VIDEOBALL, The Bridge, Blood of the Werewolf, and Organic Panic Lead the Digital Release Lineup
EDISON, NJ — (Marketwired) — 08/29/13 — Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of games for the mass market, announced today a newly formed label, Midnight City. The newly formed division will focus on the ever-growing independent games market while offering support to independent developers shipping products on digital distribution platforms like Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC downloadable sites. Midnight City also announced the hiring of two key video game industry veterans to lead the newly formed division, Casey Lynch, former Editor-in-Chief of IGN, and Doug Kennedy, former President and CEO of Reverb Communications and Reverb Publishing. Midnight City announced an initial lineup of ten games (detailed below), which it will show off at PAX Prime in Seattle, WA from August 30-September 2, 2013.
“Having been front and center watching the tidal wave of independent games coming through IGN, Majesco’s move to get behind these games truly speaks to the commitment they are making to the independent development community,” stated Lynch, Midnight City’s VP of publishing. “Over the years we have seen tons of really great games coming from smaller independent studios and our vision at Midnight City is to offer these games and development teams a wide range of services and support. We’re here to help with everything from first-party relations, QA, promotion and community building and to put a spotlight on the titles while freeing the development teams to focus 100% of their energy on building the best games possible.”
Prior to joining Midnight City, Lynch led IGN as Editor-in-Chief where he managed the editorial, community and brand presence of the largest video game and fan culture web network on the planet, which serves roughly 70 million unique visitors a month. Lynch also worked in business development and public relations on AAA video game franchises like Rock Band, Dance Central, and Prey. Kennedy joins Midnight City after leading Reverb Communications for the past 10 years, most recently forming Reverb Publishing, the digital publisher responsible for signing and releasing a number of digital independent hits like Dungeon Defenders, Primal Carnage, Sanctum 2 and Guncraft.
Midnight City’s initial roster of games slated for digital distribution include:
VIDEOBALL (Action Button Entertainment) – VIDEOBALL is an electronic sport game that features the best of basketball, soccer, football, old-fashioned shooters, first-person shooters, and real-time strategy games — and it’s all on one screen, for easy spectating, and it controls with just one analog stick and one button. Choose from dozens of unique fields for one-on-one, two-on-two, or three-on-three local or online multiplayer competition, or check out the single player or co-op challenge mode, full of practice arenas meant to turn you into a world champion. If we were sleazes and we were pitching this to Silicon Valley venture capitalists, we’d say “it’s Call of Duty meets Madden meets Wii Sports meets Angry Birds meets NBA Jam meets Bangai-oh,” and they’d ask us, “What’s Bangai-oh?”
The Bridge (Ty Taylor) – A 2D logic puzzle game that will compel you to reevaluate your preconceptions of physics and perspective, The Bridge is Isaac Newton meets M. C. Escher. Manipulate gravity to redefine the ceiling as the floor while venturing through impossible architecture set in beautifully hand-drawn art in the style of a black-and-white lithograph. This excellent game design, in unison with fantastic visuals and an immersive environment, has garnered The Bridge more than a dozen wins and many more nominations from international independent game competitions, while The Bridge continues to earn more praise and attention from fans and the games media alike.
Blood of the Werewolf (Scientifically Proven) – You are Selena, a woman hell-bent on avenging her husband’s murder and rescuing her kidnapped son. The catch — Selena is a werewolf and shifts between her human and wolf form when in view of the full moon. Journey through a world filled with the most iconic monsters in pop lore, including the Creature, Hyde, Dracula, the Mummy, and Frankenstein in manic platforming across 15 white-knuckle levels that will test the reflexes of even the most stalwart MetroidVaniaMan.
Krautscape (Mario von Rickenbach) – With boutique elevated racing action and impossible bird-like flying cars, Krautscape subverts competitive multiplayer racing by allowing the leading player to actively determine the course and direction of the track — which generates as you play — while the chasing players can take aerial shortcuts by flying off the track to overcome obstacles. But the track is needed to score and to gain speed — the vehicles don’t have any thrusters to accelerate while flying. Three unique multiplayer game modes support nonlinear gameplay and intelligent movement over forcing you to drive perfectly.
