Angry Birds goes medieval?

Has the ridiculously popular game Angry Birds gone to the Middle Ages? From this teaser video it looks like we might soon see a new version of the game in which Red, Chuck, Bomb, Terrance and other feathery friends are hurled at the bad piggies who have stolen their eggs.

Since it was first released in 2009, Angry Birds and its various spinoffs, which includes versions based on Star Wars and a Go-Kart racing game, have been downloaded more than two billion times. A feature film based on the game is in production and is scheduled to be released in 2016.

It seems this game will be first released in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We will keep you up-to-date on when it comes out.

First trailer released for Crusader Kings II

Paradox Interactive has released the first in a series of seven live-action trailers for medieval strategy / RPG Crusader Kings II. The video features a ‘unique’ attempt to storm a medieval castle ;)

The game, set between 1066 and the 15th century, allows players to take on the role of a Christian noble and battle against various rivals as they climb their way into power. The game also has battles in the Crusades and against the Mongols. The original Crusader Kings game was released by Paradox in 2004.



Click here to read the full article from Medievalists.net

Who says history can’t be fun?! Medievalists.net chats with Simon Bradbury about the medieval gaming world of Stronghold III

How did you get into video game creation?

My first game was a side scrolling arcade game called Elf – back in 1985 – in the days when the whole game could be made in 3 months by 2 people ! I have programmed and designed many genres of games but soon settled on strategy games as the area the really grabbed me. In the 90s I worked as a freelance designer/coder on several strategy games such as the Caesar (think SimCity in Rome!), in 1999 I set up Firefly with Eric Ouellette and 2 ½ years later launched what is now our obsession, “Stronghold”.

Click here to read the full interview from Medievalists.net

The Cursed Crusade

Atlus released a new trailer today for Kylotonn's upcoming co-op-tastic action game The Cursed Crusade, offering a good dose of the game's cooperative gameplay.

You'll take the role of Templar knight Denz, and your buddy, should you feel inclined to invite one, steps into the shoes of a mercenary by the name of Esteban. Pretty easy to tell who's who, based on their vastly different appearances. The trailer also lets us view the game in split-screen, though Cursed Crusade does support online play. Together, Denz and Esteban can pull off cooperative moves and finishers, or bring a fallen ally back to life.

Click here to read this article from Neoseeker

Sims: Medieval released

Sims: Medieval, a new video game that allows people to recreate the Middle Ages in SIMS fashion, was launched earlier this week. The official launch took place at Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament in Buena Park, California, with more than 1,000 guests on hand to play the game and receive a digital download.

Sims: Medieval officially hit store shelves on March 22nd, and reviews have so far been mixed. The game allows players to create heroes, venture on quests, build and control a kingdom, and play every Hero Sim character in the land.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Medieval Tower Defense Game Migrates to the Mac

After wiping out small villages and kingdoms from your iPhone and iPad, you can finally go Medieval on your Mac. Brisk Mobile is bringing its tower defense game to the desktop via the Mac App Store.

Medieval mixes elements of a role-playing game with the action of a tower defense offering. Players spend gold on upgrading their weaponry and fixing their castle as they are bombarded by a seemingly endless barrage of knights and knaves on horseback and more "high-tech" weaponry such as catapults. Then when the battle lines are drawn, you fight back against the impending horde by launching a wave of arrows (flaming arrows sold separately) as they storm the castle. The enemy even employs attack from the air and brutish big bosses to bring the battle into overtime.

Click here to read this article from PC World

New Trailer for the Sims Medieval

The Sims Medieval Limited Edition uncloaked

The feudal system during the Middle Ages made it so peasants stayed peasants and royalty reaped the bounty of the land. In The Sims Medieval, anyone with $50 can purchase the limited edition of the game.

