Nintendo Debuts Groundbreaking Fitness Program at Interactive Release Party and American Heart Association Fundraiser in NYC

WHAT: How will Wii Fit(TM) move you? Discover for yourself at New York’s Central Park Merchants’ Gate on May 19, as Nintendo hosts a spectacular all-day launch event for Wii Fit, the highly anticipated new program for the popular Wii(TM) home video game system that combines fun and fitness. The event doubles as a celebration of May as National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, putting all kinds of bodies — young and old, big and small — in motion with live demonstrations of Wii Fit and the new Wii Balance Board(TM).

For every attendee who “gets on board” for a Wii Fit demo, Nintendo will make a donation of $5 (up to $25,000 total) to the American Heart Association in support of its effort to help Americans live healthier. Expect crowds of people throughout the day, plus an appearance by celebrity trainer Ashley Borden.

Featuring more than 40 physical activities and the revolutionary Wii Balance Board, Wii Fit makes fitness fun for the entire household. Anyone can benefit from its mix of aerobic, yoga, strength training and balancing exercises. Following the phenomenal success of active-play titles such as Wii Sports(TM), Wii Fit gets everyone active and playing together.

WHO: Hundreds of parents, kids, fitness enthusiasts, American Heart Association supporters and consumers of all ages. Executives from Nintendo and the American Heart Association New York City volunteer leadership.

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NINTENDO VIDEO GAME ICON MARIO TREATS NEW YORKERS TO FREE CAB RIDES

To Celebrate Launch of New Mario Kart Wii Game, Nintendo Sends Commuters Racing Through the City

WHAT: Video game icon Mario™ treats unsuspecting New Yorkers to a free cab ride. Mario is in New York to promote Mario Kart® Wii, the new Nintendo racing game that features Mario and all of his Mushroom Kingdom buddies. He’s helping commuters race through the city before they get racing with Mario Kart Wii.

Mario Kart Wii launches April 27 and will be packaged with the Wii Wheel accessory, which lets players control the action on the screen just like they were steering a real car. The game also introduces a host of new courses, vehicles and eye-popping battle arenas, plus the ability to compete online with drivers from around the world using Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection.

WHO: Mario, everyone’s favorite Italian plumber, and excited (and grateful) New York commuters

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DONT FORGET TO LINK TO US TO QUALIFY TO ENTER!

Literary Illusions is offering one of our best contests to date. This is for one of those slim, new Nintendo DS Lite Game Systems. You receive the game system and two games. We have a copy of Horse Life and a copy of Brain Age 2. You will have two months to enter the contest and because this contest is special, the requirements for entry are a little different than previous contests. Additionally, the winner of this contest will be emailed. Please leave a valid email address. IF YOU DO NOT YOU WILL FORFEIT YOUR PRIZE AND WE WILL PICK ANOTHER WINNER.

What is Included

-Nintendo DS Lite System
-Nintendo DS Lite Charger
-Nintendo DS Lite Manual
-Nintendo DS Lite Stylus Pen
-Nintendo DS Game: Brain Age 2
-Nintendo DS Game: Horse Life

One Grand Prize Winner gets it all!

One Second Place winner will win a copy of the Nintendo DS Game, Horse Life.

DID I MENTION YOU HAVE TO LINK TO US TO ENTER?

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“As war looms on the horizon, the mighty Archadian Empire begins a campaign to subjugate it’s neighbors. The small kingdom of Dalmasca was one such neighbor, and it’s here that our tale begins” - Square Enix.

For any RPG fans out there the name “Final Fantasy” implies deep detailed characters and an expansive story. “Final Fantasy XII” does not disappoint in this. With over 100 hours of solid game play even the most hardcore dedicated players will find plenty to do in this title.

Story - The story begins with the young man named Reks whose a knight in service to Dalmasca, as the story unfolds you take control of Vahn, Reks’s younger brother who is now an orphan. Sound a little cliche? Perhaps it is, perhaps not, depends on how you look at it. The story arc may not be the strongest but Final Fantasy XII does something incredibly right here, they pace well.

