News

WSC Real 08 at the Crucible
Visitors to this years 888.com World Snooker Championship are able to experience WSC Real 08 on Xbox 360 and Wii. The game has been created from the ground up using InfiniteWorlds - Blade's revolutionary game development system resulting in massively enhanced graphics, and a host of new features such as Real Mode which allows players to see through the eyes of a pro for the first time.

Meanwhile a massive marketing campaign for the game has kicked off to coincide with the tournament, including a TV add starring Steve Davis which is running on Eurosport throughout the championship. Watch it below:

Steve Davis Pots the Brown on YouTube
A new teaser movie staring Steve Davis has appeared on YouTube in anticipation of the launch of World Snooker Championship: Season 2007 - 08 on Nintendo DS, which takes place on 26th October. The hilarious paraody sees Steve asking the ultimate Snooker question - pink or brown? Watch the video below right now.

Blade Interactive Announces a New Funding Deal with Total Asset Ltd
The multi million deal announced this week has put in place the necessary financial infrastructure for Blade Interactive to realise its publishing ambitions and facilitate the rapid growth the company is presently enjoying.

Says Deborah Jones of Blade Interactive. "Let no one in the video games market underestimate what Blade is doing at the moment. We have unparalleled technology with Infinite Worlds TM and HydroEngine TM. We are IP owners and IP developers and now also publishers. We have the wherewithal to send shock waves through this industry… and we have the funding in place to see it through. We are absolutely delighted with our new association with Total Asset Limited who we see as trusted business partners"

George Alexander from Total Asset Limited adds "Total Asset Limited has for some time been actively seeking robust IP holders in the video games business who seek to extend the range of their activities. We couldn't be more pleased with our deal with Blade Interactive Studios and the World Snooker Championship brand which we see as one of the top 10 sports brands in the market place"

Koch Media and Blade Interactive cue up a new snooker experience in 2008
Koch Media UK is pleased to announce a deal with Blade Interactive for the worldwide exclusive distribution rights to its next installment of their popular and market-leading snooker series, World Snooker Championship, across all major formats next year (Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3, Sony Playstation2, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and PC).

The news follows the announcement that Blade Interactive has made a siginificant strategy change in moving away from publishing its products through publishers (previous incumbents being Codemasters and SEGA), and now will publish all formats of the game itself.

The new updated versions of the most popular snooker brand on console will be developed entirely using Blade's new Infinite Worlds™ technology. This has produced a striking new experience which is bigger, better looking, faster and smoother than ever before.

As befits the new look of the product Blade have created a punchier title abbreviating the established brand from World Snooker Championship 2008 to WSC Real™ - Season 2008. The formats will launch to coincide with the World Snooker Championships in April next year.

Following the tradition of the historic brand, which has already sold over 2 million copies, the new products will be also exclusively endorsed by the governing body of World Snooker.

"We're very proud to have been chosen by Blade to handle this esteemed license. We are also particularly pleased that Blade have recognized our position on the world market, which fits perfectly with developers who wish to take the monolithic step to being publishers of their own IP" commented Craig McNicol, MD of Koch Media.

Says Peter Jones, Joint MD Of Blade Interactive - "I am delighted to confirm that Koch Media will be the exclusive distributors of the WSC: Real. Koch are in a league of their own - the success of the Wii hardware launch is testimony to their marketing and administrative prowess".

Blade Interactive comes out of the Closet
Following its announcements on Hydrophobia™ , the revolutionary HydroEngine™, the move into middleware with its critically acclaimed Infinite Worlds™ and the setting up of a mobile phone development company - Blade interactive Studios continues its metamorphosis and today announces its intention to be a publisher in its own right. Initially it will seek to publish various versions of its world acclaimed snooker series, World Snooker Championship, with other games to be announced shortly.

World Snooker Championship is the official game of the World Championships with the exclusive endorsement of World Snooker Limited and has to date notched up over 2 million units over its 7 iterations. Blade has benefited vastly from the millions spent on its pioneering next-gen title Hydrophobia™ and the next version of the snooker brand will be developed entirely using Blade’s new Infinite Worlds™ technology. This has produced a striking new product which is bigger, better looking, faster and smoother than ever before. As befits the new look of the product Blade have created a punchier title abbreviating the brand from World Snooker Championship 2008 to WSC Real™ – Season 2008. Says Deborah Jones of Blade Interactive,

“Blade is a company that is changing fast and this is a crucial step in our expansion plans. We are very excited at the prospect of publishing ourselves. As individuals we are no strangers to publishing and this is a natural step for us”

Blade is in advanced discussions with a number of potential distributors to handle WSC Real™ 2008 worldwide and an announcement will be made imminently.

Snooker coming to Nintendo DS
Get your stylus at the ready, because World Snooker Championship Season 2007-08 is coming to Nintendo DS. With touch screen controls and simultaneous top down and 3D views on the dual screens, Snooker on DS is the most intuitive potting experience yet... more.

Blade announces its middleware ambitions
Welcome to the future of game creation systems. InfiniteWorldGCS is the most comprehensive, the most flexible and the most powerful game creation tool ever devised. It puts the power to create in the designers hands, and unifies the whole development process... more.

HYDROPHOBIA UNVEILED!
The revalation of HydroEngine has wetted your appetites, now get ready for the game that's going to blow everything else out of the water - literally. The wraps are off Hydrophobia - our revolutionary survival adventure game which uses HydroEngine to deliver the most realistic water you've ever seen. Click here right now.

HydroEngine Revealed!
After years of development behind the scenes, we are finally able to reveal HydroEngine - the incredible fluid dynamics engine which allows real flowing water for the first time in games... more.

Blade lands Top Talent
Blade's recruitment drive for the industry's finest continues, with senior concept artist Pete Amachree joining from Lionhead Studios to start work on Hydrophobia immediatly. This latest addition to the team at Blade follows the arrival of AI programmer John Reynolds from Ubisoft Montreal, as well as staff from Hot House and SCEE.

Chart Success for World Snooker Championship 2007
Since it's release on 12th January, WSC 2007 has enjoyed a stella performance in the charts; reaching the top 5 on both Xbox 360 and PSP, and claiming the number 1 spot on PS2. Meanwhile the PS3 version launches with the console on 23rd March... more.

Blade Interactive move into Mobile Gaming
As part of a major expansion, Blade Interactive has established a new force in mobile game development; The new division based at Blade Interactive's new office complex in Manchester is to be known as 'BIG' (Blade Interactive Games).

The new division has signed a major new deal with I-play for a number of new mobile games the first of which will be the mobile version of Blade's acclaimed World Snooker Championship series.

Says Peter Jones, Joint MD of Blade Interactive; "This is the first of a number of new initiatives from Blade; we have established a new mobile division as part of a major ramping up of Blade's scale of operations and its presence in the market place. Cue sport games have been a major genre of mobile gaming for some years and our objective is simply to dominate this niche just as we have in the video games market. The new title will make good use of our exclusive snooker license with the World Snooker Association and will feature the top 32 players with motion captured animation and real tournaments including of course the World Championships.

Our entire focus is quality. We want to raise the bar for mobile gaming. To that end we are delighted with our new relationship with I-play who have exactly the same focus on quality games"

The game will launch in March prior to the World Championship finals at the Crucible.

A new Pool game and Strategy puzzle game will follow later in the year.