ADD SOME SUNSHINE TO YOUR CHILD’S WINTER WITH NINTENDO 3DS

Kids can enjoy a wide range of Nintendo 3DS titles at home or on-the-go this winter

9^th August, 2016 – It’s shaping up to be a great winter for young owners of Nintendo 3DS family systems. After the recent arrivals of Disney Art Academy and Kirby: Planet Robobot, the Nintendo 3DS line-up expands even further with the launch of Teddy Together this Thursday, August 11. With Nintendo 3DS, parents and kids alike can enjoy a wide variety of games on the go, allowing them to enjoy the unique fun of Nintendo games wherever they travel. The Nintendo 3DS family also includes the Nintendo 2DS system, which plays all Nintendo 3DS games in 2D, and is ideal for younger gamers.

For a unique experience they won’t forget, from this Thursday younger players can find a fun new furry friend in Teddy Together (SRP AU$49.95). From the very moment Teddy jumps out of a box delivered to the player’s house, along with a mysterious key, players are drawn into a world where teddy bears come to life, because Teddy really speaks! Through fun mini-games that are easy to understand, young children can make friends with this cuddly teddy and practise their reading, spelling and interpersonal skills, all at the same time. These activities can be tackled with the assistance of a keen parent as well, since the player can introduce their friends and family to Teddy throughout the game. Find out first-hand why Teddy Together makes the ideal interactive bedtime story by watching the official Teddy Together trailer!

Another colourful, kid-friendly title is Disney Art Academy (SRP AU$49.95), which features a wide variety of tools to learn to draw more than 80 Disney and Pixar characters in 2D. By learning at their own pace through multiple easy-to-follow lessons, young art enthusiasts can master drawing characters like Mickey Mouse, Nemo from Finding Nemo, Elsa from Frozen, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and Simba from The Lion King. Your child’s masterpieces can be saved to the Nintendo 3DS system’s SD card, perfect for plugging into a computer for printing and displaying their art.

Those looking for a charming platforming adventure need look no further than Kirby: Planet Robobot (SRP AU$59.95). Traverse the varied world of Planet Popstar and save it from mechanised foes, using Kirby’s famous Copy Abilities to mimic the abilities of enemies. Kirby can also pilot a powerful piece of machinery known as the Robobot Armour, which grants him access to even more powerful Copy Abilities, as well as changing the platforming action in unique new ways.

These are just some of the many games that will captivate and engage young players on Nintendo 3DS family systems, and anyone looking to start a collection should check out the Nintendo Selects range, with nintendogs + cats, Yoshi’s New Island and Mario Tennis Open just some of the available titles (SRP AU$29.95 each).

Every Nintendo 3DS family system can access the Nintendo eShop, which offers pocket-money games, free demos*, and much more to download. Current demos available include Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Teddy Together, Kirby: Planet Robobot and YO-KAI WATCH^®, of which the animated TV show can be seem airing on Channel 9’s GO! channel and streamed on Netflix.

In addition to hundreds of titles to play on their Nintendo 3DS family system, kids can also enjoy some of their favourite animated shows via the free Nintendo Anime Channel, allowing users with a Nintendo Network ID to stream a range of exciting cartoons via a wireless internet connection**, like Pokémon: Indigo League, Pokémon Advanced, and Pokémon Advanced Challenge, as well as Kirby! Right Back at Ya!

Whether it’s learning to draw Disney’s most iconic characters, saving Planet Popstar with Kirby, or making a new best friend with Teddy Together, there’s something for every child on Nintendo 3DS family systems at home or out and about this winter.

Remember that Nintendo 3DS features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit: http://www.nintendo.com.au/parents
Additional Links:
Nintendo Australia website: http://www.nintendo.com.au 
Nintendo Australia Twitter: https://twitter.com/NintendoAUNZ
Nintendo Australia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NintendoAUNZ
Nintendo AU on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/nintendoau

THE ESCAPE FROM TARKOV ALPHA TESTING HAS BEGUN!

The Russian-based Battlestate Games Studio has announced the start of its technical Alpha testing of Escape from Tarkov, its hardcore online game. First players, those who have claimed their eligibility for participation by pre-ordering the game from the official website – http://www.escapefromtarkov.com – have already been admitted into the game.

Check out all of Escape from Tarkov‘s video, key art, logos, and screenshot assets, in our press kit HERE.

Further admittance of eligible players will be conducted in waves, every new wave being formed with one or two day intervals in chronological order: first players who pre-ordered the game, will also be the first to try it. The avant-garde of the Escape from Tarkov heroes will be welcomed by two already familiar raid locations “Factory” and “Customs”, and they’ll come across 15 types of weapons and a wide variety of equipment and supplies.

The main purpose of the technical Alpha testing is for the developers to fine-tune the basic mechanics over high loads, exploring the locations for possible issues, hunting for bugs that are likely to occur in the early stages of testing both in offline and online modes. Along with collecting player feedback, the developers will be optimizing the Escape from Tarkov Alpha version game performance, fixing the discovered issues and adding new content. At this point, the online game mode already includes the majority of essential features, including inventory management, trade, medical treatment, weapon modding and ballistics. Also, players will be able to check out the daylight and weather changes with impressive weather effects.

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore story-driven MMO featuring elements of FPS and RPG. The events take place in the Russian city of Tarkov, which has been sealed of by roadblocks and sunk into the chaos of local warfare between private military companies. Escape from Tarkov‘s Hazardous Environment Combat Simulator employs a number of custom system modules to create incredibly immersive gameplay and make players feel the reality of what is happening in the game. 

