Well then you might be interested in our Beta tester program! Beside our professional tester crew, redspotgames would like give 5 shootem up fans the possibility to bring their feedback into the final development of Sturmwind. So we get both constructive feedback from potential customers, and we can improve it the way the fans want it.

For the final stages of development, redspotgames is looking for Beta testers who can test several different versions of the game within the next 4 to 6 weeks. Testers must be able to play for 2 to 4 hours a day, and provide us with constructive feedback. Feedback must be precise and provided on a regular basis. Your reward is having your name in the final credit for the games and in the manual. In addition you will receive a free copy of Sturmwind when it is released, in addition to playing it before anyone else!

This will mark the third fan related event from redspotgames within a short time. Previously the Munich based indie publisher provided fans with the chance to sponsor Formula BMW Talent Cup driver Lassi Halminen. In addition we have also handed out free Rush Rush Rally Racing posters (available on WiiWare). redspotgames hopes to continue involving their fans in future productions and events.

Sturmwind is heading to Dreamcast on 11-11-11 worldwide and can be preordered at www.redspotgames.com/shop

Interested? Contact us via our form!

The 16 year old Finn from Kangasala is one of 13 participants at this year‘s Formula BMW Talent Cup, a motorsport series that focus on the education and training of race drivers who come from karting and are between 13 and 18 years. Other motorsport stars like Sebastian Vettel, Bruno Senna or Sébastien Buemi once attended at the Formula BMW series and made their first large steps in professional racing here. The series also provides mental and fitness training by professionals who already trained Formula 1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton or even Olympia Gold Metal winners in different disciplines.

The „fan sponsoring“ is limited to the final event of Oschersleben (Germany) on September 15th to 18th, where they drive in the supporting program of the DTM („Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters“). The race will be streamed live on www.formula-bmw.com and about 60.000 fans are awaited for this event. HAL Racing will not charge 10.000 EUR, not 1.000 EUR, but only 50 EUR per text! Professional motorsport sponsoring has never been so easy and inexpensive! And the best: Every 10th order will get their text for absolutely free!

Since Lassi Halminen became one of the best Formula BMW Talent Cup drivers in this season, he has a realistic chance to win both the race in Oschersleben and a sponsored year in the Formula 3 ATS cup in 2012 as the prize of his eventually success here.

If you are interested or need further details, directly contact redspotgames at sponsoring@redspotgames.com – you can pay via both, PayPal or on an European Bank account (transfer within Europe with no extra charge). Please be aware that other names will appear on this area as well. redspotgames will not gain any financial profit out of this „fan sponsoring“ fee.

redspotgames already sponsors Lassi Halminen since the early 2011 Formula BMW Talent Cup season. As a hardcore videogame fan, Lassi already got his hands on Rush Rush Rally Racing for Nintendo WiiWare, which is about to be released very soon.

redspotgames sponsored driver Lassi Halminen of HAL Racing was excited. “That’s my first visit to Magny-Cours. Usually I cope with technical tracks better than with high-speed circuits like this. Yet I really like this place. Very characteristic and well-known for it’s high-speed chicanes.”

After a practice day on Monday with heavy rain showers, the two hot and sunny qualifying sessions on Tuesday gave insights into the balance of power on this specific track. After Stefan Wackerbauer and Max Günther (both from Germany), Finland’s Lassi Halminen became third not too far behind.

Those results also marked the start position of the two Heat sessions under real race conditions the same day.

The first three positions saw no changes and therefore Lassi finished third! “Indeed it’s pretty hard to overtake in Magny-Cours” the 15 year old Finn explained. Therefore only a few place changes could be seen. The first Heat saw no surprise except a crash by Kevin Jörg that made it impossible for the Swiss driver to start in Heat 2 due to the damage. But luckily he was not injured.