Electronic Arts recently announced that The Sims Medieval--due out March 22, 2011 for the PC and Mac--will score a limited-edition pack. The $50 bundle will include the main game, as well as three themed throne rooms: Barbarian, Princess, and Dark Magic. Additionally, those who pick up the LE will be awarded two exclusive outfit sets: a king and queen monarch set, as well as an executioner set, which comes with a leather apron and a black hood.

Click here to read this article from Gamespot

See also our feature on The Sims: Medieval

Assassin's Creed and the appropriation of history

Another week, another major video game release. And while the news is still dominated by the moneymaking behemoth that is Call of Duty: Black Ops, an altogether more intricate and richly defined title launches today.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the latest in Ubisoft's highly successful series of visually stunning action adventures. Following the travails of a secret society of assassins through hundreds of years of European history, the games combine acrobatic exploration with twisting conspiracy narratives and gutsy combat. While the opening instalment explored the chaos of the Crusades-era Middle East, Assassin's II and its follow-up move the action to Renaissance Italy, where the killer sect must once again confront its ongoing enemy, the shadowy Knights Templar order, now harboured within the increasingly powerful Catholic church.

What's interesting about the series is its successful use history as a game mechanic, and its ability to construct realistic environments around the largely fantastical story. The evocations of cities such as Jerusalem and Rome, while not always painstakingly accurate, have a sense of place and life that is almost unique in the video game sector.

Click here to read this article from The Guardian

Students receive $50 000 to create Virtual Joust game

Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Interactive Media and Game Development program and Higgins Armory Museum have won a highly competitive $50,000 Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to create an interactive “virtual joust” experience at the Worcester-based museum of medieval arms and armor.

WPI students (now alumni) Patrick Newell, Hyungjoon Kim, Justin Liu, and Steven Shidlovsky designed the Virtual Joust concept two years ago as part of their required, junior-year Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP). The NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant program, which supports pioneering projects that use technology to advance the humanities, will usher Virtual Joust to an engaging reality for museum-goers interested in medieval history. Designed to spur innovation, test new ideas, and act as a catalyst for further development, the grant will fund Virtual Joust’s continued development and execution, which will be overseen this year by a new team of students from the IMGD program and WPI’s Game Development Club.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

The Sims Medieval to be launched in spring 2011

Electronic Arts (EA) has announced that they will be releasing The Sims: Medieval in the spring of 2011. The developers say it will allow players to create heroes, venture on quests, and build and control a kingdom, all in setting that will be full of drama, romance, conflict, and comedy.

“The Middle Ages is a time of intrigue, legend, and excitement. It offers a perfect backdrop for a brand new series from The Sims studio due to the limitless stories that can be told,” said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims Studio at EA. “The Sims Medieval offers a new way for players to experience The Sims which we hope fans will enjoy, and it features gameplay that fans of strategy and role-playing games will find appealing such as controlling an entire kingdom and quest-based gameplay mechanics.”

Click here to read the article on Medievalists.net

Preview of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Previews of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the third video game in the Assassin's Creed franchise, were released at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, California, this week. The much-hyped video game will offer a multi-player version in this version, which takes place in and around Rome at the turn of the 16th century.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is developed by Ubisoft Montreal, and will be released on the Playstation and X-Box platforms on November 16, 2010. The first Assassin's Creed game was released in 2007, and its sequel last year. Both of the previous games were considered to bestsellers worldwide.

Here are several videos recently released about the game, including its official trailer:













Finally, this clever little video will give you the 3 minute version of what the whole plot is for the Assassin's Creed series

Shogun 2: Total War to be released in 2011

SEGA has announced that Shogun 2: Total War, will be released in 2011, ten years after the release of the original Shogun: Total War. This marks the sixth instalment from the multi award-winning Total War strategy franchise on PC, which includes the highly popular Medieval: Total War games.

Shogun 2 is set in the middle of the 16th Century Japan. The country, once ruled by a unified government, is now split into many warring clans. Players take on the role of one Daimyo, the clan leader, and will use military engagements, economics and diplomacy to achieve the ultimate goal, re-unite Japan under his supreme command and become the new Shogun – the undisputed ruler of a pacified nation.

