HONG KONG, Nov. 17, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Hong Kong-based Artificial Life, Inc. (Pink Sheets:ALIF), a leading provider of award-winning mobile technology and applications, today announced the release of its first massive multi-user 3G mobile game called "Virtual Penguins."
The new game is based on the life and fate of the popular Emperor Penguins. The game simulates the difficult live cycles these penguins endure on the Antarctic ice and establishes a massive multi-user mobile virtual community. It is custom built for 3G phones. However, a single player version will also be released. The game is offered in high resolution 3D animation technology.
Players of the game take on the role of individual penguins. They have to go through several cycles of breeding and feeding their offspring. Players first have to find a mate (a second player) and then jointly the two players need to care for the egg that the female penguin will lay. Next they must protect the egg until it hatches and then they must nurture the newborn penguin chick until it is mature enough to survive on its own. In order to succeed the players must co-operate to keep the newborn chick alive through the different and increasingly more difficult game cycles by fighting off predators and surviving the severe weather conditions and other hazards. While one player is protecting their newborn, the other must walk through the ice to the open ocean in order to catch and bring back food for the parent that is protecting the chick. Players can increase their survival chances by building virtual penguin families that co-operate to help one another survive. As part of the game players also need to master a virtual penguin language which enables them to communicate with the other penguins and also helps them to recognize their other family members.
The new game runs on an extended version of Artificial Life's Distributed Smart Engine Mobile Platform(tm) and uses a J2ME Java client technology. Players can interact with a potentially unlimited number of concurrent users.
The new game is scheduled for release in December 2005.
"Our penguin gives people the opportunity to play an appealing and entertaining multi-player game on their 3G phones. We have again come up with some very innovative content, technologies and interactions and new ways to explore the technical features of the expanding 3G community. The future for mobile entertainment and gaming lies in these types of sophisticated massive multi-player games, much like it is currently for online games. These types of games are what 3G mobile carriers need to attract customers," said Eberhard Schoeneburg, CEO of Artificial Life, Inc.
About Artificial Life, Inc.
Artificial Life, Inc. (Pink Sheets:ALIF) is a public U.S. corporation headquartered in Hong Kong and a leading global provider of award winning mobile technology, content, games and applications (see also www.artificial-life.com; www.v-girl.com; www.v-disco.com; www.botme.com).
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Artificial Life, Inc.'s business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the "Risk Factors" described in the company's Annual Report or Forms 10-K, 10-K(SB) or 10-Q(SB) for the recent fiscal years. All information set forth in this press release is as of November 17, 2005 and Artificial Life, Inc. undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.