Press Release
For Immediate Release
Toronto Game Developer, Zapdramatic Launches
Interactive Animated Adventure Series, Move or Die , on Sympatico/MSN
(Toronto, ON) – Wednesday, April 13, 2005 – Now you can learn and have fun at the same time! Toronto game developer, Zapdramatic, launches the first episode of its interactive animated adventure series, Move or Die , on Sympatico/MSN beginning this week. To play episode one of Move or Die , visit the “High Speed Zone” on Sympatico/MSN or log into http://platform.moveordie.sympatico.msn.ca .
Move or Die is the latest simulation game from Zapdramatic , a leader in the emerging field of serious games, which includes such genres as advergames, newsgames, political games, simulations and edutainment. The company is the brainchild of filmmaker, Michael Gibson , and Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution experts Allan Stitt ,
Frank Handy and Lisa Feld .
Serious games are starting to become serious business in the fast growing world of online entertainment and media. The genre first grabbed worldwide attention during last year's run-up to the US presidential election with the launch of the political game, “Howard Dean for Iowa”. Serious games tend to be popular with older males and with women , two of the fastest growing segments in the online game market. At Zap's member-supported Web site
( www.zapdramatic.com ), women currently account for more than 50 percent of registered users.
“Serious games are unique because they do more than entertain: they teach, change opinions and influence behaviour,” says Gibson, who has been busy developing this brand of game for the last four years. “They not only deliver messages but also simulate experience, which in turn can motivate people to take action in the real world.”
Zapdramatic games focus on building negotiation skills by immersing players in a simulated environment populated by difficult people. In Move or Die , users get to interact with Syd and Wilma , two ethically challenged twenty-something siblings traveling from Moncton to Montreal.
Each time Syd and Wilma encounter a problem players are invited to suggest the next best course of action . The characters respond with all sorts of selfish and irresponsible arguments. In order to bring the game to a successful conclusion, players must learn to negotiate with Syd and Wilma, thereby saving them from an untimely encounter with the deadly Karma bus.
Move or Die is the first of five new interactive projects to be featured on Sympatico/MSN , in the coming months. It was produced with the assistance of the Ontario Media Development Corporation's pl@tform Program , in partnership with the New Media Business Alliance and Sympatico/MSN.
Move or Die was written and animated by Michael Gibson and features the vocal talents of Jackie Burroughs, D. Garnet Harding and Jennifer Gould. The soundtrack is by JUNO-nominated recording artist, Danny Michel. The series won the Vortex Prize at last year's McLuhan International Festival of the Future.
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For more information, contact:
Julie Giles, Green Hat Communications
Tel: 416-762-5328 / E-mail: julie@green-hat.ca
Or visit our online pressroom at: http://www.zap.ca/about.htm#press
