WILDTANGENT? AND BELLSOUTH HIT THE FAST TRACK WITH ONLINE RACING GAME
- BellSouth? FastAccess? DSL Racing Educates Customers on the Benefits of DSL; Encourages Players to Invite Family and Friends Through ?Word-of-Mouse? —
Redmond, WA. ? WildTangent, Inc., the leading provider of enabling technology and services for online games, and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) announced today the launch of BellSouth? FastAccess? DSL Racing. FastAccess DSL Racing, built by WildTangent for BellSouth, delivers a fast-action, online gaming experience that entertains and educates consumers on the benefits of high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology.
?BellSouth is tapping the power of next-generation AdverGaming to capture the attention of online consumers by integrating brand elements into an exciting and fun online game that can be shared with family and friends through consumer ?word-of-mouse? influence,? said Randy Kinkaid, senior director of Consumer Broadband Sales and Marketing for BellSouth. ?We?re able to capture consumers? attention by providing an engaging brand experience through an entertaining online game that is above and beyond the traditional one-way advertising message. The average game last eight minutes, which far exceeds the time anyone will watch or read more traditional advertising.?
The free game, which can be played over any Internet connection, is available at www.dsl-playground.com/game. In the game, players customize their own virtual stock cars and race to complete two laps while collecting as many Race Credits as possible. Race Credits can then be spent in the FastAccess SpeedShop to upgrade a car?s engine, tires and turbo for better car performance.
?FastAcess DSL Racing provides a great gaming and educational experience for consumers that also doubles as a flourishing marketing campaign and builds a community of players,? said Dave Madden, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing for WildTangent. ?We also seamlessly integrated BellSouth FastAccess DSL branding and key messages about the service into all aspects of the game from design, to the car and signage around the race course.?
Players are further challenged by the presence of Dial-Up Potholes and Cable Modem Speedbumps that slow players? cars down in the game. After racing, players can post their best race times to the FastAccess DSL Racing Leader Board and also send email challenges to friends and family to beat their best scores. There are links throughout the site that take players to www.fastaccess.com to learn more about the features and benefits of BellSouth FastAccess DSL service including service availability and ordering information.
BellSouth FastAccess DSL provides speeds up to 50 times faster than a 28.8k dial-up connection (actual speeds may vary). Large files such as audio clips, videos and research documents can be downloaded or transferred in seconds rather than minutes. Also, users can talk on the telephone and surf the Internet at the same time, on the same phone line, at download speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps and upload speeds up to 256 Kbps.
Consumers who sign up for BellSouth FastAccess DSL Service before December 31 pay just $19.95 a month with BellSouth AnswersSM (with the BellSouth Complete Choice plan) or $23.90 a month for non-BellSouth Answers customers, for the first three months and receive a free modem with mail-in rebate and a 12-month commitment. The service is $49.95 per month after the first three months or just $45 per month for Complete Choice plan customers.
BellSouth Internet Services recently launched the Game Vault, where subscribers can play free demo versions of action, puzzle, sports and arcade games, including the popular Blasterball 2 and Blackhawk Striker. If they enjoy the games, they can choose to buy and download the full versions directly from the BellSouth Internet Services web page. Prices for the games range from $9.99 to $19.99. New WildTangent games, including upcoming fall releases, will be added as they become available.
For more information or to order BellSouth FastAccess DSL, visit www.fastaccess.com or call 1-800-321-ADSL.
About BellSouth Corporation
BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, serving more than 44 million customers in the United States and 14 other countries.
Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full array of broadband data solutions to large, medium and small businesses. In the residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced voice features and other services. BellSouth offers long distance service for both business and consumer customers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. The company?s BellSouth AnswersSM package combines local and long distance service with an array of calling features; wireless data, voice and e-mail services; and high-speed DSL or dial-up Internet service. BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising services through BellSouth? Real PagesSM.com and The Real Yellow Pages?.
BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation\\\’s second largest wireless company, which provides innovative data and voice services.
About WildTangent
WildTangent, http://www.wildtangent.com, the leading provider of technology and services for premium online games, enables the creation and distribution of interactive games that can be subsidized through TV-like methods such as advertising, pay-to-play, subscription and sponsorship. WildTangent?s Web Driver? technology provides unprecedented performance on a web page by interfacing directly with DirectX. Web Driver takes full advantage of 3D hardware acceleration to scale content to an optimal level, allowing users to experience the same quality of gameplay regardless of the speed of their computer processor or their Internet connection. Currently there are more than 32 million Web Driver client applications in distribution. Thanks in part to its groundbreaking technology and the quality of its games,
Tags: Cable Modem Speedbumps, Dial-Up Potholes, FastAccess DSL Racing Leader Board, players, racing