Star Wars™ Pinball VR Launches Today on Oculus, Steam VR & PlayStation®VR

Zen Studios’ latest incredible collection of tables delivers new and remastered pinball action featuring The Mandalorian, exclusive modes and more

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – April 29, 2021 – Zen Studios has announced that Star Wars™ Pinball virtual tables are now playable in VR for the very first time. Star Wars™ Pinball VR launches today on Oculus Quest 2, Oculus Quest, Steam VR, and PlayStation® VR, delivering an exciting mix of new and classic remastered content from across the Star Wars galaxy, exclusive features and more.

Star Wars Pinball VR jumps out of hyperspace featuring eight amazing tables, including two never before released: The Mandalorian and Star Wars Classic Collectibles. The other six tables are remastered fan-favorites: Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars Rebels, and Masters of the Force.

Beyond the incredible realism added by VR, Star Wars Pinball VR enhances the core Star Wars Pinball experience with new features exclusive to this release:

• The “Fan Cave”: The new home for both your pinball table and the customizable array of Star Wars digital lightsabers, blasters, helmets and more you’ll earn while playing. Place a virtual action figure on the pinball table and the room comes to life – not only with a new table to play, but with life-sized characters and vehicles joining you on either side.
• Total Immersion Mode: Stand side-by-side with some of your favorite characters and experience everything at table level.
• Full 360-Degree Mini-Games: Dive into iconic Star Wars set pieces like the speeder bike chase on Endor, the Bespin carbon-freezing chamber duel and others.

In addition, players will have access to classic Star Wars Pinball features like Career mode, Force powers, competitive gameplay, haptic controller feedback, your own personal cantina jukebox and more.

For more on Star Wars Pinball VR, visit StarWarsPinball.com.

About Zen Studios

Zen Studios is a leading global producer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for all major digital game platforms. Recognized as one of the premier gaming studios in the world, Zen Studios has worked with some of the most iconic entertainment studios, including NBC Universal, FOX Digital Entertainment, Marvel Entertainment, South Park Studios and Lucasfilm.

Zen’s CastleStorm franchise has won the developer critical acclaim and commercial success, including the coveted Editor’s Choice awards from both the Apple App Store and Google Play. Its Pinball FX franchise has defined video game pinball excellence since 2007. And Operencia: The Stolen Sun stands as one of the most critically acclaimed RPGs of 2019. Zen Studios joined Saber Interactive in November 2020. For more information on Zen’s library of titles, visit https://zenstudios.com.

STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks in the United States and/or in other counties of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. ©2013-2021 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enjoy the Epic Friendship Ruining Party Game at 50% on PS4

The Move or Die franchise launched five years ago and destroying friendships in this fast-paced, rage-inducing PS4 party game continues to be deviously fun. And to commemorate a half-decade of rage-quitting shenanigans, the dastardly developers at Those Awesome Guys have launched a big content update for the PS4 version that includes six characters and new goodies in the in-game “Not-A-Store.”

Take the plunge into PS4 multiplayer mayhem at the special promotional price of $7.49 (50% off S.R.P) and PS Plus members can grab it now for $5.99 (60% off S.R.P.). Don’t’ wait too long as this promotional sale ends on May 12!

Move or Die is not just the title of the game, but a fundamental gameplay rule: gamers who fail to move will see their health bar diminish rapidly. Players will battle each other in an ever-growing list of mini-game modes that change every 20-30 seconds. Each challenge has its own outrageous level design and rule set to promote hours of laughter and good old friendship-destroying fun. Win battles and unlock insane new character skins, Mutator game modifiers that dramatically change how mini-games are played, and even crazier game modes. When gamers are done beating friends on the couch, jump online and challenge other players to see who will rage-quit first.

To learn more about Move or Die, please visit www.moveordiegame.com, ‘Like’ it on Facebook, and follow its development on Twitter @moveordiegame for all the latest developer updates and news.
 

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NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER ANNOUNCES SEASON PASS 4 AND FREE-TO-PLAY NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER LITE RELEASING LATER THIS YEAR 

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. today announced that Season Pass 4 for NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER will release later this year, along with a free-to-play version, NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER LITE, releasing this spring.

