Microsoft is sending word that they have appointed David Gosen as the new VP for Europe's Strategic Marketing division. Gosen's also expected to help handle the region's Xbox Live service, which speaks plenty for his past experience as a CEO for a mobile games company. Details on this news are in the full article.

People in the UK may find themselves carrying their money in a different sort of wallet these days. PayForIt is a new payment scheme designed to buy goods and services up to £10, implemented last September 1, as a means to give consumers an alternative method asides from paying for them directly out of their wallets.

PayForIt is a mobile-based payment system which displays the information of any services and goods purchased and documents the details, specifically the amount and the retailer you purchased the goods or services from, on your mobile. The concept of digital wallets isn't a new thing, however they want to standardize such a payment scheme in the UK and hopefully expand the industry through it.

While this type of payment scheme has had a lot negative feedback in the past, Mike Short, chairman of the Mobile Data Association assures the public that the goal of PayForIt is to restore the faith in such a service. It does not seek to replace conventional payment options but rather offers consumers an alternative form of payment instead.

The companies involved in PayForIt include: I-play, Gameloft, EA, Multimap, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. The service aims to concentrate on payment options for ringtones, train tickets, parking fees, and eventually web shops and sites.

Anuj Khanna, a spokesman for Tanla Mobile, one of the firms administering payments made via PayForIt, had this to say about the system:

Most big brands would not use premium rate SMS to run their services, it's not a good experience, it's not consumer friendly. It's entirely geared at the low value, high volume transaction market.

In case you've been wondering where this year's Midnight Gaming Championship is expected to take place, we've got news.

The event's official site has just sent out a press wire announcing that the MGC 2007 is expected to take place this September 8, in the cities of San Francisco, and Columbus (Ohio). The MGC is expected to end on September 15, in the cities of Denver and Cleveland.

These select cities come as a result of the MGC's previous online votes, with gamers asked where they wanted this year's MGC to go. This year's competition is expected to feature these five games:

• Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo; GameCube)
• NBA 2K7 (2K Sports; PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, Xbox)
• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW2) (Ubisoft; PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mobile)
• GTR2 FIA GT Racing Game (Viva Media; PC)
• Fast and the Furious: Fugitive (I-play; Mobile)
  

Video Gamers League president Jeff Gross had this to say regarding the upcoming event:

We wanted to give gamers a chance to bring the MGC tournament to cities that normally may not get a video game tournament. The race was really close at the end, with the top six cities coming down to the wire.

Winners of these series of tournaments stand to win a round-trip ticket and one-night hotel stay in Dallas, where the championship takes place this October 6. take note that the cities we listed earlier are just the first batch - drop by again as the list gets updated with more venues. Or, if you're keen on casting your vote, drop by the MGC official site for details (the read link).

Nokia is gearing up for the release of its new N-Gage platform, and I-play is supplying the software necessary to make the mobile phone/handheld console hybrid successful.

The first two games that I-Play will release are racing sim World Rally Championship and the intense puzzle title Super Mah Jong. In recognition to the casual gaming revolution that's taking the world by storm, the firm made necessary adjustments to make its creations more appealing.

According to I-play, their games will push the N-Gage hardware to its limits but will maintain the one-hand control scheme being pushed by Nokia. The idea behind it is fun and ease at the same time to lure in people of all ages.

"We’re very excited to be cooperating with Nokia. The awareness that the launch later this fall alone will bring to the consumer and the mobile industry will help propel mobile gaming to the front and centre of entertainment consumed on the mobile," says I-play CEO David Gosen.

 

If you happen to be one of the contestants for Motorola's MOTODEV Game Developer Challenge, we've got news. The company has sent out a reminder that entries for this competition will be due August 10, with the winner of this contest to receive the opportunity to have their game entry published by I-Play.

There are currently two categories for contestants to join in with entry games landing on a corresponding phone:

• Best Java Software Game: submitted for play on the Motorola MOTOKRZR K1 handset
• Best Windows Mobile Game: for entertainment on Motorola MOTO Q
  

The contest is open to all MOTODEV developers with registration already received from over 22 countries. Aside from winning a publication deal with I-Play, winner of this event will further be awarded with a briefcase full of choice Motorola handsets and I-Play games. The category winners will be announced at the CTIA Wireless and IT Entertainment in October 2007.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has announced that a bunch of leading games publishers have joined forces with 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone to simultaneously launch key games titles over all five of the UK networks.

