Polar Games

Polar Games has announced its long-term publishing deal with Warp, the UK-based developer responsible for the Pinball Arcade for PC. The agreement includes all European territories and will see the founding of the company. It also features a "soft launch" campaign.

"Polar has one of the most impressive game development teams in the UK, and we are looking forward to working with them all the time," said London-based Rune3D's director Tom Stone.

Polar Games is currently looking to expand its relationship with Nintendo to the Wii console, the company said. The company's interest in the console is expressed by the sales of its latest Game Boy Color title, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, which came out in June. The game has sold 5 million units worldwide.

Polar announced today that it has sold 10 million copies of Pinball Arcade since its release in October. The company expects to sell 15 million software units by the end of the current financial year.

Polar, who is based in Oxford, England, has been making games since 1993, including the games Cube released for the original PlayStation. The company has also been a fan of virtual pinball, releasing a virtual arcade cabinet called Djinnames, which will play on a variety of consoles, including the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Wii.

"We're very excited to be a part of this platform and the company's ability to bring the magic of pinball to our core consumer," said Tony Fadell, a senior vice president of entertainment at Polar Inc. "Pinball Arcade delivers a compelling experience for our core consumers that will make them truly enjoy playing a pinball video game."

While its growing library of arcade games is far from limited, Polar said that the studio's lineup of downloadable games for the WiiWare service will continue to grow. The company expects to bring titles such as Capcom's Resident Evil™ RE5 and the upcoming King of Fighters '95 to the service, as well as the console's new WiiWare games Puzz Loop and Hicups' Adventure.

More than 50,000 new downloads of classic games and applications will be made available via the WiiWare service, bringing the total to 100,000. These games will all be available via Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service. The Nintendo Wii has a wireless controller and, as such, a non-wireless interface and a revolutionary new processor. The goal is to get consumers to play the games at home or in the office. The applications are scheduled for release in the coming months.

"We're looking forward to releasing 50 new game applications through Nintendo WiiWare, including this innovative new WiiWare game," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's senior director of corporate communications. "We believe this game is going to be the first of many new applications to be created for Nintendo Wii."

In addition to new applications, Nintendo plans to release more than a dozen new games from its new DSiWare shop. While the majority of these will be created for the DSiWare shop, there will also be a wide variety of games for the handheld. These include first-party titles from such companies as Epic Games, Nintendo, Sierra Studios, Namco, and LucasArts, as well as brand new franchises that Nintendo is rumored to be working on at the moment. The most anticipated WiiWare games will be Space Channel 5 and, perhaps most importantly, Bird's Journey.

Also released for the DSi is Nintendo's new Paper Mario for the handheld, which is sure to take its retro appeal to new heights. Although the game does not come with the previously announced Paper Mario series, Nintendo will continue to develop classic games, which will likely sell better and in a similar vein to other games on the DSi. Also announced are free-to-play titles from Jamster Entertainment, Gameloft, and THQ.

The second biggest launch for the WiiWare store was a free-to-play title called UFO Force: The Evolutionary Battles. The game sees you assuming the role of a UFO who has to fight off waves of aliens using a range of weapons. All of the games are made in this format. You can select from three different eras of gameplay: WWII, feudal Japan, and early World War II. There are also a host of minigames to try out including one where you have to catch UFOs, an in-game tower defense game that has you controlling boulders to destroy their habitat, and a two-player battle where you take control of a number of different UFOs.

The first game is Blast Games. This takes the top spot on the game's list, and it will soon be replaced by 2048. Other games have also been released, although none of them have yet been named. The first is Dodgeball Pro, a hockey game that has you playing one of the opposing teams instead of the usual goalie.

Finally, there are Pocket Zombies Ate My Neighbors.