Starting over in a new town is hard enough, let alone starting over with a farm, adorable livestock and no experience. That’s why XSEED Games is celebrating this month’s launch of STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town, the expanded remake of the beloved 2003 Game Boy Advanced classic, with tips and tricks videos helping new farmers live their best farm life. From rounding up livestock on time to confessing your undying love to a special someone, these tips and tricks will give players an edge when moving to Mineral Town. The company shared the latest tip about rounding up livestock at the end of a hard day of farming today, and will be continuing to share new tips and tricks at 1:00PM PT through next week to prepare farmers for the coming fall harvest.

Launched on July 14, STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town has received praise from critics and fans alike, earning a 78 on Metacritic for the Nintendo Switch™ system version and a user score of “Overwhelmingly Positive” on Steam. The title has also become the fastest title to eclipse 100,000 units sold on a single platform for XSEED Games, achieving that milestone on the Nintendo Switch™ system within a week of launching.

About STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town

Summoned by Mayor Thomas to visit the farm once owned by their late grandfather, a young city-slicker returns to Mineral Town to find the once lush farmland has fallen into disrepair. Memories of idyllic summers spent in Mineral Town come rushing back and they immediately pick up their tools, vowing to restore the fields to their former glory. In their new hometown, they’ll tend the land and become part of the bustling rural community. Along the way to becoming a world class farmer, they’ll befriend townsfolk and, perhaps, even find romance.

STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town is a complete remake, re-envisioning the charming and occasionally mysterious world of Mineral Town with updated gameplay, graphics, and characters for the modern day. Core features of the STORY OF SEASONS series also make their return, with multi-floor mining and fan-favorite events like horse racing.

Returning the series to the simulation style that put it on the map, Friends of Mineral Town features detailed farm management by individual squares of land, while also introducing smooth, modernized controls to make managing tools and items fun and easy. Once the crops and livestock are tended to, players can spend their days catching fish in the river, mining for ore, or taking a relaxing break in the hot spring.

Developed by Marvelous Inc. and published by XSEED Games in North America, STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town launched July 14, 2020 on the Nintendo Switch™ system and Windows PC via Steam. The physical edition for Nintendo Switch™ is available for a suggested retail price of $49.99 at the XSEED Games Store and participating retailers. The title is also available digitally on the Nintendo eShop and for Windows PC via Steam for $49.99. This game has been rated Everyone 10+ by the ESRB.

For more information about the STORY OF SEASONS series, please visit www.story of seasons.com. 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 localization blog, and join the discussion on their Discord server at: http://discord.gg/XSEEDGames.

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Amaru: The Self-care Virtual Pet

Amaru: The Self-care Virtual Pet is a game for Android and iOS that supports players in managing anxiety and depression.

— The global mental health crisis leads Raleigh, North Carolina-based game developers to invent a completely new type of game

RALEIGH, North Carolina, August 6, 2020 — Six Wing Studios, a socially-conscious game developer, has announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to support the development of their first game, titled: Amaru: The Self-Care Virtual Pet. 

Six Wing aims to empower players with focus and resilience in order to help battle anxiety and depression, which have increased dramatically in recent years. Research shows that maintaining self-care practices such as mindful breathing, meditation, and gratitude journaling stave off these diseases of despair, and Amaru is expressly designed to encourage these activities. 

Mental-health advocacy groups are also taking notice of Six Wing’s approach. Guardians Mental Health says, “We cannot recommend this mobile game…enough. The self care exercises and entertainment throughout is a new chapter on mental health and gaming together.” And Take This says, “Amaru…is a fascinating game. The developers take well-established principles of self-care psychology and include them in a compelling way while simultaneously eschewing heavy engagement mechanics, encouraging the players to apply the skills in real life!”

Amaru is the first in a series of games in Six Wing’s “Fog of Maya” universe, all of which will explore mental health topics while engaging them in immersive narrative and gameplay. Six Wing’s mission is to engage and empower players by providing them with a massive ecosystem of mindful gaming experiences that improve their well-being and instigate a positive change in society.

“We’re inspired by The Center for Humane Technology in our design,” writes Six Wing’s founder Dr. Gabe Pappalardo, “We believe that our collective well-being will be at risk as long as companies profit from outrage, confusion, addiction and depression.” 

Founder’s Story, Dr. Gabe Pappalardo

Six Wing’s founder, Dr. Gabe Pappalardo, is a lifelong gamer, psychologist, and mindfulness teacher who believes in using technology for positive social change and individual health. Shunning traditional addiction-based game mechanics, Dr. Pappalardo has pioneered a unique approach to game design that is both engaging and calming. He said, “The team and I are grateful for the tremendous support we have received, and eager to help the teen population conquer the mental health challenges brought on by our modern world. There is much work to be done, but we intend to show that games are an extremely useful tool in this battle.”

