Xbox launches student karaoke contest
Xbox have launched a rock ‘n’ roll karaoke competition aimed at college
and university students in and around Dublin.
The karaoke contest, Songs of Praise, kicked off last night at the
Village on Wicklow Street, it will continue at the NUI Maynooth student
union bar on Tuesday.
The overall winner will receive a Gibson electric guitar worth over
€2,000. And each of the seven heat winners will walk away with an Xbox
360 package worth over €1,000, including a console, Guitar Hero III,
and other games.
There are six other dates between now the finals at the Button
Factory (formally the Temple Bar Music Centre) on December 6. These
include nights for DCU, UCD, DIT, and TCD. There is also a second
general night at the Village next Sunday, December 2.
The karaoke addicts will be given a rest with Phantom FM’s
DJ Sinead NiMhordha playing sets between karaoke stints. The Xbox 360
game Guitar Hero III — in which user play the game using a guitar — is
also on playable at the nights.
The Songs of Praise karaoke night is a regular on Sundays at the Village;
the Dubliner called it “Dublin’s best Karaoke Night,” the Irish Times said
it was “Dublin’s most successful and only credible Karaoke”, while the
Guardian said “now firmly established as the city’s place to go on the
Lord’s Day”.
The dates in full are: Tuesday November 27 at the NUI Maynooth SU
Bar; Wednesday November 28 at the DCU SU Bar; Thursday November 29 at
the UCD SU Bar; Sunday December 2 at the Village; Tuesday December 4
at the Odeon for DIT; Wednesday December 5 at Radio City for Trinity
College; and the finals on Thursday December 6 at the Button Factory.
Free tickets to the event can be got via getpraiseatxbox360.com.
Richard Dean Anderson to launch Halo 3 in Dublin; Record breaking attempt planned
Actor Richard Dean Anderson is to launch Halo 3 in Dublin on Tuesday, forming one of the main elements of Microsoft’s Irish high-profile release of the highly anticipated Xbox 360 game.
News that the actor, most famous for playing MacGyver and more recently Jack O’Neill on Stargate SG-1, will launch the game was confirmed this evening to Games Toaster by a Microsoft spokesperson.
However, his visit to Dublin is still somewhat shrouded in mystery as there is still little detail of Anderson’s visit.
Record breaking attempt
Meanwhile, tomorrow - in the build up to the European release on Wednesday September 26 - Irish gamers will attempt to set record breaking times completing Halo 2.
The Guinness World Record - also organised by Microsoft - will start midday at the Dublin city centre in the morning. Microsoft expects hundreds games to turn up to the event at the Xbox Live Gaming Centre / Xbox Live Cafe.
The current record holder is Cody Miller who finished the game in three and a half hours with the ‘legendary’ difficulty setting on in August 2005. The publisher and console maker will be incentives such as prizes of
the limited edition ‘Legendary Edition’ of Halo 3, Marvel Halo graphic novels, and Halo 3 branded merchandise.
Promotion around Ireland
Microsoft also said that the game will be promoted across mediums and are aiming to make it one of the most high-profile entertainment launches. The Halo 3 TV advert, a still of which is pictured above, is just one example.
On the streets, Halo’s star Master Chief - or at least a person dressed as him - will appear on Grafton Street in Dublin this Saturday and Sunday, and move on to Cork, and Galway after that.
By the time of the launch, shoppers entering the main entrance of the St Stephens Green Shopping Centre will be greeted by Halo branding. This will link in with retailer Gamestop’s midnight launch at their new store at the shopping centre. Full details of of Gamestop’s midnight opening across Ireland can be viewed here.
GameStop opens midnight for Halo 3
Gamestop say they will open 14 of its 46 in the Republic and Northern Ireland at at midnight on Tuesday for the European release of Halo 3.
The retailer are to have midnight openings at Henry St, Stephens Green, and Clare Hall in Dublin, along with their outlets in Belfast, Derry, Limerick, Drogheda, Wexford, Tralee, Letterkenny, Mallow, Midleton, Killarney, and Bangor.
Other retailers, such as HMV, GAME, and Smyths, are also likely to have midnight openings in at least the main cities.
A Microsoft spokesperson told us this evening that, in Ireland, “Michael Finucane from Game stop says that pre-orders are running at twice the rate of Halo 2″, while a statement released this afternoon says the company worldwide is “running off 81 games per second to ensure that they meet global demand for this title”.
“It is fantastic to see the level of interest shown by Irish gamers, all of whom are eager to be one of the first people in the country to get their hands on what is set to be the must have game this Christmas,” said Orla Sheridan, country manager at the entertainment and devices division of Microsoft Ireland.
Ubisoft brings games to Oxegen
Gamers attending Oxegen this weekend who find they just can’t shake
off a game addiction can find Ubisoft at this year’s music
festival.
The Ubisoft outing at this year’s Oxegen is part of the games publisher’s Ireland and UK Summer Festival Tour.