The game never has a rushed feel to it. There is of course the main story but behind that lays so many side quests it’s hard to keep track of them all. Yet, for all the quests one can undertake they’re nothing without a viable believable cast of characters and this is another thing Final Fantasy XII does well. From a desperate fallen knight, to a not-so-dead princess, even a charismatic sky pirate all lend their aid to your ever expanding mission.

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If you are a gamer it is likely that you have had those moments when the music to “Zelda” or some other game has gotten stuck in your head. It’s likely these composers felt the same way as this CD that we are giving away is filled with songs that are inspired by some of the greatest games ever played. These games range from “Duke Nukem” all the way to “Super Mario Brothers”.

We have one CD to giveaway and this contest is truly about as easy as it gets. If you want to win this CD here is what you need to do:

1. Write a post telling people about this contest on your blog (Put it on Myspace, Facebook, Live Journal, Blogger, or wherever you want).

2. Make sure you link to us (http://www.literaryillusions.com) so that your readers know where to come if they want to enter, as well.

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Be on the lookout for this amazing game and our review of “Band of Bugs” here on Literary Illusions!

Game Title: “Band of Bugs”
Platform: Live Arcade for Xbox 360
Developer: NinjaBee
Publisher: NinjaBee

Game Description
Band of Bugs is an easy-to-play strategy game featuring heroic bug warriors, a dramatic story-driven campaign, several online multiplayer modes, and a custom map editor. Gameplay is deep enough to be satisfying to established fans of the tactics genre, but friendly enough to appeal to more casual gamers as well.

The game includes a story-based campaign and stand-alone missions as well as several unique multiplayer modes: Elimination, Escape, and Capture.

The built-in map editor lets you design custom scenarios and play them solo or over Live with your friends. You can share custom maps over Live with your friends and watch as your best creations spread around the Live community.

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Literary Illusions is proud to offer a contest offering one of these CDs to a lucky winner, so stay tuned for more details!

18 Tracks Inspired by Some of the Greatest Games Ever Made, Performed by Award-Winning Celebrity Game Music Composers

San Jose, CA - June 4th, 2007 - Game Music Central today announced that the same composers who created the music for God of War, EverQuest, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Hitman, Jade Empire, King Kong, Myst, Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, Lord of the Rings, Outcast, Rayman, SOCOM and World of Warcraft have joined together to produce Best of the Best: A Tribute To Game Music -the world’s first compilation CD featuring music inspired by some of the greatest games ever, performed by award-winning celebrity game music composers. This Collector’s Edition CD includes a 6-page booklet with photographs and printed autographs from the 20 featured composers.

The CD is available exclusively at GameMusicCentral.com, a brand new online music store and community dedicated to people with a passion for games and game music.

“Game Music Central is a great place for gamers and game music composers to connect,” said Tommy Tallarico, Composer and Co-executive producer of Video Games Live. “Game Music Central has videos of the composers in recording studios and message boards where gamers can interact with the composers themselves and actually ask their favorite composer a question.”

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When presented with the game “Snapshot Adventures: Secret of Bird Island”, a brief synopsis of the game itself, and instructions for download, I was excited and eager to get started. The name itself is catchy, and as I would find out after playing for a few rounds, so is the game! The download itself is small, a mere 50 megabytes, and took less than a minute to download on a cable Internet connection.

The installation instructions were concise and clear, and the installation itself was quick and painless. Within five minutes of receiving the download instructions, the game was installed and ready for play. The initial start-up of the game brings you to an activation screen that requires Internet access, however once the game has been activated it can be played without the Internet connection.

Ready to begin play, I activated the game and within moments was presented with a screen of vibrant and rich color, which was crisp and easy on the eyes. This was the main menu. Here, I was given many options, the first being the creation of my user profile. Typing in my name, the main menu changed to include the now active profile name. From this menu you can play in story mode, create your own bird, email photos you’ve taken to a friend, view your field journal, or even offer feedback to the developers of the game!

