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Eugene, OR (PRWEB) January 26, 2006

GarageGames, the leading publishing label for independent games and professional game makers, is pleased to announce the launch of Marble Blast Ultra on Xbox 360 Live? Arcade.

?Multiplayer functionality and HD graphics represent an amazing evolution in the Marble Blast franchise, and unveiling Marble Blast Ultra alongside the launch of Xbox 360 is a historic moment for GarageGames and independent game developers,? said Mark Frohnmayer, President of GarageGames. ?We hope Xbox 360 users have as much fun playing Marble Blast Ultra as we have.?

Marble Blast Ultra is the latest in the classic Marble Blast series. It is an online multiplayer arcade action masterpiece that is suitable for players of any age. The game takes place in a futuristic ‘astrolabe’ arena suspended high in the clouds, where players compete with each other by navigating their marbles through moving platforms and dangerous hazards, collecting rare gems and power up enhancements, all in an effort to complete each course in record time. Adding to the fun and excitement, players may compete with up to seven opponents in ultra blast multiplayer mode, where the race to collect gems combines with full on marble bashing to see who ultimately wins all the marbles.

?We are thrilled that Marble Blast Ultra is now available on Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360?, said Ross Erickson, Games Portfolio Manager for Xbox Live Arcade. ?This enhanced version of Marble Blast represents a quantum leap forward in graphical fidelity and gameplay fun over the original Marble Blast. GarageGames has done a fantastic job of taking advantage of the unique technologies in Xbox 360, creating a great single-player and multi-player experience for Xbox Live Arcade.?

“Marble Blast Ultra has an extremely high fun-factor and a high level of visual polish that we were able to achieve in a relatively short timeframe using our Torque engine technology,” commented Jay Moore, GarageGames and Torque Evangelist. “The Torque Shader Engine allowed us to quickly and easily take advantage of the extensive graphical capabilities of the Xbox 360, while our award-winning netcode delivers high quality and fast-paced Live! play, while maintaining rock solid performance.”

The Torque Shader Engine for Xbox 360? video game and entertainment system from Microsoft enriches the game through the use of its graphical features – marbles reflect the world using dynamic cube maps and power-ups glow using the glow shader. Marble Blast Ultra is a visual feast of refractive glass, vividly colored tile, reflective metal, and glowing checkpoints set within a multi-layered, animated sky.

The demo is available for free directly on the revolutionary Xbox 360 Live? Arcade service, which allows for delivery of a wide variety of smaller scale, unique titles that quickly deliver a healthy dose of fun. The full version is available for only 800 points.

About GarageGames:

GarageGames’ mission is to change the way games are made and played. GarageGames provides the technology, community and market to empower game makers to build commercial quality multiplatform games. GarageGames is located in Eugene, Oregon and on the web at http://www.garagegames.com and is the annual presenter of IndieGamesCon.

Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

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Find More Xbox Press Releases

Eugene, OR (PRWEB) August 4, 2004

GarageGames announced today that they are bringing the power of Torque-created games to Xbox over the Xbox Live service, and have agreed to bring Marble Blast and other titles online via the soon to be released Xbox Live Arcade. Marble Blast is an arcade-style action game where players race against time as they navigate their marbles through moving platforms and dangerous hazards, collecting treasure along the way.

?Bringing Marble Blast to Xbox Live Arcade is a natural for the game and the players it appeals to,? comments Jeff Tunnell, President of GarageGames. ?This lays the foundation for full Xbox platform support in Torque and expands the opportunities for high quality independent games.?

Launching this Fall, Xbox Live Arcade is a new online experience that brings broad-appeal, casual games directly to your Xbox console over the Xbox Live service. Casual gamers can now play classic favorites, arcade, puzzle, trivia, card, board and other games on their television with the added social features of Xbox Live, including multiplayer game-play (in supported games), high-score upload and voice chat, which enables gamers to talk to each other via a standard headset. Xbox Live Arcade games like Marble Blast are easy to buy and easy to start playing quickly.

The Torque Game Engine (TGE) is renowned for its multi-platform PC support and award winning net-code. The TGE brings the power of a commercial quality multi-platform game engine to independent game developers at an affordable price.

Partnering with Oberon Media, GarageGames has agreed to bring Marble Blast and three other, currently undisclosed, games to Xbox Live Arcade. Marble Blast Gold is available at http://www.garagegames/marbleblast on OS X, Linux and Windows for $ 19.95.

About Torque Game Engine:

The Torque Game Engine is a cross platform commercial quality AAA game engine with seamless indoor / outdoor rendering engine, state of the art skeletal animation, drag and drop GUI creation and a built-in world editor. TGE also features the latest in scripting, geometry, particle effects, exhaustive documentation and award-winning multiplayer networking code. TGE started life as the technology behind Dynamix’s Tribes series and is currently being used by thousands of developers around the world to make innovative games such as Marble Blast, Orbz and Think-Tanks.

