Fantastic Arcade Free Public Event in Austin, Texas This September 22nd-25th

The Fantastic Arcade event is an indie gaming event (as well as films and more), where the public can get an opportunity to see, play and preview some of the best indie games out there.  This is the second annual one that is being held in Austin, Texas starting tomorrow, Thursday the September 22nd 2011 to Sunday the 25th and the event is FREE to the public.  At the event there will be an exclusive preview of Starhawk and the World Premiere of Serious Sam: The Random Encounter!  For more info on everything check out the full press release below and a full schedule of the event here as will as the official site being FantasticFest.com.

AUSTIN, TX – September 21, 2011 – Fantastic Arcade, the second annual showcase of independent games organized by the Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest, the world’s largest genre film festival, celebrates its local Texas roots with two major exclusive gaming events: the first in-depth playable public preview of Starhawk™, the highly-anticipated third-person shooter developed exclusively for the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system by Austin’s own LightBox Interactive, and the world premiere of Serious Sam: The Random Encounter from Austin-based games publisher Devolver Digital.  Both games will be on display during Fantastic Arcade, September 22-25, 2011.

The spiritual successor to the Warhawk™, Starhawk provides fast-paced third-person shooter action set in the lawless frontier of space, allowing players to instantly alter the battlefield by calling down offensive and defensive structures in real-time from an orbiting drop ship, all while blasting away at enemies in the middle of huge firefights.  The game features both single-player and multiplayer campaigns with up to 32 players.  Designed exclusively for the PlayStation 3 system by Austin’s own LightBox Interactive, Starhawk is set for release in 2012.

The legendary Serious Sam reloads and rearms in his explosive debut role-playing game, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter.  Developed by indie superstars Vlambeer and published by Austin-based Devolver Digital, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter maintains Serious Sam’s trademark humor, non-stop action, and massive hordes of unrelenting enemies in a wild throwback to classic turn-based RPGs.

“Austin is a hotbed of talent – whether film, music or video games and technology,” said Mike Plante, Arcade Artistic Director.  “Fantastic Arcade highlights the both the artistic flair of the community as well as the pure genius of Austin and its citizens.”

Fantastic Arcade 2011 has attracted top sponsors for this year’s event, including PlayStation® Network as the Presenting Sponsor of the Arcade and the exclusive console partner of the event.  Starhawk developer Lightbox Interactive has come on-board alongside PlayStation® Network as a Title Sponsor of this year’s Arcade. Additionally, Devolver Digital returns to Fantastic Arcade for the second year as a Premier Sponsor. Midas Green Tech (midasgreentech.com), offering innovative liquid-submerged virtual private servers that dramatically reduce IT costs and carbon footprints, is a 2011 Supporting Sponsor.

In addition to Starhawk and Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, Fantastic Arcade 2011 features several games that were developed in Austin, Texas, including:

• Deep Sea by Robin Arnott: A creepy audio-only game where players don a sense-depriving gas mask to face off against hidden sea monsters.
• Lost Mars by Tiger Style: An action-gardening adventure where you cultivate an alien ecosystem and research mysterious life forms.

Fantastic Arcade includes multiple video-game centric events so participants can meet, learn, play, compete and party including:

• Developer Commentary: Hear direct from the creators as they play their games live on the screen at the Highball. Multiple times a day, 9/22-25
• Storytelling and Development in Videogames:  Feature film writers and the creative team behind the PlayStation®3 exclusive Starhawk will discuss storytelling and development in videogames and how it crosses over with film. 1PM on Saturday, 9/24
• PlayStation® Network PixelJunk Dance Party:  As the graphics creator and music composer for the Playstation Network exclusive, PixelJunk™ Eden, Japanese artist Baiyon is the perfect catalyst for a Fantastic Arcade dance party. Step into his digital playground for a visually fantastic dance trip. 10PM on Sunday, 9/25
• Yearbook Nerd Photo Contest:  Local contest celebrating nerds and their old high school awkward photos. Contest open through September 20; winners chosen on September 24.
• Fantastic Arcade Awards Party – Starcade:  The annual Fantastic Awards show also includes a surprise tournament and a recreation of Starcade, the beloved 80s game show for kids, where two serious video game junkies will compete to win a standup arcade game. Starcade begins at 5 PM on Sunday, September 25.

All games and game related events in Fantastic Arcade are free and open to the general public at Austin, TX’s Highball Lounge on South Lamar Blvd. Each day features a happy hour and a tournament on a different independent game, including Bit Pilot, Faraway, Super Crate Box and Vikings on Trampolines.  For full schedule and daily events, visit: http://fantasticfest.festivalgenius.com/2011/schedule/week/category/Arcade.

Check out Facebook and Twitter for all of the latest Fantastic Arcade news and happenings.

For the latest developments visit the Fantastic Fest Facebook & Twitter.

For more details regarding Fantastic Fest, contact festival publicist Brandy Fons, at brandy@fonspr.com.  For more information, visit www.fantasticfest.com.

About Fantastic Arcade
Fantastic Arcade fuses the world of independent film and independent gaming.  We bring together artists and professionals who are telling stories and creating experiences in film, games and online entertainment simultaneously.  At Fantastic Arcade, we showcase a curated selection of brand new independent games as well as a larger sampling of important groundbreaking independent games from the last couple of years.

Attendees are invited to play the games as well as interact with the game developers via panels and nightly parties and happy hours.  We also feature both panels with independent filmmakers side by side with game developers and intimate demo sessions by independent game developers.  Lastly, we feel that video games rightfully belong side by side with shorts and feature films at Fantastic Fest. The artistic merit of these games will be honored with both audience awards and a juried competition.

About Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. In years past the festival has been home to world premieres of THERE WILL BE BLOOD, APOCALYPTO, ZOMBIELAND and RED while the guest roster has included such talent as Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Ryan Reynolds, Karl Urban, Josh Hartnett, The RZA, Dolph Lundgren, Jemaine Clement, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky and Mike Judge. Fantastic Fest also features world, national and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films.  The festival has launched and propelled the buzz for international genre hits like THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, MONSTERS, TIMECRIMES and TROLLHUNTER.  Fantastic Fest is held each year at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar in Austin, Texas. The Alamo Drafthouse was named the best cinema in America by Entertainment Weekly and features food and drink served to your seat without any disruption of the movie experience.

During his Keynote Address at the International film Festival Summit in Las Vegas, Variety president and publisher Charlie Koones listed Fantastic Fest in a list of “10 Film Festivals We Love,” a list which included industry heavy-hitters such as Cannes, Toronto and Telluride.  We’ve also been named as one of the “25 coolest film festivals” and the “25 film festivals worth the entry fee” by Moviemaker Magazine.

Our Partners
Fantastic Arcade sponsors include Presenting Sponsor PlayStation® Network, Austin game developers Lightbox Interactive (Title Sponsor) and Devolver Digital (Premier Sponsor), as well as Midas Green Tech (Supporting Sponsor).

Returning Presenting Sponsors for Fantastic Fest and Arcade include Austin-based Ambhar Tequila, as well as AMD, Alienware, and FEARnet.

New Presenting Sponsors include Texas’ own Shiner Beer, whose family of products will be featured throughout the festival. Joining them are Plano-based Well Go USA Entertainment, PlayStation® Network, and Fandango. Fandango is the exclusive video sponsor as well as ticketing partner of Fantastic Fest 2011. Daily tickets can be purchased at www.fantasticfest.com or www.fandango.com. A full list of this year’s sponsors can be found at www.fantasticfest.com/sponsors.