Over the weekend they will be showcasing the Xbox 360 western
game Call of Juarez, their PlayStation 3 version of Rainbow Six Vegas,
and a Wii game ‘Surf’s Up’. They will also be giving way consoles and
Ubisoft-branded merchandise.
Previously,
Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland used the same kind of marketing to
promote the PlayStation Portable in Ireland, at the time they claimed
that over 20,000 people visited the PlayStation Dome tent at Oxegen.
Oh my God! Starcraft 2 is official
Starcraft 2 is official. Ten years of anticipation have driven me into a frenzy and all I can say is Oh my God!
Give me a few hours to control my excitement, catch my breath and
make sure this isn’t some elaborate prank on Blizzard’s part and I’ll
post some concrete news, videos, pictures, and so forth.
Lisa Geiran, UCD; Barry Dolan, Shamrock Rovers FC, Karina Kelly, UCD.
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Gaming dolls and super men at Xbox centre
Superman
Returns will be free to play at Dublin’s Xbox Live Gaming Centre this
Saturday, while next week Ubisoft’s girl gamers will be making an
appearance.
A promotion for Superman Returns will see the centre host to free
play of the game from 11am till 5pm on Saturday, all thanks to
publisher EA.
Meanwhile, on next Saturday, December 2, Ubisoft’s Rainbow 6: Las Vegas will be promoted by the company’s ‘Frag Dolls‘
(pictured — wasn’t there once five of them?). If you’re up for
the challenge, they will be playing the game sometime from 12pm till
2pm [insert tabloid-like joke about boys not playing with dolls here].
The centre is at 51 South William Street, Dublin 2, more info can be found at xboxlivegamingcentre.com.
RDS: Gears of War Wii for the weekend
The highly anticipated Xbox 360 game, Gears of War, is playable in Dublin a week before launch at the RDS.
As we reported before,
it joins the Nintendo Wii at the ‘Boys 4 Big Boys’ expo until
10.00pm tonight, and over the weekend from 10.00am — 7.00pm.
The Nintendo Wii strangely missed the ‘vip’ and press and opening
night, leaving any gaming inclined alcoholic drenched hacks to get
their blood pumping with Gears of War.
In a four-section stand made out to be sitting and bed rooms, Zelda
is accompanied by three Wii Sports games. Nintendo reps also had DS
handheld consoles, secured for public
use by attachment to the reps.
Wii Sports is set to come preloaded on the console at the December
8 launch, with the new console retailing at around
Nintendo Wii in Dublin this weekend
The Nintendo Wii will make its Irish début this weekend at the ‘Toys 4 Big Boys‘ expo at the RDS in Dublin. At the event it will be joined by exhibitors the Xbox Live Gaming Centre and Ubisoft.
The second Irish stages of the Wii tour will be at UCD on December 6
and the final stage at Mahon Point in Cork on December 7 — 10.
Two Irish Wii events appear to be cancelled, with events original
listed for Liffey Valley shopping centre in west Dublin, and Trinity
College Dublin now not listed at the Wii tour website.
Hummers, gangsters, soccer, and Xbox Live Gaming Centre — who’s keeping score?
[Err, we're, err: massively late with some of this one:] Xbox and THQ supported the launch of Saints Row in Ireland by kitting out a Hummer H2.
The car is a crazy in-your-face symbol of ‘bling’ easily associated with some of the gangster culture elements in the game.
The launch campaign also utilized the Xbox Live Gaming Centre, South
William Street, Dublin, and the city’s FM104 radio station.
The Fridge on FM104, hosted by Jenny Greene (pictured above in the
H2), on four nights gave the chance for listeners to attend the launch
party at the Xbox Live centre, and compete in a Saints Row Tournament.
Of course, the commute wasn’t in the nearby Luas, but the
fuel-guzzling H2.
Winner Colin Mooney (pictured below with Greene) walked away with an
Xbox 360 console and a copy of Saints Row. Runners up Denise Bell,
Philip Holland and Ciara Harte, went home with the game and Xbox goody
bags.
Before the tournament, attendees had the chance to try the game out in
the relaxed surrounding of the gaming centre with the seemingly serious
match proceeding in the back of the centre. The ‘VIP area’ with four
plasma TVs and black leather couches.
Launched in May Ubisoft, Konami, Atari and Capcom have also used the Xbox-only multiplayer centre for promotional events.
This Friday, October 27, the centre will host a Pro Evolution Soccer 6
event to coincide with its launch; they are to take advantage of the
game’s league system PESRankings.com.
“With PESRankings.com we will be holding Pro Evolution Soccer Leagues
for every university and 3rd Level Institution in the city. We will
also be setting up leagues for staff members of individual companies
and sectors such as banking, insurance and the civil service” commented
community manager, Jamie McCormick.
Tony Murray, MD, Xbox Live Gaming Centre added “We plan on offering
this great service across Ireland with a number of centres opening
throughout the country in the coming months”.