Upcoming Game ‘Battle Punks’ Readies for Social Gaming Tussle with All-New Screens

Steel yourself for a battle like no other!

Gravity Bear, a new breed of social games company, is readying its debut title Battle Punks for combat on the Facebook® Platform. Battle Punks takes social gaming to whole new arena as the first 3D fighting game built specifically for social networks. Battle Punks flexes brawny new technologies and hammers the best of traditional gaming with the latest in social technologies to produce a battle-tested game experience.

In Battle Punks, players will journey through a meticulously crafted 3D world of pure adventure, where local skirmishes between combatants pave the way to an open world of exploration and combat. Along the way, each unique fighter will have an array of customization options to make their own Punk truly unique. The adventure opens with a roster of choices to create a memorable character. Players will need to select a look defined by dozens of hairstyles, facial expressions, clothing options and more, giving them a one-of-kind look sure to get them noticed on the social battlefield.

In Battle Punks, players can test their mettle in a beautifully realized world unlike anything currently available on social networks. Using a sophisticated 3D engine to render both characters and environments, the Battle Punks Universe is filled with colorful environments, towns and characters. Battle Punks introduces a bold new look to the exploding world of social gaming.

Developed by Gravity Bear, Battle Punks is currently scheduled to launch early March on the Facebook Platform.

For more information on Gravity Bear, please visit: http://www.gravitybear.com/

For more information on Battle Punks, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=181238248175&ref=ts

Gravity Bear announces debut title Battle punks

New Social Games Company Blasts Out of Hibernation to Deliver Unique Social Gaming Experience

Emeryville, California – November 18, 2009 – Gravity Bear, a new breed of social games company, announced today its debut title, Battle Punks, an original game application built for the Facebook® Platform. Primed to launch this holiday season, Battle Punks is the first 3D social game of its kind.  Set against a vibrant tableau of fantasy locations, it combines stellar game design with the latest in social networking technology. Players will take their custom-created avatars on a heroic journey, proving themselves in boisterous combat against millions of other avatars in a bid to become the toughest, scrappiest fighter in the kingdom.

Battle Punks delivers a raucous journey where players tromp and battle their way through festive towns, shadowy forests, gloomy swamps, and beyond. Using an advanced character creation tool, players craft one-of-a-kind personas, then throw-down against anyone in the Battle Punks community, in order to win prized weapons, spells, experience and treasure. Strategically outfitting their characters before each fray, players choose from their armory of collected Battle Items, in order to give their dauntless champion the best tools for the job.

“Our goal with Battle Punks is to help people have fun and deeply memorable experiences with their friends through games”, said Phil Shenk, Co-Founder and CEO of Gravity Bear, “This is the primary mission of Gravity Bear, so our first title is designed from the ground up to be a shining example of that philosophy of community and fun. We can’t wait to build a new community of people who simply love games as much as we do.”

In Battle Punks, players can test their mettle in a beautifully realized world unlike anything currently available on social networks. Using a sophisticated 3D engine to render both characters and environments, the Battle Punks Universe is filled with colorful environments, towns and characters. Battle Punks introduces a bold new look to the exploding world of social gaming.

Helping optimize the game experience behind the scenes are the innovative technologies from strategic partner SQLstream. Their application allows developers to monitor and analyze metrics in real-time, which will be a huge benefit to the deployment and growth of Battle Punks. With SQLstream’s tools in their arsenal, Gravity Bear has the power to connect with gamers as never before.  With the explosive growth of the social games space, Battle Punks is uniquely positioned to bring something new and unique to all kinds of gamers– casual, hardcore or anywhere in between.

Developed by Gravity Bear, Battle Punks is currently scheduled to enter open beta during the 2009 holiday season on the Facebook Platform.

