Send2Press Newswire

Uproar's Re-launch Revolutionizes the Casual Gaming Experience

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:00:53 GMT

LOS ANGELES, Calif., March 4 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Uproar.com, a popular entertainment and gaming internet brand created in 1995, has been re-launched by Firstlook. Originally a place for casual gamers to come and play free TV game shows like Family Feud and Jeopardy, Uproar's new community-driven site helps casual gamers to easily find the best and newest online casual games.

Online casual gaming is a big business, generating more than $690 million in revenue each year. As the market has grown, it has become increasingly difficult for casual gamers - typically 25-45 year old females - to find unbiased information and advice.

"Sorting through all the information for casual gaming can be overwhelming," states Steve Lombardi, President of Firstlook. "Uproar's mission is to help casual gamers play more and search less."

The new Uproar.com is the ultimate directory and review guide for casual games. While game sites can be notoriously difficult to navigate, Uproar.com provides their members with an easy-to-use, free one-stop-shop. If an Uproar user is fond of one casual game, they can find similar games by category, skill level, challenge type or even creator. In addition, the site features over 300 game summaries, community reviews, blogs, game spotlights, and expert advice.

Uproar has created virtual guides - Heather and Melissa - to help casual gamers identify the games they are most likely to enjoy. Melissa, a 29-year-old sales professional, plays online solitaire and Sudoku in between sales calls and on her lunch hour. Heather is a 37-year-old mom of three who enjoys Bejeweled, Acrophobia and Atlantis Quest. While Heather and Melissa help guide users, the hundreds of thousands of monthly users that come to Uproar.com also contribute ratings and reviews, enabling all casual gamers to have a voice.

Uproar is owned and operated by Firstlook, an online media company that builds targeted web sites.

About Firstlook:
Firstlook is an online media company that develops and operates a network of targeted media properties. Each month, over 60,000,000 global internet users visit a web site in the Firstlook network. Firstlook properties include highly-targeted sites such as Uproar.com, LasikSurgeon.com and PremierStudentLoans.com.

For more information, visit: www.Uproar.com.

All trademarks acknowledged.

Copyright © 2008 Send2Press® Newswire, a unit of Neotrope®
TAGS: Send2Press Newswire, Firstlook online media company, Uproar online casual games

New Gaming System from WidowPC Receives Top Rating from PC Gamer Magazine

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:07:08 GMT

The new Widow IX2 SLI scores "Impressive Record-Breaking Benchmark Numbers"

BOULDER, Colo. - Nov. 16 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- WidowPC(R) (www.widowpc.com), a leading boutique brand of high performance, gaming computer recently won PC Gamer Magazine's highest rating, "Excellent" for its Intel-based, Widow IX2 SLI gaming computer. PC Gamer Magazine cites the Widow IX2 SLI, in its holiday edition as being "faster than nature intended" and "as fast as a heart-stopping black widow."

The Widow IX2 SLI scored higher in gaming benchmarks than both the HP Blackbird 002 and Dell XPS 720 H2C in PC Gamer Magazine's review, achieving "absolutely stellar results in games across the board."

The IX2 SLI clocked 178fps in Half-Life 2: Episode One and nearly doubled the HP blackbird with a 190fps (1600x1200) in F.E.A.R., and 208fps (1600x1200) in DOOM 3.

The Widow IX2 SLI features an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor (overclocked to 3.0GHz from the stock 2.4GHz), dual eVGA 8800GTX Ultra video cards in SLI configuration and 4GB of OCZ DDR2 RAM (bumped up to 999MHz from the stock 800MHz). The Widow IX2 SLI is fully customizable and upgradeable and features a choice of leading edge components including the Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6850 processor and MTRON Internal Solid State 32GB hard drive.

"WidowPC products are on the cutting edge of gaming technology. I'm thrilled that PC Gamer Magazine has recognized the Widow IX2 SLI as 'Excellent' in its Holiday 2007 Issue. I'm honored that we've won so many awards and keep getting glowing reviews such as this one. We are going to continue to make it a standard practice to build truly solid systems that are fast, reliable and fun," said Joshua McClure, WidowPC Founder.