About GarageGames®:

GarageGames’ mission is to change the way games are made and played. GarageGames provides the technology, community and market to empower game-makers to build commercial quality multi-platform games. Known for bringing the no royalty, publish anywhere Torque Game Engine to independent developers for $ 100. Located in Eugene, Oregon, GarageGames (http://www.garagegames.com) is the presenter of the annual IndieGamesCon.

©2004 GarageGames.com, Inc. Marble Blast, Torque and Torque Game Engine are the trademarks of GarageGames.com Inc. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Live, the Live Logo, and the Xbox logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

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More Xbox Press Releases

Eugene, OR (PRWEB) May 10, 2005

GarageGames today announced that Marble Blast is available for download on Xbox® Live Arcade (XBLA), a new social experience that brings popular retro classics and broad appeal games directly to your Xbox® video game system over the Xbox Live? service.

In Marble Blast, a fast-paced arcade-style action game, players race against time as they navigate marbles through moving platforms and dangerous hazards, collecting treasure along the way.

For the Xbox version, GarageGames has cranked up the cartoon look to the max drenching the visually rich landscape by fully exploiting bump mapping, specular lighting and stencil shadows. Optimized to work on the Xbox controller there are nine challenging new levels, 12 craftily hidden Easter eggs, along with Xbox Live Arcade leader board high scores that take full advantage of the all new scoring system with ever elusive gold times.

?Getting to leverage the graphics capabilities of Xbox lets us demonstrate some of the power of Torque on a console,? says Pat Wilson, GarageGames Lead Programmer on XBLA Marble Blast. ?Torque is an extremely solid platform to develop on, so we could focus on fine-tuning the fun of Marble Blast on Xbox Live Arcade.?

?Players looking for a quick action hit are definitely going to find it with this next-gen marble racing game, and they can easily download it directly on Xbox Live Arcade,? says Jay Moore, Evangelist for GarageGames. ?Beginning with ?Learning to Roll? all the way to ?Schadenfreude,? the only level with a difficulty rating of 11, Marble Blast provides a serious challenge to any gamer?s skills.?

The Xbox Live Arcade disc is free ($ 4.99 U.S./$ 7.99 Canadian for shipping and handling.) Microsoft will send the disc to enable your Xbox console to play free trials of the games, including Marble Blast. The full version of Marble Blast is available by download for only $ 19.99. More information about Xbox Live Arcade can be found at http://www.xbox.com/livearcade.

About Marble Blast:

Marble Blast is an arcade action game with simple yet addictive gameplay, suitable for players of any age. In the rich cartoon landscape of Marble Blast, players will race their marbles through moving platforms, dangerous hazards, sparkling treasures and power up enhancements in an effort to complete each course in record time. The hazards players will face in Marble Blast include powerful fans, whirling tornados, land mines, pinball-style bumpers, narrow catwalks, moving pistons, dizzying chasms, and more.

About Xbox Live

Now in its third generation of transforming and uniting Xbox game communities, with more than 300 games planned by end of holiday 2005 and now with presence in 24 countries worldwide, Xbox Live has set the bar for online games entertainment. As the first global, unified online console games service, Xbox Live continues to take online gameplay and entertainment to unprecedented heights. With a rapidly growing global community, Xbox Live offers best-in-class games, intelligent matchmaking, tournaments, unique programming and integration with Xbox.com ? there is simply nothing else like it. The service continues to provide more and more ways for members to meet, interact and stay engaged with each other.

About Torque Game Engine:

The Torque Game Engine is a cross platform commercial quality AAA game engine with seamless indoor / outdoor rendering engine, state of the art skeletal animation, drag and drop GUI creation and a built-in world editor. TGE also features the latest in scripting, geometry, particle effects, exhaustive documentation and award-winning multiplayer networking code. TGE started life as the technology behind Dynamix’s Tribes series and is currently being used by thousands of developers around the world to make innovative games such as Marble Blast, Orbz and ThinkTanks.

About GarageGame:

GarageGames mission is to change the way games are made and played. GarageGames provides the technology, community and market to empower game makers to build commercial quality multiplatform games. Known for bringing the Torque Game Engine to independent developers for $ 100, GarageGames is located in Eugene, Oregon and on the web at http://www.garagegames.com and is the annual presenter of IndieGamesCon (Oct. 7-9, 2005).

©2005 GarageGames.com, Inc. Marble Blast, Torque and Torque Game Engine are the trademarks of GarageGames.com Inc. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Live, the Live Logo, and the Xbox logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

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