Season Pass 4 for NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER will add five new playable characters to the roster, similar to Season Pass 3, and will have a focus on the theme of “regeneration,” which includes elements of recovery, innovation, and rebirth. Players will also have the opportunity to purchase some ninjutsu available only in the in-game store this coming spring. 

Additionally, NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER LITE will release this spring, which gives players a basic free-to-play experience as an upgraded version of the currently available demo. With this version, players will be able to participate in PvP battles, customize their outfits and ninjutsu, open scrolls, and more. 

To learn more about Season Pass 4 and NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER LITE, check out the announcement video

NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER is available now in the Americas for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and PC via STEAM®.

Conquer the Wild When SnowRunner Releases on Steam & the Microsoft Store on May 18

PARIS — April 29, 2021 — SnowRunner, the blockbuster off-road driving experience from Saber Interactive and Focus Home Interactive, will come to Steam and the Microsoft Store for PC on May 18. Get the complete SnowRunner experience, including the base game, four seasons of unique content and every DLC pack since launch.

SnowRunner puts you in the driver’s seat of powerful vehicles as you conquer extreme open world environments with the most advanced terrain simulation. Overcome deep mud, torrential waters, treacherous snow, and frozen lakes while taking on perilous contracts and missions. Expand and customize your fleet with multiple upgrades and accessories, including an exhaust snorkel for heavy waters or chain tires to battle the snow. Ride solo or with friends in four-player co-op multiplayer, and expand your SnowRunner experience with community-created mods and truckloads of additional content.

Drive through a wide variety of sprawling maps from Alaska to Russia and beyond. Unlock 40 unique vehicles, complete dozens of challenging missions across a vast interconnected world, and put that experience to use creating your own mods and missions. Get behind the wheel and join a community of 2 million adventurous drivers!

SnowRunner is currently available on PC via the Epic Games Store, Xbox One, and PlayStation®4. It will also launch on Nintendo Switch on May 18. For more information, visit www.focus-home.com/en-us/games/snowrunner.

PARIS — April 29, 2021 — Get your first up-close look at the action-packed, turn-based combat of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground in its new gameplay overview trailer. Developed by Gasket Games and published by Focus Home Interactive, Storm Ground is based on Games Workshop’s iconic “Age of Sigmar” IP, a dark fantasy universe where immortal knights ride heavenly stardrakes to eradicate Death across a multitude of realms.

Pick one of Storm Ground’s three factions – the stalwart Stormcast Eternals, ghoulish Nighthaunt, and putrescent Maggotkin – and lead your highly customizable forces in fast-paced, dynamic, turn-based strategic action. Fight your way across a wide variety of battlefields in the realms of Life, Death, and Metal. Every tile has tactical relevance, from valuable high ground to aethyr pools brimming with energy and ancient chests filled with secrets and rewards. Use the strengths of your army to gain the upper hand, fighting on advantageous terrain to grasp victory. Each non-linear, procedurally generated, single-player campaign offers a new experience whenever you begin for endlessly replayable gameplay. Upgrade your army in campaign mode by collecting new heroes, units, wargear, skills, weapons and more. New units will allow you to build your army your way, choosing who to field with each new battle and customizing every facet of their equipment to match your playstyle. Meanwhile, multiplayer will have you gaining a collection and evolving your army steadily over time as you win battles against real players online.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground comes to PlayStation®4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on May 27. Pre-order today to get a special discount and receive the “Spoils of War Weapon Pack,” granting one exclusive weapon for each of the game’s three armies. Visit the official store for more information.

Super Fast 2D Platform Action Inside a Lethal Washing Machine

Baltimore, MD – April 29th 2020 – Independent games publisher Versus Evil and developer Nighthouse Games today announced that their 2D platform action game Sockventure will launch on Steam for PC on May 11th.

Sockventure brings super fast, eye catching gameplay with its stunningly colorful graphics and frenetic 2D platform action over 200 handcrafted levels across 7 chapters. Developed by Nighthouse Games players take on the role of Supersock, a superhero tasked with finding all the missing socks inside a cursed washing machine.

