THQ and Relic Entertainment today announced that "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising," the first stand-alone expansion, has been shipped to North American retailers.

"Developed by THQ’s internal studio Relic® Entertainment, Chaos Rising offers a suite of multiplayer options via Microsoft’s free Games for Windows – LIVE® service, and is now available at retail and online outlets nationwide for a suggested retail price of $29.99. The Dawn of War II – Gold Edition, which contains both the original Dawn of War II and its expansion Chaos Rising, is also available for a suggested retail price of $39.99.

“Relic Entertainment is the industry’s premier RTS developer and consistently produces innovative, immersive and genre-defining experiences,” said Travis Plane, Vice President of Global Brand Management, THQ. “Chaos Rising delivers solid action, an unforgettable story and improves upon every feature that made Dawn of War II 2009’s top RTS.”

“Chaos Rising continues Dawn of War II’s single player campaign and follows the infamous Blood Ravens as they uncover the secrets of sub-sector Aurelia and battle their relentless archenemies, the Chaos Space Marines,” said Jonathan Dowdeswell, General Manager, Relic Entertainment. “The new Corruption mechanic has a profound impact on the campaign’s outcome, and we’re absolutely thrilled for fans to finally fight the demonic legions of Chaos.”

About Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising

Set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop’s vast Warhammer 40,000 science fiction universe, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising transports players into the midst of an intergalactic war between ancient enemies. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising introduces the Chaos Space Marines as a new playable multiplayer army and continues the single player campaign from the original Dawn of War II with 15 new missions, character transfers, all new wargear and a raised level cap (from 20 to 30). New multiplayer units for the Orks, Eldar, Tyranids and Space Marines are now available to owners of the original Dawn of War II, along with seven new multiplayer maps, free of charge. For more information on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising, please visit www.dawnofwar2.com. "

A demo for "Napoleon: Total War" has been released through Steam, giving players a chance to try out the recently released real-time strategy game by Creative Assembly.

"The Napoleon: Total War demo will take you through the new and playable "War on Land" tutorial as well as the epic land Battle of Ligny, one of the many historical scenarios included in the full version of the game.

•  War on Land tutorial – Set during the Siege of Toulon, you will be given command of the French artillery battery. Aided by Napoleon's most trusted aide, you will learn the art of warfare in the defeat of the British army.
• Historical scenario – Battle of Ligny – The Battle of Ligny (16th June 1815) effectiveky determined the outcome of Napoleon's 100 day return to power. Although victory was achieved here, the Prussian General Gebhard Von Blucher was allowed to escape, something which very soon proved to be a fatal mistake. Play as the French or the Prussian faction."

Klei Entertainment released a new trailer for "Shank," giving viewer more of a look at the upcoming western side-scroller.

"Taking place in a stylized, modern-Western setting, Shank tells a classic betrayal story directed through a sophisticated cinematic lens, with addictive action gameplay found in classic 2D side-scrolling games."

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-ray releases, and movies opening the week of March 8th, 2010.

PC Games:

• Assassin's Creed 2
• Rise of Prussia
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising

Movies Opening This Week:

• Green Zone
• Mother (limited LA/NY)
• Our Family Wedding
• Remember Me
• She's Out of My League

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• 101 Timeless TV Classics
• Big Screen Bombshells: 12 Movie Collection
• Civilisation: Complete Series
• Gigante
• Greek: Chapter Four
• Hachi: A Dog's Tale [Blu-Ray]
• Hannah Montanna: Miley Says Goodbye
• In Plain Sight: Season Two
• Johnny Bravo: Season One
• Matt Houston: The First Season
• Old Dogs [Blu-Ray]
• Paris
• Paris [Blu-Ray]
• Planet 51 [Blu-Ray]
• Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire [Blu-Ray]
• Roy Rogers – King of the Cowboys – 20 Films
• Savagae Cinema: 12 Movie Collection
• Savage Cinema: 12 Movie Collection
• Scarecrow and Mrs. King: The Complete First Season
• Sonny Chiba Collection – 4 Movies
• Tapeheads
• Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
• Termors: The Complete Series
• The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day [Blu-Ray]
• The Brothers Warner
• The Stoning of Soraya M. [Blu-Ray]
• The Who: The Kids Are Alright [Blu-Ray]
• Trail of Tears – A Native American Documentary Collection
• Undead: The Vampire Collection 20 Movie Pack
• Up in the Air [Blu-Ray]
• Walker Texas Ranger: The Complete Series Pack
• Walker Texas Ranger: The Seventh Season
• Wiseguy: The Collector's Edition

Paradox Interactive today announced that "Rise of Prussia" has been released via the major digital distribution portals.

