Sony Corp's (ADR:SNE) God of War II (PS2), +1.95 DKP (+1.37%), debuted on the simExchange on Monday, January 29, 2007 with the biggest IPO on record. 433,189 shares were subscribed at 135 DKP a share for 58.48 million DKP, topping the previous record held by Mario Galaxy (Wii), which debuted on December 11, 2006 with a 27.4 million DKP IPO. God of War II (PS2) closed up 5.56% yesterday to 142.50 DKP (forecasts 1.425 million copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The game is the sequel to the critically acclaimed God of War that was released in 2005. God of War II is scheduled for release on March 13, 2007.

Today I published an explanation of the simExchange and invited the readers of Midas Oracle, the premier collective blog on prediction markets, to the simExchange beta. You can read the article here.

You can now search for users using the search bar. Profile pages have been updated so that you can invite the player to be your friend directly from the profile page. The profile page also displays the total up bids and down bids the player has received. You may need to refresh the profile page before trying the new invite from profile feature.

Halo 3 trading has been rolled back to 12:00 AM PST due to price inflation from multiple account use. The simExchange now bans IP addresses from accessing the site for this violation.

Eidos Interactive Ltd’s Battlestations: Midway for the Xbox 360 and PC will debut on the simExchange on Friday, February 2, 2007. It will be categorized under the Strategy genre. Shares will open for purchase at 40 DKP (forecasts 400,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime) for the Xbox 360 version and 60 DKP (forecasts 600,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime) for the PC version. This game was released in North America on January 30, 2007. The game will be released in Europe on Februay 9, 2007. The game listing was first submitted by Friscokid. The PC version is found here and the Xbox 360 version is found here. The summary of the game is:

Battlestations Midway is a new real-time strategy game where the player takes control of US and Japanse Naval and Air Force battlegroups in World War II. The game features 60 real-life vehicles designed for realism, so the player must apply real world tactics and strategies.

The single player campaign begins with the Pearl Harbor bombing. You control a single PT boat. As you advance through missions, you will gain control of more ships, such as destroyers and carriers. You will later be able to launch waves of fighters and torpedo bombers.

Online multiplayer can scale from 1v1 to 4v4 US vs Japan battles. In a 1v1 game, you control the units of 4 players alone. Multiplayer games center around destroying the opponent’s base or carrier.

Trading of Hotel Dusk has been rolled back 4:53 PST due to market manipulation. If you are not aware, creating an account for the purpose of bidding up a stock is artificially inflating the price of a stock. This activity is strictly prohibited. All accounts doing this will be immediately disabled without notice.

The content submission system now denies the submission of any duplicate URL for articles, images, and videos. Please be sure to check the System Messages window after you submit content to see if you were awarded DKP or denied submission. Please report any unexpected system behavior when submitting content as a result of this change.

About.com’s Xbox Games section recently featured a brief review of the simExchange. Check out the article here. You can also Digg the article using the link at the bottom of the article.

Loading Reality recently featured the simExchange, discussing how “it may become a new self-powered metric to determine a game’s ultimate popularity.” Check out the article here.

Take-Two Interactive's (NASDAQ: TTWO) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PS3 will debut on the simExchange on Thursday, February 1, 2007. It will be categorized under the Role-Playing genre. Shares will open for purchase at 110 DKP (forecasts 1.1 million copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The release of this game is scheduled for March 13, 2007. The game was released for the PC and Xbox 360 in March 2006. The game listing was first submitted by MyNameIsJon. The game's page is found here. The summary of the game is:

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the fourth installment in the Elder Scrolls series of open-roaming open-ended Role-Playing Games. Oblivion plays similar to the prequel, Morrowind, which was released on the PC and the original Xbox. However, Oblivion is better adapted to console controls this time around, such as designed for controller menus and assignable hotkeys using the D-pad. Another welcome addition is the ability to "quick travel" to locations you’ve been. Simply choose a location on the map and you will appear there (time still passes in-game).

Like Morrowind, the player can choose among a number of preset character classes or create a custom character. Your character will have added uniqueness through choosing a birth sign that grants a lifelong special ability. Character stats are improved through practicing skills, which develop the related skills. For example, fighting with a sword will train your skill with blades and as a result improve your strength. Haggling your way to better deals will improve your bartering skill. Characters gain levels from training major skills rather than accumulating general experience points from combat.

This edition of Elder Scrolls takes place in Cyrodil, the province west of Morrowind and the seat of the Tamriel Empire. The game begins with you finding yourself in prison and then freed in the Emporer’s attempt to escape assassins. Although you and the royal guards try to protect the Emporer, he is assassinated. You are then charged to find his heir. However, with Oblivion's open gameplay, you can choose to go off and do something else entirely. There are numerous towns, each with a wide array of quests to tackle, from solving petty disputes between neighbors to protecting towns from demonic invasion. In this era, Tamriel is under attack by the armies of the Daedric Prince from Oblivion.

There are always numerous ways to solve problems in Oblivion. You can fight your way through it (you can fight anyone including guards and townsfolk), talk your way through (using your speechcraft skill, bribes, and the persuasion minigame), steal (you can sneak, pick pocket, lockpick, etc.), or conjure a solution with magic. The ultimate in realistic RPGs, drops from killing something are the actual gear the person or beast was using. Like the shiny armor someone else is wearing? You can take it.

The PS3 version includes the Knights of Nine additional content that requires a paid purchase for PC and Xbox 360 versions. However, the upcoming Shivering Isles expansion has only been announced for the Xbox 360 and PC versions.