Each screen fluidly shifts based on your menu choices, animations are clean and smooth. The game is brought to you by Large Animal Games and published by iwin.com. Having seen the caliber of games iwin.com is known to put out, I can say with all honesty I am impressed with this one.

Story mode starts with a background as to why you’re playing. In the game your grandfather has gone missing from a plane crash, as both a newspaper article and a letter from the coast guard tell you. Six months later you find a shoebox containing a field journal, a camera, and a map of the United States. An odd message from your grandfather is revealed within, and investigation of the map gives you the name and address of several individuals. It is here that your quest, and the game, begins.

Your first mission is to capture five pictures of a robin. This is your first chance to use your camera to earn points and complete game objectives.

I found the camera interface to be quite easy. It’s point and click, and the capture area is a square that zooms in automatically. Moving your mouse over the screen, the capture area shows you a closer view and once you’ve got the bird you’re trying to take a picture of in that square you simply left-click and the picture is taken.

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Archaeological addicts will love “Jewels of Cleopatra” as this game was made just for them. Travel through each tile matching puzzle to explore the wonders of this Egyptian based game. If you like the excitement of uncovering the next new find then “Jewels of Cleopatra” definitely has something to offer you. From the start you can expect a simple download procedure and a quick install without any problems.

In “Jewels of Cleopatra” you will become Dr. Felicity Turnstone. Your job is to uncover nine different ancient artifacts that were buried in nine different temples along the Nile Valley. Keep in mind though not everyone you deal with in the game will be a help to you. Shady McGrady, the art dealer in the game, is sure to be trouble. It becomes your sole purpose to match as many gems as you can in order to move through the game faster than he can and trust me when I say this is not always the easiest thing to do!

If you have played games such as “Gem Shop” or “Jewel Quest” then you will be right at home when playing “Jewels of Cleopatra”. As you match three stones they will turn gold and allow you to travel along them on your quest to reach the door and finish the level. You do not need to clear the board by turning it all gold. You only need enough gold stones to move to the end of the line. If you clear the board you get more points, but these points don’t do anything more than rack up a higher score.

Despite only having nine major goals there are over 100 levels in total, which offers a lot of game play. On the downside, the game is not extremely challenging, except when you are racing Shady, and there is only one game play mode. While your goal is to uncover the nine artifacts you cannot do that without successfully matching the tiles and moving through the levels. The heart of the game is all about the puzzle and tile matching.

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If you have ever watched old game shows you are no stranger to Family Feud. This wildly popular show would pit family against family to see who could come up with some of the best responses to unique survey questions. The game is remarkably similar. Based on 100 responses it is the job of each family member to figure out what’s on the board. The beginning of each question starts with a family face off.

You will want to watch out for the time limit. If you aren’t sure of an answer you might find it beneficial to put in anything you can think of in an attempt to stay in the game. If you get it wrong or don’t answer at all you get a strike. So, if you put in something there is at least a chance that you will get one of the answers. If you make it to fast money and get over 200 points you will win a major amount of money (which are really just points) as a prize for having what it takes to rule the “Feud”. Additionally, you can scam some extra points when you get all the number one answers on the fast money boards. Like always, you have two chances to get the answers so you have more than one chance to get it right.

This game will work best for game show fanatics. A major plus is that you can easily play the game in ten minutes. If you’re looking for a quick way to relieve some boredom or want to play a game, but only have a few minutes, “Family Feud II” is an excellent option. Of course, if you want to play all day or play with friends you can use the team mode and play against them. All in all, “Family Feud II” manages to be more fun than the last and is well worth the one minute download.

Check out this game and many others at Arcade Town. You can choose the Free Download or you can Purchase “Family Feud II”.

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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
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Ashtyn Evans is a writer, advocate, free thinker, and all around cynical person. Always quick to find the negative in anything pop culture, she loves being a part of that which she despises. Ashtyn and Dominick own numerous blogs together, as well as a full-time writing business. In her spare time she is a full-time college student studying History and Psychology. She plans to one day give up her freelance career and be a full-time blogger, novelist, and domestic goddess. She can be contacted for writing projects, fan mail, or just to say hi. (She really is friendlier than we make her look).

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