GALA-NET'S UPSHIFT STRIKERACER HEADS INTO BETA ON IGN ENTERTAINMENT'S FILEPLANET
FilePlanet Community to be Among First to try Free-to-Play Online Car Racing and Combat Game
SAN JOSE, Calif. - June 26, 2007 -Gala-Net, Inc., a subsidiary of global online community company Gala, Inc., today announced that Gala-Net has tapped IGN's popular game download site FilePlanet ( http://www.fileplanet.com) to exclusively manage Upshift StrikeRacer's North American closed beta testing. Registered members of IGN and FilePlanet will get an exclusive chance to experience the high-octane racing and vehicular combat of Upshift StrikeRacer.
Beginning in early July, the beta will offer 120,000 slots to the most enthusiastic players, who will be among the first to try Upshift StrikeRacer. The beta period will last for several weeks leading up to the free-to-play online multiplayer game's commercial launch in August.
"The expectation for Upshift StrikeRacer since the game was announced has been more dramatic than we could have hoped for, and we are excited to step up the beta period with FilePlanet at the helm," said John Young, Gala-Net vice president and producer of Upshift StrikeRacer. "Having FilePlanet manage the closed beta period frees up the production and community teams here at Gala-Net to focus on the final touches leading into Upshift StrikeRacer's highly-anticipated open beta and commercial launch. The quality feedback we collect from participants during closed beta will be invaluable to the final stages of the game's preparations for mass distribution to anyone who wants to play Upshift StrikeRacer for free."
Upshift StrikeRacer is the first free-to-play online game to combine modern vehicles with a full arsenal of weaponry and a robust community for gamers looking both for a social network and for head-to-head destructive racing battles on a multiplayer scale. The game provides players with 20 different maps and the opportunity to compete with up to seven other StrikeRacers at a time through multiple modes of play including Team versus Team, straight timed racing and the no-holds barred StrikeRacing mode, pitting both their driving skills and their arsenals against each other. Extensive player community tools include the ability for StrikeRacers to create their own Club web pages onto which they can upload photos and music, share their blogs and network with other StrikeRacers around the world to develop real-world friendships.
More details on Upshift StrikeRacer's closed beta program, including exact dates, will be released in future announcements to IGN's community. Upshift StrikeRacer launches commercially this August on Gala-Net's game portal www.gpotato.com.
Gamers who have not yet registered with FilePlanet can do so by going to http://www.fileplanet.com.
About Gala-Net
Founded in 2004, Gala-Net, Inc. is a subsidiary of global online community company Gala, Inc. Together with its European subsidiary, Gala Networks Europe, Gala-Net is a leader in the burgeoning free-to-play online games market. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Gala-Net's diverse service portfolio includes Flyff, Space Cowboy Online, Corum Online and Rappelz. In August 2007 the company will launch the high-octane car racing and combat game Upshift StrikeRacer. Through the community portal GPotato ( www.gpotato.com), gamers can access all of Gala-Net's services and micro-currency, which players can use to buy in-game currency and virtual items for any of its games.
About IGN Entertainment
IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, Inc., is a leading Internet media and services provider focused on the videogame and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN's properties reached more than 30 million unique users worldwide in the month of May 2007, according to Internet audience measurement firm comScore Media Metrix. IGN's network of videogame-related properties (IGN.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, Direct2Drive and others), is the Web's number one videogame information destination and attracts one of the largest concentrated audiences of young males on the Internet. IGN also owns and operates the popular movie-related website, Rotten Tomatoes and one of the leading male lifestyle Websites, AskMen.com. In addition, IGN provides technology for online game play in videogames. IGN is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices throughout the U.S. and in Montreal.
Press contact for Gala-Net, Inc.:
Jason Wonacott
Wonacott Communications, LLC
(310) 821-2343
jwonacott@wonacottpr.com