NIDHOGG CONFIRMED FOR ESPORTS SHOWCASE; LIVE ACTION TURN-BASED ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GAME CONFIRMED AS PART OF NIGHT GAMES FOR INDIECADE EAST

IndieCade East, East-Coast Edition of Premier Independent Video Game Festival Arrives in New York Feb. 14-16, 2014 at Museum of the Moving Image

Last Call for Early-Bird Registration; Open Through Friday, January 31

LOS ANGELES-January 28, 2014- IndieCade, the International Festival of Independent Games, today unveiled details about the Night Games portion and eSports Showcase at IndieCade East, the East-Coast edition of the nation’s premier independent video game festival. IndieCade East takes place at Museum of the Moving Image in New York City from Friday, February 14 through, Sunday, February 16. Early bird registration for IndieCade East is available here and will close on Friday, January 31.

Hosted by Simon Ferrari, the IndieCade East eSports Showcase, taking place on Saturday and Sunday, encourages friendly competition among the growing audience for independently-developed games. Fans in the indie game community can challenge each other in one-on-one duels, team up for multiplayer games, or strive to be the sole winner in the independent eSports games of tomorrow. The recently released award-winning Nidhogg, among other titles, will be one of several eSports games available to play.

The full lineup of eSports titles at the IndieCade East eSports Showcase includes:

• Laza Knitez: A free-for-all twitch shooter where up to four players steer a speeder to line up shots from a precision laser lance, from developer Glitchnap.
• Particle Mace: A physics-based, last-player-standing, free-for-all deathmatch for up four players. This arcade-style game from Andy Wallace supports multiple offiensive styles and encourages rhythmic motion and nuanced spatial control.
• Foiled: a two-player fighting game with a great dueling system (think Nidhogg meets Super Smash Brothers) from developers Gabe Cuzzillo and Aaron Taecker-Wyss. In Foiled, players steal a fallen enemy’s soul and dunk it to score.
• Stikbold: A whacky, fast-paced dodgeball simulation for six players, with a twist from the Reign Bros. Downed players have a chance to influence the game in chaotic and calculated ways unique to each level.
• Gunsport: A combination of volleyball and lasers from developer Necrosoft. Need we say more?
• Nidhogg: The granddaddy of competitive indie games emerges as the award-winning, side-scrolling, two-player fighting game will include new maps, animations and moves, from developer Messhof.
• Videoball: Three-on-three minimalist hockey with a generative playfield from developer Action Button.

On Saturday, February 15, from 7 p.m. 10 p.m., Night Games takes over IndieCade East offering a diverse mix of live action games, multiplayer games, theater projections of upcoming indie games and more in spaces throughout the Museum. As part of this evening, an eSports tournament, the “Saturday Night Rumble,” will take place in the Museum’s main theater.

Some of the confirmed games for IndieCade East Night Games include:

• Crypt of the NecroDancer: A rhythm game where players move to the beat of the game’s epic soundtrack while battling dancing skeletons, zombies, dragons, and more
• Surround: a local multiplayer tactical game with four classes (Assault, Support, Sniper, Medic) each with their own unique abilities
• Tether: Four players are attached to chains and must work with their opponents to be the first to collect ten orbs
• Zombie Ward: Players can experience the zombie apocalypse first-hand in this turn-based action game. A siren will sound and the first zombie will be identified; players will need to escape the ever-growing zombie horde and find a key hidden in the play area to unlock the gates and let the humans free.
• Soundself: Players can explore a personal world of light and sound as it emerges from their own bodies; no two playthroughs are the same!
• ART BOY Sin: Magnetic Poetry meets street art as a series of 8.5″ x 11″ letters are taped up, allowing players and passersby to rearrange them into street poetry.

“With the help of our partners in the indie game community, we’ve put together a truly eclectic and ridiculously fun weekend,” said Matt Parker, Chair for IndieCade East. “This evening event is especially indicative of the breadth and depth of indie games available for fans of all ages and skill levels. Even if you’ve never played a game before, you will have a blast at IndieCade East!”

For more information and updates, visit IndieCade or movingimage.us.

About Festival Passes
Festival passes are on sale now. Each pass gives access to all IndieCade East programs and events. Purchase now through January 31 to receive the early-bird discount: $100 public ($80 student/senior/Museum member). Order online at movingimage.us or call 718 777 6800 to reserve passes.