"This is an exciting time for WidowPC," said McClure. "As the demand for high quality, cutting edge gaming desktops and gaming laptops continues to increase, we are well positioned to serve the market with our unique formula of uncompromised quality and fanatical customer support."

About WidowPC
WidowPC provides high quality, cutting edge, custom gaming computers, including custom gaming desktops and custom gaming laptops, direct to consumers through its web site www.WidowPC.com.

Recognized as a leader in computer performance innovation and customization, WidowPC produces custom gaming PC's that are recommended by PC Gamer Magazine, Laptop Magazine and other gaming and high performance reviewers. WidowPC is the high performance gaming brand of Silicon Mountain Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: SLCM).

All trademarks acknowledged.

Media Contact:
Michael Flanagan
Marketing Manager
888-745-6866

Investor Contact:
Juan Perez, Chief Financial Officer
Silicon Mountain Holdings, Inc.
303-938-1155

Copyright © 2007 Send2Press® Newswire, a unit of Neotrope®
TAGS: Send2Press Newswire, WidowPC custom gaming PCs, PC Gamer Magazine Holiday 2007

Gameshastra Expands its Worldwide Customer Base, Inks Deal with Freeze Tag for Master Game Development

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:45:00 GMT

HYDERABAD, India, and LOS ANGELES, Calif. - July 19 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Game Shastra (aka Gameshastra), India's largest game services provider, has signed a Master Game Development Agreement with Freeze Tag, a California based casual game publisher and developer. Game Shastra will develop and Freeze Tag will publish "Etch A Sketch(R)," a new game inspired by the classic toy from The Ohio Art Company. Under the terms of the agreement, Game Shastra will develop PC, Web, and Mac versions of the game, as well as any future versions for platforms such as Xbox 360 Live Arcade and Nintendo Wii.

Craig Holland, CEO of Freeze Tag says, "We have worked with many offshore developers, and Game Shastra is the first company that has truly 'exported' US game development expertise and management to its offshore operation, while still maintaining a US onshore staff in key developer roles. Game Shastra's talented and experienced management team and competitive pricing were attractive features, but the main reason we picked Game Shastra to develop our high-value licenses was simply the opportunity to work with a really great game development team."

Prakash Ahuja, CEO, of Game Shastra, says "We think Freeze Tag as a publisher has great vision for identifying good titles. It has chosen some very exciting and unique licenses that we hope to develop jointly under this partnership."

Ahuja continues, "This agreement with Freeze Tag reiterates our position as a leading global game services provider for both Core and Casual games."

Game Shastra's worldwide customer base has been expanding rapidly as it offers richer, faster and more efficient game services to game publishers globally. "At Game Shastra we provide a very flexible project environment for our customers for game development, game art and game testing in a single location which is very difficult to pull off on-shore, besides offering competitive development costs leading to shorter development timelines and higher quality products," Bjorn Book-Larsson, CTO and VP of Game Development, Game Shastra, said. "Our presence in Los Angeles provides quick response to our customers, and keeps us tightly integrated throughout the entire project."

About Game Shastra
Game Shastra (also Gameshastra) has been involved in game testing and related services for over two years, and have successfully handled the testing of numerous games for leading publishers and development houses globally. The company has opened a state-of-the-art Game Services center in Hyderabad to extend testing services for all the gaming platforms - Consoles, Handheld, Mobiles and Online and offers testing - Functionality, Compatibility, Game-play, Certification.

Game Shastra develops games for the Wii, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, Web, PSP and Nintendo DS, and also provides game testing, game art and 3D animation services. For more information visit www.gameshastra.com.

About Freeze Tag
As a leading publisher of casual games, Freeze Tag delivers best-of-class casual video games where ever consumers want to play. Through its partnerships with classic consumer brand-holders like The Ohio Art Company (Etch A Sketch(R)), The Nertz(R) Card Company, and Universal Consumer Products, Freeze Tag offers high quality entertainment that is "family friendly fun!" For more about Freeze tag visit www.freezetag.com.

All trademarks acknowledged.

