New Social Network Game for Facebook and Mobile Platforms
HONG KONG and LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Artificial Life, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: ALIF) (http://www.artificial-life.com), a leading full service provider of award-winning smartphone and tablet technology and applications, announces today the upcoming launch of ToonMates®; a massively multiplayer social game for multiple platforms including: Facebook, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7 devices.
ToonMates is based on original interactive animated characters created by Artificial Life (ALIF). ToonMates offers a new approach to the hugely popular multiplayer social game genre by populating the ToonMates world with much edgier and provocative content than is normally associated with social gaming which often focuses on wholesome activities such as raising crops on a farm, managing a cake shop, or caring for virtual animals.
In ToonMates, players will inhabit an expansive virtual world playing the role of a "ToonMate" -- a customizable cartoon avatar. Exploration of the ToonMates community will reveal a wide variety of locations including clubs, shopping districts and a seedy underbelly complete with slums, gang turf, and other shady venues. Players may engage in activities such as visiting nightclubs and bars, battling it out with neighboring gangs, and interacting with other players to dance, play cards, chat, fight, and all around get their party on.
Players will embark on missions while interacting with other ToonMates created by their friends and users worldwide. As players make friends in the game, they will expand their ToonMates community and will begin to receive unique multiplayer activities which they can complete with their friends in real time. Missions can range from the ordinary (bust our windows in buildings, set booby traps) to extremely downright dangerous virtual operations (stage kidnappings, rob banks, harvest virtual body parts, and cause general mayhem!). Overall, the atmosphere of ToonMates is adventurous and fun while at the same time being infused with a healthy dose of controversy, chaos, and dark sarcastic humor.
A design preview of the ToonMates and their world can be viewed at: www.toonmates.com. This game has not yet been rated but is aimed at an older teen to young adult crowd and is not for the easily offended.
The locations in the ToonMates world may be customized by players. Each player has his/her own "home-base" which may be decorated with their own trophies, weapons, gifts and purchased items. As the ToonMates world grows, buildings, streets, and entire neighborhoods may be created and named after advanced players. In addition to players' avatars, the ToonMates world is populated by artificial intelligence driven non-player characters (NPC's) who can either help or hinder the players' advancement in the game. For example, a pickpocket NPC may steal a player's in-game currency, a con artist NPC may dupe a player out of possessions, or a psychotic dog NPC may bite a player and send him/her to the ToonMates General Hospital for weeks! On the flip side NPC's may also be the bearers of gifts and bonuses. Content and characters are a bit grisly, but nonetheless players are ensured that whenever entering the ToonMates realm they will be amused, engaged, and quite possibly attacked.
ToonMates Game Features
In addition to playing ToonMates on Facebook, the game will also be available for download through the App Store(SM) for iPhone®/iPad® Google's Android Market, and Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace. The game will be available for free, with many upgrade options and in-app purchases to access exclusive features and items. ToonMates leverages Artificial Life's proprietary technology, OPUS-M™, which will support the many features such as real-time user interactions and optimized user management.
ToonMates is scheduled to be released in Q3, 2011.
"I am proud to finally announce ToonMates which we have prepared for a long time as Artificial Life's first social game for Facebook as well as mobile devices. This strategic move shall give us a jump start in the social gaming business. We have plans to further expand into the social network arena in 2011 and beyond," said Eberhard Schoneburg, CEO of Artificial Life, Inc.
iPhone and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Android is a trademark of Google Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions.
About Artificial Life, Inc.
Artificial Life, Inc. has been a pioneer in artificial intelligence and mobile technology since its inception in Boston in 1994. We are a public US corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ALIF) with listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurt: AIF.F; Xetra: AIF.DE) and headquarters and production center in Hong Kong. We have additional offices in Berlin, Germany (EMEA headquarters), Tokyo, Japan, and Santa Monica, USA. Currently our main business areas are: high quality (3D) interactive (massively multiplayer) mobile games, mobile participation television, mobile business applications, our powerful mobile commerce technology platform OPUS-M™ and our green IT solutions provided by Green Cortex, Inc. We have won many industry awards for our outstanding technology and products.
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Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our future results of operations, financial condition and business prospects. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Although such statements are based on our own information and information from other sources we believe to be reliable, you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual market trends or our actual results of operations, financial condition or business prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward looking statements for a variety of reasons. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to obtain additional funding to operate and grow our business; the unproven potential of our mobile gaming business model; changing consumer preferences and uncertainty of market acceptance of our products; timely adoption and availability of 3G mobile technology; market acceptance for use of mobile handheld devices to play the interactive games; unpredictable mobile game development schedules; our reliance on a relatively small number of brands; our ability to license brands from others; our dependence upon resellers and telecommunication carriers and operators to distribute our products; our ability to successfully develop, introduce, and sell new or enhanced products in a timely manner; and the timing of new product announcements or introductions by us or by our competitors. For additional discussion of these risks and uncertainties and other factors, please see the documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB filed on March 16, 2010. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this press release.
For more information on ARTIFICIAL LIFE, INC., please contact:
| Artificial Life IR and PR Contact: |
| Adeline Law |
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| ir@artificial-life.com |
