The Swine Flu (now officially known as the H1N1 virus) is proving to cause a huge damper on the upcoming E3 festivities. With just literally a couple of weeks before the curtains rise to start what could be the biggest games show of the year, we have attendees going over the list and checking it twice, for fear of the said virus. Capcom Japan would be one such attendee.

We got an update on the upcoming Nordic Game Conference which is set to happen in a few weeks in Sweden. Things are definitely shaping up as the top names from the industry gather for the multidisciplinary Game Creation Sessions. Find out who they are in the full article.

Things are definitely taking shape with the upcoming Nordic Game conference 2008 which is set to happen in two months time in Malmö, Sweden. It's been revealed that producers of Lego Star Wars and Rock Band will be the Keynote speakers in this event. Find out the details after the jump!

The nationalistic fervor burns even hotter in EA Sports' FIFA 08 as the developers of one of the world's best-selling sports game franchises announce a collection of 50 songs from artists around the world.

Every national team represented in FIFA 08 has a corresponding song and band from their own country that ups the passion as you take on the world's elite teams in the planet's most popular ballgame.

Included in the mix are artists such as The Hoosiers (UK), Babamars (France), Bodyrox (UK), Junkie XL (Holland), and Santogold (USA), Simian Mobile Disco (UK), CSS (Brazil), Datarock (Norway), Dover (Spain), Ivy Queen (Puerto Rico), Junkie XL (Holland), Maximo Park (UK), Mexican Institute of Sound (Mexico), Peter Bjorn And John (Sweden), Planet Funk (Italy), Superbus (France), The Cat Empire (Australia), and Wir Sind Helden (Germany). Many more are in store to be discovered when the game hits.

"We’ve been working for nearly a year to deliver what we believe is the ultimate FIFA 08 soundtrack," comments Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music at EA. "These are the most songs ever in a FIFA edition representing the most countries in the history of the videogame."

EA Sports' FIFA football franchise is the longest-running football simulation to date and has sold millions of copies around the world with iterations dating back to almost two decades. FIFA 08 will be released on the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PC, Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable.

Buy: [FIFA 08 (Wii)]

Buy: [FIFA 08 (PS3)]

Buy: [FIFA 08 (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [FIFA 08 (PC)]
Buy: [FIFA 08 (PSP)]
Buy: [FIFA 08 (DS)]

What are they playing over at Sweden? Aren't you curious? This bit of info just might save your life one day, y'know. The region's data trade firm, Dataspelsbranschen (now try saying that as fast as you can, ten times consecutively), has just released the top sales charts of video games for Sweden.

The Multiplatform chart is dominated by the MMORPG mogul that is The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade from Blizzard. This is followed by Pokémon Diamond on the Nintendo DS. MotorStorm and R:FoM have also landed a place in the multiplatform chart, and unsurprisingly, both titles get bragging rights in the PS3 chart.

The 360 chart has Guitar Hero II fronting the musical act - and smack dab in the middle is Gears of War on fifth place. The Wii has Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham running up to first place with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, while Twilight Princess is galloping up to the Top 2 spot.

On the handheld side, the DS chart has both Pokemon (Diamond and Pearl) titles on top, while the PSP chart has Pro Evolution Soccer 6 kicking into the goal - Konami's sports title is enjoying the kingly spot on top.

 Multiformat

1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
2. Pokémon Diamond (DS)
3. World of Warcraft (PC)
4. Counter-Strike 1: Anthology (PC)
5. Guitar Hero 2 Rock the 80´s (PS2)
6. The Sims 2 H&M Fashion (PC)
7. Pokémon Pearl (DS)
8. Motorstorm (PS3)
9. Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
10. Singstar 90's (PS2)

Check out the Full Article link below for each individual chart per platform!

These days, GameStop has a lot of reasons to celebrate. It's working on an industry that's growing every day, it's posting some serious numbers financially, and has recently opened its 1,000th store outside of the US.

The Texas-based game and console retailer has opened new stores recently in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Norway to hit the thousand-store milestone. Prior to that, the company has already branched out to Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, Guam, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

GameStop points to the booming hardware sales led by Kyoto-based Nintendo with its DS handheld and Wii console. Microsoft and Sony are also pitching in with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, respectively.

Total sales posted by the retailer last year amounted to US$ 5.32 billion and is expected to grow even more this year as hot demand continues for pole platforms. The first quarter of fiscal 2007 saw GameStop with its best quarterly performance ever with US$ 24.7 million in profits while gross sales were at an all-time high of US$ 1.279 billion.

Graphics processor specialist Nvidia has announced that it has signed up to be a primary sponsor for next month's Nordic Game Conference in Malmö, Sweden. The Nordic Game Conference will take place on May 15 and 16 at the said venue.

"Having Nvidia on board as a Primary Sponsor is a great privilege for us and a recognition of our conference and its rising status as one of the key industry events in Europe," commented Tom Felices, project manager for Nordic Game 2007.

"With the latest round of 'next gen' consoles already a familiar fixture in the marketplace, it's up to the PC as usual to provide the next 'next generation' gaming experience," said Darryl Still, NVIDIA Director of Content Management, EMEAI. Still added that Nvidia is "working closely with games studios to realise this ambition," and that Nvidia's search for "the most exciting, innovative talent" keeps leading the company back to the rapidly growing games industry in Nordic territories.

"That's why we're delighted to be a primary sponsor of the Nordic Game event," he said. "We're looking forward to sharing our time in Malmö with many of the most inspirational and creative people in the games industry."

British publisher Eidos has announced their plans to open shop, specifically a new development studio, in Montreal. This new Eidos studio will be working on unnamed and undisclosed next-gen games. The coveted role of general manager will be given to Stéphane D'Astous. The new GM's first task is to recruit a new team for the Montreal studio.

This is all part of Eidos' expansion strategy. After opening new studios in Sweden and Hungary in the past 12 months, it seems that the expansion is going as planned. The company also internal studios Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Pivotal Games and Beautiful Game. According to Bill Ennis, commercial director of Eidos:

This is a really exciting time for Eidos. We are actively looking for opportunities to further our drive to become a major force in global videogames publishing. Montreal is the ideal location to open a new studio because of its thriving game development community and favourable economics.

The Quebec Government has been known to have a really supportive program for games companies. Earlier, Ubisoft was the recipient of a multi-million dollar grant to fund the expansion of its Montreal office. According to Raymond Bachand, Quebec's minister of economic development, innovation and exports:

Our talented workers, competitive operating costs and the support of our government have enabled Quebec to become the sector leader in Canada and attract industry's major players, like Eidos.

Nordic Game conference organizers have finally announced the first batch of speakers for this year's event. Now, just to make an otherwise dry post a little more fun, let's see if you can find the one thing they all have in common. Believe me, it's way easy. Anyway, on with the news.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, the list of speakers include Sony producer Paulina Bozek, best known for her work on the PS2 series SingStar. Parappa the Rapper producer Matsuura Masaya will also be making an appearance alongside Kouno Tsutomu, whose credits include LocoRoco and the PS2 title Ico. Greg LoPiccolo and Ryan Lesser of Harmonix will also be on hand to deliver a presentation.

The theme for this year's Nordic Game is "Games Community". The event will focus on online gaming's growth and its increasing importance in the next-gen console experience. Nordic Game 2007 will take place from May 15 to 16 at the Malmö Exhibition and Convention Center in Malmö, Sweden.