Beginning February 1, full festival passes will be $125 public ($100 student/senior/Museum member). Individual day passes will also be available: Friday, February 14, passes will be $45 ($35 discounted); Saturday, February 15, passes (including access to Night Games) will be $55 ($45 discounted); Sunday, February 16, passes will be $45 ($35 discounted).

For families: Admission for children (ages 3-12) will be $10 per day. Many of the games on view will appeal to visitors of all ages. Throughout the weekend, the Museum will also present “The Game-Making Game,” a workshop for children ages 8 and older (materials fee applies).

IndieCade East is organized by Stephanie Barish, Founder and CEO, IndieCade; Sam Roberts, Festival Chair and Jury Co-Chair, IndieCade; Matt Parker, Chair, IndieCade East; Aaron Isaksen, Festival Chair, IndieCade East; Margaret Robinson, Conference Co-Chair, IndieCade East; Kevin Cancienne, Conference Co-Chair, IndieCade East; Simon Ferrari, eSports Chair, IndieCade East; and Greg Trefry, Night Games Chair, IndieCade East.

About IndieCade
Applauded as the “Sundance of the videogame industry,” IndieCade supports independent game development globally through a series of international events highlighting the rich, diverse, artistic and culturally significant contributions of indie game developers. IndieCade’s programs are designed to bring visibility to and facilitate the production of new works within the emerging independent game community. Annual events include IndieCade East, IndieCade’s Showcase @ E3, and IndieCade Festival, the largest gathering of independent game creators in the nation. For more information, visit indiecade.com.

Digital media at Museum of the Moving Image
As the first museum to include video games as part of the scope of the “moving image,” the Museum is considered a leading institution in the exhibition of digital media. Changing exhibitions focusing on this subject area have included Hot Circuits: A Video Arcade (1989), the first-ever exhibition at any museum devoted to video games; Interactions/Art and Technology (2004), presented in conjunction with Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria); and Real Virtuality (2011), six experiments in art and technology. The Museum has regularly exhibited video games in its core exhibition, Behind the Screen, and is currently presenting Indie Essentials: 25 Must-Play Video Games, co-presented with IndieCade (on view through March 2, 2014). For more information, visit movingimage.us

MIDNIGHT CITY ANNOUNCES NEXT TWO INDIE RELEASES

Blood of the Werewolf Transforms onto Consoles with Avalanche 2: Super Avalanche Bouncing onto Steam in Spring 2014

Edison, NJ – January 28, 2014 – Midnight City, the recently founded indie label of Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of games for the mass market, is proud to announce two more indie releases in the pipeline. Beast Game’s indie fan-favorite Avalanche 2: Super Avalanche will be fully optimized for Steam in late Q1, followed by an updated Blood of the Werewolf expanding to the Xbox Live online entertainment network for the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®Network simultaneously in Q2. Tune in to Scientifically Proven’s livestream on January 31 to get a special preview of the game and meet the team!

Based on the wildly popular flash game Avalanche, Beast Games’ Avalanche 2: Super Avalanche builds on the core platform-climbing gameplay with a host of new features, adding more dimension than ever before. Players start out as a bouncy marshmallow character compelled upward by a rising tide of liquid, while a constant stream of procedurally generated items and breakable blocks fall from the sky. What starts as a simple climb soon becomes a challenge to survive as blocks can crush the marshmallow heroes if they don’t act fast. To aid players in their altitude-driven quest, unlock up to four item slots for over 70,000 combinations of special power-ups that help ‘mallows jump higher, move faster, double jump and more! On the ascent, keep an eye out for special chests to break and discover bonuses and valuable coins which can be used to purchase customizations and abilities. Randomly generated bosses spawn at specific altitudes on special platforms, punctuating the heart-pumping climb at critical intervals. Avalanche 2: Super Avalanche is planned to release on Steam in late Q1 2014.

