CocoaChina’s and VisionHacker Bring Fast-Paced Skateboard Free Runner Game with Full-Body Motion Controls to iOS
BEIJING – November 7, 2012 – Leading international mobile game company CocoaChina today announced that FreeSkate Xtreme is now available in Apple’s App Store. Published by Punchbox, CocoaChina’s development and publishing arm, in partnership with mobile game developer, VisionHacker, FreeSkate Xtreme is the new mobile game that combines Kinect-style motion control with a fast-paced endless runner.
FreeSkate Xtreme integrates with the iPhone or iPad’s front-facing camera to read the body movements players make and translate them into in-game movements: players tilt their head to dodge bullets and collect coins while skating down the block. Carefully timed “bullet moments” step up the pace of the game and keep players on their toes, as players avoid obstacles, complete tricks, and land difficult stunts to show off their skateboard skills.
“This brand-new endless runner game is outrageously different than other mobile games out there. We carefully designed the game so people play with their intuitive body movements, e.g. running forward by tilting the handset, and jumping by shaking the device,” said Wenbin Tang, founder of VisionHacker Studios. “And the most innovative part of the game are the Bullet-Time moments, where the player’s face is captured via frontal camera and tracked in real-time, leveraging our in-house built Face++ technology.”
“We believe this is the first time that a Kinect-like gaming experience has been brought to iOS or any mobile devices for that matter,” said Lei Zhang, GM USA of CocoaChina/Chukong. “VisionHacker’s talented researchers, programmers and designers brought their deep computer science background and innovation to the project; the core of the team are researchers from Tsinghua University, often considered the MIT of China. Additionally, our team at CocoaChina/Chukong has injected our experience in market positioning, monetization and other expertise crucial to game design.”
FreeSkate Xtreme will be supported on the iPhone4, iPod touch 4G, iPad with camera, and of course on iPhone5’s 16:9 full-screen display. The game is now available on the iTunes App Store for $0.99.
To check out a video showing FreeSkate Xtreme in action, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgsYNWg8vF0&feature=youtu.be.
To download FreeSkate Xtreme for iPhone, visit https://itunes.apple.com/app/id536482799.
To download FreeSkate Xtreme for iPad, visit https://itunes.apple.com/app/id536483340.
Assets
Link to FreeSkate Xtreme press kit
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About CocoaChina
Founded in 2008, CocoaChina is the first and largest Chinese developer platform dedicated to mobile game development. CocoaChina began as a forum for Chinese iOS developers and now operates under the umbrella of Chukong Technologies. PunchBox Studios, which also operates under Chukong Technologies, was created by the same team behind CocoaChina to help developers create, monetize, localize, and distribute their mobile games globally. Headquartered in Beijing, China, CocoaChina also has offices in Sunnyvale, California and Tokyo, Japan. For more information, please visit http://www.chukong-inc.com/.
About VisionHacker Studios
Founded in 2011, VisionHacker is a game studio operating under Megvii inc. Built upon Megvii inc.’s best-of-breed face recognition technology (http://www.faceplusplus.com), with help of embedded sensors, and a team of cool designers, VisionHacker strives to champion on innovation of mobile game aesthetics and experiences.
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