Hovorun is a multi player online game that offers up to eight gamers the opportunity to race against each other in a funny Hovercraft. The challenge is to try to attack one’s opponent while racing and knocking them out of the game. The game client can be downloaded free and gamers can play the game for free except if they want to use game credits to purchase “special in game items”. Gamers can build their own teams or choose single player competition modes where they are offered a large collection of items to customize their hovercrafts as they race against each other either. The game will be available in English and the following European languages: Dutch, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. Game Entertainment Europe will also seek partners and potential in-game advertisers to also expand the business opportunity potential of online casual gaming.

Co-founder and CCO of Game Entertainment Europe Jurriaan van Rijswijk shared his ambitions to “make Hovorun a big success in Europe”. He added, “There is a large number of casual gamers that we have not reached out to because there has not been any multi-player online racing game available yet in Europe. As a leading Pan European publisher for MMO Games, we are filling that gap for the European gaming community that missed out on Nexon’s Kartrider which was only released in Asia and the US continent. Like the all time success Mario Kart, the Player-to-Player experience in Hovorun focusses on a fun and natural race experience, and with the wide variety of characters and in-game services, we are certain that this game will be a hit in Europe!”

Features :

• With exciting racing environments, Hovorun introduces “In-game Gold-Collecting System” which allows the user to get attack/defense items during gaming. It makes Hovorun a unique strategic and action-packed racing game, guaranteeing maximum gameplay fun for all players!
• Hovorun has also been gearing up for being an educational game. In the “Alphabetic Letter Collecting Mode”, the user will improve his/her English word power while they still feel that the original fun (or even more fun!) of Hovorun is kept intact.
• Hovorun racing maps are the planets of the imaginary space named “Kozmo”. Hovorun provides various kinds of maps representing Kozmo’s planets in which players can experience unexpected gameplay fun!
• Hovorun provides the user with cute brat characters which can be further adorned by changing racing suits and adding accessories.
• Hovorun also provides various kinds of hovercrafts called “Hovo” in the game, each of which has its own bells and whistles, thus making Hovorun racing more interesting and exciting!
• The ‘gold coins’, acquired in the course of racing, are to be used only in the current stage of gameplay. As the player gets more gold coins, the number of attack/defense items that he/she can use against other players increases. When and how to use these items creates Hovorun’s unique gameplay style with a variety of strategies.
• Hovorun is also based on the “item selling” model in which user items can be purchased by either game money or game points. Items include: hovercrafts, clothes, helmets, goggles and a variety of accessories. They all can be worn by the game character of the users’ choice. The model of “item selling” has been very successful in many Korean online games. Though this business model is still at its infant stage in North America and Europe, the world game market is currently paying a lot of attention to this extremely successful (and lucrative!) business model for online game servicing.

“We are extremely pleased to announce this partnership because we are confident that the team at Game Entertainment Europe have a unique expertise in reaching the European game community by focusing on services that gamers in different countries require. It’s exciting working with a company that has a very active community of gamers,” Said James Lee, CTO from Lots Entertainment.

“We have plans to publish more multi-player online game titles which will cater to a wide variety of audience. We aim to expand the casual gaming market in Europe by localizing the game client and making the game available in multiple languages. We also ensure that the different billing solutions are covered as this is important to our gamers who are from all over Europe,” said Richard van Barneveld, CEO and co-founder of Game Entertainment Europe.

Van Barneveld added, “For our online games, we also work directly with advertising customers, to deliver in-game advertising that focus on targeted, measurable and effective opportunities.”

Lots Entertainment is a young and innovative Korean game developer located in Busan. Lots Entertainment started in 2005 as a spinoff of the Tongmyong University. Advanced 3D graphic experience, cutting edge game engine and network technology, offered by Lots Entertainment, combined to GEE’s recognition amongst gamers, will put this partnership well ahead of competition.

The closed beta launch for Hovorun will start early 2008. Gamers who are interested to sign-up for the closed beta launch can sign up at the Hovorun website to find out more details.