Remember Naval Strike, the battle ship like iPhone game developed by MIH Swat right her in South Africa?

The reaction to Naval Strike has been overwhelming, and MIH Swat have reached their two week download target in a mere 5 days and to celebrate this they are giving away a $50 iTunes voucher.

To win the $50 iTunes vouchers, players will need to play Naval Strike through Game Center and the player with the highest score by Friday 22 April 2011 will win the $50 iTunes voucher.

So what are you waiting for, go download Naval Strike and start playing.

If you are a Xbox Kinect owner, Xbox LIVE would like to invite you to help them set a new Guinness World Record.

On Saturday 23 April 2011, Xbox LIVE would like to set a new world record for the largest online sprint ever by joining hands across the world with all Xbox LIVE players.

The Guinness World Record attempt will just be one of the fun events that will take place over a weekend of entertainment on Xbox LIVE. During the weekend, dubbed XBox Nations, all Xbox LIVE members will be given Xbox LIVE Gold access to gain access to the latest content online and enable them to play multiplayer games.

Xbox Nations will take place from Thursday 21 April 2011 to Monday 25 April 2011, for more details about Xbox Nations follow Xbox South Africa on Twitter or Facebook.

Starting this weeks local South African Xbox LIVE players will get 50% off all 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription purchases.

Xbox South Africa has teamed up with various retailers to offer South African Xbox LIVE players 50% off 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions when they either buy a console or a game.

Apart from the normal LIVE experience that enables you to connect with friends, download and play games and give you access to a large library of games, Xbox LIVE Gold membership also gets you early access to game demos, exclusive discounts, Facebook and Twitter, and more.

You can get the Xbox LIVE Gold subscription special at your nearest Incredible Connection, Musica, Look & Listen, CNA, Hi-Fi Corporation, Dion Wired, BT Games or Makro, while stocks last.

Cell C recently launched their “anti-red” campaign in response to Vodacom’s new Red campaign, warning users to “Stay out of the Red”, but the company is not stopping at text ads.

Cell C has now taken it’s “anti-red” campaign to television. The television commercial features Cell C’s customer experience officer, Trevor Noah, and pokes further fun at Vodacom’s new Red rebranding.

In the advertisement Noah walks around a blue car being resprayed to red and ask the question, “Recently a 17 year old cell network changed their colors.  Nice.  But what is actually under the hood.”

Noah then walks towards a new black Ferrari uttering the follow phrase: “The engine that drives Cell C is its leading and completely new HSPA+ 900 MHz network – voted best in the country.  Cause it takes more than a lick of paint to be SA’s number 1 network …”

Cell C is not the only company trying to gain exposure from Vodacom’s new Red re-branding campaign, ISP Afrihost, famous for setting the new standard for per GB prices has also launched a red campaign where they are offering customers 17GB of unshaped bandwidth for just over R200.

[UPDATE]
Cell C has now aired another television ad aimed at Vodacom’s Red campaign.

Vodacom recently unveiled their new branding with a big focus on Red, the new colour of Vodacom.

Vodacom is spending more than R200 million on the new Red branding but Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said that the re-branding is not only a once of change from Blue to Red and in the coming months consumers can expect more from the new Vodacom.

Cell C is however not letting Vodacom take all the shine with its new Red Vodafone centric brand, the cellular operator who recently changed their own brand from Red to Black is targeting all Vodacom Red advertisements on Google through ads.

The new advertisement campaign handled by Trigger, the social media company handling all the Cell C social media account, takes aim at searches related to Vodacom and then warns users to “Stay out of the Red” with another advertisement reading “Red means Stop”.

To view the advertisements simply search for Vodacom Red or Vodacom Broadband on Google.

Cell C, who’s brand was previously also Red, clearly are trying to win over users through the Vodacom Red campaign, my concern is just can Cell C handle more users on their broadband network with so many users already complaining about connectivity issues.

South Africans are really starting to see that social and mobile gaming are hotting up, and latest company to release a mobile game is Naspers owned MIHSwat in Cape Town.

MIHSwat has released their new iPhone game called Naval Strike, Naval Strike is based on the popular Battle Ship game where you strategically place you fleet of boats and then on turn based against your opponent try to bomb their ships. The player that bombs all their opponents ships first are declared the winner.

Naval Strike adds some nice addition to the classic Battle Ship game by introducing multiplayer functionality through bluetooth or via Game Center.

You can grab the Naval Strike iPhone App from iTunes for free or for more information about the game and how it works check out http://www.mihswat.com/naval-strike-iphone-app/

Angry Birds has to be one of the most popular mobile games at the moment with all of its releases topping the Apple iTunes App Store charts as soon as they are released.