"Until March 15, anyone who purchases Rise of Prussia via participating digital distributors will receive a 75% off AGEOD’s title Birth of America 2 .
 
A demo of Rise of Prussia is available for download, to give prospective buyers a taste of the Seven Years’ War-themed title. A list of download mirrors can be found at: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=464122

Rise of Prussia Features:

• Over 100 new leaders with individual portraits, and 300 types of units
• 10 Scenarios:
  • 1 Battle Scenario, Saxony 1756, to enter the game
  • 6 Annual Campaign Scenarios, for each year between 1757 and 1763
  • 1 Grand Campaign Scenario 1756-1763
  • 2 Tutorial Scenarios
• Map covering all of Germany and surrounding vicinity, with over 1,000 different regions offering plenty of room for maneuvering
• New events and a wide set of options for you to customize your strategy
• Streamlined command system based on the hierarchy system seen in American Civil War and Napoleon’s Campaigns, allowing for historical army command, organization, and structure
• Brand new system for recruiting units, allowing players to choose and purchase forces during the annual and grand campaigns
• New system of historical events, allowing multiple-choice events and answers, enhancing flexibility and increasing replayability
• Additional interface helpers introduced to ease player interaction with the game, like the new Army Outliner system
• New functionalities to find your armies and see your supplies and assets
• Advanced AI
• Widely extended manual and player aid

For more info, visit www.paradoxplaza.com follow us on twitter or on facebook"

Ubisoft released a new trailer for "Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands" titled "Revitalizing the Roots," which explains the background of the upcoming sequel and shows off some gameplay.

"Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is the next chapter in the fan-favourite Sands of Time universe. Visiting his brother's kingdom following his adventure in Azad, the Prince finds the royal palace under siege from a mighty army bent on its destruction. When the decision is made to use the ancient power of the Sand in a desperate gamble to save the kingdom from total annihilation, the Prince will embark on an epic adventure in which he will learn to bear the mantle of true leadership, and discover that great power often comes with a great cost."

Kalypso Media today announced a publishing agreement with Akella to publish "Disciples III: Renaissance," the turn-based strategy game by .dat, in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific.

"Disciples III: Renaissance is a standalone turn-based RPG/strategy game set in an expansive fantasy world, offering players action, adventure and glory. Stunning 3D environments, three playable races, and multiplayer functionality all combine to offer an outstanding gameplay experience. Kalypso Media will release Disciples III: Renaissance in summer 2010 on Windows PC.

“Disciples III: Renaissance is a perfect fit with Kalypso’s portfolio of top-quality strategy games, and we are excited to partner with Akella to release this title to gamers around the world,” said Simon Hellwig, Managing Director, Kalypso Media. “Disciples III is poised to take this award-winning strategy franchise to the next level by appealing to existing fans and newcomers to the series.”

“Everyone at Akella has a deep respect and love for the Disciples brand,” said Dmitry Arkhipov, Vice-President of Development at Akella. “Our team is dedicated and passionate about ensuring that Disciples III: Renaissance takes the franchise further by providing fans more dynamic gameplay and deeper strategies in an incredibly atmospheric and rich 3D world. Kalypso is the perfect partner to work with to ensure that Disciples III: Renaissance will be delivered to gamers around the world.”

Disciples III: Renaissance is the next title in the award winning Disciples series and represents a leap forward in the evolution of the turn-based RPG/strategy genre. Building on the successes of the first two games, Disciples III: Renaissance introduces a host of new features as well as the compelling gameplay that made the previous titles so popular.

Key features:

• Three playable races – The Empire, the Legions of the Damned and the Elven Alliance. Each race has unique units and city designs.
• Cities, locations, units and other game assets are now represented in full 3D
• Advances in gameplay allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime in single-player games
• A new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leader units. This system employs inventories and new stats and abilities
• Visual representation of characters’ equipped armor, weapons and artifacts"

gamingo AG today announced that it will be bringing "King of Kings 3," a free to play Taiwanese MMORPG, to North America.

"Epic battles, sprawling cities, and warring kingdoms locked in a never-ending struggle for power. King of Kings 3, the newest instalment of the popular Taiwanese MMORPG series, is considered one of the best releases of 2009 and captivates millions of players in Asia. In addition to holding the European publishing rights, gamigo is proud to announce that it now holds the North American license for the game.

"As a globally-focused publisher, our aim is to be able to offer our games in all key markets," says Patrick Streppel, member of gamigo's executive board. "King of Kings 3 is one of the highlights of our portfolio. The emphasis of the game is on PvP battle and the extensive guild features, such as the building of guild towns and guild warfare, are unparalleled in the realm of free-to-play gaming."