For more information on Gravity Bear, please visit: http://www.gravitybear.com/

For more information on Battle Punks, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gravity-Bear/89961808421

About Gravity Bear

Gravity Bear is a new breed of social games company formed in 2008 with the goal of blending the best in online social platforms with the latest in modern game design and technology. Led by company co-founder and gaming industry veteran Phil Shenk, the crew at Gravity Bear delivers gaming experiences built on a sturdy foundation of creativity, fun and skillet-fresh design supported by cutting-edge technology. Gravity Bear is located in sunny Emeryville, California, where they share office space with a tribe of equally motivated hamsters. For more information on Gravity Bear, please visit: gravitybear.com. Follow the Gravity Bear Blog at: gravitybear.com/blog/.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

For more information:

Jeane Wong/Juan Castro
ONE PR Studio
510.893.3271
jeane@oneprstudio.com/juan@oneprstudio.com

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gravity Bear AND SQLSTREAM Announce strategic partnership

Partnership Will Enable New Social Game Company Gravity Bear to build responsive Online Games Using SQLstream’s Real-Time Analytics & Monitoring Technology

Emeryville, California – October 29, 2009 – Gravity Bear and SQLstream today announced a partnership to bring cutting edge real-time analytic technologies to games for social networks.  Established to create a new breed of social games, Gravity Bear is poised to create engaging, original content for social gaming platforms. The relationship marks a significant point of convergence for the interactive entertainment and the enterprise software industries.

SQLstream is the first company to provide real-time monitoring and business intelligence using the ISO standard SQL language. Bridging the gap between operational intelligence systems and data warehouses, SQLstream greatly reduces the time it takes for information to flow between products and content providers. This revolutionary system allows for real-time monitoring of virtual ecosystems and economies, placing Gravity Bear at the forefront of an all-new market opportunity that delivers game content to social networks faster and more efficiently than previously possible.

“Our strategic partnership with SQLstream will enable Gravity Bear to measure and understand how players are interacting with our games in real-time and respond faster than ever, delivering the online experience that players really want from social gaming”, said Phil Shenk, co-founder and CEO of Gravity Bear.  “It’s a rapidly growing market that we only see expanding further.  The casual games industry is constantly evolving and it is very exciting to be in a position to offer players something new that we believe could change the face of entertainment on community sites.”

“Our work with Gravity Bear is leading to an exciting new business opportunity in the social games market,” said Damian Black, President and CEO of SQLstream, “The technologies we will be integrating with Gravity Bear’s unique game design philosophy will help customize game content for the masses, increasing loyalty and resulting in a new kind of relationship between the player and content providers.”

The partnership between SQLstream and Gravity Bear arrives at a time when the social games market is experiencing unprecedented growth. Social platforms such as Facebook have become the birthplace of a new gaming movement with a proven audience of tens of millions.  Gravity Bear will use the latest in cutting edge technology, such as SQLstream, to establish new entertainment products that evolve and develop with each player‘s input and participation.

Gravity Bear is currently developing an original IP built to satisfy the company’s core mission of providing new entertainment products for an all-new era of social gaming.

The Gravity Bear and SQLstream teams will be attending the Virtual Goods Summit, held in San Francisco on October 29 and October 30, and are available for meetings and interviews. Additionally, members of both teams can be scheduled for joint press and analyst calls.

About Gravity Bear

Gravity Bear is a new breed of social games company where dedicated game creators share the goal of making unique social games through a steady diet of creativity, fun and contemporary design. Gravity Bear was founded in 2008 by co-founder and gaming industry veteran Phil Shenk to build a seasoned team of like-minded talent devoted to making casual games as distinct as the players themselves. Gravity Bear set up shop in sunny Emeryville, California, where they share office space with a tribe of equally motivated hamsters. For more information on Gravity Bear, please visit: http://www.gravitybear.com. Follow the Gravity Bear Blog at http://gravitybear.com/blog/.

About SQLstream Inc.

