Sep
30
Destineer Officially Announces
Stoked: Big Air Edition
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Cindy Swanson
763.231.8041 office
cswanson@destineerstudios.com
www.destineergames.com
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.
REVIEWS
The original Stoked reviewed significantly better than competitor Shaun White Snowboarding (Metacritic score 74 versus 60).
Official Xbox Magazine
“…Stoked is a fast, satisfying snowboarding game that fills the void for digital boarders left in the cold with past games.” GameSpot.com
“…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
“Stoked is the best option for virtual powder fiends we’ve seen in some time.” GamesRadar.com
SUBSCRIBE to Stoked’s RSS feed to purpose-built del.icio.us site – updated with on-going coverage, industry news and reaction – updated with on-going coverage, industry news and reaction
MEDIA Videos, Game Logos, Screenshots, Rider Bios
PRO RIDERS VIDEOS: 
Travis Rice | Nicolas Müller | Wolle Nyvelt | Romain De Marchi | Gigi Rüf | Tadashi Fuse | Annie Boulanger | Bjorn Lienes
SCREENSHOTS:
QUOTES, ATTRIBUTABLE TO TONY CHIODO, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE STOKED GAMES
“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
“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.
Technorati Tags:
absinthe films | travis rice | stoked | snowboarding | xbox 360 | gettingstoked.com/blog | winter x games 
Jun
01
Buy Absinthe Films Ready on iTunes
Luck favors the prepared. When the perfect conditions finally materialize will you be ready to elevate your riding to the next level? Absinthe Films spent the winter exploring various states of preparedness.
Keeping it fresh with diversity and an infusion of new blood: Kevin Pearce, Jeremy Jones, Scotty Lago, Cale Zima and Keegan Valaika joined Gigi Rüf, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Romain de Marchi, Mikey LeBlanc and Nicolas Müller to concoct another Absinthe Films original. In a world where the digital format has taken over the industry, Absinthe remains committed to documenting these amazing riders with the most timeless and stylish medium: Film. Following up to last year’s question ‘Optimistic?’, Absinthe answers with a crew of riders who overcome obstacles with spontaneity and skill in another full spectrum snowboard film that is down to have some more fun with snowboarding. Ready.
Feb
25
OXM gives Stoked 7.5/10
Stoked recieved a very positive review in the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine. Our favorite quote: “Smokes that Shaun White game….and costs $20 less.”
Check out the online review HERE
Whatever snowboarding games have taught you to expect…don’t expect that from Stoked. That means no candy-colored snow, no adrenaline meters, and definitely no well-groomed runs jammed with jumps and rails. Stoked zeroes in on one thing: landing tricks in the backcountry. It comes off as a little too laser-focused and a lot too technical, but if you’re at all interested in snowboarding games, we guarantee it’ll impress you, too.
Our favorite feature took us a little while to notice: the weather. And thanks, but we’re not dopey enough to be excited about simply boarding through a blizzard. In Stoked, the five big mountains constantly change — one time you might plow through deep, plush powder, but if the sun’s been blazing for a bit, that same run might be mined with bare rock and dirt the next time you try it. You can even chopper back up to the summit (a painlessly quick process; there’s very little commuting here) and follow the path you carved on your last run…unless it’s snowing so hard that your trail got covered up.
So Stoked’s slopes are big, pretty, and damn cool to explore, but it’s the gameplay that matters, and here Stoked might lose some of you. The trick controls feel great, and working the controller to execute twists, flips, and slides feels natural pretty quickly. But the game is all about boarding to a certain spot and either beating a high score or landing a series of specific tricks. If you blow it, don’t expect mercy — success or surrender are your only options. The minimal in-game help (only grabs are detailed) and heavy use of jargon means you’d better know what a 50- 50 or a Switch Frontflip is…or you’ll be pausing to RTFM or Google your way to enlightenment.
Once you crest what can be a steep learning curve, you’ll start plowing through the dozens of challenges that dot every nook, but here’s where that “laser-focused” part might start chapping your hide. We found ourselves really wishing for a race, a boardercross, or even just a boring ol’ slalom to give us a breather from the tricks, tricks, and more tricks.
Fortunately, terrific multiplayer can be that break. Eight players meet up on the mountain and invite each other to events (including races!) that can be started anywhere. Our favorite: a cool competition called The Ground Is Lava, where the only way to keep your board from melting is by staying in the air.
We saved the best for last: Stoked is priced at a sweet, sweet $40. So even if a tricks-splosion isn’t your personal boarding nirvana, there’s enough great stuff in this game that you’d be crazy to not check it out.
Feb
19
Stoked Goes Gold!
Grab Your Gear and Hit the Mountain!
Destineer Announces ‘Stoked’ for Xbox 360 has Gone Gold!
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, February 18, 2009 – Get ready to ride! Destineer and developer Bongfish have announced that Stoked, the open-world, backcountry snowboarding video game exclusively for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, has gone gold and will be shipping on February 24. Developed in conjunction with world-renowned snowboarding movie creator Absinthe Films, Stoked offers five huge, open-world mountains, dynamic and changing weather patterns, the participation of X Games champion Travis Rice as well as some of the most respected names in the snowboarding community worldwide.
Feb
17
Game Informer Gives Scores 7.5/10
Another very positive review rolling in from Game Informer. Stoked scored a 7.5 and a 7.75 in a second opinion. Our favorite quotes: “Bongfish has taken steps in the right direction for setting the new standard for snowboard titles…and in the end, gives Shaun White a snowball to the face.”
Jan
03
Win an Xbox 360 & Stoked Game
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.
Head on over to Snowboard Mag to enter into this awesome giveaway.
Winter is winding down and summer is just around the corner. It’s a sad time of year to see all the snow melt away but have no fear, the Stay Stoked this Summer contest is here and one die-hard shredder will win the dream gaming set-up that will keep your snowboarding fix going all summer long.
Our friends at Destineer and Dakine have teamed up with SNOWBOARD Mag to give away an epic prize package worth over $600.
Dec
04
Stoked Coming in January!
Snowboarders & Thrill-Seekers Can Check Out Relaunched GettingStoked.com
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, December 2, 2008 – Snowboarding fans can now get stoked as Destineer and developer BongFish have announced that January 20, 2009 is the official launch date of Stoked, the open-world, backcountry snowboarding video game exclusively for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Stoked is developed by snowboarders, for snowboarders and offers five huge, open-world mountains, dynamic and changing weather patterns, the participation of X-Games champion Travis Rice as well as some of the most respected names in the snowboarding community worldwide.
“Thanks to the input from the gaming and snowboarding communities about what they would want in a video game, Stoked has really captured the wide-open thrill of backcountry snowboarding,” said Paul Rinde, CEO of Destineer. “We set out to create an authentic snowboard video game experience and Stoked is primed to deliver just that in January 2009.”
To truly capture the high-flying and exhilarating abandon and attitude of professional back-country boarding, Stoked was developed in conjunction with world famous snowboarding movie production house Absinthe Films, who has created some of the most progressive and cutting-edge snowboarding films to date.
For more information, please visit the newly updated Stoked website at gettingstoked.com to find the latest videos, images and news.
