Modnation Racers Press & Community Event – Breda – NL

BENELUX JOURNALISTS GET SNEAK PREVIEW OF LONG-AWAITED GAME

11 May 2010, Breda – On Tuesday, 11 May, Tons of game consoles, the smell of burning rubber and a fully-furnished ModNation Racers location were the main ingredients for the largest, long-awaited press event, featuring ModNation Racers, the latest arrival in the creative game genre! Journalists from every corner of the Netherlands and Belgium were the first to become acquainted with the game that will be released on Friday, 21 May for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. The spectacular press programme, specially designed for the imminent release, was divided into two parts: a challenging competition among eight of the largest game media in the Benelux and an informative afternoon programme for all the other media. Let the excitement begin!

At 9:30 a.m., Lot 66, one of Brabant’s most comprehensive entertainment centres, opened its doors to welcome the eight media parties from the Netherlands and Belgium for a real ModNation Racers competition. Each media party, consisting of two members of the editorial staff with two fanatic community members who were selected through various special actions, competed for the highly coveted grand prize: a unique ModNation Racers cup and one of the latest Sony Ericsson Xperi X10 smartphones. Ready… set… go!

Burning rubber and an overpowering smell of fuel awaited the 32 participants when they started on the real-life karting competition. In eight 15-minute heats, all of the participants had the chance to place their fastest lap. This resulted in exciting neck-and-neck races, in which every second counted, since the team with the average fastest lap was awarded the most points for this part.

After the intensive karting part, it was time for food and drink since 2 hours of non-stop karting can take its toll on the participants. In the meantime, the other media parties from the Netherlands and Belgium arrived at the venue. After a delicious lunch, all the invited guests were able to attend the presentation by developer William Ho, gamedesigner at United Front Games. He was flown in from Canada to give all the interested parties the necessary background information about the game and a live demonstration of everything the game has to offer. The guests listened with a sense of wonderment and surprise. But there was no time to lose since both the competition and the afternoon programme simply continued as scheduled…

While the eight media parties went to work with competitive split-screen races in an incredible mini theatre with full HD, the rest of the media group could continue with challenging kart races, one-on-one interviews with developer William Ho, game testing and placement of the fastest in-game lap. The kart circuit at Lot 66 had been rebuilt specially for the occasion! The contestant who placed the fastest lap at the end of the day went home with a PSPgo!

The last part of the competition was based on one of the most important USPs of the game: designing your own racetrack. Each media party was given 45 minutes to create a track that was judged by no one other than William Ho. After 1,5 hours, he went to work with each circuit to judge the creation that played the best and contained the most challenges! After awarding the figures, the last part of the competition was complete… the other journalists had now by finished karting, had talked with the developer and played the game through and through. It was time for the final scoring, followed by the awards ceremony…

After awarding third place (Insidegamer from the Netherlands) and second place (9Lives from Belgium), the winner of the competition for the PSPgo and ModNation Racers PS3 collection was announced. But then… drum roll… it was time for the number 1. Ultimately, the kind folks of Power Unlimited – the biggest gaming magazine from the Benelux – went home with the grand prize. Congratulations, guys!

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