Shogun 2: Total War will feature enhanced full 3D battles via land and sea, which made a name for the series, as well as the tactical campaign map that many refer to as the heart and soul of Total War. Featuring a brand new AI system inspired by the scriptures that influenced Japanese warfare, the millennia old Chinese “Art of War”, the Creative Assembly brings the wisdom of Master Sun Tsu to Shogun 2: Total War. Analysing this ancient text enabled the Creative Assembly to implement easy to understand yet deep strategical gameplay.

“Developing Shogun 2: Total War gives us the opportunity to use recent technology to portray one of history’s most exciting civil wars.” commented Mike Simpson, Creative Director at The Creative Assembly and father of the Total War franchise. “Ever since we developed Shogun: Total War 10 years ago, the team at The Creative Assembly has always dreamt of using our accumulated experience to revisit Total War in Feudal Japan.”

Shogun 2: Total War will be released exclusively for PC in 2011. For more information please visit www.totalwar.com

Source: SEGA 

Assassin's Creed II sees high sales and positive reviews

Ubisoft announced record first week sales performance for its Assassin’s Creed II video game with 1.6 million units sold through worldwide according to internal estimates. This represents 32% growth over the first week sales of the first Assassin’s Creed. Launched in November 2007, Assassin’s Creed remains the fastest selling new video game intellectual property ever in the U.S.

Assassin’s Creed II has received an overwhelmingly positive reception from gamers around the world and from the video game trade press with to date an average user rating of 94% on Gamespot.com and over 91% average critics score according to GameRankings.com.

Assassin’s Creed II invites players to become Ezio, a privileged young noble in 15th century Italy who’s been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy. Ezio’s subsequent quest for vengeance plunges players into a captivating and epic story that offers more variety in missions, surprising and engaging new game play elements, diverse weapons, incredible depth and lasting appeal and a profound character progression that will appeal to fans of the original Assassin’s Creed as well as entice players new to the brand.

In previous announcements, Ubisoft said it expects Assassin’s Creed II will sell more than eight million units after it is released throughout the world.

Click here to see more details about Assassin's Creed II

Medieval Games comes to the Nintendo Wii

Vir2L Studios has announced that their new video game, Medieval Games will be available across North America on October 20, 2009. This will be available for the , for the Wii game system from Nintendo.

In a press release from Vir2L Studios describes the game as your chance to "Relive the days of olde in this fun collection of 30 medieval-inspired mini games and tournament championships set in a charming storybook world. Featuring easy pick up and play action, light hearted humor and support for up to four players, Medieval Games is sure to be a family favorite."

Players can try their hand at various games, including jousting and catapulting, or play along in a story that involves dragons and knights.



Medieval Games was recently named an Honors winner in the prestigious 2009 National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) competition. NAPPA’s panel of independent experts determined Medieval Games to be thematically innovative among Wii games, a great choice for tweens and teens, and an unquestionable favorite among NAPPA’s trained children testers.

Medieval Games has been rated E10+ by the ESRB. Medieval Games was developed by N-Fusion Interactive and is being published by Vir2L Studios.

Stronghold Kingdoms

Live the life of a medieval lord in the world's first castle based MMO. Besiege the castle that's never been taken, overthrow tyrants, bankroll your factions war effort, pillage your neighbour's resources, peacefully raise sheep or do it all! The choice is yours in a wide ranging simulation of medieval life, played out in real time against thousands of online opponents striving for power and glory.

A unique hybrid of web and PC based gaming brings online interactivity and community together with a richly depicted medieval world of thriving villages and dramatic battles. Build a kingdom over days and weeks. A mix of real time gameplay with long term planning, bring a truly novel twist to the Strategy genre.



"Stronghold Kingdoms is the game I've always wanted to play, ever since I was a boy staring up at castles!" said Simon Bradbury, one of the game's designers.

