Microsoft and Torpex Games Announce the Release of Schizoid™! Available Now Exclusively for Xbox LIVE® Arcade

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(July 9th, 2008)--Prepare for a brain meltdown! Microsoft and Torpex Games announced today the release of Schizoid™ for Xbox LIVE® Arcade. Billed as “the most co-op game ever”, Schizoid creates a new category of action gaming where teamwork equals survival and players must protect each other from waves of glowing enemies. Available for download now, Schizoid is the first-ever Xbox LIVE Arcade title built using Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio.

“Torpex Games assembled an all-star team that truly believed in the vision of this singular game, and they ended up creating a unique and innovative game that embodies Xbox LIVE Arcade,” said Jeremy Wacksman, Microsoft’s Global Product Manager, Xbox LIVE. “We are very happy that Schizoid is the superb first result of our XNA Game Studio initiative on Xbox Live Arcade.”

Created by a team of veteran game developers, Schizoid features addictively simple gameplay. One or two players control one red ship and one blue ship, which are continually attacked by red and blue enemies. Each ship can destroy enemies of its own color, but will be destroyed by enemies of the other color. Quick reflexes help, but sharp teamwork is the difference between winning and losing.

“Schizoid is a landmark co-op gaming experience, unlike any other game. It’s a new experience that you’ve got to try,” says Bill Dugan, Torpex Games’ president. “And although it has been reported that Schizoid will ‘make your brain melt and ooze out of your ears’, I want to reassure gamers that in our testing we found no evidence of actual brain liquefaction.”

Two players can play cooperatively on the same Xbox 360™ console or over Xbox LIVE. In single-player mode, players can opt to control either one ship, while an AI “Wingman Bot” controls the other ship; or control both ships in the hardcore “Uberschizoid” game mode.

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