The following publishers have joined in on this industry first: Electronic Arts, Glu Mobile, Gameloft and I-play. As part of the deal, four games -- Glu Mobile’s Transformers, Gameloft's Guitar Legend, EA Sports' FIFA 08 and an unannounced fourth title -- will be published across all five major service providers.

"We have been working with the network operators on a number of initiatives to grow the market of mobile gaming, and this is work that builds on the official charts we publish," said Michael Rawlinson, ELSPA's Managing Director. "We want mobile games publishers to become more involved with ELSPA so that we can assist them further in this growing and exciting area of gaming."

In the mobile video games arena, The Fast & Furious: Tokyo is considered a behemoth as the total number of paid for downloads just reached a staggering seven million.

Developed and published by I-play, through an agreement with Universal Mobile Entertainment, Tokyo received Best Made for Mobile Game honors during 2007 3GSM Awards earlier this year.

This time, The Fast & Furious: Tokyo has been shortlisted by The MEF for the 2007 Meffys. I-Play CEO David Gosen commented that he is very proud of this franchise and is very much honored with the recognition. Gosen added,

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo is one of the most successful games in I-play's history to date and the franchise is unmatched by any other racing game on the mobile platform. This game was developed by our internal team who continually raise the bar in terms of innovation.

Speaking of which, Tokyo is the first game to re-create "drifting" on mobile phones. Likewise, SVP of Universal Mobile Entertainment Jeremy Laws is excited about the Meffys as he commented,

The Fast and The Furious is the most successful racing franchise and film franchise on mobile. We are thrilled that The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo and I-play’s game development capabilities have been recognized by the MEF shortlist for its 2007 MEFFYS.

Mobile phone owners are being informed that today, I-play is announcing the release of their new 4 Wheel Xtreme game. If the name didn't give its genre away, 4 Wheel Xtreme is an off-racer that puts the player's hands (or rather, thumbs) behind the wheels of one of several monster trucks and SUVs. The game comes in a 3D and 2D version, with both carrying these features:

• Various racing environments,ranging from mountains to deserts
• Three game modes: Duel, race and Time Attack mode.
• A physics engine that allows allows for intense vehicle bumps and tumbles
• Fast-paced arcade-style gameplay, with added speed from in-game nitro boost power-ups
  

The 3D version of 4 Wheels Xtreme is expected to launch in Europe and North America within this month. "Despite the gritty nature of off-road truck racing, this title stays true to our casual gaming philosophy with one-thumb playability, giving players instant accessibility to this challenging title" said I-play CEO David Gosen regarding this latest game release. In case you're wondering how the game looks, we've also loaded up with screenshots below to give you an idea of how both version (2D and 3D) will look. Enjoy your viewing.

The screenshots for 4 Wheel Xtreme's 3D version are available in the Full Article!

Mobile entertainment company I-play today announced a multi-title distribution deal with mobile 3D game developers Polarbit. As part of the deal, the games will appear across I-play's global distribution network - which covers BREW, Symbian and Windows mobile -- in the second half of 2007.

I-play's current lineup of Polarbit titles include the following:

• 3D Wave Blazer
• 3D Armageddon Squadron
• 3D Nitro GT
• Doomination
• Little Soldiers

"Polarbit are the masters of high-end mobile game development and we are very excited to bring their stunning games to market," said Leighton Webb, Senior Vice President of Content Strategy and Licensing for I-play. "These games showcase the advanced performance achievable on today's mobile platforms while embracing I-play's mantra that regardless of the power of the technology behind a game, the gameplay itself is always king."

If you think mobile games are no fun, that may soon change for you. Mobile game maker I-Play has come up with a nice fighting game concept that will keep you coming back for more. It's called Sexy Pillow Fight and it's coming right for you.

The premise is simple, take control of jaw-dropping French maids or cheerleaders, grab a big, fluffy pillow and go nuts. It's a nice deviation from volleyball with babes and we welcome this innovation.

"We've all done it sometime in our life - squared up to someone with only a pillow for defence. Like our mobile game, the opportunity this month's MEET-UP event offers is highly unique and original and as I'm sure most of us will testify - will have to be seen to be believed," said I-Play CEO David Gosen.

The game is slated to be released late this year and will be distributed by most major cellular providers. Grab a pillow and pound the babes to pillow oblivion.