Nevertheless the remaining drivers started very concentrated and with more self-confidence in Heat 2: Max Günther (second on grid) overtook Stefan Wackerbauer on Pole Position right after the start and Lassi Halminen was almost there to catch him as well. Unfortunately both struggled a bit with their cars and Stefan Wackerbauer could overtake Max Günther again. Meanwhile, Lassi Halminen came closer and closer to the tail of Max Günther’s car and started a few tries to overtake him to gather second place. “Unfortunately I had problems changing the gears in the very last corner, else I could have caught him”, Lassi said after the race. The difference between Lassi and second place was only 0.451 seconds! What a close one.

In the official overall results, Lassi brought thrid place home and deserved a podium. redspotgames is pretty proud to see that he would have made it to the next level of “Rush Rush Rally Racing”… and his great performance in Magny-Cours of course!

The 2011 Formula BMW Talent Cup season will see four more events:

• 5th – 7th August 2011: Monteblanco, Spain
• 20th – 21st August 2011: Silverstone, United Kingdom (Fitness retest only)
• 26th – 28th August 2011: Portimão, Portugal
• 15th – 18th September 2011: Oschersleben, Germany (supporting program for DTM race)

redspotgames will post results of both the qualifyings and the races live on their Twitter and Facebook pages, among with photos and videos of the events.

“Rush Rush Rally Racing” will be released within the next couple of weeks for Nintendo WiiWare in Europe and North America. Lassi is looking forward to the release as well!

BMW Motorsports was so kind and gave the Formula BMW Talent Cup participants the chance to visit the prestigious 24 h of the Nürburgring Nordschleife this year. Here Lassi met key persons of the sport such as the BMW works driver Dirk Adorf or BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen. And got one or another tip how he could beat the opponents in both the Formula BMW Talent Cup and ‚Rush Rush Rally Racing‘.

Speaking about it: ‚Rush Rush Rally Racing‘ is in the final straight to the finish line and will pass the finish line a.k.a. the release soon. The European release for Nintendo WiiWare will be in July 2011. The release dates in North America and Japan are still to be announced.

By the way, the race was won by Manthey Racing in a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR but followed by the BMW Motorsport BMW M3 GT. It was a close one. Lassi‘s goosebumps were the proof of it. Or maybe he just was scared by the jokes of Mario Barth, famous German comediant of the new age, who he met in the BMW motorhome.

It’s also a quite important topic to our customers, since we are currently in development of “Rush Rush Rally Racing” for PlayStation minis – and wanted to launch it within the PlayStation Network. A release was scheduled for 2011.

But is there still confidence in Sony’s services and is there still a demand for new games on this network?

Today we decided that the game’s future on the platform should rest in the hands of its fans via Online Survey. Should an enormous amount of users vote against the PlayStation Network, a cancellation is likely.

Our related press release, gives you an overview about the situation:

PlayStation Network leak: Fans will decide on cancellation of Rush Rush Rally Racing for PlayStation minis.

Among all participants, three redspotgames keychains and three copies of Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles for Sega Dreamcast will be given out as prizes.

Even though this event was meant to present Retro games only, there has been a world premiere of something unreleased yet: The folks there were able to play a one level demo of Sturmwind for Dreamcast with their own hands!

No wonder so many YouTube videos of different people showed up, because many people wanted to share their opinion on the upcoming redspotgames and Duranik title.

We have collected some material and would like to show you some. So maybe you can also build your own opinion, even though you haven’t play it… yet!



”Solar Struggle Survival” is a spin-off in the series, and is the latest title by Z-Software and redspotgames. It offers an even gloomier setting and more arcade game elements compared to the original “Solar Struggle”. Furthermore ships can level up through experience points (XP), while weapons and shields can be upgraded with credits or power-ups.



The game is available for the lowest price on Xbox 
LIVE® Indie Games. Only 80 Microsoft Points (less than 1 Euro / £0.69 / 
US$1.00). This will allow the game to reach as many gamers as possible. 