The game's developing studio, Lager, and gamigo have been working hard the past year to localise the game for Western markets. The plot of the game has been completely rewritten and the seven fantasy realms are based on medieval powers, giving players from Europe and North America the opportunity to go into battle for their nation. A complete re-balancing reduces grinding and now allows players to reach the highlights of the game, PvP and guild gameplay, more quickly.

Thanks to the game's complex and multilayered guild system, guilds band together first to form legions, next kingdoms, and finally alliances to wage war against enemy kingdoms and territories. Up to 10,000 players compete simultaneously in truly epic RvR battles to determine the fate of the guild towns and realms. Only the bravest warrior will come out on top and become the ruler of the entire realm, the fabled King of Kings.

King of Kings 3 is expected to go into Closed Beta testing in the second quarter of 2010. To participate in Closed Beta testing, visit the game's official website: http://kok3.gamigo.com"

True Games Interactive and Petroglyph have released new information on the storyline and bosses of "Mytheon."

"The ancient Greek mythology and expansive folklore of Mytheon transports players to a time where heroes do battle with legendary monsters and gods. Chief among the grand and colossal gods in the ancient world is the mighty Poseidon, god of the seas and earthquakes, and the creator of horses, including the famed Pegasus. One of the early environments in Mytheon is The Shattered Isle, a mystical island created by Poseidon to house his family and loyal servants. This island represents the dichotomy of the seas; beautiful and tranquil on one side, and dark and treacherous on the other.

Poseidon was the first and only god to attempt an outright assault on the fabled city of Argos. Had it not been for the protection of the Golden Fleece, the city would have fallen. He is encountered on the Shattered Isle where he is amassing an army to destroy the city of Argos. Poseidon’s wrath is born out of arrogant jealousy over mankind’s newfound favor with the Fates. For millennia, he has blessed mankind with such gifts as his beloved horses and the secrets of sea-faring.

“Experiencing the myths and legends we grew up with are what make Mytheon such a unique online experience and the giant gods in the game are an amazing challenge, said Peter Cesario, director of new business and product development at True Games Interactive. “For years video games have been trying to capture the essence of fighting something so powerful, so huge that it is god-like; Mytheon is the real thing.”

Challenging a god-sized boss is one of the many thrilling encounters Mytheon players will face. And none is more epic than battling Poseidon, the master of earth and water who uses these primal elements to decimate entire legions of men. It is ill-advised to rely on summoned structures in this epic fight, for Poseidon’s mastery of the earth will ensure their destruction. At his command are the various creatures of the ocean, including a giant man-eating sea monster called the King Sentinel. Guarding Poseidon’s temple is the majestic Pegasus—in order for Poseidon to be challenged, Pegasus must first be defeated, proving the Stonecaster’s worthiness to face the mighty deity himself.

“Using mythologies from the various civilizations throughout our history as the basis of the story of Mytheon has given us a wealth of material to pull from,” said Chris Rubyor, lead designer of Mytheon at Petroglyph. “We wanted the player to feel instantly familiar with the monsters and gods he or she will be fighting, but still feel a sense of awe and wonder at the encounters. We look forward to expanding on the Greek mythology that greets players in Mytheon to even more incredible encounters from Egypt, Asia and more as we continue to expand the game.”

Mytheon is an online, multiplayer action/RPG with strategic game play where players experience classic mythology come to life and challenge legendary gods to define their own fate. Players, or "Stonecasters", are powerful humans imbued with the ability to cast spells, summon minions, and erect structures that aid them in battle. An assortment of classes are available that approach combat differently and offer a range of unique, cinematic abilities.

Using some of the best and most familiar mechanics from traditional collectible card games, players will earn, buy, trade and collect stones they can assemble similar to deck-building among a thriving online community. Several compelling features have been added to create fast, visually stunning 3D combat sequences with a deep layer of strategy beneath it.

For additional details on Mytheon and to sign up for the closed beta test please visit: http://www.MytheonGame.com. To follow all the latest news, please visit http://www.facebook.com/mytheon, http://twitter.com/mytheongame and http://www.youtube.com/group/mytheon"

Valve today officially announced that Steam and Valve's entire catalog of games will be coming to the Mac platform.

"Steam and Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April.

"As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients," said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services."

"Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac," said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. "Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play."

"We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. "The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows."

Portal 2 will be Valve's first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. "Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step," said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. "We're always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac."

Support for the Mac in Source and Steamworks is available to third parties immediately. Interested developers should contact Jason Holtman."

