Destineer Officially Announces
Stoked: Big Air Edition

gettingstoked.com/blog | www.gettingstoked.com | Follow Stoked on Twitter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“IT’S TIME TO STRAP BACK IN”

– Highest Rated Xbox 360® Snowboarding Game Now Includes Racing, Even Better Controls, Two Massive New Mountains, Upgraded Visuals, and More –

September 30, 2009 – Stoked, which has the highest Metacritic score of any advanced-generation snowboarding game, is now faster, bigger, easier to control, and even more gorgeous in Stoked: Big Air Edition. New features include racing, marked trails that make it easy to find great runs, lots of park objects to use for tricks, two new mountains, better visuals, and faster and smoother riding. Stoked: Big Air Edition is priced at $39.99 and will be released exclusively for the Xbox 360 videogame system from Microsoft® on November 24, 2009.

Stoked gives players physical control of their rider through the analog sticks, which eliminates the need for players to memorize combos and gives them the ability to craft their own riding and trick styles. As players complete challenges and win events with style, they gain sponsorships, gear, and clothing from over 30 real-world brands, like Burton, Libtech, Volcom, Dakine, Nikita, and Quicksilver, and they gain profiles of their exploits in leading snowboarding magazines, such as Snowboard Magazine.

Stoked: Big Air also introduces racing for both single-player and multiplayer modes. Three types of races are included: Head to Head Through Gates, Pack Racing Through Gates, and Freestyle First to the Bottom (multiplayer only).

Players can ride with Pros in the Pro Challenges, in which they match the moves of seven different Pros, including Travis Rice, Gigi Ruf, Nicolas Muller, and Annie Boulanger. Or, they can also race against any of the Pros.

Stoked: Big Air features seamless drop-in, drop-out multiplayer. At any time, anywhere, on any mountain, players can instantly choose to free-ride with a posse of up to seven friends, or challenge them in a variety of competitive riding activities.

In addition to racing, players can compete in a variety of Big Air and Grind-fest events, compete on behalf of their sponsor to take control of a mountain in the Battle of the Brands, ride for media exposure, build a scrapbook of pictorial exploits, free-ride the mountain for high scores, and complete a variety of technical trick challenges.

Features

Key new features in Stoked: Big Air include:

Racing
Race against the world’s top riders in single-player mode or race online against up to seven other players via Xbox LIVE®.  Depending on race type, you can race through gates or carve your own route fastest to the bottom.

Marked Trails
Stoked: Big Air makes it easy to find great runs on every mountain. Each mountain includes eight runs with marked and groomed trails, lots of park objects to trick off and on-screen highlighting of kickers and jumps.

Park Objects
Besides marked trails filled with lots of park objects, many mountains also have park objects spread throughout the wild.

Two Awesome New Mountains
Stoked: Big Air includes all five mountains from the original Stoked, plus two new mountains: Laax and K2. Together, these seven mountains give players over 500 square miles to explore. While every mountain has marked and groomed trails, players can also fly their helicopter to carve their own lines anywhere on any mountain.

Smoother, Faster, Easier Riding
We’ve tweaked all aspects of riding, from camera angles to animations to the sensitivity of the controls, and we’ve made Stoked: Big Air even faster, with even more Big Air opportunities.

Upgraded Visuals
Stoked: Big Air is now even more gorgeous, with a new lighting model, post effects, fog, upgraded particle effects, and more.

Real Riders, Real Pros, Real Sponsors:
Stoked: Big Air features some of the most influential professional riders and names in the sport: Travis Rice, Nicolas Mueller, Wolle Nyvelt, Annie Boulanger, Romain de Marchi, Tadashi Fuse, Gigi Rüf, and Bjorn Leines. An impressive line up of 30 authentic sponsors also appear in Stoked including: Yes, Burton, Blue Tomato, Dragon, Arcus, Von Zipper, Eleven, 686, Billabong, DaKine, Electric, LibTech, Nitro, Northwave, Oakley, Quiksilver, Ride, Hart, Rome, Salomon, TechNine, Vans, Volcom, Anon, Nikita, Raiden, Red, Roxy, Sodalicious, and VonZipper. 

Film companies and snowboarding publications in the game include Absinthe Films, Method Magazine, Huck Magazine, Onboard European Snowboarding Magazine, Snowboard Magazine and Snowboard Canada Magazine!

About Destineer

Destineer is a leading publisher and developer of family-friendly and casual video games for home consoles, portable digital devices, and PC and Mac computers. Destineer is dedicated to creating fun, affordable and accessible games for people of all ages. Through an international network of developers and publishing partners we continue to build on our broad product portfolio and bring the most exciting and inventive titles to the ever-growing casual market.

About Snowboard Mag

Mission Statement: Our goal is simple: to educate and to entertain; to bring you, the reader, closer to the elements which bond members of our community together. We are here to display the most cutting-edge imagery in a way which opens eyes and stretches our excitement to the world of snowboarding. For more visit snowboard-mag.com

About Bongfish

Bongfish GmbH has developed authentic licensed action-sports video games since 1999. Located in Graz, Austria, the studio specializes in recreating the ’soul & vibe’ of action sports experiences using their own proprietary technology.

About Absinthe Films

Absinthe Films established themselves as a premiere snowboard film production company with the late 90’s. Since then, owners Justin Hostynek and Patrick Armbruster have been pushing the envelope of snowboard film making the world over while remaining committed to environmental awareness and responsibility. For more information on Absinthe Films visit www.absinthe-films.com.

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REVIEWS

The original Stoked reviewed significantly better than competitor Shaun White Snowboarding (Metacritic score 74 versus 60).

Official Xbox Magazine

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“…Stoked is a fast, satisfying snowboarding game that fills the void for digital boarders left in the cold with past games.” GameSpot.com

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“…this is a blast, and considering that this wealth of content is going for a bargain price, it’s an easy choice for boarders looking for a virtual outlet for their shredding fantasies.” GameSpot.com

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“Stoked is the best option for virtual powder fiends we’ve seen in some time.” GamesRadar.com

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MEDIA Videos, Game Logos, Screenshots, Rider Bios

SCREENSHOTS:

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QUOTES, ATTRIBUTABLE TO TONY CHIODO, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE STOKED GAMES

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“Stoked has the most revolutionary open world environments ever.”

“It’s all about defining your riding style and crafting the line that suits you.”

“Stoked leaves well-worn resorts behind and gives players absolute freedom to ride wherever they want and trick off of anything they can find in some of the most famous back-country locations the world has to offer.”

“Gameplay is focused on style and finesse, not button mashing; Destineer and Bongfish have created a game that looks and plays like a snowboarding movie.”

QUOTES, ATTRIBUTABLE TO PATRICK “Brusti” ARMBRUSTER, CO-FOUNDER OF ABSINTHE FILMS

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“Developing a snowboard video game has always been a dream of mine.”

“There are endless synergies between a snowboard film production and a game developer that were just waiting to be activated.”

“Bongfish and Destineer have realized this potential, and have shown a real passion for snowboarding, and together we’ve worked to bring snowboarding luminaries from across the planet together for this project.”

Please contact Press to arrange an interview and/or for additional quotes.

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