SQLstream is making the real-time web possible, monitoring data streams to deliver instant alerts, analytics and answers to business decision makers. Using the industry standard SQL language, SQLstream executes queries on the wire, before data reaches the warehouse. Built on open source technologies, SQLstream enhances existing business intelligence solutions while maximizing the value received from your organization’s data when really urgent analytics are required. Co-Founded in 2005 by Julian Hyde, architect of the open source Mondrian OLAP engine, SQLstream’s investors and advisors include Bob Frankenberg, former CEO of Novell and current Board Member at National Semiconductor, Dick Watts, former member of Hewlett-Packard’s Executive Committee and Duane Zitzner, former HP Executive. SQLstream is headquartered in San Francisco, California and is on the web at http://www.sqlstream.com. SQLstream is a core contributor to the open source Eigenbase Project at http://www.eigenbase.org

For more information:

Jeane Wong/Juan Castro
ONE PR Studio
510.893.3271
jeane@oneprstudio.com/juan@oneprstudio.com

Rick Saletta
SQLstream
877.571.5775
PR@sqlstream.com

New SOCIAL game COMPANY Gravity Bear Formed to ignite explosive casual games sector

Games Industry Veterans Launch Studio to Deliver Innovative Casual Games for Growing Social Platforms

Emeryville, California – October 27, 2009 – Gravity Bear announced today it has formally entered the electronic entertainment industry as an independent games studio focused on creating unique and fun social games. The crew at Gravity Bear is led by industry veteran Phil Shenk, who was previously co-founder and Art Director at Flagship Studios. The founding members of Gravity Bear embody decades of experience in the games industry and will deliver engaging original IPs across a variety of platforms and social networks.

Prior to his time at Flagship Studios, Phil Shenk held high profile positions at Blizzard Entertainment, where he worked as Lead Artist on Diablo 2 and later assumed the duties of Designer on Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction.  Phil also worked at the online games company Wild Tangent, where he directed internal and external teams building streaming games for browser-based 3D engines. He also spent time in business development establishing relationships with Microsoft, Sony Pictures, and Fox, enabling them to build applications based on the Wild Tangent Platform. He is joined by a team of like-minded industry veterans from Flagship Studios, Sega Entertainment USA, Inc. and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

“Gravity Bear was formed with the singular aim of creating games that reconnect people to the core of gaming”, said Phil Shenk, Co-Founder and CEO of Gravity Bear, “Our commitment is to bring the caliber of social gaming experiences players want — as they want them – which means delivering new kinds of excitement and fun that blend the latest in modern game design with fresh technology.”

The social games landscape is experiencing an explosive growth in popularity, blossoming alongside social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. With tens of millions of players and fans connecting in new ways, and the projected growth of social gaming to over $1 billion in 2010*, Gravity Bear will introduce game-changing entertainment that will transform the way players and friends connect to one another by splicing the latest in social networking and graphics technologies with stellar game design.

At the heart of Gravity Bear are exciting new processes that allow the team to rapidly iterate and adapt its entertainment products, helping to advance the quickly growing social games category. Players will explore evergreen game experiences like never before and watch them evolve according to their own interactions through the rising social gaming scene.

Gravity Bear is currently developing an original IP built to satisfy the company’s core mission of providing new entertainment products for an all-new era of social gaming. More information will follow in the coming weeks.

About Gravity Bear
Gravity Bear is a new breed of social games company where dedicated game creators share the goal of making unique social games through a steady diet of creativity, fun and contemporary design. Gravity Bear was founded in 2008 by co-founder and gaming industry veteran Phil Shenk to build a seasoned team of like-minded developers, devoted to making casual games as creative, expressive, and fun-loving as the fans that play them. Gravity Bear set up shop in sunny Emeryville, California, where they share office space with a tribe of equally motivated hamsters. For more information on Gravity Bear, please visit: www.gravitybear.com. Follow the Gravity Bear Blog at: gravitybear.com/blog/.

For more information:

Jeane Wong
ONE PR Studio
510.893.3271
jeane@oneprstudio.com

Juan Castro
ONE PR Studio
510.893.3271
juan@oneprstudio.com

*Swartz, Jon. (October 15, 2009) For social networks, it’s game on. USA Today

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