Valve officially announced "Portal 2" today, which is scheduled to be released this holiday season. If you missed it earlier this week, a new curious patch was released for the original game, which altered the ending. This led to some announcement anticipation buzz but Kimberly Swift did confirm a sequel in February of 2008.

"Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, and Half-Life) and leading technologies (such as Steam, Source), today announced Portal 2 for shipment this coming holiday season.

Portal was originally released in 2007 and earned over 70 industry achievement awards.

For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com "

THQ today announced that "Metro 2033" has gone gold and will be in retail stores on March 16th in the US and Germany, March 18th in Australia, and March 19th for the rest of the world.

"Metro 2033 has already been acclaimed for its graphical prowess on both Xbox 360 and PC, with the latter benefiting from advanced DX11 features and NVIDIA PhysX implementation.  In addition, gamers can enjoy Metro 2033 in 3D, powered by NVIDIA 3D Vision. Gamers who pre-purchase the digital version of Metro 2033 PC will get Red Faction Guerrilla PC for free.  For more information, please visit the THQ store at http://store.thq.com/.

A brand new trailer for Metro 2033 – 'Ghosts of the Metro' – can be found on the official Metro 2033 website, Metro2033Game.com.

For more Metro 2033 news, visit Metro2033Game.com, follow Twitter.com/Metro2033 or become a fan at Facebook.com/Metro2033."

A demo for "Just Cause 2" was released through Steam, giving players a chance to try out the upcoming shooter that's scheduled to be released later this month.

"The Just Cause 2 demo features a massive 35 square miles of the Lautan Lama Desert, a vast expanse of stunning, sun-scorched scenery taking up just one of the many islands in the 400 square miles of the Panau archipelago. Packed with towns, villages, military installations, mountain ranges, missions and more, the demo will feature an astonishing amount of activities for the player… and opportunities for adrenaline-fuelled chaos are limitless."

gamigo and Reakktor have announced an agreement in which gamigo will be the global publisher of "Black Prophecy," the upcoming MMO Space Combat game.

"The Hamburg-based publisher thus lays the foundation for a new focus on becoming a global publisher and producer of free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online Games.

Patrick Streppel, member of the gamigo executive board, is enthusiastic about the new game: "Reakktor's Black Prophecy will breathe life back into a genre previously forgotten. The game features graphics of the highest quality, a rich and meaningful story, and strong community features. Since we've begun collaborating with Reakktor, we have expanded greatly upon the concept of the game and thus are able to offer one of the first top-of-the-line free-to-play MMOGs."

A lot has happened in the development of Black Prophecy in the past few weeks. The biggest change has been the new direction as a free-to-play online game, previously unheard of for a game of this quality. Among other things, a crafting system was added and the layout of the game world was opened up. In-game dialogue will be recorded by professional voice actors. The one-and-a-half hour long orchestral soundtrack provides a rich and varied score of background music.

Kirk Lenke, CEO of Reakktor Media GmbH, said "We are excited to have found such a strong partner in gamigo for the publishing and distribution of our space action MMOG Black Prophecy. gamigo has the necessary skills and abilities to turn our product into a global MMOG blockbuster."

Black Prophecy is expected go into closed beta testing in April 2010.

http://www.blackprophecy.com"

Paradox released a "Rise of Prussia" demo today, giving players a chance to try out the upcoming turn-based strategy game by AGEOD.

"The Rise of Prussia Demo gives you two scenarios, the short invasion of Saxony scenario and the option to play the opening turns of the grand campaign.

Rise of Prussia is scheduled for release on March 9th, 2010 and is currently enjoying a pre-order campaign which offers AGEODs previous classic, Birth of America 2 for a 75% discount and is available via most major digital retailers.

For more information about Rise of Prussia, please visit www.paradoxplaza.com and follow @pdxinteractive on twitter for more information."

A list of download mirrors can be found in the Paradox forums – note there is also a hotfix that corrects a glitch.

EA Partners today announced a publishing agreement with Klei Entertainment to bring "Shank," an upcoming side-scrolling action Western game, to the PC and next-gen consoles this summer.

"Featuring a unique art style inspired by graphic novels and golden age comics, Shank blends the intensity of classic 2D side-scrolling action games with a gripping and mature storyline. The cinematic brawler is a finalist for “Excellence in Visual Art” at this year’s Independent Games Festival and will be featured at the IGF Pavilion during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week.

“Our mission at EA Partners is to work with the best talent across the game industry, and we are thrilled to extend our expertise to the leading creative developers in downloadable indie games,” said Jamil Moledina, Outreach Director, Business Development at EA Partners. “The team at Klei Entertainment is among the best in the world at developing fun and engaging titles for digital distribution platforms, and Shank is an amazing experience.”