Bringing a whole new meaning to ‘put a sock in it’ developer Nighthouse Games has done just that with Sockventure. Precision-based gameplay and split second timing are essential to navigate the intricately designed levels and deadly hazards such as fire, lasers, circular saws and lots of dangerous pointy things (appliance recall anyone?) that will beset the cape adorned sock hero.

Sockhero can acquire new skills during his deadly sock retrieval mission, including wall jumping, double jumping, dashing and stomping. Finding and collecting coins scattered throughout the levels also unlocks dark chapters, presenting a whole new platforming challenge without auto-run.

“Versus Evil gets pitched platformers several times a month.  There are games in the market that are synonymous with the genre and even they can deliver experiences that miss the mark. Sockventure checked off the boxes in terms of gameplay expected of the genre, difficulty, depth of game play, levels and more.” said Steve Escalante General Manager of Versus Evil. “We are excited to work with Nighthouse Games on Sockventure and know that fans of this genre are getting the gameplay they love”

For more information on Versus Evil’s 2021 titles and release dates head over to www.versusevil.com

About Versus Evil

Founded in 2013, Versus Evil, LLC is the US based video game publisher behind critically acclaimed video games Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and The Banner Saga trilogy. Publishing games on all major mobile, PC and console platforms, Versus Evil works with independent development studios from around the world. The corporate philosophy is to champion for the independent game developer. For more information visithttps://versusevil.com

About Nighthouse Games
 
Nighthouse Games was founded in 2020. Nighthouse Games is an award-winning two-man game studio from Tampere, Finland and its focus is in making high quality 2D platformer games for PC and consoles. Learn more at nighthousegames.com.

Awaken Realms’ Deck-Building Roguelike RPG Tainted Grail: Conquest Launches Out of PC Early Access on May 27

Experience new story content, gameplay improvements and visual enhancements today with Tainted Grail: Conquest’s final major update before launch

WROCŁAW, Poland — April 29, 2021 — Awaken Realms has revealed that the deck-building roguelike RPG Tainted Grail: Conquest will officially launch out of early access on Steam and GOG.com on May 27. The game’s final major early access patch goes live today, featuring an expanded narrative, tons of new in-game content, a massive visual overhaul and more. To celebrate, Tainted Grail: Conquest is on sale for 20% off on Steam today through May 6.

Based on the deep and immersive universe from Awaken Realms’ hit board game Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon, Tainted Grail: Conquest is a unique blend of narrative-driven RPG and deck-building roguelike. Explore an ever-changing map set on the cursed island of Avalon, where you’ll fight a wide variety of deadly enemies while unlocking the mysteries of this dark fantasy world. With deep character customization across six distinctive classes (an additional three coming at launch) and dozens of skills, runestones and items at your disposal, no playthrough is ever the same.

Today’s big pre-launch update includes:

• New story content which revamps the narrative and adds new bosses, quests, locations, and NPCs.
• Tons of gameplay additions, culminating with a total of over 340 passive skills, 460 cards, and 50 masteries to enhance your abilities.
• A massive visual overhaul, with over 30 new 3D enemy models, plus new combat animations and VFX.
• General enhancements and improvements to balance, UI, environmental generation, progression and more.

Tainted Grail: Conquest is currently available through Steam Early Access and GOG.com Games in Development. Join the game’s community on the Awaken Realms Digital Discord for further details on what’s coming at launch in the weeks to come.

About Awaken Realms

Awaken Realms is a professional board game and video game publisher and the creator of Kickstarter hits such as This War of Mine: The Board Game, Lords of Hellas, Nemesis, Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon, and Etherfields. Having started as a miniature-painting studio, the company now has vast experience in creating excellent models and exciting games. Awaken Realms devotes special attention to making their game designs deep, involving, and original. http://awakenrealms.com

The Habbo community requested and received a beloved favorite last week with the relaunch of the popular Snowstorm mini-game in the global virtual community. In less than a week since returning to the platform, Snowstorm has seen nearly 500,000 games played with 25,868,252 snowballs thrown 1,852,467 Habbos completely KO’d and 2,254,474 trees hit. Get in on the action now in Habbo!

