The game, for both iOS and Android platforms, will make use of every facet of current smartphone technology, including GPS, and will require players to actually hit the mean streets at certain points in the storyline.

“We wanted to make a game that would introduce a new kind of challenge for gamers who are constantly being bombarded with the same old gameplay mechanics,” says Joel Erickson, the game's designer. “I think gamers are going to be amazed by the level of reality and interaction that The Hostage Trials achieves as they play.”

David Hayter, an actor, writer, and director who plays the game's villain, is best known for his voice work as Solid Snake from the long running Metal Gear Solid series for the Sony Playstation.

“When you get the opportunity to work on something as creatively groundbreaking and technologically cutting edge as The Hostage Trials, what can you say but 'Hell yes'?,” says Hayter.

The new indie studio is hoping to raise 100% of the capital for the game through Kickstarter, the popular crowd funding website for independent creative projects.

More information is available at: http://kck.st/L3onDB

“We’ve been publishing content on our social media channels for the last two years, but we felt there was a more beautiful and cohesive way to share it with the world. That’s how the idea of Snap was born,” said Lucas Buick, CEO, Hipstamatic. “We’re excited to share the breadth of our company’s creativity through Snap, and it will be a great way to feature the amazing photography coming from the Hipstamatic community.”

Snap will be issued monthly, and is comprised of eight sections and three feature stories. The eight sections include: 

Cultured: From street photography to style, this how-to section covers essentials for hip living.

Obsessed: What we’re loving each month — from music to fashion to microbrews.

Climax: Speaking about the unspeakable, pivotal issues — sex, religion and politics.

Situation: See and be seen at all the hottest events — we’re people about town, and we take pictures.

Hip Stop: Whether it’s Shoreditch or Shanghai, we’re uncovering each city’s trendy treasures.

Adventures in Hipstaland: We’ve compiled the best of our popular Facebook travel series to give you an inside look at global destinations.

Slash: For all those indescribable in-betweens: love/hate is just the beginning.

Lensed: From Nic Adler to David Loftus and beyond, Lensed is an elite group of photography’s movers and shakers.

The three feature stories are based on each issue’s monthly theme. Snap’s inaugural issue, “Make Beautiful,” explores people and trends that are positively impacting the world, including photojournalist Ben Lowy, founder of PhotoJojo Amit Gupta, lead singer of The Limousines Eric Victorino, and guerrilla street art from across the globe. Snap’s June issue also features The Roxy’s Nic Adler, internationally renowned photographer David Loftus, the hilarious and poignant team behind Thought Catalog, and the founders of Seventh Son Tattoo, among others.

“Music, fashion, art, pop culture—t’s what we care about as a company and Snap will always mirror that,” said Buick. “The first issue is a cross section of amazingly creative people across a variety of industries. And of course, there will be plenty of beautiful pictures. We hope everyone enjoys reading the stories as much as we loved putting them together.” 

To download the latest issue of Snap, please click here. 

“One of the things people really love about YOU DON’T KNOW JACK on PC and consoles is the fun of competing directly against their friends and family members sitting together in the living room. So our challenge was bringing that experience to the connected but asynchronous nature of the social and mobile gaming environments. A kind of ‘party-play’ atmosphere for people playing at work, school, or perhaps at home in their pajamas or knickers,” said Harry Gottlieb, founder of Jellyvision Games and inventor of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK brings its well-known party-play style to Facebook in three important ways: First, by automatically matching a player against his or her Facebook friends who have already played that specific episode; second, by providing a direct option to challenge other Facebook friends at the end of an episode; and third, by offering multiple ways to share results, brag, and taunt friends through Facebook’s social channels, bringing the same type of banter experienced during a game of YDKJ on the couch into the Facebook gameplay experience.

“As we worked on the new design, we kept looking for every way we could to recreate the experience of playing YOU DON’T KNOW JACK with your family and friends,” said Steve Heinrich, Designer and Editorial Director, Jellyvision Games. “With this design we think we’ve accomplished a lot of that, even though we’ve never actually met your family and friends, probably.”

“We also wanted to create a gameplay experience for YOU DON’T KNOW JACK that could really mesh with the larger social and mobile environment,” said Mike Bilder, General Manager of Jellyvision Games. “So we optimized the game to tight, five-question episodes with an editorial schedule that allows us to release multiple episodes each week, often with very topical content. Plus, it ensures a constantly-updating app that will remain alive and fresh, not static and unchanging like many other games I’ve played at home in my knickers.”

With its editorial calendar, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK can produce content that engages players with questions related to many of the topics they are currently discussing on Facebook on their Timelines, bringing gameplay more tightly into the social media experience than any previous game.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK’s new design will be rolled out on iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android later this year, allowing players the opportunity to compete cross-platform. Cookie Masterson, the game’s most popular (and sassiest) host is back, as is the game’s core structure, with humor-infused questions that range from Shakespeare to Scooby-Doo. The game will be free-to-play with free games provided frequently. Users can also win free games through achievements, and multi-game packs are available for purchase. Players can access YOU DON’T KNOW JACK on all available platforms athttp://www.ydkj.com.