To view the Kickstarter campaign, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/selfcarevirtualpet/amaru-the-self-care-virtual-pet. 

About Six Wing Studios

The Fog of Maya game universe is founder Dr. Gabe Pappalardo’s brain child, first conceived in August of 2017. In October of 2017, Dr. Pappalardo founded Six Wing Studios with a core team of dedicated and talented technologists and designers. The initial game release, Amaru: The Self-Care Virtual Pet, is now in beta testing and is the subject of a quickly growing Kickstarter campaign. 

Epic Games Store Exclusive 3 out of 10 Revealed, Free Episodes Releasing Weekly Starting Today

Terrible Posture’s Animated Playable Sitcom Spoofs Game Development 

BOSTON, MA — 6 August, 2020 — 3 out of 10, an episodic playable sitcom about life at the world’s worst game development studio, clocks in today with Episode 1 – “Welcome to Shovelworks” exclusively on the Epic Games Store for PC. Releasing every Thursday through 3 Sept., all of Season One’s five episodes will be free.

Terrible Posture, creators of Tower of Guns and MOTHERGUNSHIP, take us behind the scenes at Shovelworks Studios, where down-on-their-luck developers have never earned a score higher than 3 out of 10. In Surfing with Sharks, an endless runner with an end, Shovelworks hopes to make their first good slightly less bad game. Over a five-week premiere season, follow a team of larger-than-life personalities in a madcap world of conspiracy, absurdity, and game development gone catastrophically awry.  

In the opening episode, game animator Midge Potter shows up at Shovelworks for a job interview but gets way more than she bargained for. Before she can pull out her resume, she’s given the job—and the unenviable task of fending off overzealous fans. How will Midge calm the masses? Can she stay hidden from feral engineers? Will Shovelworks Studios ever make a game that scores higher than 3 out of 10?

Equal parts video game and animated show, 3 out of 10 keeps players guessing with eye-catching, fully voiced cutscenes and reverent nods to every conceivable genre. In this love letter to gaming and the ridiculous business surrounding it, discover new mechanics every week, from first-person shooting and racing to Episode 1’s dash dining, figure posing, and football-esque keepaway mini-games.

3 out of 10 strives for accessibility and letting players follow or replay the story at their leisure. Viewers can rewind or skip any scene or interactive segment, and upon completing an episode, can dive back into any part to re-experience it or beat their high scores. Steal a fresh look at the joys and terrors of game development, be they incapable robot office assistants, eager-to-help sacrificial interns, or the shadowy organizations unpinning the entire industry (and their shadowy fashion accessories).

“Look, there’s this unspoken truth in game development. Ask any game developer and you’ll get the same story,” said Joe Mirabello, creative director for Terrible Posture Games. “They’re working late, making art, getting up to stretch. Maybe they sneak into the kitchen to grab a snack. SUDDENLY, they realize the company fridge is inhabited by a Lovecraftian nightmare tentacle and THEN the Lead Animator spontaneously explodes (it happens, look it up) and THEN you find out someone drank all the Orange Crush. Times like that, you just gotta calm down and remember why you love this industry. And then make a game about it.”

3 out of 10’s debut season starts today for free on the Epic Games Store, with weekly episode releases through 3 Sept.. For more truths of game development, hang out with Terrible Posture Games on Twitter, Facebook, Discord, and the official website.

About Terrible Posture Games

Terrible Posture Games is an independent studio founded by veterans of game development on the idea that great talent is global, so studios should be completely remote. Responsible for the creation of Tower of Guns and co-development of MOTHERGUNSHIP, the studio aims to be a compassionate place for developers to grow and make fun things.

Evolving Pixel Platformer Adventures of Pip Comes to Nintendo Switch™ September 10

BURBANK, Calif. – August 6, 2020 – Adventures of Pip, the charming retro-inspired platformer where a single pixel evolves (and devolves!) between three forms to become a hero from Tic Toc Games, spreads nostalgic cheer on the Nintendo Switch™ system Thursday, September 10. The Nintendo Switch™ version of Adventures of Pip improves on previous editions with new features, optimizations, and quality-of-life improvements.

Embark on a rollicking platforming adventure through Pixelonia, a kingdom where those rendered with more pixels lead more luxurious lives. When the evil Queen DeRezzia from a rival empire steals the kingdom’s pixels and princess, the King and Queen of Pixelonia tell the 1-bit Pip to find someone who can help. Pip soon learns he is a prophesied hero able to connect with the Bitstream and evolve into higher-res forms.