Copyright © 2007 Send2Press® Newswire, a unit of Neotrope®
TAGS: Send2Press Newswire, Game Shastra video game development, Gameshastra game services provider

'Drug Dealing' Online Hits an All-Time High - Virtual Crime Pays: The Chronic 2005 Experience

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:48:00 GMT

SEATTLE, WA (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- MnMStudio, an online entertainment company, today announced the release of the highly-anticipated online game Chronic 2005 (www.Chronic2005.com). Currently ranked in the Top 10 "Most Popular Simulation Games" on CNET's Download.com, Chronic 2005 is pushing the limits in online adventure gaming.

"We wanted to take online gaming to a new level and allow people to experience an exciting journey into the seedy underbelly of society," said Michael Dixon, lead developer of Chronic 2005. "In the real world crime does not pay, with Chronic 2005 we decided it should! We're offering prizes such as Xbox 360 and even cash to the best dealers based on scores submitted online."

*(Photo Caption: Dealing Drugs in New York in Chronic 2005.)

Chronic 2005 is an open ended adventure allowing you to play as one of four distinct characters, each with their own special skills and abilities. With $2,000 in cash and $5,000 in debt to the loan shark, your journey begins at the Los Angeles airport as you explore the neighboring cities in search of the best suppliers and buyers. Upgrading your guns, armor, hiring thugs and staying ahead of the cops soon becomes the way of life.

"Pimpin' aint easy, but if you want to get to the top, visiting the car dealership and buying a van to transport all the Chronic Girls will make you some fast cash," said DMC, writer and producer of the "Chronic 2005 Anthem" title track.

The free version of the game allows you to experience up to 31 days of the adventure. A Premium Membership account that allows you to play as long as 120 days and hire mercenaries, drivers, bodyguards and pimps is available for as little as $2.49 per month.

Chronic 2005, a highly popular yet controversial game, has been met with open arms by the online gaming community with over 250,000 games being played world-wide.

Chronic 2005 is available for the PC as a free download on the game's website http://www.Chronic2005.com.

This game has not been rated. Chronic 2005 contains drug references, strong language, violence and use of drugs.

For more information on the product, visit http://www.Chronic2005.com

Christmas Quest Puts a New Spin on the Holidays

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:29:00 GMT

MORAGA, CA (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Game developer Spinapse announced the release of Christmas Quest, a new brand of entertainment software that combines scavenger hunt strategy with quiz show competition. Designed for the entire family, Christmas Quest explores the history, traditions, and funny quirks of Christmas celebrations around the world. The mix of game play, fun facts, and offbeat humor are designed to appeal to adults as well as trigger-happy kids.

Game play starts with a set of 9 photo assignments chosen at random. Players navigate the globe, exploring live-action scenes in search of these items. When they find an assignment, they snap a photo and drag it to the correct slot on the game board. Each matching snapshot earns quick cash, a spin of the Big Wheel, and a tricky trivia question about the Yuletide celebration. Christmas Quest's challenging and often unconventional brain twisters are full of surprises and subtle humor, making it easy and fun to learn about the holiday while you play.

"There are so many fascinating, funny facts about Christmas that people just don't know about," says Bill Purdy, Vice President of Spinapse. "This is a great way to appreciate the holiday in a whole new light."

Christmas Quest is based on the software engine used for the pioneering Photo Hunt series that won MacHome Editor's Choice Award for "Best Family Game of the Year," Macromedia's People's Choice award, and a Gold Seal Award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio.

Price and Availability:

Christmas Quest is available for download at www.spinapse.com.
The game comes with one free trial. The full registration price is $14.95 (Windows 98/NT/2000/ME/XP and Macintosh 10.2 or higher).

About Spinapse:

Spinapse makes games for brains. The company was formed in 2004 by Bill Purdy and John Taylor, two veterans of the educational software industry. Both are alumni of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and have created award-winning products for companies such as Lucas Learning, MSN, Viacom, Riverdeep, the Library of Congress, shockwave.com, and Apple Computer.

More information: John Taylor of Spinapse, Inc., (925) 377-5544, press@spinapse.com, or visit www.spinapse.com