“Even with the new design and new features, players will be instantly familiar with YOU DON’T KNOW JACK on Facebook,” said Allard Laban, Creative Director, Jellyvision Games. “Favorites like the DisOrDat, Gibberish Question, and Jack Attack are all there. And of course, Cookie Masterson is still our host, due to an apparently legally binding contract that he signed years ago in crayon.”

This new version of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK represents Jellyvision Games’ latest in a history of innovations within the interactive trivia space. When YOU DON’T KNOW JACK first launched in 1995, it was the first game to truly immerse the user into a fully interactive game show experience, making players feel like the game’s host was talking directly to them. The company also created Who Wants To Be A Millionaire for PC, which at the time was the fastest-selling PC game in history, and the TV game show Smush, which aired on the USA Network. To date, the YOU DON’T KNOW JACK franchise has sold more than 5 million units and generated $100 million in revenue with versions for CD-ROM, consoles, iOS and tabletop.

"The response has been overwhelming. We have had thousands of people create their profile already. Creating your profile on our platform is a first step to creating your name brand," states WannaFollow.me's CEO, Roger Safont.

Social media has gone mainstream in the past year. The Top 20 social networking sites have more than one billion unique visitors every month and most people have multiple online profiles, scattered across various services, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and Twitter. One problem they face is pulling all that information together to build a single online identity — be it for personal use or to create a professional online profile. WannaFollow.Me is the solution by simplifying the social experience across the web.

WannaFollow.Me allows users to: 
1. Create a custom personal profile page (think splash page) 
2. Add social media links 
2. Post updates to social networking sites 
3. Build a fan base of followers to increase social connectivity 
4. Upload videos to truly showcase your personal profile

Here is an example of a WannaFollow.Me profile: 

•     http://wannafollow.me/smilecatz

Over the past year, virtually everyone has learned the importance of securing their online names as services like Twitter have come from nowhere to become significant drivers of top online brands. WannaFollow.Me makes this as simple as possible, establishing it as a great service and an even better opportunity for Internet users to control their identities online.

“Being a fan of the original tales from the Arabian Nights as well as the great creature movies of yester-year, we teamed up with artists from around the globe and really pushed to deliver a fresh version of Sinbad the Sailor. “ - said up and coming Persian-American actor/director Shahin Sean Solimon. “We wanted to create something very unique for the fans of Sinbad and bring back the traditional style of Visual FX movie making. Although it's a painstaking process, as the animators have to go frame by frame, we are excited and looking forward to giving young and old audiences a chance to experience this movie!”

Primed for a 2012 release ‘Sinbad The Fifth Voyage’ is reminiscent of the classic Saturday afternoon matinee films originally brought to the silver screen in the 1950s using stop-motion animation technology.

Steven Paul’s Crystal Edge, LLC is an affiliate of Crystal Sky (Ghost Rider, Tekken) also headed by Steven Paul, an Executive Producer, and is representing ‘Sinbad The Fifth Voyage’ as worldwide exclusive sales agent, and is showcasing Sinbad during Cannes International Film Festival.

About Giant Flick Films:

With core genres of Fantasy, Sci-fi, Horror and Action-Adventure Giant Flick Films LLC is a full-fledged production and distribution company based in Hollywood, CA and founded by a group of artist and partnerships that span the globe with a single goal of bringing great movies to the fans. Their goal is to broaden ingenuity and project imagination through good old fashion creativity for a new generation of cinema fans. Giant Flick is a green company. Recycling and conserving are an integral part of their operations in the corporate offices and on film sets.

“The Vamplets’ Nightmare Nursery is darkly humorous and different than anything we’ve seen in the market,” said Alan Gordon, President of Comic Images. “Each of these seemingly innocent babies is equipped with a special power that will cause chaos to their unsuspecting human owners."

“We are thrilled to have Comic Images producing The Nightmare Nursery of Gloomvania designer plush line,” said Carlin West of CWA, licensing agency for Vamplet, LLC. “Comic Images is a high quality plush manufacturer that will provide fans with the attention to detail they have come to expect from Vamplets.”

About Vamplet, LLC- Vamplet, LLC is the licensor of a line of un-human babies and pets from The Nightmare Nursery of Gloomvania, as imagined by conceptual artist and product designer Gayle Middleton. For the most up-to-date information from Gloomvania visit the Vamplets Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Vamplet

About Comic Images- Comic Images, established in 1984, is a leading manufacturer of uniquely designed Plush products with distribution to a range of mass and specialty outlets.

The Nightmare Nursery of Gloomvania babies and pets will debut in July at San Diego Comicon. Visit http://www.shop.vamplets.com to meet them up close.