Black Bean Declares World at War™
Black Bean signs reference strategy title
Varese, Italy 25th July 2005. Black Bean, the publishing arm of Lago SRL, today announced a pan European publishing deal with 2By3 Games to release the dynamic turn-based strategy game, Gary Grigsby's World at War for personal computer.
World at War allows players to relive all the epic battles of WWII in four full length scenarios which feature taking command of air, naval, and land combat units. The player will also need to carefully manage resources needed to build military hardware which need to last the duration of the war. Choose between 5 different armies comprising German, Japanese, Soviet, Chinese, or Western Alliance troops and lead their armies to victory by honing abilities in research and development to build larger, more powerful combat units, and carefully tailor strategies several turns in advance in a bid to actively recreate or change the outcome of the key moments in history.
Marco Minoli, Head of Marketing at Black Bean said, "This is a fantastically in depth WWII turn-based strategy game that will test the players capacity for military command. The title has already performed well with US media and we expect to mirror its critical success in Europe."
Game Features Include:
- 4 full length scenarios comprising Spring '40, Summer '41, Spring '42, Summer '43 and lasting to the end of the war.
- Over 350 areas on a sprawling world map.
- Five playable forces including Germany, Japan, The Soviet Union, The Western Allies, and China within 38 different countries.
- Command 15 different land, sea and air units as well as infrastructure and supply units.
- Each unit has up to 14 attributes which can be improved through research and development.
- Rules that cover strategic movement, forts, cold weather, zones, airborne attack, amphibious invasions, partisans, militia, and many other features.
- Fog of War rules that hide enemy units and production.
- Supply rules that can be set to provide a common pool for all units to draw from or the creation of field units that must accompany armies.
- PBEM playability for 2 to 5 players.
- Challenging AI that offers a unique gaming experience.
- Ability to automate either or both the production and research functions.
- An in-depth tutorial that smoothly integrates the player with the game.
Releasing the 23rd September 2005 on PC, Gary Girgsby's World at WarTM sets new boundaries within the strategy genre. World at War has already successfully released in North America and has received critical acclaim from gaming press in what has been called one of the strongest and most innovative strategy games ever produced.
For further information
Tania Rossi
Black Bean Pr Manager
tel: +39 (0)332 874 451
About Lago/Black Bean. Black Bean is the games label of Lago Srl, which is part of the Leader Group. Leader SpA has been the leading independent distributor in Italy since it started business in 1984. Leader is based in Gazzada (Varese) which is situated 30 miles north of Milan in northern Italy. Black Bean philosophy is to focus on a wide range of games genre leveraging on the niche targets that remain uncovered into the market. By adding original content to the products and by fully localising the titles Black Bean's vision is to remain close to player's needs. Black Bean has distribution partners all across Europe and PAL territories including Australia and South Africa. www.blackbeangames.com
About Matrix Games. Matrix Games produces, markets and publishes historical wargames as well as other computer gaming products. Since 2000, Matrix Games has published over two dozen titles and several award-winning games, including War in the Pacific, Highway to the Reich, Gary Grigsby's World At War, Flashpoint Germany, Battles In Normandy, Starshatter and Tin Soldiers: Julius Caesar. Matrix Games is based in Staten Island, New York. For more information, visit the Matrix Games website at www.matrixgames.com
About 2by3Games. 2 by 3 is about World War 2 games done by 3 guys - Gary Grigsby, Keith Brors and Joel Billings. Veteran designers and developers with multiple Hall of Fame titles under their belts, they have just completed a three game series which started with the highly acclaimed Uncommon Valor. War in the Pacific is their second design in this series for Matrix Games and was followed by the acclaimed grand strategy title World at War. New strategy games on the American Civil War and also the War in Russia are on the horizon. For more information, visit their website at www.2by3games.com