Released to critical acclaim this last Halloween on Steam, Blood of the Werewolf is ready to transform onto consoles with fresh content for its debut. New game mode ‘Endless Challenge’ pits players against procedurally generated, increasingly difficult gauntlets for limitless runs to sharpen the player’s skills and compete on leaderboards. For the uninitiated, Blood of the Werewolf spins the tale of Selena, a loving wife, mother and unstoppable werewolf who races against time to save her son from the evil Victor Frankenstein. Fueled by vengeance at the sight of her murdered husband, Selena sets off on a blood-soaked rescue mission that spans 10 levels of platforming action with five intense boss arenas. Dynamic gameplay focuses on lightning-quick transformations from human to werewolf form by light of the moon. Along the way Selena faces off with a reimagined cast of monster-movie icons including The Creature, Jekyll & Hyde, The Mummy, Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster. Adding to the challenge, players must seek out secret rooms and hidden areas scattered throughout the game to collect powerups for their crossbow, werewolf powers and health upgrades. Blood of the Werewolf is a thrilling platformer that pays homage to the classics of days past and reignites the passion for mastery that inspired one of the greatest eras in video games. Blood of the Werewolf is planned to release on the Xbox Live online entertainment network for the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation® Network simultaneously in Q2 2014.

As a special thanks to those who purchased Blood of the Werewolf on Steam, Scientifically Proven will release a free update with challenge room content, post-console release.

Blood of the Werewolf is rated T for Teen.

• For more information, please visit: www.bloodofthewerewolf.com
• For more on Scientifically Proven, please visit: www.scientificallyproven.com
• Twitter: @BotWerewolf http://twitter.com/BotWerewolf
• Twitch.tv: http://www.twitch.tv/scientificallyproven
• For more information, please visit: http://www.superavalanche.com/
• For more on Beast Games, please visit: http://www.beastgames.org/
• Twitter: @BeastGames https://twitter.com/beastgames

Follow Midnight City:

• Website: http://www.Midnight-City.com
• Twitter: @Midnight_City https://twitter.com/Midnight_City
• Casey Lynch Twitter: @Lynchtacular https://twitter.com/lynchtacular
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/midnightcitygames
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MidnightCityEnt

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ABOUT MAJESCO ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY
Majesco Entertainment Company is an innovative developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for consumers around the world. Building on more than 25 years of operating history, the company develops and publishes a wide range of video games on console, handheld and mobile platforms, as well as digital networks through its Midnight City label. Majesco also owns 50% of GMS Entertainment, the parent company of online gaming company Pariplay, which specializes in iGaming, iLottery and social gaming. 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.

Harebrained Schemes’ Shadowrun: Dragonfall Now Available for Pre-Order 

Shadowrun Returns Expansion includes full-length campaign, multiple new features and gameplay enhancements

Kirkland, WA (January 28, 2014) Harebrained Schemes’ Shadowrun: Dragonfall, a major expansion for the magic-meets-cyberpunk tactical RPG mashup Shadowrun Returns, is just weeks away but the time to take action is now!  Fans can pre-order the expansion for $14.99 (requires the original game to play) at http://store.steampowered.com/app/272030.   Harebrained Schemes has also released new screenshots and a trailer on its website (http://harebrained-schemes.com/shadowrun/dragonfall/) today in anticipation of the game’s February 27, 2014 launch date.

The Shadowrun: Dragonfall expansion features a robust full-length campaign set in the city of Berlin and contains a multitude of new features and enhancements. The title will be available for purchase on Steam and a DRM-free version will be available on GOG.com.  Shadowrun: Dragonfall will debut on Windows, OSX and Linux, with iPad and Android tablet versions to follow.

Shadowrun Returns debuted in 2013 to much acclaim.  The game was the first $1m+ Kickstarter-funded videogame to be released and premiered as a #1 seller on Steam. It appeared on 5 “Most Anticipated Games of 2013” lists, and was a featured Game of the Week on the Apple and Google Play App Stores.  The accolades for the game have continued with Shadowrun Returns winning numerous “Best of 2013” awards including:

• Diehard GameFAN – 2013 Game of the Year
• Diehard GameFAN – Best PC Exclusive Game
• Diehard GameFAN – Best Digital/Downloadable Game
• Diehard GameFAN –  Best Strategy Role Playing Game
• Gamasutra – Best of 2013, Gamasutra’s Top Games of the Year
• Giant Bomb – Best of 2013 list (by Xavier Woods)
• The Escapist – Best of 2013 list (by Justin Clouse)
• IGN – Recommended Games Holiday Gift Guide
• Board Game Geek – Recommended Games Holiday Gift Guide

“The response to Shadowrun Returns has been the highlight our year, from our audience posting their wonderful reviews, to the gaming media who awarded us all of these 2013 honors, to the amazing community of content creators using our editor to create their own awesome stories,” said Jordan Weisman, founder of Harebrained Schemes.  “Shadowrun: Dragonfall continues the high standards set by Shadowrun Returns, while adding in new features for the game and the editor that we hope will help draw fans even deeper into the Shadowrun Universe.”

