [£4.79]
Piyotama [£2.39]
Elefunk [£3.99]
Snakeball [£3.99]
Calling All Cars [£3.99]
Blast Factor Advance [£3.99]
Nucleus [£3.99]
PixleJunk Racers [£3.99]
Toy Home [£3.99]

PS3 Games
OutRun: Online Arcade [£7.99]
PixleJunk Eden Encore [£2.39]
Midnight Club: South Central Vehicle Pack 1 [£2.39]
Valkria Chronicles – Edy's Missions [£3.19]
Valkria Chronicles – Selveria's Misson [£3.19]
Valkria Chronicles – Hard Ex Mode [£3.19]
F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin Multiplayer Maps [Free]
Magic Ball – Booster Pack [£2.39]
Little Big Planet – Monkey King Costume [Free]

Demo's
NONE

Guitar Hero - World Tour
Steely Dan Track Pack [£4.39]
“Kid Charlemange” by Steely Dan [£1.59]
“Black Friday” by Steely Dan [£1.59]
“Bodhisattva” by Steely Dan [£1.59]
“New Slang” by The Shins [£1.59]

Rock Band
Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses' [£9.99]
All the singles from the album [£0.99]

Videos
MotorStorm Pacififc Rift – Fire Zone Trailer

Wallpaper
Crash Commando – Daylight Wallpaper
PixleJunk Eden Encore Wallpaper

Theme
PixleJunk Eden Encore

PS1 Classic
NONE

PSP
Need For Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0 [£15.99]

New Zero Punctuation - Madworld

Completely forgot about this weeks Zero Punctuation, so apologies for the late post this week. still, it's well worth the wait, and a good way to end the day after SCEE decided to post 4 press releases! (i don't think the Blog has had soo many posts in a day!)