Shift between 1-, 8-, and 16-bit to find the perfect form for defeating each type of enemy, unleashing abilities appropriate for different challenges. Move through tight spaces as 1-bit Pip, whose light frame glides through the skies. Gracefully jump off walls, slam the ground, cling to ledges, and punch and kick as the more acrobatically-inclined 8-bit Pip. Slice through foes and obstacles as 16-bit Pip, a sword-wielding form whose power matches his noble frame.

Learn to weave back-and-forth between the three forms in seamless combos to soar through five themed worlds ranging from lush forests to murky swamps. Travel from stage to stage on a gorgeous overworld, then return to Pip’s home town to purchase new abilities and consumables unlocked by rescuing 108 wayward residents. Become ever-stronger and take down screen-filling world bosses on the way to saving Pixelonia.

Tic Toc Games set out to improve Adventures of Pip on Nintendo Switch™ to make it the best possible version of the game. View Achievements any time in the Pause menu, access the Town quicker with a shortcut on the map, auto-collect dropped gems, and travel more quickly as 16-bit Pip. It has never been easier to enjoy the sweet nostalgia of Pixelonia while bopping along to Jake Kaufman’s (Shovel Knight, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero) triumphant soundtrack.

“Adventures of Pip is our homage to the classic pixel-art games that inspired us as a studio,” said Marc Gomez, director, Tic Toc Games. “We’re thrilled to bring Adventures of Pip to Nintendo Switch™, so players can “Switch” between Pip’s forms on-the-go.”

Adventures of Pip releases on the Nintendo Switch™ system on September 10 in North America, Europe, Great Britain, and Russia for $9.99, with pre-orders available starting today. It features English-language support and is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC, macOS, iOS, and Android devices. For more information on Adventures of Pip, visit the official website, follow Tic Toc Games on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

About Tic Toc Games

DEVELOPMENT LIKE CLOCKWORK. Formed in 2011 and known for titles such as Adventures of Pip, Panda Pop, and Pug Run, Tic Toc Games is all about precision game-making. This highly crafted team of specialized components works in harmony inside of a state-of-the-art, brushed-steel case in Burbank, CA. However, they don’t need winding and you won’t need one of those crazy-looking magnifying monocle things to see how they do it. For more information about Tic Toc Games, visit their official website.

PUBG MOBILE TEAMS WITH ONEPLUS FOR EXCLUSIVE ONE-MONTH PREVIEW OF FIRST EVER 90 FPS GAMEPLAY

Starting from Aug 6 to Sept 6, PUBG MOBILE players using OnePlus flagship smartphones can enjoy an exclusive preview of 90 FPS feature in the game

LOS ANGELES – Aug. 6, 2020 – The worldwide popular mobile game PUBG MOBILE is delivering more silky-smooth gameplay experience by supporting a higher frame rate of 90 FPS for the first time ever. In collaboration with global smartphone manufacturer OnePlus, players using OnePlus flagship smartphones including OnePlus 8 Series, OnePlus 7T Series, and OnePlus 7 Pro, can be available for the unprecedented 90 FPS feature in PUBG MOBILE with an exclusive preview.

Understanding the needs of players in more immersive and smoother experience, partnership was driven by both PUBG MOBILE and OnePlus since last October and have received great feedback on gameplay on OnePlus devices in the PUBG MOBILE global community. Through multiple rounds of collaborative testing, the 90 FPS gameplay provides an upgraded viewing experience, with benefits including:

• Clearer and sharper views while running or using vehicles, allowing players to quickly identify surroundings while traversing the diverse landscape at high speeds
• Delivering smooth and accurate experience in aiming in dense areas such as Pochinki, Sosnovka and the Military Base

“With PUBG MOBILEbeing one of the world’s most popular mobile games over the past two years running, we would like to pursue the gameplay performance to a higher level. OnePlus’s cutting-edge mobile technology is delivering the faster and smoother experience to global users. We are happy to start the 90 FPS exclusivity with OnePlus.” Said PUBG MOBILE Spokesperson. “Today’s transition to 90 FPS is a great step towards PUBG MOBILE’s exhilarating gameplay.”

The exclusivity preview period for OnePlus users is from Aug 6 to Sept 6. Since Sept 7, all PUBG MOBILE playerswith smartphones supporting high frame rate can experience the smoother gameplay through selecting the 90 FPS in game.

PUBG MOBILE is available to download for free on the App Store and Google Play. 