SHADOWRUN: DRAGONFALL STORY

MAN MEETS MAGIC & MACHINE. The year is 2054. Magic has returned to the world, awakening powerful creatures of myth and legend. Unchecked advances in technology have blurred the line between man and machine. Great dragons play humanity for pawns, while ruthless corporations bleed the world dry. In this new reality of elves and trolls, corporate arcologies and terrifying new magics, anything is possible… for a price. And when the powerful and the desperate need a job done, they turn to shadowrunners: mercenaries, living on the fringes of society, surviving day-by-day on skill and instinct alone.

BERLIN. The Flux-State: a stable anarchy enforced by an ever-shifting coalition of megacorps, political factions, and savvy power players. A place where almost anything goes, and the right connections can be the difference between success and starvation. Dangerous jobs abound and there’s no better place to earn a quick payday – provided you live long enough to spend it. For you and your team of battle-scarred runners, it’s just another day in the Free City of Berlin.

But a new threat is rising, one that could mean untold chaos and devastation. The only clue: whispers of the DRAGONFALL, a long-forgotten event from the earliest days of the Awakened world. As you find yourself drawn into a maze of veiled dangers and strange machinations, you will come face-to-face with a grim spectre of the past… and alter the course of Berlin’s future.

SHADOWRUN: DRAGONFALL FEATURES

• Experience a New Full-Length Campaign: Return to the “Tech meets Magic” future of Shadowrun as you and your team of runners get drawn into a treacherous conspiracy. Operating out of an offbeat central hub neighborhood, you’ll choose which missions to accept and how you’ll approach them while navigating the dark underbelly of “the Flux”.
• An Exciting New Locale: Shadowrun: Dragonfall transports runners to the Free City of Berlin, a thrilling Shadowrun setting full of gorgeous new hi-res environments, a diverse new cast of characters, and a new soundtrack by Sam Powell, the composer of the original Sega Genesis Shadowrun game.
• Command Your Team: Lead a small team of shadowrunners, each with their own outlook and backstory. Each member of your team is designed to play an interesting role during missions and has a unique set of skills, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
• New Weapons, Cyberware, Enemies & More: Try your hand at the long-range sniper rifle, devastating grenade launcher, or stun-inducing taser. Chrome yourself out in the latest cyberware, and take on deadly new enemies – including new magical creatures like gargoyles and fire drakes. Dragonfall brings a host of new items, characters, portraits, and improvements to the Shadowrun Returns experience.
• Save Anywhere: You can save your progress at any time during the game. In addition to being in Shadowrun: Dragonfall, this save feature will be available in new downloads of Shadowrun Returns and through a patch for already purchased versions.
• New Game Editor Features: A wide range of enhancements to the game editor for community content creators – including a scripting system to better control lighting, tracking mission objectives in the main game UI, placing exploding barrels, and allowing players to input keypad passwords and custom text strings in conversations. In addition, content creators will be able to use all of the new Berlin environment art, items and characters in their own stories along with assets from the original Shadowrun Returns campaign. 

About Harebrained Schemes

Harebrained Schemes is a small team of passionate game developers led by Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun, Crimson Skies, BattleTech, MechWarrior, and many other acclaimed properties. Founded in 2011, the Seattle-based studio is centered on deep collaboration between seasoned veterans and fresh talent. Their first title, Crimson: Steam Pirates, was one of Apple’s Benchmark Games of 2011 and one of Metacritic.com’s “Best iPhone Games of 2011.” Their next title, Strikefleet Omega, was named one of Google Play’s “Best Games of 2012.” In April 2012, Harebrained Schemes made headlines when it launched one of the first 7-figure Kickstarter campaigns for Shadowrun Returns, which appeared on five “Most Anticipated Games of 2013” lists and launched in July 2013 to much acclaim. Their latest Kickstarter success story, a digitally-enhanced miniatures board game called Golem Aracana, is due out next year.  http://harebrained-schemes.com/