Last week Rio the makers of Angry Birds released the latest installment of their popular mobile game, Angry Birds Rio.

Angry Birds Rio adds a whole new twist to the game, and they also upped the graphics a bit. With Angry Birds Rio, there are no more pigs, instead all the birds have been kidnapped and shipped to Rio headquarters and you have to free them. The new Angry Birds Rio takes place inside a warehouse and there are also new obstacles like hanging chains with fruit that can obstruct your shooting.

Up until now the only way Android users could get access to Angry Birds Rio was through the new Amazon App Store, but unfortunately this is only open to US users. Good news for international Android users is that Rio will be releasing Angry Birds Rio on the Android Market sometime this week. The game will be free on the Android Market and will be supported by Ads.

Summary Review:
Red Riding Hood is a surprising new take on an old folktale, creatively and terrifyingly reworked.

Synopsis:
I was not planning on reviewing Red Riding Hood, but went to the cinema with a friend I hadn’t seen in ages, who insisted on watching it, so here we are:

Red Riding Hood is set in a medieval village that has been plagued by a wolf for many years.

A travelling priest comes to the village and explains to the people that it is not a mere wolf, but in actual fact a werewolf that is attacking their village. The villagers turn on each other as they realise that the werewolf could be any one of them undercover.

Meanwhile, Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) has been given to Henry Lazar to marry, but she is really in love with Peter, a lowly woodcutter. While embroiled in this love triangle, the three youngsters are pivotal in ridding their village of the werewolf.

Red Riding Hood is directed by Catherine Hardwicke, director of Twilight, and the visual aspects of this film are very similar to those of that vampire movie, making use of sharp colour contrasts. The illicit romance between Valerie and Peter is indulged with several dream-like forest scenes of the couple.

The dialogue of Red Riding Hood is very cursory, not aiding any character development, but rather progressing the plot from one scene to the next.

Despite the melodramatic romance and the scant dialogue, Red Riding Hood has many gory moments as a horror film. It is scary and has a few unexpected twists, which make the conclusion surprising and rewarding.

Director: Catherine Hardwicke Screenplay: David Leslie Johnson Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Julie Christie Time: 100min Age Restriction: 13V

Genre:
Horror

Summary Review:
The Rite is a horror film that frighteningly explores the spiritual realm of hell and heaven.

Synopsis:
Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue) doesn’t want to take over his father’s mortuary, so he enrols at a seminary college to escape and become a priest.

After four years of studying, Michael is still not certain what he believes about God and hands in a resignation letter, citing a “lack of faith” for his inability to continue. Father Matthew, however, threatens Michael with a $100,000 student loan to be paid off if he drops out. He then tells Michael about a new course that the Vatican is offering on exorcism and that Michael should go to Rome and do the course.

There has always been a lot of heated debate about God and whether He exists, but The Rite takes an interesting turn by asking those questions about Satan. Michael begins shadowing Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), a priest specialising in exorcisms. Michael, however, can’t help but wonder if the people are truly possessed or actually just psychologically disturbed.

Michael doesn’t believe in God and he doesn’t believe in the devil, but in order to become a successful exorcist, he must develop a belief in both.

The cinematography takes full advantage of the buildings, colours and history of Rome. Colin O’Donoghue is monotonous as the constantly wavering and sceptical Michael Kovak, only really coming to life in the last few scenes. Anthony Hopkins has had a lot of practise at being creepy and he is one of the scariest things about The Rite.

The Rite isn’t a blood-and-gore horror movie, but its darkly supernatural nature and the fact that such spiritual occurrences are real does make it scary.

Director: Mikael Håfström Screenplay: Michael Petroni, based on the book by Matt Baglio Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue, Alica Braga, Marta Gastini Time: 113min Age Restriction: 16V

Genre:
Horror/Thriller

For me the XBox Kinect is one of the hotest gadgets available in the gaming market today and it seems that others tend to agree with me.

Microsoft has announced that their XBox Kinect system has officially hit the 10 million units sold mark and that is in only a few months making it the fastest selling gadget on earth. Rightfully so, the Kinect has earned its place in the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition as the fastest selling consumer electronics device.

“The sales figures here speak for themselves,” said Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor for Guinness World Records. “According to independent research, no other consumer electronics device sold faster within a 60-day time span, which is an incredible achievement considering the strength of the sector.”

The Kinect has sold on average 133 333 units daily in its first 2 months of launch totaling more than 8 million units over the period.

Do you own a Kinect? Tell us what games you enjoy.