You can find the game on the Xbox 360 Dashboard -> “Games Marketplace” -> “Games & Demo” -> “Indie Games” -> “Titles A-Z” -> “S”

By now, the game has already opened two new possibilities to both gamers and hobby coders:




Fan involvement

”Solar Struggle Survival” has been designed as a project with input from fans. Not only have gamers answered the invitation to offer voice recordings, but the resulting community has contributed their wishes and suggestion 
for improvements in the game. 


While in the test phase, an involved member of the Indie Games scene made a fan video about “Solar Struggle Survival”. We appreciate all 
the warm feedback, and would like to thank this member for his work.
So much so, that we have made it our official trailer for “Solar Struggle Survival”. It can currently be viewed on YouTube.






Insights in the development


The title has been realized with the free development kit “XNA” by 
Microsoft and is one of the most graphically impressive titles for Xbox 
LIVE® Indie Games. Z-Software and redspotgames would like to convince as 
many developers outside the XNA scene as possible to use these great 
development tools and motivate them to create fan projects. 

Referring to this, within the next weeks, insights into the 
programming of “Solar Struggle Survival” will be presented, including an 
introduction for newbies into XNA programming.






Additionally a summary of the features:

• 3 unlockable ships with different difficult levels
• Level-up through experience points possible
• Different weapons, e.g. laser, rockets and mines
• 4 different powerups
• 14 waves with different bosses
• 10 different types of enemies
• Highscore lists
• Awards like Xbox 360® Achievements

.

In the past, the community has reached out to developers like G.Rev to voice the desire for new Dreamcast titles, and the staff have even been invited to the Tokyo offices of Sega of Japan and Milestone Inc. The latter of which would release the final official Dreamcast game ‚Karous‘ in 2008.

Munich-based Dreamcast independent publisher redspotgames have teamed up with Dreamcast Scene to bring the website back to life thanks to their help with public relations and infrastructure services concerning the server. Recently they have revealed ‚Solar Struggle Survival‘ for Xbox LIVE Indie Games and ‚Sturmwind‘ for Sega Dreamcast.

„This has been a project of the heart“, Max Scharl from redspotgames said „and had been accomplished by an international crew from North America, several European countries, and even Pakistan including the community who can participate.“

„We are grateful that we can present an exclusive feature on the first day after relaunch about how to get online with Dreamcast in 2010 and play Phantasy Star Online again“, Chris Radke, site developer of Dreamcast Scene added „hopefully many people find their way back to Pioneer 2 and participate in battles like in the glorious old days.“

Even with such a large Dreamcast database, there is still quite a bit of work to do. „Not all work is done yet, but soon we are going to have all articles back with major updates along with one of the largest download archives for all free and legal Dreamcast software“, Dr. Bilal Zia, Editor of Dreamcast Scene, promised.

Dreamcast Scene can be visited at www.dreamcast-scene.com and is also available at Facebook (www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=125637697466265), Twitter (www.twitter.com/#!/dreamcastscene) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/dreamcastscene).

In the show, redspotgames CEO Max Scharl presented the game to the public for the first time with exclusive gameplay footage. It is currently slated to be released in Q2 2011. “Sturmwind” is a classic shoot ‘em up with 2D gameplay, powered by a hybrid 2D/3D engine.

Players fight over 20 boss enemies in 16 levels. In addition to the so-called “Award Trophy System” which ensures long- term motivation through unlockable content, there will also be an internet highscore list in which players can compete against each other worldwide.

• 16 levels
• 3 selectable difficulty levels
• configurable controls
• adjustable screen position
• varied choice of weapons
• More than 20 large boss enemies
• Hundreds of different enemies
• FMV intro sequence
• Hybrid 2d/3d game engine
• Resolution of 640×480 pixels
• PAL50, PAL60, NTSC and VGA (with Adapter) compatible
• Region free
• Works with any MIL-CD compatible Dreamcast
• CDDA Sound
• Supports: Gamepad, Arcade Stick (Analog/Digital), VMU, Rumble Pack (configurable)
• Internet WEBcode Hiscore Tables
• Award Trophy System with unlockable content

Pre-orders have been made available in the redspotgames online shop in conjunction with this announcement. The standard edition of the game can be pre-ordered for 35,49 EUR (US$ 46.00 / 29.50 GBP). Payment before release is not required.

