Hello again! Alexey Menshikov (Beatshapers) and Andriy Sharanevych (Orb Games) here. We are super excited to announce that long-awaited StarDrone Extreme for PlayStation Vita will be released today.

For those of you not familiar with what StarDrone Extreme is about, here’s a brief: you pilot the always-in-motion spaceship through diverse cosmic environments in order to beat each of the game’s 60 levels’ goals. Goals can range from getting to the end of the level, to destroying all enemies, to collecting certain items.

Each level starts by aiming and shooting yourself into the outer space from a cannon. Your spaceship is always in motion from this point on, and it’s your job to attach to nearby gravity beacons to navigate your flight path. While tethered to a beacon, you can swing and attempt to circle the beacon until you release and slingshot yourself further. This core mechanic allowed us to bring together elements of shoot ‘em up, pinball, collecting objects and exploration in one game that has no counterpart anywhere in the world.

The game controls are very intuitive and clear – you just pin the desired beacon with your finger, then release it, and physics does the rest. And you can also switch to using rear touch panel, if you like. We have two modes for rear touch panel controls. One is similar to using the touch screen, and another one uses the whole rear touch panel as a single button. In the latter case, when you tap somewhere, the game executes a special prediction algorithm to automatically select the beacon most likely aimed by you.

For StarDrone Extreme we’ve created a bunch of brand-new exclusive levels. In addition, we’ve fine-tuned and revamped levels from the PS3 version of the game according to players’ feedback. The PlayStation Vita version has all-new UI and improved visuals. Other cool features include: adjustable skill setting, so the game is not that punishing when you make mistakes; ability to skip current level when you get stuck; and a lot of other things we’ve polished and improved.

Also, the critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 version of StarDrone is being updated to introduce Cross Play, allowing you to save and resume your current progress between the two platforms.

StarDrone was released on PlayStation 3 about a year ago, featuring PS Move motion controller support. The updated game also includes brand-new levels, new tutorial levels and two new music tracks, while the PS Vita version fully supports the custom background music feature.

Finally, here are some reviews of the PlayStation 3 version:

Eurogamer – 8/10
The Sixth Axis – 8/10
Push Square – 3/4
Terminal Gamer – 8/10

Stardrone for PS Vita is available from today, priced at €3.99/£3.19. You can get more information on http://www.stardrone.net/.

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This is Alexey Menshikov (Beatshapers) and Andriy Sharanevych (TastyPlay). We are excited to introduce StarDrone, a game designed with a perfect blend of high-speed physics and pinball action, with strategic elements of break-out and object collection. From a top-down perspective, you pilot the spacecraft across the galaxy, collecting pieces of Equilibrix in order to restore the balance of the universe and stop the expansion of evil G-Noids. To add to the challenging gameplay, your spacecraft is always in motion and you don’t have any direct control over it, only a grapple-hook which you can use to push and pull your craft into the orbit of specific nodes located all over the game field.

Cause your attackers to crash with rapid speed while collecting gems and power-up enhancements. Overcome perilous hazards and elude zillions of enemies in an effort to complete each stage with a record score. With simple gesture controls and unique, intuitive gameplay mechanics, StarDrone is friendly to beginners, at the same time challenging enough to bring you back for more and more.

The game is created for PlayStation Move motion controller, but it plays well on both the DualShock 3 and PlayStation Move controllers. However, Sony’s motion controller is the more precise method of control, where you are pointing at specific node with an on-screen cursor and pressing the Move button to hook onto it.

With 50+ levels of gameplay (each has own leaderboards with friends filter) and global scoreboards, you can engage in intergalactic battles with people from all over the world, and the 3D-TV support coming via upcoming game update gives StarDrone a level of realism not found in other titles.

StarDrone is available now from the European PlayStation Stores for £6.29. PlayStation Plus subscribers can purchase the game at 50% discount.

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Hi there! This is Alexey Menshikov, I’m Founder and CEO of Beatshapers, a Ukraine based video games developer and digital download publishing company.

This is my first Blog entry, so here is a brief introduction: I’ve started my carrier 12 years ago as audio designer, worked on many games like Carnivores series, Vivisector, Cryostasis, EA’s Black, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and more.

Recently, me and our key team members were responsible for IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Pray for PSP platform, MelodyBloxx (this year IGF Mobile “Honorable mention” awarded), Rhythm of War PSP (IGF Mobile 2009 finalist) and BreakQuest, another PSP minis game which we’ve developed and published around the PSPgo launch.

So what is all this about? NormalTanks is a really old school fast-paced multi-directional top-down arcade shooter in a sci-fi tank universe.

Reminiscent of games from the 8-bit era, NormalTanks features a better look and feel but still retains a classic alone-saves-the-universe gameplay.
(more…)

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