The First Torque Game Debuts on Xbox Live Arcade
May 10, 2005
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
GarageGames | May 10, 2005 - Eugene, OR - GarageGames today announced that Marble Blast is available for download on Xbox® Live Arcade (XBLA), a new social experience that brings popular retro classics and broad appeal games directly to your Xbox® video game system over theXbox LiveTM service.
In Marble Blast, a fast-paced arcade-style action game, players race against time as they navigate marbles through moving platforms and dangerous hazards, collecting treasure along the way.
For the Xbox version, GarageGames has cranked up the cartoon look to the max drenching the visually rich landscape by fully exploiting bump mapping, specular lighting and stencil shadows. Optimized to work on the Xbox controller there are nine challenging new levels, 12 craftily hidden Easter eggs, along with Xbox Live Arcade leader board high scores that take full advantage of the all new scoring system with ever elusive gold times.
"Getting to leverage the graphics capabilities of Xbox lets us demonstrate some of the power of Torque on a console," says Pat Wilson, GarageGames Lead Programmer on XBLA Marble Blast. "Torque is an extremely solid platform to develop on, so we could focus on fine-tuning the fun of Marble Blast on Xbox Live Arcade."
"Players looking for a quick action hit are definitely going to find it with this next-gen marble racing game, and they can easily download it directly on Xbox Live Arcade," says Jay Moore, Evangelist for GarageGames. "Beginning with 'Learning to Roll' all the way to 'Schadenfreude,' the only level with a difficulty rating of a 11, Marble Blast provides a serious challenge to any gamer's skills."
The Xbox Live Arcade disc is free ($4.99 U.S./$7.99 Canadian for shipping and handling.) Microsoft will send the disc to enable your Xbox console to play free trials of the games, including Marble Blast. The full version of Marble Blast is available by download for only $19.99. More information about Xbox Live Arcade can be found at http://www.xbox.com/livearcade.
About Marble Blast:
Marble Blast is an arcade action game with simple yet addictive gameplay, suitable for players of any age. In the rich cartoon landscape of Marble Blast, players will race their marbles through moving platforms, dangerous hazards, sparkling treasures and power up enhancements in an effort to complete each course in record time. The hazards players will face in Marble Blast include powerful fans, whirling tornados, land mines, pinball-style bumpers, narrow catwalks, moving pistons, dizzying chasms, and more.
About Xbox Live
Now in its third generation of transforming and uniting Xbox game communities, with more than 300 games planned by end of holiday 2005 and now with presence in 24 countries worldwide, Xbox Live has set the bar for online games entertainment. As the first global, unified online console games service, Xbox Live continues to take online gameplay and entertainment to unprecedented heights. With a rapidly growing global community, Xbox Live offers best-in-class games, intelligent matchmaking, tournaments, unique programming and integration with Xbox.com there is simply nothing else like it. The service continues to provide more and more ways for members to meet, interact and stay engaged with each other.
About Torque Game Engine:
The Torque Game Engine is a cross platform commercial quality AAA game engine with seamless indoor / outdoor rendering engine, state of the art skeletal animation, drag and drop GUI creation and a built-in world editor. TGE also features the latest in scripting, geometry, particle effects, exhaustive documentation and award-winning multiplayer networking code. TGE started life as the technology behind Dynamix's Tribes series and is currently being used by thousands of developers around the world to make innovative games such as Marble Blast, Orbz and ThinkTanks.
About GarageGame:
GarageGames mission is to change the way games are made and played. GarageGames provides the technology, community and market to empower game makers to build commercial quality multiplatform games. Known for bringing the Torque Game Engine to independent developers for $100, GarageGames is located in Eugene, Oregon and on the web at www.garagegames.com and is the annual presenter of IndieGamesCon (Oct. 7-9, 2005).
®2005 GarageGames.com, Inc. Marble Blast, Torque and Torque Game Engine are the trademarks of GarageGames.com Inc. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Live, the Live Logo, and the Xbox logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
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