StarDrone Extreme for PlayStation Vita is now available.

The game will hit US PSN stores today for $3.99.

The game features:

• PS3 Cross GamePlay
• touchscreen
• rear touch pad controls
• shared scoreboards
• new levels

Stay tuned to GB for more news and updates.

Check out this new trailer from the PlayStation Vita version of StarDrone, StarDrone Extreme.

Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments below.

The game is being developed by Beatshapers.

In StarDrone you control the trajectory of a spaceship launched in a zero-gravity environment via the centrifugal force generated by connecting and disconnecting its energy beam to special anchor points. Featuring a top-down perspective, players pilot their spaceship across the galaxy, collecting pieces of Equilibrix in order to restore the balance of the universe and stop the expansion of evil race of G-Noids.

The game is being developed by BeatShapers.

This game is published by Beatshapers.

In StarDrone you control the trajectory of a spaceship launched in a zero-gravity environment via the centrifugal force generated by connecting and disconnecting its energy beam to special anchor points. Featuring a top-down perspective, players pilot their spaceship across the galaxy, collecting pieces of Equilibrix in order to restore the balance of the universe and stop the expansion of evil race of G-Noids. It basically plays like pinball-meets-Breakout-meets-shoot-em-up, using the Vita’s front multi-touch display and multi-touch rear pad to select anchor points, fight enemies and interact with the rich game environments. StarDrone’s game mechanics is simple, but at times challenging, flashing back into the good old arcade days.

For more on StarDrone please click here

GB: Has Beatshapers taken any financial hit due to this?
Alexey: Well, yes, this is our primary revenue source and this outage makes me worried. We will surely  try to do something.

GB: How has Sony supported you during this stressful period?

Alexey: Not yet, its been five days  and nothing is clear yet – to be honest we were too busy with our next PSN game to take the situation to full consideration, plus it was easter holidays.
In all other previous outages and other issues, like, for example PS3 hack – Sony was always confident and supportive, answer our questions etc. I expect an official email very soon.

GB: Is there anything you want to add on the current situation?
Alexey: This is sad that this happened but I call not to spread panic – I am sure Sony understands the situation and will put in all efforts to fix the same.

We thanks Alexey for taking out his time to answer these questions.

What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments below.

It has been announced that the US launch date of StarDrone is 05 April 2011, for the price of $7.99 and a special 50% discount for PlayStation+ subscribers.

A gameplay video is given below:

StarDrone Gameplay video 2 from Beatshapers on Vimeo.

Stardrone, the upcoming PS Move title from Beatshapers, has been promoted with new gameplay footage seen above.

Must say it does look like a pretty eclectic, but entertaining, mix of genres. This could be a real stand out title for the Playstation Move, and the fact that it will support 3D makes it all the more interesting a prospect. Keep you peepers peeled dear readers.

StarDrone – Your Drone being chased by enemies.

I played the Playstation 3 version of the game with the Playstation Move.  I steered my drone through the star filled galaxy collecting “Equilibrix” to stop the “G-Noids” from taking over the universe. This is completely irrelevant as there is not a word of text, a cut scene or a hint of any of this in the actual game. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it is just much more of a simple arcade game than that. It is kind of like a combination between Geometry Wars and Pinball, in fact I think that is a perfect way to describe it. The game itself is very innovative and even more so when you use the PS move with it. You start a level by shooting a drone out in your desired direction and must collect as many if not all the stars or pieces of “Equilibrix” as you control the drone in a very unique way. While it is soaring through the sky you hold down lets say the ‘move button’ and are then shown a couple of dotted directions you drone will head in upon releasing the move button. Once you get the hang of it you will have your drone soaring in the direction you want while using anchors to swing around and pull off any desired degree of a turn from zero to a 360.

There are 50 levels of star soaring flight as the more objects that are collected the faster you go.  During the levels you will want to be in constant motion.  If you gain enough speed you enter a ‘Comet Rush’ and you are invincible for as long as you can keep the speed of or the collecting rather.  In the first few levels there is no real danger, the game just getting you used to the controls, but things change quickly.  The dangers become a big part of the game and are everywhere around you with some levels leaving you with only one perfect flow of your drone.  This I feel is the downside of the game.  As you progress you become entrapped in spiked areas where one degree off when turning will kill you.  Other may thrive on this and love the thrill of perfection.  I however feel that I am not alone as where the frustration of not making that perfect run turns me away from the game.  As good as it feels to complete a very difficult level, trying to complete the same one for so long just seems like a waste of time and reminds me that I am playing an arcade game that was original just a flash game.