“As an independent development studio, we always focus on creating great, authentic experiences for players. Working with EA Partners expands our distribution and allows us to bring Shank to a much wider audience,” said Jamie Cheng, CEO of Klei Entertainment. “They have been a fantastic partner and their understanding of the space is incredibly exciting.”

Taking place in a stylized, modern-Western setting, Shank tells a classic betrayal story directed through a sophisticated cinematic lens, with addictive action gameplay found in classic 2D side-scrolling games. Klei Entertainment was represented in the deal by CAA. For more information on Shank, please visit www.shankgame.com and follow the development team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/klei."

Electronic Arts today announced "The Sims 3 Ambitions," a new expansion that gives players a chance to explore paths and careers.

"The Sims 3 Ambitions allows players to pursue a variety of exciting paths and careers in their Sims’ lives that in turn affect their overall gameplay experience and neighborhood. While on the job, the player has direct control over their Sims’ work and can choose how to spend their days. Players can opt to make house calls and save lives as a doctor or choose the devious route and test experimental medicine on patients, be the hero firefighter tackling raging infernos or smashing everything in sight at the victim’s home with an axe, or take a shot at solving cases as an investigator, nicely convincing sources to divulge secrets or roughing up perpetrators in a dark alley to get information.

“The variety of careers to choose from is unmatched and we’ve never given players the opportunity to follow their Sims to work and affect their actions on the job,” said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims Studio at EA. “The Sims 3 Ambitions changes that. Players’ actions at work now directly affect their lives, community and neighbors and become an extremely important part of how the game is played.”

Players can now experience some of the most exciting and varied jobs. In The Sims 3 Ambitions, players can choose to hunt down vengeful spirits as the ghost hunter, invent brilliant and potentially destructive gadgets as an inventor, craft glorious masterpieces as a sculptor, and solve riveting cases by any means necessary as an investigator with dozens of cases to solve and numerous clues to find. Additionally, players will be able to change the look and feel of their town by becoming an architect and directly affecting the neighborhood around them leveraging Build and Buy mode. The stylist career and new tattoo system allow players to make over their Sim neighbors in fashionable or catastrophic ways. For the first time, players will be in charge of how their Sims’ career progresses and decide if they will work for good or evil, pursue creative endeavors or technical affairs, climb to the top quickly, or be a slacker. The future of a Sims’ success or failure is entirely in the hands of the player.

The Sims 3 Ambitions will also be available for feature phones, iPhone and iPod touch in late 2010 from EA Mobile™. These versions will have customized mobile gameplay features which will be revealed in the coming months and will not require a base game to play. For information on carrier availability and pricing for all EA Mobile games, please visit www.eamobile.com."

New images have surfaced today, which seem to confirm Valve's intentions to bring Steam and possibly several of Valve's games to the Mac platform.

If you missed the previous rumors, a user in the Steam forums discovered Mac style skin files in the new Steam beta. If true, this development could turn out to be a major new step in computer gaming for a variety of reasons. While many Windows gamers love to poke fun at Mac users, several developments over the past few years have left PC gamers questioning Microsoft's real intentions when it comes to PC gaming – see Alan Wake, etc. In addition, because OS X is based on Unix, we would expect that Steam would also be making its way to Linux as well.

Ultimately, this should be interpreted as good news for computer gaming in general simply because it expands the user base and also future-proofs gaming on the computer platform. Operating system market share certainly isn't set it stone and if Microsoft were to make a highly undesirable move, for example, it gives gamers alternative options. Of course, just because Steam looks like it's headed to Mac doesn't mean all the games in the Steam store are too. However, it might influence more developers to program for multiple operating systems.

DICE released a launch trailer for the newly released "Battlefield: Bad Company 2."

"In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the 'B' company fight their way through snowy mountaintops, dense jungles and dusty villages. With a heavy arsenal of deadly weapons and a slew of vehicles to aid them, the crew set off on their mission and they are ready to blow up, shoot down, blast through, wipe out and utterly destroy anything that gets in their way. Total destruction is the name of the game, delivered as only the DICE next generation Frostbite™ engine can. Either online or offline, enemies will soon learn there is nowhere to hide."

Nexon released a new gameplay tailer for "Combat Arms," which shows off some of the new additions from recent updates.

"More than three million soldiers have registered for duty in Combat Arms and have grown accustomed to a growing arsenal of weapons, new maps and new game modes being offered for free. Players can elect to spend money for items of convenience, customization and cosmetics."