To get more information on Escape from Tarkov or to Pre-order and unlock early access visit the game’s official page: www.escapefromtarkov.com. Also ‘Like’ the game on Facebook and follow the game’s development on Twitter @bstategames for all the latest developer updates and news.

# # #

ABOUT BATTLESTATE GAMES

Based in St. Petersburg, Russia, Battlestate Games was founded in 2012 by industry game development veterans surrounded by self-taught developers who are experienced in FPS and hardcore games. The team is currently in production of Escape from Tarkov, a hardcore title set in the Russia 2028 universe, and Hired Operations: the Contract War, a mid-core FPS). 

New Mantis Burn Racing Update Challenges Players to Race for Gold

Large update anchored by Weekly Challenges

Birmingham, United Kingdom – 8^th August 2016 – Established UK based indie developer VooFoo Studios has unleashed another big update to Mantis Burn Racing currently onSteam Early Access and coming soon to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Right in time for the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics, players are urged to race for glory with the addition of new Weekly Challenges.  Players are invited to race to the top of the Global leader boards in unique challenges each week for the ultimate in bragging rights. An online leader board will display the best times throughout the week. At the conclusion of the event, players will be recognised for achieving server-best times with the best awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze status on the game’s front end menu the following week.

The update also brings a new static camera option to Mantis Burn Racing, controller vibration and support for new languages. Add in bug fixes and polish just for good measure, and there’s never been a better time to try out the Early Access for VooFoo’s first self-published game.

VooFoo has received fantastic and very useful feedback from the player community so far and are actively involved with the player-base as they continue to encourage suggestions to help drive the game’s on-going development in Early Access and beyond.

Mantis Burn Racing will be playable in the Business Area at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, from 17-19 August, 2016. Appointments to speak with the team are available for members of the press and media. Please contact Yunus or Tom, below, to schedule an appointment.

Mantis Burning Racing is available on Steam Early Access priced at £9.99 and instantly opens Early Access to players. The game will launch on PS4 and Xbox One as a digital download later in 2016.

For assets and more information on Mantis Burn Racing, visit www.VooFooStudios.com

Follow VooFoo Studios on: Facebook.com/VooFoo and Twitter @VooFoo

About VooFoo Studios Ltd
VooFoo Studios Ltd is an independent UK based video games development studio, founded in 2007 by a small team of experienced industry professionals. Utilising its own proprietary cutting edge technology, VooFoo’s first game, the critically acclaimed Hustle Kings, was released for PlayStation 3 in 2009, reaching the top of the PSN charts and earning VooFoo nominations for two highly coveted Develop Awards. Building on this early success VooFoo have gone on to develop Hustle Kings on PlayStation Vita, Backgammon Blitz and the acclaimed ‘Pure’ series of games – Pure Chess, Pure Pool and Pure Hold’em – all of which have further established our reputation for developing visually stunning, commercially successful games. VooFoo’s first self-published game, Mantis Burn Racing, is now available on Steam Early Access and will release on PS4 and Xbox One later in 2016.

VR First invites industry to join forces for the future of VR

Hundreds of universities look to introduce VR courses against a challenging backdrop

Los Angeles (California) / Frankfurt am Main (Germany) August 8, 2016 – The results of a survey with the participation of 201 universities announced by VR First shows that a remarkable number of academic institutions around the world are interested in creating programs for VR development, but are currently underequipped to deliver on their ambitions.

The interest in VR is growing very fast. Since the launch of VR First earlier this year, over 400 universities have expressed an interest in VR and 201 of them have officially applied for a VR First lab.

The research also showed that 88% of the 201 universities surveyed are either planning or already offer a VR course, while on average there are less than two headsets available to each of these universities.

Ferhan Özkan, Senior Business Development Manager at Crytek, who shared the VR First survey results at a VRLA keynote session, said: “According to our predictions, the VR industry is likely to require many more skilled development graduates than it will be producing in the next years. At the same time our data clearly shows that universities are under-equipped to implement educational goals and satisfy the VR industry’s demand. With the VR First initiative we’re addressing this problem, and we invite leading lights in the industry to contribute to this collective approach towards the empowerment of students and developers.”

Since January this year, 14 universities from the USA, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe have joined the VR First program. The scheme aims to support grassroots VR development by establishing VR Labs on university campuses, each one offering students easy access to development solutions like Crytek’s CRYENGINE and state-of-the art VR hardware from technology partners.

About VR First
VR First is an initiative designed to provide state-of-the-art facilities to anyone interested in exploring the power and potential of virtual reality development. The program encourages educational institutions around the world to establish dedicated VR labs on their campuses by partnering with VR hardware manufacturers and software companies. VR First participants have full access to Crytek’s CRYENGINE software alongside the latest technology required for VR development. The overarching goal of VR First is to nurture new talent in VR development and to establish a knowledge sharing platform.

For more information visit vrfirst.cryengine.com.

About Crytek
Crytek is an independent videogame developer, publisher, and technology provider dedicated to pushing the boundaries of gaming with its cutting-edge 3D game development platform CRYENGINE. With headquarters in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and studios in Kiev (Ukraine), Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria), Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (China), and Istanbul (Turkey), Crytek has created multiple award-winning titles, including the original Far Cry, the Crysis series, Ryse: Son of Rome, Warface, and The Climb. Crytek delivers fun and innovative gaming experiences for PC, consoles, and VR and continues to grow its reach in the games-as-a-service market. Every Crytek game is created with CRYENGINE, which can be used by anyone to create games on a Pay What You Want business model.
For more information visit www.crytek.com and www.cryengine.com .