Alien Super Mega Blaster

Proceeds from a newly released game, Alien Super Mega Blaster for Microsoft Xbox 360 are being donated to the charity Action Duchenne by developer Jon Hearn. The classic space invaders game with a twist was developed by Jon in his spare time. Jon lives in the Republic of Ireland with his wife, Gail and three children, Oscar, Emma and Lola and was inspired to develop the game to raise funds, having attended the Action Duchenne London Conference last year.

Alien Super Mega Blaster is for sale for 80 Microsoft Points (1 USD), with monies being donated to the charity after tax and Microsoft’s stake. Inspired by the now classic Space Invaders, Alien Super Mega Blaster has over 100 hand crafted levels of blasting fun. More details can be found on: http://asmb.codheadz.com, or on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFD95epNTyI

The game can be bought online: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Alien-Super-Mega-Blaster/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585507aa, and is available in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States.

Developer Jon Hearn is Dad to Oscar who has been diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  Jon explained; “After attending the Action Duchenne conference last year I wanted to find a practical way to raise funds for research. Developing a game in my spare time seemed like an excellent and different way to raise some money.

“Since the first week of going live over 1600 people have trialled the game and over 140 have gone on to buy it, giving us a trial to purchase ratio of nearly 9% – a great start to potentially millions of possible users and donations for Action Duchenne.”

Nick Catlin, CEO at Action Duchenne said; “We have a tremendous amount of support from our families, friends and sponsors of our charity. This latest fundraising initiative is a fantastic new idea to raise funds for research that also widens the reach of our charity and its cause. I know that I am speaking on behalf of all our families when I thank Jon for his innovative idea and the time that he has invested to make it happen.”

-ends-

Notes to Editors

About Action Duchenne

Established in 2001 Action Duchenne aims to support and promote innovative research into a cure and effective medicines for Duchenne/Becker Muscular Dystrophy.  The charity, which is led by Duchenne families, aims to promote awareness of the condition, to improve care services, and provide access to a range of educational and support/development programmes for people living with Duchenne at every stage of the condition.  This is achieved by working in partnership with government agencies, NHS and care organisations, other charities, academic, scientific and research groups, and biotech companies worldwide.

Since 2003 Action Duchenne has provided £4m for research projects and partnerships.  The charity has worked with the MDEX consortium, Department of Health, and the Medical Research Council to deliver new clinical trials for Duchenne drugs.  In addition, it has been instrumental in developing projects with biotech companies both in the UK and US including key projects with AVI Biopharma and Summit.

In 2005 Action Duchenne launched the DMD Patient Registry, a national database that holds gene information of people living with Duchenne that is used to speed up the recruitment of patients for clinical trials.  For more information please visit: www.dmdregistry.org

In 2008 Action Duchenne launched the Include Duchenne project in partnership with Decipha.  This programme addresses the learning and behaviour needs of those living with Duchenne.  For more information please visit: www.decipha.org

Action Duchenne promotes social inclusion within the community for young men living with Duchenne through its Genius programme.  For more information please visit: www.actionduchenne.org/geniusproject

In 2010 the National Advocacy Council was launched to spearhead the lobby for government funding for research into Duchenne and to improve access to Standards of Care.  www.actionduchenne.org/NAC

For more information please visit: www.actionduchenne.org

Editors Contacts

Nick Catlin

CEO, Action Duchenne 

Tel: 0208 556 9955                                            

Email: nick@actionduchenne.org                 

Andreina West

PR Artistry Limited

Tel: 01491 639500

email: Andreina@pra-ltd.co.uk