Landing a starring role in Hollywood’s biggest hits just became a reality as Yoostar Entertainment Group (www.yoostar.com) today announced that Yoostar 2 is now available across Europe and EMEA, distributed by NAMCO BANDAI Partners S.A.S. Removing the barrier between popular online social networking sites and console gaming, it also announced the unveiling of Yoostar Playground™, a new Facebook game that works seamlessly with Yoostar^®2 for the Kinect™ for Xbox 360^® and PlayStation^® 3 computer entertainment system. Yoostar Playground takes the console experience online and expands the functionality of Yoostar 2 by adding new game features including the ability to earn Badges and create Movie Mashups that then award players “Yoobucks”, which can be redeemed through the video game.

Yoostar Playground is a free, social game that anyone can play, letting Facebook fans rate, share and comment on videos of player performances. It also empowers the entire community create Movie Mashups that can then be uploaded and rated. All activities earn players fame points, taking their in-game persona from a struggling actor/actress, to an A-list celebrity, and are rewarded with Badges for increased ranking or Yoobucks which can be used for “power-ups” or “boosts” in both Yoostar Playground and the Yoostar 2 video game.

“Yoostar 2 and Yoostar Playground can be enjoyed as two separate games, with each designed to take advantage of its own unique platform. But the true break-through and total enjoyment comes when playing both games as one, as it brings the party experience of the console game to your social network,” said Stephanie Morgan, Vice President of Social Gaming for Yoostar Entertainment Group.  “It’s really the first time the consoles have stepped beyond their own communities and connected directly to the open world of social gaming on Facebook. We are extremely excited by this milestone and believe the potential for new console products with greater social integration is enormous.”

A new breed of social gaming for consoles and an ideal party game, Yoostar 2, brings the magic and fun of Hollywood to living rooms everywhere. Using the magic of Kinect for Xbox 360 or the PlayStation^®Eye, players insert themselves into famous movie and TV scenes, starring alongside or in place of their favorite actors. Perform the lines as written in English, Spanish, French, Italian or German, or “flip the script” and deliver a personalized improvisation. Yoostar 2 then scores your performance and lets players share their scene to Facebook, Twitter, Yoostar 2’s in-game social portal on Xbox LIVE^® online entertainment network and PlayStation Network, or Yoostar.com.

Fans can also experience the game from a whole new perspective on Facebook’s Yoostar Playground, a completely new kind of social game where players can earn badges and “Yoobucks” by participating in the community and completing challenges. View, rate, comment and award other videos and share your own. Create Movie Mashups by combining multiple scenes together to create mini movies, and enter contests to win cash and prizes by creating and uploading new scenes. Then watch as your fame points rise on both the video game and Facebook as you rise from a struggling actor to an A-list celebrity.

Yoostar 2 is currently available at all leading retail outlets throughout Europe and EMEA. Yoostar Playground is live on Facebook now and can be played for free at www.facebook.com/yoostar. For more information on Yoostar 2, please visit www.Yoostar.com.

#  #  #
About Yoostar Entertainment Group
Yoostar Entertainment Group is the world’s first Social Video Game Company.  Perfectly blending aspects of online video creation and sharing, social gaming and social networking, Yoostar creates a new kind of personalized entertainment experience that’s immersive, fun and social.  Founded in 2007, Yoostar has offices in New York City and Los Angeles.  Find out more about Yoostar on Yoostar.com, on Facebook(Facebook.com/yoostar), or follow @Yoostarand @gregoryfon Twitter. 

About NAMCO BANDAI Partners
NAMCO BANDAI Partners, one of the video game industry's leading distribution, marketing and sales companies,  is a wholly owned subsidiary of NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe with 16 dedicated offices operating in 50 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Australasia, and south east Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea).  The company distributes and markets a broad catalogue of high quality interactive entertainment products for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo gaming platforms and PC from NAMCO BANDAI Games, D3Publisher and other major video game publishers on an international and regional basis.  NAMCO BANDAI Partners is an independent business unit of the NAMCO BANDAI group of companies.
For more information about NAMCO BANDAI Partners and its entire product line up, please visit www.namcobandaigames.eu.  For media assets visit www.namcobandaipartners-press.com.

About Blitz Games Studios:
Currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, Blitz Games Studios is based in Leamington Spa and was founded by industry veterans Philip and Andrew Oliver. It now has more than 220 staff and its six divisions encompass mature titles (Volatile Games), Serious Games (TruSim), family titles (Blitz Games), licensable middleware (BlitzTech), downloadable games (Blitz Arcade) and its education division (Blitz Academy). Blitz also runs the Blitz 1UP initiative, which is an outlet for small, independent teams to bring their titles – finished and unfinished – to market. www.BlitzGamesStudios.com.

©2011 Yoostar Entertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Yoostar® is a registered trademark of Yoostar Entertainment Group, Inc. Yoostar2™ and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Yoostar Entertainment Group, Inc.
KINECT, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft.
“PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks and “PS3” and the PlayStation Network logo are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

Press Release © 2011 NAMCO BANDAI Partners S.A.S. All rights reserved.