Miniball 2 Kicks-Off

Miniball 2 Kicks-Off

August 15th 2005

London, August 15th, 2005 - Miniball 2TM for football and foosball fans kicked-off with new design features, a prize competition to win a Sony PSP and League Play at: www.miniball.co.uk

Created by interactive agency Naked Penguin Boy www.nakedpenguinboy.com the game has attracted more than 8,000 members worldwide during its beta phase period. More than 290,000 Miniball 2TM games have been played with average monthly page impressions of 200,000. The majority of members are from the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and other European countries. South American and North American football fans are challenging each other in Miniball 2TM Leagues as well as Japanese and Chinese players.

"League Play is the most prominent new feature we've added to the game, giving players the ability to create a League of their own and invite other registered players to compete against them. Everyone that belongs to a League is then able to keep track of their or their opponent's progress during the games." said Greg Heasley, the game's producer and Interactive Director of Naked Penguin Boy. "With its cross-cultural appeal, Miniball 2TM is inspiring the growth of a global Internet community united by a common passion for the sports of football and foosball."

To celebrate the game's official kick-off, VIP players had the opportunity to enter a prize draw and win a Sony PSP, in conjunction with the product's European launch on September 1st. Players who participated in the game's beta test automatically earned VIP status and new members become a VIP by referring two friends to play the game.

For the launch of Miniball 2TM, Naked Penguin Boy developed marketing initiatives to build this online community and attract online content sponsors. Event sponsorship, street marketing and prize competitions were among the activities planned.

Miniball 2TM Development
Built totally in FlashTM And PHP with a mySQL database, the Miniball 2TM online game has plenty of room for growth and expansion.

In addition to League Play, feedback from players during the beta phase helped the game's designers make improvements and add new features, including:

• Players can become VIP members, eligible to win prizes

• Improvements have been made to the Forum area, with new sections:

• General Chat, Players Lounge, League Chat and Football Chat

• Players have better navigation of the site while in the game

• Only registered members high scores will be displayed

• The ability to customize keys

• Powerkicks

The game's designers built the first generation of MiniballTM four years ago, as a bespoke online game for a Naked Penguin Boy client. This early version of the game attracted thousands of players. Based on the extreme popularity of the game, the developers decided to improve the concept, adding League Play and Forums to build an online community. League Play was a feature that came about when the developers discovered that University students were creating leagues and challenging each other to on campus MiniballTM championships.

Using open source forum and messageboard software from PHPBB (www.phpbb.com) the game developers programmed the Miniball 2TM's League Play system. Similar to user groups, private groups of players can build leagues and connect with them repeatedly to compete for the best score. Miniball 2TM game developers also added a league table, allowing League players to keep a permanent record of game scores.

 

For more information contact:

Carolyn Mackintosh, Digital PR Account Manager
Tel: +44 [0] 207 490 4338 | +44 [0]207 490 0430
Email: carolyn@nakedpenguinboy.com

Rowan Heasley, Commercial Director
Tel: +44 [0] 207 490 4338 | +44 [0]207 490 0430
Email: rowan.heasley@nakedpenguinboy.com

Web: www.nakedpenguinboy.com

 

Background information:

Naked Penguin Boy is a new media agency in design and entertainment. They specialise in content creation and development focusing on websites, microsites and interactive animations as well as games for DVD, CD and online. Based in London, the company is all about creative design creating collaboration between like-minded media professions and a mix of award-winning talent. Other clients include Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers, Polydor, Playboy Casino, Inter Casino, Mansion and Readers Digest.