Record Breaking $1M 'Top Secret' MMO Computer Game Development Competition Announced
IGN's ModCenter.com exclusively hosts Acclaim's 'Top Secret' Project
Los Angeles (September 11, 2007) - Acclaim Games is pleased to present the biggest gaming prize ever in a $1 million game development competition for the "Top Secret" Project, directed by superstar game director David Perry. Teams of indie, mod, professional, amateur & student game developers can enter a once-in-a-lifetime competition to develop a real MMO game, get an industry standard development deal, and earn royalties on the title. Teams will manage their projects and resources at ModCenter ( http://www.modcenter.com), a developer site recently launched by IGN Entertainment. ModCenter, will provide free tools for the teams participating in the "Top Secret" $1 million game development competition.
The total prize package is worth up to $1 million, plus royalties, to the winning development team. As part of this cash prize, Acclaim will pay the licensing fees for any commercially available video game engine in the world, thereby removing one of the biggest obstacles preventing many talented developers from releasing professional products.
"The 'Top Secret' team is where the concept of Web 2.0 meets the video game industry. We've had close to 50,000 people sign up to help design this game. The best participant will win a future Acclaim title to direct," says David Perry, Game's Director. "With so many people involved, this is already the biggest team in history. I am directing the project, but this game is going to be designed by the community, produced by the community and developed by the community."
The basic core of the game has already been designed and is a ground-breaking new kind of beast racing game that doesn't stop at racing alone. The "Top Secret" design includes the ability to breed and collect beasts, fight in player versus player battles, and explore an expanding world.
IGN's ModCenter will provide online project management and tracking tools for all "Top Secret" development teams for free. Teams will manage their projects at www.modcenter.com where they can organize tasks, track bugs, store source code, and communicate with team members. This also allows teams to become "virtual," meaning that individuals around the world can join together to form new virtual teams and still work on the same project.
"Giving users the power and tools to create one-of-a-kind development projects aligns directly with why IGN created ModCenter in the first place," said Jamie Berger, SVP Consumer Products & Technology for IGN Entertainment. "Joining with Acclaim and David Perry on this groundbreaking project builds on IGN's commitment with ModCenter to support the creation of new and unique game concepts from within the gaming community."
ModCenter was built by IGN around the SourceForge toolset by CollabNet ( http://www.collab.net) and is completely free to use. ModCenter is aimed specifically at modification and independent game development. The new site provides project management utilities, industry educational resources and promotional services to the development community. Utilities include a bug-tracking system, project discussion forums, source code repositories, a wiki system, document storage and an internal file release system, all controlled via a project administration area.
The competition is open to any developer worldwide who is technically qualified to create the game. It will be published by Acclaim.
Users can sign up to participate in the "Top Secret" Project for free by visiting http://topsecret.acclaim.com. ; Go to www.modcenter.com to start your team's project now.
About Acclaim Games
Based in Beverly Hills California, Acclaim Games has over 3 million registered online players and is the fastest growing online service in North America. Today, Acclaim Games offers only the finest multiplayer online games for free with a focus on community, playability and most importantly fun. The games include 2Moons, 9Dragons, BOTS and DANCE! Online. To learn more please visit www.acclaim.com.
About David Perry
David Perry is the CEO of GAMECONSULTANTS.COM and prior to that was the founder of Shiny Entertainment, Inc. For more information, please visit: www.dperry.com. ; David Perry's last game project is estimated to have grossed over $300 million, and he's had numerous #1 hits and awards over his career with titles such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney's Aladdin, Earthworm Jim, and many more.
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 July 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.