I can’t let that frustration get in the way of the fact though of how innovative and amazing the game must look in 3D, which I did not have the luxury of seeing.  This type of game is one those game that will open the door for more creative ideas.  StarDrone will let loose and pave the way for many games to come using PS Move, 3D capabilities for arcade games as well as retail games.  You can view the video included in the review to see what it is like.  The game may not be for you, or it may be just for you, or it might just be what you need to see for you yourself to create something new yourself from the innovation that comes from StarDrone.

StarDrone costs $7.99 and $4.99 for Playstation Plus Users.  It will also be heavily promoted for the iPad as well.  Here is the Official StarDrone site.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

Check out the full interview below.

GB: The PSN collection is growing by the day, and the games just keep getting better and better. Will Stardrone be able to stand up against its competitors properly?

Alexey: Yes, absolutely. First of all, StarDrone is brand-new-fresh genre. Basically it is an action-puzzle game but actually its like Sonic the Hedgehog meets Pinball, with puzzle and breakout elements, and a lot of frantic high-speed action. There is no such games in PlayStation Store (yet). Secondly, its designed for PlayStation Move motion controller and I belive this is first indie titles to be released on PSN with a Move motion controller support.

GB: In a game like this, you usually expect a lot of replay value. Will you be incorporating several game modes in the game or something like that to increase its replayablity?

Alexey: StarDrone is a highscore-based game: the better you perform, the higher score you get, the higher position in leaderboards you receive. We have 2 kind of leaderboards: One which is the sum of all your level scores and the other in which every level has it’s  own score board and we added sort of social element there: when you select the level, you can see your position in scoreboard against friends. In that way it is really fun. We’ve tested the game with help of external QA company, and their testers got higher scores than we did internally, so we silently tried to beat them by playing the game and finally got the highest results.
Also, in future updates we will consider adding special Challenge modes to increase replayability and potentially exploring the opportunity of adding You Tube feature where player can upload their level performance directly to You Tube. But this is in the future plans at this moment.

GB: Stardrone does seem to be a very unique game… but what makes it so unique? Can you elaborate?

Alexey: The unique feature I think is that the game does not belong to a single genre but mash-up of many others. Every level is designed with variety of elements to challenge the player but the goal is to finish the level with the shortest time as possible. Also there are 3 kind of levels endings: clear the level, kill all enemies and complete the puzzle, so we have many levels configurations to impress the player. To be honest, its actually quite hardcore and a challenging game but we designed it having the hardcore audience in mind.

GB: Do you think Stardrone will sell well enough to warrant maybe a sequel?

Alexey: We really hope for this. If gamers like it, we already have a plan for StarDrone 2 with more levels and various game modes.

GB: Do you think downloadable games are not given as much recognition as they should be?

Alexey: I think this has happened because of lack of marketing and publcity from developer. Indie developers can create games but to get a shout about its usually impossible for them. That’s why many games remain unknown for a long time and that’s is actually our business model as a digital space publisher – we bring the indie titles, which are already released on PC to another platforms to gain wider audience. This works perfectly with our already released PlayStation Minis games and we hope this will help us to show the StarDrone to the world. Another issue with downloadable games is even though their market share doubles every year, retail still remains the main channel for gamers but we hope it will be change soon 🙂

GB: How different will it be playing Stardrone with and without 3D?

Alexey: Its not really different but StarDrone is 3D enabled and so you can get the depth, so the player can focus on level geometry and obstacles, I’d say on some levels its even advantage. We are still working on the 3D patch, trying various methods to make visuals richier and better. 3D support will come as a patch later on.

GB: Do you think indie games have scope for PlayStation Move support?

Alexey: PlayStation Move is very good platform: precise, fast in response. There are so many ideas for indie developers for Move controller, so I think, yes this is defenitely an opportunity. The problem is that PS3 development is not cheap and require some qualification and understanding the platform, so its potentially makes an higher entry barrier for potential developers but from my experinece, you have to understand it once and it become much easier. Currently, we are working on an unannounced PSN game and the development process is way easier now.

GB:  Is there anything else you want to tell us about the game?

Alexey: We are working on the NGP version of StarDrone.

Beatshapers Limited and TastyPlay.com announced that StarDrone is coming to European PlayStation Stores on 2nd March 2011 for the price 7.99 EUR. StarDrone also coming to PlayStation Plus half price. North American release date to be confirmed soon.

StarDrone is a high-speed action thriller with a mix of arcade action, pinball, breakout, physics and collect-the-objects. It is created for PlayStation Move motion controller and supports HDTV. The game features over 50 levels of unparalleled gaming experience and extraordinary replay value. Cause your attackers to crash with rapid speed while collecting gems and power-up enhancements. Overcome perilous hazards and elude zillions of enemies in an effort to complete each stage with a record score. With simple gesture controls and unique, intuitive game play mechanics, StarDrone is friendly to beginners, at the same time challenging enough to bring you back for more and more.