Vicious Engine
Licensed by Smack Down Productions for two new Wii games.
MORRISVILLE, N.C. - Feb. 11, 2009
Vicious Cycle Software, a premier developer of interactive entertainment and game development technology, today announced a licensing agreement with Smack Down Productions. Vicious Cycle Software will provide the Vicious Engine®, the leading game development engine, to Smack Down Productions for the development of two new videogames for Wii™. This is the fourth time that Smack Down Productions has licensed the Vicious Engine for development of its games.
"What we really liked about the engine is that it let us get started working on features from day one, resulting in the creation of high-quality games in record time," said Laurent Benadiba, CEO of Smack Down Productions. "We have yet to find another engine that allows our team to accomplish such fast-paced development times with the level of quality in the work that we’re able to produce."
Based in France, Smack Down Productions first licensed the Vicious Engine starting in 2007 with the development of Build-A-Bear: A Friend Fur All Seasons for Wii. The game went on to win the award for “Best Children’s Game of the Year” at the Paris Video Game Festival. Smack Down Productions then licensed the engine again for the development of Koh Lanta for Wii, which continues to be a top selling game in France. With two new titles in the works, Smack Down Productions has once again elected to license the Vicious Engine.
“While developing Build-A-Bear and Koh Lanta, we were able to tweak and modify the Vicious Engine to fit our exact needs, considerably speeding up our production pipeline. We're very pleased to be licensing the engine again for the development of two new games for Wii based on high-profile licenses,” added Benadiba.
“We work closely with our partners to ensure they have all the right tools and the capability to customize the engine to fit their individual needs,” said Eric Peterson, president and CEO of Vicious Cycle Software. “Our goal is to provide high-quality, adaptable and efficient tools for developers to create games in a wide range of genres and on every available platform.”
Always staying on the forefront of innovation in game development, Vicious Cycle Software has announced a new version of the company’s proven game engine, Vicious Engine 2™ (Ve2). Ve2 offers a suite of new and improved features for current generation consoles, including an updated lighting engine, an animation blending component, and modern pixel shader technology, all optimized for current platforms. The Vicious Engine and the new Vicious Engine 2™ (Ve2) are widely available to developers. Interested parties are encouraged to contact licensing@viciousengine.com.
More information about Vicious Cycle Software is available at www.viciouscycleinc.com.
About Vicious Cycle Software
Vicious Cycle Software, Inc. is a premier developer of interactive entertainment software based in Morrisville, NC. Founded in 2000, the company is dedicated to creating compelling content for all ages across all platforms, including Ben 10 ALIEN FORCE The Game for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and Wii™; Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords® for the PlayStation 2 system, PSP system, and Wii; and PSP system exclusive and original title Dead Head Fred®, winner of the Writer’s Guild of America’s first inaugural Videogame Writing Award.
Vicious Cycle is also the developer and licensor of the Vicious Engine®, a comprehensive and fully portable engine for game development on personal computers, consoles, and handheld systems. The recently announced Vicious Engine 2™ (Ve2) offers a suite of new and improved features for game development on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.
For more information, please visit the company's web sites at www.viciouscycleinc.com and www.viciousengine.com. Vicious Cycle is a D3Publisher development studio.
About Smack Down Productions
Created by Laurent Benadiba in February 2005, Smack Down Productions is an independent, award-winning game developer base in the vibrant city of Lyon, France. Focusing on both original IP and world-class third-party properties, Smack Down Productions works closely with partners to ensure delivery of content in a timely manner. Smack Down Productions is focused on developing high-quality games with an efficient industry-leading production process. For more information about Smack Down Productions, visit www.smackdownproductions.com.
Kate Pietrelli, TriplePoint
415-955-8500
katep@triplepointpr.com