The Hunter is a revolutionary hunting simulator that unites traditional gaming and social networking. Download the game client and you'll find a visually stunning hunting world, populated with a huge range of highly realistic animals, from small game and birds to heavy weight trophy targets like bear, deer and elk, all created by Avalanche Studios, the award winning developer of Just Cause.

But The Hunter isn't just about hunting; it's also about the community.

Entering its beta testing phase next month, The Hunter features an incredibly realistic and visually detailed hunting environment with true to life animal behaviors. Uniquely, the game gives players the social network tools and web interface to build an online community of hunters, all of whom experience the thrill of the hunt within a connected environment.

Players can interact through a web interface with a network of thousands of other people playing the game at the same time. You can make new friends, form groups, create rivalries, take part in competitions and tournaments against people, or work with other players to complete exciting challenges.

And when the guns are locked back in the cabinet, you can share your in game experiences with the world. Post journal entries, videos and pictures of your latest trophies online, and comment on other peoples exploits. See where you stand in the leader boards for different events on a global or national level, or check out who's the best hunter in your local town. And beat them. If you're a hunter in real life and you really want to brag you can even post details and images of that stag you bagged that broke the state record...

The social network isn't just a means of keeping in touch with the community either; it also forms part of the game. You can explore through the network, browsing profiles, making new friends, getting hunting tips from other players, discovering hidden stores where you can pick up new hunting kit, or find out who you need to befriend into order to unlock new missions and items.

The Hunter also connects throughout your digital life, with links to Facebook and other social networks, as well as RSS feeds and messages to your mobile keeping you up to date with the hunting news and your friends' latest trophy triumphs

With regular roll outs of new content, missions, items, hunting areas and animals, the Hunter will always stay fresh, and the community plays a big part in shaping the future direction of the game. Features and updates can be created based on the way the game is being played, and players can send suggestions to the developers about new things they want to see and the direction they want their game to take.

And if being a fine upstanding citizen of a social network isn't your thing, you can even become a poacher, create your own rules and shoot whatever animals you want. Watch out for the game wardens though...

As the game continually develops, Emote Games anticipates The Hunter to become a top destination for gamers and fans of hunting games. Emote is currently in talks with a range of potential partners to gain valuable insight into the world of hunting in order to offer a full and varied hunting experience as close to the real thing as possible.

The Hunter will be available on PC with console versions to follow.