Further information such as a screenshot gallery, a presentation trailer or details about the package will be released over the next few weeks.

Links:

Interview and “Sturmwind” presentation on “neues”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-XRNuVFKiE
Gameplay scenes of “Sturmwird” while studio preperations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj2y90WzH-M

Preorder at the redspotgames online shop:
http://www.redspotgames.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=19

redspotgames product website: http://www.redspotgames.com/sturmwind
Duranik product website: http://sturmwind.duranik.com/

redspotgames on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/redspotgames
redspotgames on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/redspotgames/210719714872
redspotgames on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redspotgames/

Since he finally got home safely just a few minutes ago from days of freezing cold weather and highway traffic jams, we are relieved to finally reveal this piece of information.

Max was interviewed by the well-known German TV show “neues“, which offers a mixture of computer science and videogame journalism. For over 30 years they have been broadcasting on 3sat (German-Austrian-Swiss cooperation broadcaster) and ZDF (second largest TV station in Germany) covering the latest gadgets, trends, and net politics.

The upcoming show theme is “Underdogs” and covers the stories of Apple, Hewlett-Packard and… you guessed right… redspotgames! At least with a small interview. In the first part of the show, there will be a chat with redspotgames CEO Max where he will exclusively reveal the latest upcoming game from redspotgames!

That’s right: A new title published by redspotgames will be announced in the show “neues” tomorrow, December 5th 2010, on 3sat. The show starts at 4:25 h CET. A rerun of this episode will be presented on ZDF sometime next week. We will keep you informed about the exact rerun time.

If you can’t receive 3sat or ZDF, you can try the so-called Mediathek by the public-law German TV broadcasters, or the Podcast. Both should be available late Sunday evening (CET). If you can’t catch that date either, we will upload it as soon as possible to our YouTube account.

Have fun watching and we hope it was worth the buzz. And by the way… here are some photos from the studios in advance:

Vor Ort wird unser aktuellstes Spiel, Solar Struggle für Xbox LIVE Indie Games, präsentiert und dazu Werbematerialien verteilt. Neben Anekdoten der Entwicklung wird es zusätzlich die Möglichkeit geben, Merchandise-Material abzugreifen.

Die Kinect-Tour in München findet bis zum Samstag, den 13.11.2010 ab 10 Uhr in den Riem Arcaden (U-Bahnstation “Messestadt West”) statt.

Zusätzlich wird redspotgames am Samstag, den 16. Oktober, ab 21:00 Uhr im “Kleinen Konzertsaal” mit Gästen einen Vortrag und Podiumsdiskussion zu den Themen Chiptunes und Demoszene abhalten.

Das Programm kann hier als PDF oder auf der offiziellen Website www.digitalanalog.org abgerufen werden.

Zusammenfassung: digitalanalog 8 – Festival der elektronischen Musik am 15. und 16. Oktober; Vortrag “Chiptunes und Demoszene” im Kleinen Konzertsaal ab 21:00 Uhr, am Samstag, den 16. Oktober 2010.

Wie wir bereits zum Start des Oktoberfests berichtet haben, gibt es eine Besonderheit auf der Theresienwiese, auf der die Wiesn stattfindet: Werft ihr die Postkarten noch vor Ort in einen Postkasten, erhalten diese einen speziellen und limitierten Poststempel von der Deutschen Post! Wenn ihr die Sammlerleidenschaft durch Videospiele gewohnt seid, dann wisst ihr ja, wie sehr rare Poststempel-Motive begehrt sind.

Wenn ihr auf dem Oktoberfest seid und nicht auf ein zufälliges Zusammentreffen wetten wollt – oder auch wenn ihr daheim seid und die Postekarten unbedingt wollt, dann schreibt uns doch einfach an support@redspotgames.com und wir bekommen das geregelt.

