Gamers jaded with humdrum sequels and uninspiring new titles jostling for space on the shelves of their favourite retailer at last have a unique new concept to entertain them. Phoenix Global Software has announced a novel new PC game: Singles Plus - Flirt Up Your Life, from developer Deep Silver.
Phoenix has concluded an exclusive deal with Koch Media, of which Deep Silver is a division, to market its products locally.
As a republisher, Phoenix reproduces and packages software locally, incurring a lower cost than imported boxed products, delivering quality games to consumers at lower prices. As a result of this model, Singles Plus is available from retailers at a price of R299.
The game is the simulation of a relationship between two attractive young singles - and players can choose from any of 12 characters, and can opt for same-sex or heterosexual relationships. Singles Plus shows the chosen couple in their shared flat - which means that everyday routines are focused upon as well: cooking, watching TV and cleaning are as important as talks and a cuddle. And of course, the two have to work for a living as well.
"Singles Plus is a unique game that puts the player in that classically awkward position of managing a relationship with all the pressures associated with the real world. Players must help the game`s simulated characters achieve domestic bliss," comments Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of Phoenix.
He notes that anyone familiar with the dating game and the vagaries of the opposite sex will immediately recognise the challenge presented by this simulation. "Making things a little more exciting, there are also a host of characters that interlude on the relationship - from Natasha the femme fatale, to Pacifica the flower girl; there`s also Bob the bad boy and Berny the best friend to contend with," he says.
Features of the game include selecting of the environment, the furniture and professions of the couple, and a skill system that enables individual development paths. The total of 12 characters in male and female variants is rendered by a powerful 3D engine for attractive and detailed on-screen images.
"The game offers true-to-life display of the human body - and somewhat frighteningly - realistic facial expressions with more than 36 deformers that allow the characters to express their feelings," says Campbell-Young.
Singles Plus -Flirt Up Your Life is not, however, an online dating solution, and Campbell-Young notes that players will still have to organise their own dates.
"Singles Plus is an exciting new concept for the PC gaming industry - with each character having a different personality and reacting much like people do in reality, it is an opportunity for players to try their hand at playing Cupid - without facing the fallout of the real world when it goes wrong," he concludes.
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Phoenix Software is a software re-publishing business with offices in the UK, Australia and SA, and affiliate partnerships in South-East Asia and the US. The company follows a software distribution model that allows for high quality products to reach consumers - both business and domestic users - at lower prices by locally reproducing and packaging software. This model allows for a streamlined supply chain that benefits every link - the distributor, the reseller and the end-user.
Phoenix Software`s product range includes titles from vendors including Jasc Software, Ulead Systems, Data Becker, Acronis, Webroot, Namo Webeditor, Pubcompany/Axelab, Software Imaging, Ahead Software, Manaccom and Data Prompt Technologies.
For more information about Phoenix Software and its range of titles, please go to www.phoenixsoftware.co.za
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