Duck, weave and run to out-maneuver your opponents all the while pelting them with a deluge of fluffy snowballs to rack up points. You can only carry 5 snowballs at a time, so you must aim to hit your adversaries hiding behind trees and bushes, or try your luck at hitting runners by anticipating their movements. Restock your frosty weapon supply at the snowball machine or by visiting the piles of snowballs, but you become a slow and easy target when you are restocking, so you’d better be quick!

About Habbo & Sulake
Sulake is a social entertainment company focused on providing a safe and fun online service for self-expression through its games, Habbo and Hotel Hideaway. Sulake was founded in 2000 by a small team of passionate people and now after 20 years, Habbo is still one of the largest virtual communities in the world, reaching players all over the world each month. With paying customers in over 115 countries and over 850,000 active users a month, Habbo continues to be a hugely popular and globally recognised brand.

Sulake’s mission is to enable its users to meet new people, make friends and give them a place to create and share their user-generated content in fun virtual surroundings. Sulake is a leader in ensuring online safety for children and was acquired in 2020 by Dutch media and technology company Azerion. www.sulake.com

XSEED Games, the independent-minded publishing brand of Marvelous USA, Inc., today announced the release of the first wave of paid DLC for STORY OF SEASONS: Pioneers of Olive Town, which launched exclusively on the Nintendo Switch™ system on Mar. 23. The first DLC is available now as part of the ‘Expansion Pass’ on the Nintendo eShop, priced at $19.99, or as part of the ‘Expansion Pass Set’ including the base game priced at $69.99. The second wave of DLC with new ‘School Uniform’ outfits and the ‘Windswept Falls Expansion Pack’, a brand-new area home to four characters from a previous STORY OF SEASONS title, will release on May 27.

The first wave of the DLC features new ‘Animal Attire’ costumes for the protagonist and the 10 marriage candidates, as well as the new ‘Olive Town Mystery Files’ sub-scenario. In the very first mystery scenario in the STORY OF SEASONS series, the protagonist joins Mikey and Cindy to discover the cause of strange incidents occurring across Olive Town!

‘Expansion Pass’ Part 1 Content

• ‘Animal Attire’ costumes for the protagonists
• ‘Animal Attire’ costumes for the 10 marriage candidates
• New Sub-Scenario ‘Olive Town Mystery Files’

About STORY OF SEASONS: Pioneers of Olive Town

STORY OF SEASONS: Pioneers of Olive Town is a brand-new adventure that drops eager explorers in Olive Town, a charming seaside community on the edge of the untamed frontier, where they will work to breathe life back into their grandfather’s dilapidated farm. Though it may at first appear to be a sleepy burg, Olive Town is home to dozens of unique characters to befriend when players are ready to take a break from building their dream farm— a dream farm where further exploration of the farm can yield magical lands where seasons never change, an island in the sky and even a unicorn to ride!

Developed by Marvelous Inc. and published by XSEED Games in North America on the Nintendo Switch™ system, STORY OF SEASONS: Pioneers of Olive Town launched on Mar. 23, 2021. The ‘Premium Edition’ and a standalone retail version are available for purchase from the XSEED Games Store and participating retailers for a MSRP of $59.99 and $49.99 respectively. The digital versions of the game are available for purchase on the Nintendo eShop, with the ‘Expansion Pass Set’ priced at $69.99 and the base game priced at $49.99. The title has been rated “E for Everyone” on the Nintendo Switch by the ESRB.

More information about XSEED Games’ products can be found at www.xseedgames.com. Fans can also follow XSEED Games on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, get in depth info from their developer blog, and join the discussion on their Discord server at: http://discord.gg/XSEEDGames.

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Join Newzoo to Learn More About How Latin America Continues to Grow in the Global Video Games Market

São Paulo, Brazil (April 29, 2021)  — Brazil’s Independent Games (BIG) Festival, the largest independent games festival in Latin America, is excited to announce that renowned gaming analytics firm Newzoo will be presenting the latest key insights, metrics, and trends regarding Brazil’s gaming industry growth for the first time during this year’s event. On Wednesday, May 5, from 11:30 AM to 12:00 PM GMT-3, Guilherme Fernandes from Newzoo will present Newzoo: A Spotlight on the Brazilian Games Market – Key Numbers and Trends. The panel will provide analysis on the gaming market in Latin America, giving developers key information to help them succeed in this vast and growing market. Brazil and the entirety of Latin America continue to rise as a key player in the global gaming industry.

