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Free Games Competition

Enter our competition and win the games “Dragon Age” (PC) and “Army Of Two:The 40th Day” (PSP)!

The question is “What new game release will feature a song by Leona Lewis?”

To enter competition visit the section in the right sidebar.

Console Yourself With The Right Video Games This Christmas

Knowing what to get your loved ones for Christmas is hard enough, but potentially buying your loved one the wrong game for their XBox, Playstation or Wii can be deadly.

TheGamingLiberty.com, Ireland’s number 1 Gaming Site (Nurtured in Thurles, Revered internationally) has earmarked their picks of the consoles and games that should be sitting under everyone’s tree this Christmas.

CONSOLESFor Santa or indeed parents not familiar with the current gaming trends the information supplied hereunder will be more than helpful.

Playstation 3

Sony’s black juggernaut, the Playstation 3 had a stellar 2009. If their competitors can be accused of faltering slightly in the last year, the PS3 can only be applauded for its dedication to revitalizing and strengthening its brand and consumer likability. After a price cut and a sleek redesign, the PS3 is probably the cheapest and most accessible multifunctional multimedia devise available out there this Christmas. Apart from games and free online play, the PS3 comes with a Blu-Ray drive as standard for the best film watching quality, a web browser, compatibility with PSP and enough hard-drive space (125 GB or 250 GB) to save a plethora of photos, games, music and movies. The PS3 does everything. Here all TGL’s three PS3 picks for Christmas;

1: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Uncharted 2 is the jewel in the PS3’s crown. Arguably the most graphically complete and stunningly rendered game ever made, Uncharted 2 puts you in the shoes of Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Francis Drake and a would be Indiana Jones treasure hunter. Uncharted 2 is an exciting and explosive title which sees you traverse the globe in search of the ancient Cintanami Stone of Shambhala. It should be a compulsory purchase for any PS3 owner.
Continue reading Console Yourself With The Right Video Games This Christmas

Una Healy Celebrates Her 28th Birthday

A host of big names will step out tomorrow night to join Thurles born singer, Una Healy of the girl band The Saturdays celebrate her 28th birthday, in true Irish style.

Una Healy pictured recently at HQ Nightclub Thurles.

Una Healy pictured recently at HQ Nightclub Thurles.

The leggy beauty, who threw a star spangled bash at London’s Club 24 last month, is now looking forward to celebrating with her friends from closer to home.

The Thurles Co.Tipperary native will be joined by her bandmates, Frankie Sandford, Mollie King, Rochelle Wiseman and Vanessa White, when as they kick off the party at new The Good Bits, Store Street, Dublin.

This gorgeous group will jet into Dublin tomorrow to attend the exclusive Xbox launch party, Lips Number 1 Hits at the new club. The Just Can’t Get Enough singers are later hoping to attend, Krystle Nightclub in Harcourt Street, to continue the nights celebrations.

The invite only party at The Good Bits will kick off with a drinks reception, before Una take to the stage.

Among the invited guests of Microsoft, will be Thurles town’s native Shane Willoughby and Joseph Murphy, the brains behind Irelands No1 sensational Gaming Site and Forum, TheGamingLiberty.com.

Time permitting, she may pay a visit home and will no doubt drop in as usual to HQ Nightclub in Thurles over the weekend.

Uncharted 2 Among Thieves - New Playstation Game

Video gaming is big business in Ireland and the character and weight of the industry grows more and more each year. Gaming has penetrated the mainstream and has become a near daily source of entertainment for so many. More and more children, young adults and even older generations are turning to their home consoles to play games, watch movies, listen to music or simply surf the Internet.

UNCHARTED 2-Among-ThievesSo with a booming gaming industry and an ever expanding fascination with the Internet in Ireland, it might come as a surprise to hear that the many thousands of video gamers on these shores don’t really have a voice or a online forum in which they can be heard or represented. TheGamingLiberty.com is a Irish website which hopes to change all this and is quickly becoming Ireland’s most formidable and recognized Irish Gaming Website.