About PUBG MOBILE

PUBG MOBILE is based on PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, the phenomenon that took the world of interactive entertainment by storm in 2017. Up to 100 players parachute onto a remote island to battle in a winner-takes-all showdown. Players must locate and scavenge their own weapons, vehicles and supplies, and defeat every player in a visually and tactically rich battleground that forces players into a shrinking play zone.

For more information, please visit the official PUBG MOBILEaccounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About OnePlus

OnePlus is a global mobile technology company challenging conventional concepts of technology. Created around the “Never Settle” mantra, OnePlus creates exquisitely designed devices with premium build quality and high-performance hardware. OnePlus thrives on cultivating strong bonds and growing together with its community of users and fans. For more information, please visit OnePlus.com.

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Phoenix Online Publishing, where Every Game Has a Story^TM, is excited to announce that Bleeding Moons, an interactive visual novel adventure by IAN Games, will be available on September 3rd! This award-winning tale of intrigue, romance, duty, and honor is the first release from IAN Games and will be available for PC at the Phoenix Online store (store.postudios.com), as well as Steam, GOG, and other channels. A demo for the game is available now on Steam.

As the second son of the Count de Valmain, Ian de Valmain was destined neither for greatness nor to inherit his father’s noble title. But when the King of the neighboring nation is assassinated, old rivalries, unchecked ambition, and political intrigue thrust Ian into a world of war and violence he isn’t prepared for. In order to save his county, Ian must go undercover in a mercenary camp, where he will be pushed to his limits, forced to choose what lines he’s willing to cross and which ones he cannot live with. Can he protect those he loves and find happiness and love for himself? How far is he willing to go? Whatever he chooses, one thing is certain: Ian’s life will never be the same.

Winner of 7 Alex d’Or awards, including Best Game and Best Story, Bleeding Moons explores mature themes of fate, duty, honor, and free will. Your choices will affect not only the outcome of the war but also the shape of Ian’s soul and the love of his life as you navigate to one of many possible endings.

Key Features:

• Fully interactive world where your choices determine the fate of the world around you
• Three potential romances to choose from
• Multiple endings to discover
• Over 100 hand-drawn locations
• A cast of more than 170 unique characters
• Winner of 7 Alex d’Or awards: Best Game (Gold), Public Choice (Gold), Best Scenario (Gold), Best Direction (Gold), Best World/Background (Gold), Best Story (Silver), and Best Atmosphere & Immersion (Silver)

About Phoenix Online Studios – Every Game Has a Story™

Created by adventure game fans for adventure game fans, Phoenix Online Publishing is an award-winning game development and publishing studio that creates compelling games where story and character come first. Formed in 2004, Phoenix began as fans seeking to bring back their favorite genre with the King’s Quest tribute game The Silver Lining. They followed up with the award-winning Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller, Jane Jensen’s Moebius: Empire Rising, and the remake of Jensen’s classic hit game Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. In 2014, Phoenix opened a publishing branch to help other indie developers release games including Quest for Infamy, Lost Civilization, and The Last Door: Collector’s Edition Seasons 1 and 2. More information can be found on the company’s website, www.POStudios.com.

About IAN Games
IAN Games is Olivier Larrieu’s one-man studio born from the wish to bring together his two passions: writing and playing video games, with a French touch! Using his 30 years experience in both, his first game, Bleeding Moons, was winning awards for writing, story, and characters even before its release. He’s determined to carry that momentum forward as he continues to develop well-written, story-driven adventure games and leave his mark on the genre. For more information, visit www.iangames.com.

SFL Interactive and Maximum Games have released a new gameplay trailer showcasing trickshot mode from their upcoming arcade sports game, Street Power Soccer (North America) or Street Power Football (worldwide). Trickshot is a street style skill that requires precision and strategy, targets are placed and sometimes hidden throughout the playground waiting for players to hit them with the ball. Players are up against the clock in trickshot mode – some targets are much harder to hit than others, and strategy is key. Line up your shot perfectly before the clock times out. Add your name to the leaderboards by beating the current record and take your place among the world’s best players.

Street Power Soccer will be available globally in digital and retail stores for PlayStation®4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Steam on August 25. Street Power Soccer combines creative style with high-energy action for an over-the-top soccer and arcade videogame experience. Street Power Soccer features six distinct game modes, tons of customizable options to style your team to your liking, pumped up music, stages and ambassadors from around the world including Sean Garnier, Liv Cooke, Melody Donchet, Andrew Henderson and many more.

Pre-order Street Power Soccer digitally and in retail stores today.

Stay up to date with all Street Power Soccer news on the website, watch on YouTube, follow on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and “Like” us on Facebook.

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