Slender: the Arrival (Blue Isle Studios) – In 2012, Mark “AgentParsec” Hadley captivated gamers around the world with Slender: The Eight Pages, a short, experimental game that breathed new life into the horror genre. Slender: The Arrival is the official continuation of the series from the original game creator and the writers behind the Marble Hornets series and the development team at Blue Isle Studios. The Arrival features a brand new storyline, improved visuals, awesome Oculus support, and most importantly, survival horror at its best.
Organic Panic (Last Limb) – In a world of gushing liquids and destructible physics, can you survive the ultimate food fight? Organic Panic is a co-op action bash’em-up platformer served with a healthy side of puzzles. Help a small band of Fruit and Veggie heroes armed with magical powers save the world from the Meats and Cheeses with a revolutionary physics engine that lets you break everything, with completely destructible levels and advanced liquids, allowing you to go crazy flooding entire levels with water, lava or acid.
High Strangeness (Barnyard Intelligence Games) – Inspired by your favorite RPG and action-adventure games of yesteryear, High Strangeness is a hybrid of 8 and 16 bit — it’s a 12 bit adventure! The game’s core ability allows players to switch between 8 and 16 bit worlds and use the generational differences to solve puzzles and explore the universe. Throughout the game your pixel art perspective of the world will be interrupted by visions of watercolor illustrations that shed light on your mysterious surroundings. A hearty chiptune soundtrack by Dino Lionetti and Rich Vreeland backs up the aesthetic of the world and sets the mood for some truly strange happenings.
Super Rad Raygun: The Lost Levels (Tru Fun Entertainment) – It is the year 198X. Big hair is hot, and the war with the Soviets is colder than a refreshing glass of New Coke. RAD RAYGUN must travel the world fighting communist robots, and save the 1980s by shooting his way through the decade in a totally fresh, expanded version of the original XBLIG game. SUPER RAD RAYGUN: THE LOST LEVELS pits Rad against a whole new wave of deadly enemies and locations — from the Communist strongholds of the Far East to strategically insignificant islands off the South American coast. But chill out, because Rad has gnarly new weapons, upgrades, and a revamped gameplay engine to help him out. Ultra sharp 144p resolution graphics and 4 unique shades of monochrome off-green bring Super Rad Raygun to life, as only 80s mobile technology can.
Grapple (Tuesday Society Games) – Nothing can stop you in GRAPPLE. Go where you please in this 3D platformer that takes traditional design to the next level. As a ball of goo, extend your arm to swing anywhere. Remember how great swinging through Spider-Man 2 felt on the Xbox 1 (note: not Xbox One)? Grapple feels EVEN BETTER! Combine swinging with your ability to travel on any surface or at any angle, and no obstacle can stand in your way. Challenging levels test your skill to move through progressively more complex puzzles. Find out just how far you can Grapple.
Follow us on:
Twitter: @Midnight_City https://twitter.com/Midnight_City
Casey Lynch Twitter: @Lynchtacular https://twitter.com/lynchtacular
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/midnightcitygames
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MidnightCityEnt
If you’d like to schedule a PAX media appointment, please contact King Friday at [email protected]
Download assets: http://bit.ly/MidnightCityPAX
Trailer: http://youtu.be/n2LTQ_ZJiZM
ABOUT MAJESCO ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY
Majesco Entertainment Company is a provider of video games for the mass market. Building on more than 20 years of operating history, the company is focused on developing and publishing a wide range of casual and family oriented video games on all leading console and handheld platforms as well as mobile devices. Product highlights include Zumba® Fitness and Cooking Mama™. Majesco is headquartered in Edison, NJ and the company’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol: COOL. More info can be found online at majescoent.com or on Twitter at twitter.com/majesco.
ABOUT MIDNIGHT CITY
Midnight City is Majesco’s independent digital label dedicated to supporting indie development teams with customized publishing services, including public relations, marketing, and community content. Operated by former IGN Editor-in-chief Casey Lynch and longtime industry veteran Doug Kennedy, Midnight City focuses its efforts on the ever growing independent game development market and independent game studios.