As of last year, the games industry in Brazil demonstrated growth at an exponential rate, being the 13th largest video game market globally and the second in Latin America. Brazil is home to 81.2 million players who generated $1.6 billion USD in revenue last year. Brazil is a central figure in the global games market, but with the prices of gaming PCs and consoles being some of the highest in the world, 70% of Brazilian players have turned to mobile gaming. According to Newzoo, as of last year, half of both Brazilian men and women play mobile games, while roughly 40% of men and women play PC games. Purchase intent is healthy as well, as 83% of gamers in the region have made an in-game purchase within the past six months. Newzoo’s presentation will break down those statistics and provide the latest information to showcase both the astounding growth and potential in such an explosive market.

“Brazil has consistently gained the recognition it deserves as one of the fastest-growing regions for video game development, and the numbers don’t lie,” said Carla Frade, project manager at the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, Apex-Brasil. “The potential here is enormous and beginning to see the amazing things this country is capable of.”

“With more than 80 million players and growing, the Brazilian games industry is a key market for developers and publishers from all over the globe,” said Eliana Russi, Executive Manager at Brazil Games. “World-renowned companies like Google, Amazon, Nintendo, and Xbox are invested in the future of this country’s industry and we’re only just getting started.”

Newzoo will discuss their findings regarding Latin America’s gaming market and how game developers can tap into its market and trends, such as cloud gaming, subscription gaming, and the continued rise of competitive mobile games. With support from the Brazil Games Export Program, a partnership between the Brazilian Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), BIG Festival continues to function as a fundamental business hub for video game professionals across the globe through its lectures, networking events, and digital face-to-face meetings. For a small fee, registered attendees can schedule one-on-one online meetings with some of the major companies in attendance to discuss publishing their games, investment opportunities, and build valuable business connections. 

Watch Newzoo’s presentation for free by visiting the website or on the BIG Festival’s official YouTube channel. 

BIG Festival 2021’s presentations will begin Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at 9:30 AM Brazil time / 8:30 AM EDT and will end on May 8. Find the full schedule here. 

Register to attend BIG Festival 2021 and check out the list of attending companies here: https://event.bigfestival.com.br/companies

About the BIG Festival 

BIG Festival, which received more than 20,000 visitors in 2019, is the largest and most important game festival in Latin America. Since 2012, the event has become a central meeting point for studios to attend lectures and workshops, network, and meet with industry peers to learn more about the business of gaming. BIG has helped hundreds of innovative games from all over the world connect with an international audience. Networking opportunities held at the event generated more than 4,000 meetings between 630 game industry professionals from 34 countries. In light of complications resulting from the global pandemic, BIG Festival transitioned to an online-only event, BIG Digital in 2020 and the Festival still managed to draw record numbers, with more than 22,000 viewers tuning in to the event online. The BIG Festival’s digital version generated 3,876 business meetings between more than 333 publishers, developers, and investors from a stunning 38 countries. These vital interactions led to an estimated $7 million USD in business deals!

For more information about the upcoming event, visit the official website: https://www.bigfestival.com.br/. 

About Brazil Games

Brazil Games is the export program created by the Brazilian Independent Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, in partnership with Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. Our goal is to promote the Brazilian Indie Game industry internationally, developing new business opportunities for our companies. The Brazil Games Program also promotes Brazil as the hub for business in Latin America and invites buyers, investors, and publishers for BIG Festival, Brazil’s Independent Games Festival, the most important international indie games festival, and the hub for international business in Latin America.

About Apex-Brasil

The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. The Agency’s efforts comprise trade and prospective missions, business rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international trade fairs, the arrangement of technical visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the Brazilian productive structure, and other select activities designed to strengthen the country’s branding abroad. Apex-Brasil also plays a leading role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, by working to identify business opportunities, promoting strategic events, and providing support to foreign investors interested in allocating resources in Brazil.