Ultizen Games Announces Release of Crazy Mouse Xbox LIVE Arcade Game

SHANGHAI, China & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ultizen Games Ltd., a game development and outsourcing company, announced today that its Xbox LIVE® Arcade (XBLA) title, Crazy Mouse, will be released tomorrow, October 15, 2008. The first XBLA game developed by a China-based game studio, the Crazy Mouse release will take place during the Chinese “Year of the Mouse.”

In this 32-level game, the player guides a mouse—a gastronomist (a connoisseur of fine food) —through a vibrantly-colored maze, attempting to grab and eat food, run, dodge and score, depending on the level. On a trip seeking the legendary gourmet, the player meets many challenges and battles against his opponents until he finally enters the place where the gourmet is found. To win the game, the player must overcome the gourmet’s guards to find out who the gourmet is.

Single players can play in two modes, each offering a fun, goal-oriented experience. In Story Mode, the player is placed in sequential puzzles to try and earn more points than an opponent, earning a score and rank on each puzzle. In Battle Mode, the player competes against a number of mice to see who can score the most points in the shortest amount of time.

Crazy Mouse can also be played in Multiplayer mode for ultimate party fun. Play with three friends locally or over Xbox LIVE, competing in the same maze for the highest score. Players can work in collaboration or competition, enjoying all the fun, challenges and excitement of a multiplayer game.

“We are thrilled about the launch of Crazy Mouse, the first Xbox LIVE Arcade title developed at the Chengdu Incubation Center,” said Andrew Flavell, general manager of Microsoft Game Studio Asia. “Microsoft takes great pride in working with and supporting the local software industry and the success of Crazy Mouse further demonstrates how working together can deliver amazing wins for Microsoft, Ultizen and China’s games software ecosystem.”

“Ultizen Games is extremely proud to release this game to the Xbox LIVE community of gamers,” said Lan Haiwen, CEO, Ultizen Games. “Being the first China-based gaming company to develop an Xbox LIVE Arcade game is a tremendous accomplishment for our company as well as the gaming development industry in China.”

Crazy Mouse is one of the first projects incubated in the Chengdu Incubation Center (CDIC). The CDIC was established in September 2006 as a strategic initiative between Microsoft and the Sichuan Culture Bureau, the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and Sichuan Huachuang Tianfu company to incubate game development projects for the Xbox platform.

Dou Weiping, Deputy Director General of the Sichuan Culture Bureau said, “I am very proud of Crazy Mouse, the first IPed Xbox LIVE game ‘born’ in Chengdu. We hope that this milestone success of CDIC will attract more game development companies and talent to come to CDIC, working together to build Chengdu into a regional hub of digital entertainment.”

Crazy Mouse comes with 12 Achievements—including Ultimate Gastronomist, Chomp Champion, Chubby Mouse and World Food Party!—which allow players to earn a total of 200 Gamerscore points. Achievements range from easy to extremely challenging, offering fun for players of all levels. With easy-to-use controls and a vivid and appealing graphic style, Crazy Mouse from Ultizen is the ultimate Xbox LIVE Arcade game choice for fun with family and friends.

Crazy Mouse will be launched worldwide wherever Xbox LIVE is available, and has been localized into the English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese languages. Regions for which the native language is not available will default to English. Once available, more information on Crazy Mouse can be found at http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/livearcadexbox360/ in the US and www.xbox.com in other locations where Crazy Mouse is available.

About Ultizen Games

Ultizen Games Ltd. is a Shanghai-based game developer and game development outsourcer for North American, European and Japanese companies, and the creator of the U-Pal casual game platform for the Chinese market. The company was founded in 2005 by a group of industry experts from Ubi Soft China, Shanda and The 9. Ultizen Games’ 350-person studio provides game development services including game design, porting, programming and art. The company maintains studios in Shanghai and Beijing, China and opened an office in Los Angeles in the fall of 2007. For more information, please visit www.ultizen.com.

About Xbox LIVE

Xbox LIVE is the first and most comprehensive unified online entertainment network seamlessly integrated throughout the entire console experience, making it easy for people to find the friends, games and entertainment they want from the moment they power on their Xbox 360 system. Xbox LIVE connects more than 14 million members across 26 countries to enjoy hundreds of multiplayer games, downloadable games via Xbox LIVE Arcade, free and premium playable game demos, music videos, TV shows and movies in the United States as well as new game levels, characters and vehicles for all their favorite retail games. More information can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/en-us/live.

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