“Pride and Prejudice. Titanic. Grey’s Anatomy. Whether it’s a best-selling novel, a Hollywood movie or a TV series, most forms of entertainment understand the importance of powerful storylines and strong well-written characters when appealing to women. However, for the millions of women who play and enjoy “casual games”, a rapidly growing sector of the video game market, storyline has been the one element that has been virtually ignored until now.”

That’s one way of saying that women need more games that do a better job of keeping them interested. Developer nDreams, founded by a former creative director at Eidos, has announced the game Venus Redemption, intended to appeal to women. The game seeks to keep them in the game using storylines, emotions, character development, and - most importantly - a simple control scheme.

The game’s story is written by the award-winning author, Kate Pullinger, with additional story by the BAFTA-nominated Gordon Rennie. nDreams will present the game to publishers on June 5th, with plans to release the game on the Wii and Nintendo DS, as well as the Xbox 360 and PC.

Full press release after the break.

Vooks

Farnborough, Hampshire, UK – 30th May 2007 - Pride and Prejudice. Titanic. Grey’s Anatomy. Whether it’s a best-selling novel, a Hollywood movie or a TV series, most forms of entertainment understand the importance of powerful storylines and strong well-written characters when appealing to women. However, for the millions of women who play and enjoy “casual games”, a rapidly growing sector of the video game market, storyline has been the one element that has been virtually ignored until now.

Independent game studio nDreams Ltd, founded by the former creative director of SCi/Eidos, Patrick O’Luanaigh, today announces “Redemption Day” on July 5th. On this date, nDreams will reveal their revolutionary game Venus Redemption, and demonstrations to publishers and distributors will begin.

Venus Redemption is a unique episodic casual game created for 30+ female gamers, with a rich plot written by a noted novelist. Unlike other casual games, it features powerful storylines, deep characters, emotion-based interactive conversations and exciting adventure gameplay. However, like traditional casual games, it’s extremely easy to play, requiring only the ability to move and left-click a mouse, and it’s playable in short bursts if you don’t have much time.

Venus Redemption is written by award-winning author Kate Pullinger, who co-wrote the book, “The Piano” with director Jane Campion, and is one of the leading pioneers of interactive fiction. Additional storyline has been written by BAFTA nominated writer, Gordon Rennie, whilst a unique ambient-orchestral musical score has been composed by veteran musician Tim Wright, best known for his work on the Wipeout game series.

Demonstrations to publishers and distributors will begin on July 5th, the day after U.S Independence Day, to highlight the multi-cultural design behind the game, which focuses equally on the U.S and European markets. In fact, the recent two-day voice recording session at the world-famous Air Studios Lyndhurst saw an equal mix of American and European voice artists, and puts Venus Redemption on track to have the most advanced audio of any casual game.

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of nDreams said,
“We can’t wait to present Venus Redemption to the world. After many months of development and exhaustive gameplay focus testing, we believe that it will prove a breath of fresh air for the casual game sector, and in particular for female casual gamers. With the technology behind Venus Redemption, we can now rapidly develop immersive and visually impressive story-based casual games that will run on almost any PC.”

Publishers and distributors interested in Venus Redemption should contact nDreams (enquiries@ndreams.com) to arrange either a presentation pack or an on-site demonstration. As well as individual publisher visits, Patrick O’Luanaigh will be demonstrating Venus Redemption at the CGA Conference in Seattle, Develop Brighton (TIGA Content Market) and the GCDC/Game Convention in Leipzig.

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