XBox 360 Rally

In what had me Googling more than I wished to find if this was a prank press release, the odd news is true, India’s “largest game services provider” Gameshastra, has signed on to develop an Etch A Sketch game. At the least, this will not be a full game but an XBLA title, still, the mind ponders what the hell were they thinking, what will be the goals in the game, what are the options, multiplayer, achievements?!?!

With a little thought (still more than I want to think about this game at all), I can instantly think of one of the Mario Party mini games where you have that jack hammer and they throw an image in the center of the screen for you to copy. I guess with multiplayer, one person controls the left knob while the other on the right.. err.. I am really reaching for answers on how this will be played and .. why will it be played. I can assure you, the official press release reveals little information on anything to do with this game but more of a spamming of the companies involved, still, read if you wish, after the break (personally, I recommend enjoying JW’s favorite, The Etch-A-Sketchist’s work instead or even going online and making your own Etch-A-Sketch art in flash! oOoo).

Gameshastra Expands its Worldwide Customer Base, Inks Deal with Freeze Tag for Master Game Development

HYDERABAD, India, and LOS ANGELES, July 19 /PRNewswire/ — Game Shastra, India’s largest game services provider has signed a Master Game Development Agreement with Freeze Tag, a California based casual game publisher and developer. Game Shastra will develop and Freeze Tag will publish “Etch A Sketch(R),” a new game inspired by the classic toy from The Ohio Art Company. Under the terms of the agreement, Game Shastra will develop PC, Web, and Mac versions of the game, as well as any future versions for platforms such as Xbox 360 Live Arcade and Nintendo Wii.

*(LOGO: Send2Press.com/mediaboom/07-0202-Gameshast_72dpi.jpg)

Craig Holland, CEO of Freeze Tag says, “We have worked with many offshore developers, and Game Shastra is the first company that has truly ‘exported’ US game development expertise and management to its offshore operation, while still maintaining a US onshore staff in key developer roles. Game Shastra’s talented and experienced management team and competitive pricing were attractive features, but the main reason we picked Game Shastra to develop our high-value licenses was simply the opportunity to work with a really great game development team.”

Prakash Ahuja, CEO, of Game Shastra, says “We think Freeze Tag as a publisher has great vision for identifying good titles. It has chosen some very exciting and unique licenses that we hope to develop jointly under this partnership.” Ahuja continues, “This agreement with Freeze Tag reiterates our position as a leading global game services provider for both Core and Casual games.”

Game Shastra’s worldwide customer base has been expanding rapidly as it offers richer, faster and more efficient game services to game publishers globally. “At Game Shastra we provide a very flexible project environment for our customers for game development, game art and game testing in a single location which is very difficult to pull off on-shore, besides offering competitive development costs leading to shorter development timelines and higher quality products,” Bjorn Book-Larsson, CTO and VP of Game Development, Game Shastra, said. “Our presence in Los Angeles provides quick response to our customers, and keeps us tightly integrated throughout the entire project.”

About Game Shastra

Game Shastra has been involved in game testing and related services for over two years, and have successfully handled the testing of numerous games for leading publishers and development houses globally. The company has opened a state-of-the-art Game Services center in Hyderabad to extend testing services for all the gaming platforms — Consoles, Handheld, Mobiles and Online and offers testing — Functionality, Compatibility, Game-play, Certification. Game Shastra develops games for the Wii, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, Web, PSP and Nintendo DS, and also provides game testing, game art and 3D animation services. For more information visit www.gameshastra.com.

About Freeze Tag

As a leading publisher of casual games, Freeze Tag delivers best-of-class casual video games where ever consumers want to play. Through its partnerships with classic consumer brand-holders like The Ohio Art Company (Etch A Sketch(R)), The Nertz(R) Card Company, and Universal Consumer Products, Freeze Tag offers high quality entertainment that is “family friendly fun!”

For more about Freeze tag visit www.freezetag.com.

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Etch-A-Sketch, Gameshastra, Freeze Tag, XBLA, Xbox Live Arcade, WTF