A huge range of stats and rankings give every player something to aim for, whether it's 'Besieger of the month' or 'Apple farmer of the day'! Join a medieval social network! Factions and elections, liege lords and their vassals, all provide a real sense of structured community.

Whilst strong and well planned castles are at the heart of any lord's domain, players can also specialise via a vast research tree. Starting out as a humble peasant, each promotion brings research points to spend on becoming the best in as many areas as you wish, trading, diplomacy, warfare, farming and more, as the player seeks to control the local parish, county and beyond. As their power grows, players can eventually join in a country wide war for the Crown.

Classic Stronghold goes online in a world where players can, Build, Besiege, Pillage, Farm, Explore, Research, Vote, Trade, Banquet, Fight and much, much more. Many unannounced and surprising game features will be revealed in the coming months. "What is exciting about Stronghold Kingdoms," says Eric Oullett, CEO of Firefly Studios, "is not only are we taking Stronghold online and massively multiplayer, but we are funding this ourselves as an independent developer."

To keep up with Stronghold Kingdoms, visit http://www.strongholdkingdoms.com

Time Gate - the Prisoner of Knaresborough Castle

An innovative group from Knaresborough is launching a new computer game on Friday which virtually reconstructs the ruined Knaresborough Castle and restores it to it's medieval glory.

The game, Time Gate - the Prisoner of Knaresborough Castle, was launched at the castle earlier this month, as part of the Courthouse Museum's seasonal reopening.

Visitors will be able to virtually travel back to the year 1325 and play the game for the first time. They will also be able to enjoy a virtual tour of the Norman castle as it would have been 700 years ago when it was built by King John.

Renaissance Knaresborough, a council community group, came up with the idea two years ago, after they saw computer modelling being used on Channel 4's Time Team programme

They decided it would be a good way to open up historic buildings to the public and managed to secure funding for the project from the council.

The group, which aims to improve the town, then enlisted a team of creative pupils from King James's School, Knaresborough, to help design the challenges, title and logo used in the adventure game.

The group sought help from Harrogate Borough Council Museum and Arts who provided historical information about the castle, whilst Steve Manthorp, who has worked on similar projects, gave technical support.

Diane Taylor, audience development officer at Harrogate Borough Council, said that the pupils had all worked really hard and it was great achievement for them. She said: "Time Gate is the fantastic result of a lot of hard work by many parties. It means that Knaresborough Castle can be imagined as it would have been in its heyday and will help visitors understand the historic importance of this site. It will also allow access for those who cannot physically visit all of the site. We also hope that it will encourage young people to visit the castle, through offering access via this computer adventure game. It has been great to work closely with these different organisations and particularly develop a relationship with King James's School."

Lateral Visions from Liverpool then undertook the making of the computer version of the game and Knaresborough Lions funded the duplication of it onto CD-ROM.

The game will be available to play and to buy for £5 at the Courthouse Museum. Any money raised will go to Renaissance Knaresborough.

Dante's Inferno - the Video Game

Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that EA Redwood Shores is now working on another original property -- this one based on the medieval epic poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The dark fiction gave birth to the Tuscan Italian dialect and is widely considered the work that has defined the western world’s contemporary conception of hell and purgatory. The poem tells the tale of Dante who journeys through the twisted, menacing nine circles of hell in pursuit of his beloved Beatrice. Dante’s tortured and tormented world is an ideal setting for this third person action and adventure of a video game, Dante’s Inferno.

Written in the 14th Century, The Divine Comedy was published and read aloud in Italian, thereby making the poem accessible to the mass public. The poem delivers a striking and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife and the punishments of hell. In part one, known as Dante’s Inferno, Dante traverses all nine circles of hell; limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery.

“The time is right for the world of interactive entertainment to adapt this literary masterpiece, and to re-introduce Dante to an audience who, until now, may have been unfamiliar with the remarkable details of this great work of art,” said Jonathan Knight, Executive Producer for Dante’s Inferno. “It’s the perfect opportunity to fuse great gameplay with great story.”