O’zapft is! Am heutigen Samstag hat der Münchener Oberbürgermeister Christian Ude den Anstich auf dem Oktoberfest vollzogen – somit ist die Wies’n offiziell eröffnet! Vom 18. September bis zum 4. Oktober feiern hier Millionen von Menschen 200 Jahre Oktoberfest.

Man kann zur Wies’n stehen wie man möchte – es lieben, besuchen und mitmachen oder hassen, doof finden und meiden. Doch als Videospiele-Hersteller aus München sehen wir uns in der Pflicht, den Besuchern mit Gamer-Hintergrund etwas zu bieten. Deswegen werden wir eine Postkartenkollektion auf dem Festgelände (Theresienwiese) verteilen, welche mit vielen anderen Ansichtskarten bricht und endlich Videospiele-Bezug auf die Wies’n holt! In unregelmäßigen Abständen werden wir neue Motive veröffentlichen und dort verteilen. Heute präsentieren wir: “Rescue the Oktoberfest (and also mankind)”.

Das Besondere: Wenn die frankierte Karte in einen Postkasten auf der Theresienwiese eingeworfen wird, erhält es automatisch einen Sonderstempel der Deutschen Post. Dieser ist unter Sammlern sehr beliebt. Wäre doch mal was anderes als Videospiele-Special-Editions, oder? Da freuen sich auch die Lieben zu Hause!

Und wer es ganz urig mag, kann ja mit der redspotgames-Crew abhängen. Wir zeigen euch gerne die besten Fahrgeschäfte und Bierzelte. Oder macht einen Termin aus, wenn ihr die Postkarten ganz, ganz, ganz sicher haben wollt. Einfach eine Mail an support@redspotgames.com!

English:

The Oktoberfest 2010 has started!

As a Munich-based videogame company we feel responsible to provide visitors of this year’s Oktoberfest something unique. Especially videogamers. Therefore we will hand out special postcards every day, starting with the motive “Rescue the Oktoberfest (and also mankind)”. If you throw it in the mailbox at the fair, you will even get a special stamp by Deutsche Post, which is only used during the Oktoberfest. And a special collector’s item!

Other cards will follow within the time of the so-called Wies’n: Steptember 18th to October 4th.

If you are lost at this world’s largest fair, want some tips about the best available beers or just want to have the postcards very very badly, write us to support@redspotgames.com and maybe we will meet each other at the Oktoberfest!

Deutsch:
Während der gamescom wurden wir so einige Male gefragt, was wir nach der Messe mit den Werbematerialien und im Speziellen mit dem Sega Dreamcast Demo-Aufsteller machen werden. Nachdem uns auch nach der gamescom noch einige Anfragen per eMail erreichten, haben wir uns dazu entschlossen diese zu versteigern und bieten diese nun auf eBay an!

Neben dem Rush Rush Rally Racing und Solar Struggle Werbebanner verkaufen wir auch einen unserer geliebten Dreamcast-Aufsteller, dessen Einnahmen durch die Auktion direkt in weitere zukünfigte Dreamcast-Projekte fließen werden.

Solar Struggle Werbebanner: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120613845726
Rush Rush Rally Racing Werbebanner: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120613847361
Sega Dreamcast Demo-Display: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120613466379

Wir drücken dir die Daumen, dass du bei Interesse die Auktion(en) gewinnst!

English:

We have been asked by visitors of our gamescom booth what will happen with the advertising material and especially with the Dreamcast Promo Display quite a couple of times. After some more inquiries later by email, we have decided to give you the chance to purchase it by auction and put them on eBay!

Beside the Rush Rush Rally Racing and Solar Struggle rollup banner we are also selling one of our beloved Sega Dreamcast Promo Displays, whose income of the auction will directly go into future Dreamcast Indie Games projects.

Solar Struggle Rollup Banner: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120613845726
Rush Rush Rally Racing Rollup Banner: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120613847361
Sega Dreamcast Store Display: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120613466379

We’re crossing our fingers that you’ll receive the item you’re looking for!