Stout Games - Dinner Date

Thursday 3 November 2010

WEBSITE & TRAILER: http://thestoutgames.com/:dinnerdate

PRESS PACK: http://thestoutgames.com/:press

The independent developer STOUT GAMES announces the availability of PRE-ORDERING its upcoming drama, „DINNER DATE”. In Dinner Date the player becomes the subconsciousness of Julian Luxemburg and is privy to his thoughts as he is waiting for his date. Due to be released in two weeks, the purchase of a pre-order saves $2.50 and makes the game available for $9.95 – and there is a fair deal for those coming in pairs.

Earlier this month STOUT GAMES released a trailer for its upcoming drama „DINNER DATE”. The trailer showed the perfect preparation for a date – the joy of anticipation and the build-up of a cuisine meant to woo the beautiful girl who is due to come over. But this excitement finds a troubling continuation as the wait for the girl grows longer and the ticking of the clock grows louder.

The trailer has been met with surprise at its theme and setting: The game places an emphasis on being a character portrait of Julian Luxemburg and allows the player to experience the personal and intimate thoughts as he is stood up for his date. Indeed, there are many things someone being stood up would not divulge upon to his friends, but the trailer promises: „find out what it is like by becoming the subconsciousness of Julian Luxemburg.”

A subconsciousness perhaps may not influence Julian’s actions, but is at a prime spot for studying them.

Stout Games has announced the immediate availability of pre-ordering Dinner Date. With the game available in two weeks, a pre-order gives a $2.50 discount and makes the game purchasable for $9.95. A unique deal is offered to those arriving in pairs: Stout Games also allows the purchase of a ‘Dinner for Two’: two copies of the game at a further discount. By wrapping the gift digitally, Stout Games enables the giving of a personal gift to a friend, game enthusiast or, indeed, romantic partner.

Dinner Date approaches a realistic setting, a man being stood up for a date, with a romantic angle: Julian’s character is laid open and his rights and wrongs exposed. The actions are all natural: tapping the table, looking at the clock, eventually reluctantly starting to eat – actions a real person would do in such situations. They become a natural form of playing as, and with, Julian.

A large set of animations is used to bring Julian to life in his realistically rendered 3d kitchen. His musings are fully voiced and emphasized by a high-quality score composed specifically for Dinner Date.

What Julian’s realisations will be and whether he has it in him to wait long enough for his elusive date to show up will become clear with the release of Dinner Date on November 17 ^th at a quarter past 5, GMT – but with pre-purchase available now, one may already join Julian in the lengthy wait for his Dinner Date.

Dates and price

November 3 ^rd:

- Pre-orders are available for $9.95 (save $2.50)

- ‘Dinner for Two’ (two copies) available for $17.25 (save $7.65)

November 17 ^th:

- The game will be released for $12.45

- ‘Dinner for Two’ available for $19.25 (save $5.65)

Furthermore, those who have bought or received (as a gift) a single copy may purchase a game at a further discount.

Dinner Date – Context

Dinner Date is released amongst commercial titles such as The Graveyard and The Path (Tale of Tales, 2006, 2009) as well as Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream, 2010) and free mods such as Dear Esther (The Chinese Room, 2008) and Handle with Care (Radiator Games, 2009), titles which have at times polarized journalists and gamers by deviating from established norms. Their existence and the reactions to them clearly show an increasing desire for innovation both with developers and players, eminent in the establishment of NotGames, a movement by Tale of Tales to promote competition-less games. Stout Games joins this scene by pioneering the choice of applying unique forms of interaction to a game with a realistic setting.

Dinner Date – Credits

Stout Games – Jeroen D. Stout ( http://thestoutgames.com)

Music – Than van Nispen tot Pannerden ( http://greencouch.nl)

Stout Games – The Developer

Stout Games has been founded by Jeroen D. Stout, a scholar in gamedesign with a Master of Arts in Gamedesign & Development at the Utrecht School of the Arts (Netherlands) and a Master of Science in Computer Games Technology at the University of Portsmouth (United Kingdom). In Portsmouth he was supervised by Dr Dan Pinchbeck (creator of cultural classics Dear Esther and Korsakovia) and became enthused to begin developing games commercially, still following the fascination for original play that has been with him ever since playing The Graveyard (Tale of Tales, 2006) for the first time.

The goal of Stout Games is creating games innovative in play, using intelligent subject matters and infused with romantic-realistic plots and settings. With Dinner Date it shows its initial direction: focussing on a character portrait and treating it with the interaction required.

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More information

Mail to press@thestoutgames.com for enquiries, requests for interviews with Jeroen D Stout and requests for review codes.