Promotional game for upcoming martial arts movie My Kingdom launches on the web and iTunes

10 August 2011, Hong Kong–Celestial Pictures, the Chinese content company and operator of regional pay-TV channels, took its first step into the gaming business today by launching the first-ever game app for a Chinese movie. Available today, My Kingdom Game can be played via the website www.celestialpictures.com/game/mykingdom.aspor downloaded for free from Apple’s iTunes store (for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches). Created to promote Celestial’s upcoming martial arts movie of the same name, My Kingdom Game was developed with leading independent Chinese game developer Art Coding. Through a simple, casual rhythm-based game, the tightly-woven tale of two brothers’ quest for fame, love and revenge is unveiled.

“The gaming business is a new frontier for Celestial and our upcoming movie release created a perfect opportunity for us to launch a promotional game and target young audiences who interact with entertainment across broad media including their mobile devices,” said Ross Pollack, CEO, Celestial Pictures. “We are proud that this is the first game app for a Chinese movie and we look forward to bringing new and exciting content to the market including modern reinterpretations of our iconic Shaw Brothers Film Library.”

Based on the storyline of the movie, players can choose to be either of the two main characters from the movie played by young idols Wu Chun and Han Geng. Players need to tap on a drum (controlled by keyboard or by tapping directly on the screen of their iPhone or iPod Touch) to match with icons on the screen in order to gain points. Bonus items await players as they navigate through various levels. Players will be awarded with movie stills when they successfully pass each stage of the challenge. Upon completing all four stages of the game and three stages of difficulty, players will be awarded with the “The Mightiest Warrior” plaque; the same plaque all the characters are fighting for in the movie. For mainland China players, the game has a function tied to their Sina Weibo accounts allowing their scores to be displayed on their Sina Weibo micro-blogging updates.

My Kingdom Gameis Celestial’s first game since appointing Justin Weng as Vice President, Game Development and Licensing back in April. My Kingdom (Da Wu Sheng), the movie, is a martial arts action drama starring Wu Chun, Han Geng, and Barbie Hsu, written by acclaimed writer Zou Jingzhi (Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles), action directed by the legendary Sammo Hung and directed by Gao Xiaosong.

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