News - Tuesday 28th February 2006 - 7:30pm
World's First Wireless Record Label Branching Out To Game Content With “Lil'Jon Crunk Golf,” “Pool Hall Hustle,” “Stackin' Bling,” And The Sexy “Hot Secretary”
NEW YORK
Lagardere Active North America (LANA) is bringing wireless to the next level of “bling” with the debut of BlingGames, entertaining finger play specifically created for cell phones. The games, like the hit ringtones produced by BlingTones, thoroughly incorporate hip-hop culture with one of the premier games, “Lil'Jon Crunk Golf,” featuring the superstar rapper/producer playing his own version of golf on New York City rooftops.
BlingGames are over the top and detailed in the graphics and artwork, and include bouncing beats that further enhance the player's experience. The games are easy to play, yet stimulating and fast-paced, having that the depth and quality that keeps gamers coming back for more. There is no violence in any of the games - the appeal lies in the bling style rooted in the content that makes the player feel like a “star.”
In Lil'Jon Crunk Golf, the player becomes the “crunk” man himself, whose goal is to whack the ball off the high-rise rooftops towards various targets through unprecedented means. Whether choosing to knock down billboards in the way of viewing the city or breaking windows to get a peep at the hot girl taking a shower, the player gets to have the fun of taking the game and making it his own.
“Hot Secretary” also involves role-playing, except this time the player is the head of a major rap company seeing how far his female assistant will go to get the job done. By keying in the matching letters, players can overload a chosen secretary with tasks such as stripping off her shirt. The high-quality visuals add to this fun game, catered to young men with a good sense of humor.
Cell phone gamers who are looking for a challenging game that allows for some practice in hustling will enjoy “Pool Hall Hustle.” With this game, players can bet on high-skill shots while being able to perform the spin effects of a real pool game. On some carriers an exciting real-time online multiplayer mode will be also available: gamers can play each other to a virtual pool duel. This mode also includes ranking features where scores can be uploaded and compared against all the other players.
This real-time multiplayer mode is also available on some carriers for “Stackin' Bling,” an addictive puzzle game that involves colorful, jeweled blocks – a blinged-out twist on the puzzle/action games of the past.
Behind the launch of BlingGames is a team of industry veterans composed by Nicolas Gaume, who previously founded Kalisto Entertainment at the age 19 in 1990. Kalisto, a video game development studio, produced more than 50 titles and best sellers for PC and consoles sold worldwide published by Electronic Arts, Sony, Namco, Activision, Konami and THQ among others. More recently, Nicolas spent three years at the development studios and management headquarters of Ubisoft.
Says Nicolas Gaume, “With BlingGames, we wanted to create fun games with a street soul … games that could make a difference with an addictive play experience and a style and attitude of their own.”
BlingGames will be available on most carriers by April. Log on to www.blingtones.net for more information.
BlingTones, as the world's first wireless record label, is a division of Lagardere Active North America (LANA), has uniquely expanded on the ringtone phenomenon. With some of the hip hop world's biggest stars on board (Lil'Jon, Q-Tip, Rock Wilder, Denuan Porter), original songs are produced specifically for cell phones, not snippets of songs as is found elsewhere. BlingTones also provides content for phone features including wallpaper, voice ringers, ringbacks, images, and video.
Lagardere Active North America (LANA), the U.S. branch of Lagardere Active Broadband (a leading content provider in Europe), launched in January of 2004 and creates branded content for cell phone subscribers. In addition to launching BlingTones, LANA also created BarrioMobile, a sister brand serving the Latin community with exclusive ringtones in popular Latin music genres and featuring many notable stars (Emilio Estefan, Tego Calderon, Pitbull, Don Dinero, Yerba Buena, Cuban Link). LANA has sold 6 million downloads in its first year.