For more information on Dante’s Inferno, please visit www.dantesinferno.com and sign up for the newsletter and bookmark for news, features and upcoming events.

New educational video game: Rome Reborn

Past4Ward Licenses Exclusive Rights to Rome Reborn for K–12 Game-Based Education Platform, Video Games ; Game Play, 3D Historically Accurate Ancient City to Help Students Gain 21(st) Century Skills by Making Learning Fun
24 November 2008
Business Wire

Past4Ward, LLC, an Atlanta-based startup, has licensed the exclusive rights to use Rome Reborn, an interactive 3D model of the ancient, historic city, for the first module of its game-based supplemental education platform as well as video game applications, from Past Perfect Productions srl., a Rome, Italy-based company that reconstructs archaeological and historic sites from around the globe using scientific research and cutting edge virtual reality techniques.

Past4Ward plans to incorporate the Rome Reborn 3D model into an immersive product for middle and high school students featuring game play similar to a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) title as well as other Virtual World techniques that will be integral parts of the design, which will map to existing curriculum standards. Past4Ward plans to leverage its innovative approach to game-based learning across a number of ancient civilizations taught in K-12 schools to supplement textbook materials in the classroom environment.

Considered the largest virtual reconstruction, cultural heritage and digital archaeology project to date, Rome Reborn is an international collaboration of humanists and computer scientists inside several universities and technical companies. The model contains more than 7,000 buildings and covers more than 13 square miles using exacting scholarly research and the latest 3D modeling applications.

The Rome Reborn project was developed by a team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which contributed highly detailed 3D models of more than 30 sites in ancient Rome around 320 A.D., including the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, the Forum, the Pantheon and the surrounding buildings that make up the city. Over the last three years, the project has been further developed by Past Perfect Productions srl. in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) at the University of Virginia, under Professor Bernard Frischer, project leader since 2004.

Collaborators on the Rome Reborn project have included UCLA, IATH, IBM, Illustrious, Mental Images, Procedural Inc., the Politecnico and Mersive Technologies. Each has contributed creative content with computer graphic technologies that combine to deliver an interactive experience.

In November, the Virtuality Group srl. (www.virtualitygroup.com), a partnership formed with Past Perfect Productions srl. and Parco Colosseo srl. (specialists in theatre and cinema entertainment in Italy), launched 3D Rewind Rome(TM), an interactive “edutainment” center 70 meters from the ruins of the Colosseum in Rome, based on the same Rome Reborn model. The experience will offer more than one million annual visitors the chance to travel back in time to 310 A.D. and take part in a historical adventure in ancient Rome. For more information, visit www.3drewind.com.

“We are extremely excited to be working with Past4Ward in providing the historical architecture that will become a new format to teach kids about ancient Rome,” Joel Myers, CEO, Past Perfect Productions srl., said. “A video game of this nature, used in classrooms, combines a stimulating and entertaining learning process with the strengths and familiarity of communications tools students use in their everyday lives, from PlayStations to the Internet.”

In addition to developing an in-classroom, game-based learning platform, Past4Ward plans to solicit interest from commercial game publishers and developers who are interested in creating entertainment products from the Rome Reborn 3D model.

About Past Perfect Productions

Based in Rome, Italy, Past Perfect Productions srl. reconstructs and manages archaeological and historical sites from around the world using scientific research and cutting-edge virtual reality techniques, producing 3D real-time content, film clips and animations with CGI characters that breathe life back into the scenes, with strict collaboration with leading archaeologists, historians, costume designers and magical storytellers.

About Past4Ward

Past4Ward, LLC is an Atlanta-based start-up that is developing an immersive learning platform that will provide middle and high school teachers with new ways to interest, excite and educate students through single- and multi-player interactive, 3D environments that include game play. Past4Ward owns the exclusive video game rights to the Rome Reborn 3D model and plans to make the license available to game publishers and developers for commercial online game development. For more information, visit www.past4ward.com.