Fortress Luna now available for iPhone, iPod Touch

Primus Productions has launched of Fortress Luna, the company’s first game for the iPhone and iPod Touch today.

Fortress Luna challenges iPhone and iPod Touch owners to launch nuclear missiles from a secret base on the moon that will (with a bit of luck and skill) intercept asteroids before they destroy the world and save all of humanity. It’s like Armageddon but without Bruce Willis, Lib Tyler and an Aerosmith title track. The asteroids are apparently pelting the planet due to a gravitational anomaly in the outer solar system – if you need some sort of back story for a casual game like this – fill in the rest of the blanks. Primus says that the game is simple and ideal for casual players.

Fortress Luna is available through the iTunes AppStore today for $.99. For more information check out www.primusproductions.com.

Jumpgate Evolution Beta hits 250,000 subscriber mark

NetDevil’s Jumpgate Evolution has given the Codemasters Online universe a decent boost according to internal subscriber numbers from Codemasters. The upcoming space combat MMO has reached the 250,000 beta sign up landmark, making it Codemasters Online’s biggest ever beta campaign, the company announced this week.

Jumpgate Evolution, currently in the “Friends and Family” testing phase, is a space adventure that allows players to choose from one of three playable Nations and engage in a myriad of space activities.

Those activities include trade throughout the Jumpgate Evolution galaxy, ship to ship combat as part of intergalactic battles, space exploration and all the drama you’d expect from a game involving thousands of other players. For more information on Jumpgate, or to sign up for beta, visit www.jumpgateevolution.com.

EGOSOFT releases X3: Terran Conflict 2.1 update

EGOSOFT has released the 2.1 update patch for X3: Terran Conflict. The update includes a community-developed mission, a performance upgrade, several bug fixes and the continuation of the regular X3 competitions that feature prizes for those players that use the UPLINK facility.
The new mission added in 2.1 is entitled “Treasure Hunt” and was created by the user Ketraar using X3’s Mission Director plug in. Players will have to trek across the X Universe looking for clues to lead them to the ultimate prize.

“The Mission Director is a great tool and as an X-veteran,” said mission creator Ketraar. “I wanted to bring a little nostalgia. I hope that gamers will find it fun to play.”

The performance upgrade streamlines graphics rendering to produce better frame rates and a generally smoother gameplay. The patch will also bring further improvements to Tractor Beam towing, the Universe Trader, a number of scripts and the “mine minerals” command. There is also a new “Run in Background” ability that allows you to chat or surf the web while the game is running. Some minor bugs have also been addressed with this patch, most notably some graphical and turret configuration issues and the patrol and defend sector commands.

Find out more about the patch or download it by visiting egosoft.com.

Stephen Hawking Joins Operation Immortality

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has signed on to participate in NCsoft’s Operation Immortality, hoping to raise awareness of how disease can be better managed, cured and prevented through fully sequencing the human genome.

Stephen Hawking, who has also written several top selling books (”A Brief History of Time” and the children’s book “George’s Secret Key to the Universe”), will be sending his digitized DNA into space as part of NCsoft’s Operation Immortality next month when NCsoft’s Richard Garriott heads to the International Space Station. Lucy Hawking, who is the co-author of “George’s Secret Key to the Universe,” is also participating.
With their participation, the father and daughter team hope to raise awareness for the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, a competition that will award $10 million to the first person or team that can sequence 100 human genomes within 10 days or less.

For more information on “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” and Stephen Hawking, go to

Richard Garriott on Colbert Tonight

Richard Garriott, a once glorious king known as Lord British in another long forgotten universe called Britannia, will soon get more exposure than he has ever dreamed of. You may remember a short time ago that NCsoft announced Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert would be having his DNA digitized and sent into space on the Tabula Rasa Immortality Drive when Garriott visits the International Space Station later this year.

Tonight Garriott, part of NC Austin, will be a guest on The Colbert Report. We assume he’ll be talking about Tabula Rasa, games, his first trip into space and the Immortality Drive project. The Colbert Report airs on Comedy Central, immediately following the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart at 11:30 pm / 10:30 pm CT.

Sins of a Solar Empire Beta Update

Stardock’s popular space strategy game, Sins of a Solar Empire, has been updated to version 1.1 (beta) today, delivering new technologies and some fixes.

The new update includes a host of play balancing changes, new content such as an updated graphics engine, updated visuals, new damage animations, and more. It also includes a new multiplayer system called “Alloy,” which eliminates the need for configuring routers or changing port numbers. This beta update will be available only through Stardock’s new Impulse platform. The company says that it will no longer be providing standalone patches for future versions of the game.

More details on the update and the game can be found out at www.sinsofasolarempire.com.

Jumpgate Evolution Beta Signups Live

Beta signup for NetDevil’s new Jumpgate MMO, Jumpgate Evolution, is now live. Players interested in this new chapter in the popular space MMO can sign up for a chance to play the game and help NetDevil stress test it prior to launch. Jumpgate is a space MMO that allows players to explore a massive universe, trade commodities for cold hard cash, take part in intergalactic raids, take on others in ship to ship combat, and shape your reputation as a hero or a pirate.

For more on the beta signup, check out the freshly launched Jumpgate portal at www.jumpgateevolution.com.