The Gaming Liberty is the brainchild of Joseph Murphy and Thurles born Shane Willoughby, two dedicated gamers who recognized the need to create something that would best represent the needs of the average Irish Gamer. Shane and Joseph both decided to create the website earlier this year and envisaged the creation of a dedicated one stop destination for the Irish gaming community. Since the sites launch, The Gaming Liberty has enjoyed some considerable successes, due mostly to the sheer drive and ambition of both the site’s creators.

The Gaming Liberty primarily caters to the needs of its Irish based community, but also to the needs of the seemingly infinite international gaming population. Put simply, it is a site designed for gamers, by gamers and is updated daily to include all the latest and greatest in news, previews, reviews and interviews within the gaming industry.

Wondering what PlayStation 3 game to buy this Christmas ? Well according to TheGamingLiberty.com it’s got to be ‘Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, one of Sony’s flagship exclusive Playstation 3 titles which promises to be a big seller this Christmas and is one of The Gaming Liberty’s big stocking filler recommendations in the run up to the festive season.

The site is live and is really worth checking out. You can sign up and join its community. If you’re into games then this is the place to be.

Like Joseph and Shane told Thurles.Info “You now have a voice, so be sure you use it”.

Tipperary Institute Thurles - Microsoft Games Development Laboratory Opens

Tipperary Institute in Thurles has now officially, this week, opened its Games Development Laboratory. The laboratory, sponsored by Microsoft is equipped with the very latest technology to give students access to a state of the art learning facility. The laboratory is designed to assist students to build their own software and games portfolios and to develop the skills which are now much sought by the fast growing game development and entertainment technology industry, both in Ireland and abroad.

The opening, which took place during Engineers Ireland Week of Wonder, saw over seventy students from Tipperary, Limerick and Dublin take part in workshops at this new laboratory. The students used the latest Microsoft games development technology XNA to create their version of the classic Atari computer game Asteroids. XNA Game Studio expands on all the offerings of earlier iterations to include additional functionality to appeal to game developers of every level and enable them to create games to distribute through Xbox LIVE Community Games on the Xbox 360 as part of the New Xbox Experience.

James Greenslade, Director of ICT at Tipperary said,

“Innovation has never been as important as it is in today’s economic climate. Tipperary Institute views investment in technology as crucial to our students’ learning experience and for the future development of a knowledge driven economy. We aim to develop students who are innovative and dynamic – something which is vital for our economy. To achieve this we must have access to technology and to networks, something Microsoft is providing for us through its generous sponsorship.”

Dr. Kevin Marshall, Academic Programme Manager for Microsoft Ireland, who  opened the laboratory officially, stated.

“We need to embrace innovation in business, in technology and in society at large if we are to position Ireland in a true knowledge economy. There is a demand for skills in games technology both from established global players and also from smaller companies based here and abroad. The growth of online technology means that the skills students will learn on the course will be relevant and in demand,”

gamesThe new laboratory has been completed in time to host the 2009 annual Games Fleadh which brings the games industry and secondary and higher education students from across the island of Ireland, together. Games Fleadh, Ireland’s largest computer and console games programming festival now incorporates the following major events;

Robocode Ireland
XNA Ireland Challenge
XNA Ireland Challenge for Schools
SchoolBots Challenge
Gaming Tournament
GamesPro Talks

Games studios expert will deliver a series of talks on all aspects of games design and development on the 11th March. On the 12th March experts will judge portfolio entries from college and school participants.

Games Feadh has been running for the past five years. In 2008  the XNA Ireland Challenge was added to the competition series. The XNA event honored the 30th anniversary of SPACE INVADERS(c) Taito Corp. 1978, 2008. Entries were received from University of Ulster, University of Limerick, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, Carlow Institute of Technology, Dublin Institute of Technology, Tipperary Institute and winning team Gort Community School. In total, sixteen third level institutes and fourteen second level schools took part in Games Fleadh 2008.

Games Fleadh 2008 was attended by representatives from Microsoft, SEGA, Rare, Blitz Games Studios, BlackRock Studios and Activision – DemoWare, all of whom are planning a return trip to Games Fleadh 2009.

XNA Ireland Challenge ‘08 entrants have been already offered work placement and graduate employment within the participating studios. It is becoming an important portfolio opportunity for those students. Games Fleadh has also created an opportunity for industry development organisations to network with games specialists to identify and cultivate opportunities.