Hidden Path Entertainment

Hidden Path finalizes an agreement with Valve to bring Defense Grid: The Awakening to the Steam game download service.  Due for release in late November, Defense Grid: The Awakening will be available for $19.99.

Bellevue, WA (October 29, 2008) - Hidden Path Entertainment, an independent developer based in Bellevue WA, has just finalized an agreement with Valve to bring their upcoming PC game Defense Grid: The Awakening onto Steam, a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC games and digital content with over 15 million accounts worldwide. Information on Defense Grid: The Awakening can be found at http://defensegrid.hiddenpath.com/; or on Steam’s website at http://store.steampowered.com/app/18500/

Due for release in late November, Defense Grid: The Awakening’s unique spin on tower defense gameplay will appeal to gamers of all skill levels.  Players must stop hordes of enemies by strategically building defense towers to defeat the aliens invading their base. The controls are simple and intuitive, but the gameplay is intense. Defense Grid: The Awakening will be available for $19.99.

“Steam is a great place to debut Defense Grid: The Awakening to millions of avid gamers,” said Jeff Pobst, CEO and co-founder of Hidden Path Entertainment. “Steam users – everyone from core gamers to novice players – will love the scalable strategy and gameplay variables that make Defense Grid: The Awakening a game that can be played repeatedly with new outcomes.”

Defense Grid: The Awakening is built on Emergent’s Gamebryo engine (Oblivion, Warhammer Online, Civilization IV) and features beautiful environments, spectacular effects, and a dynamic, engaging soundtrack. The controls are intuitive and the gameplay is deep - the special attacks and properties of each tower work together to provide many ways to succeed. The game has 20 unique environments, each of these levels with a different placement of roads, tower build locations, and open areas to plan a strategy around. Each map, whether open plan or fixed route, encourages a different strategy, such as trying to find an optimal path to redirect enemies, making the best use of limited space, and breaking up individual enemy waves to avoid being overwhelmed, all while planning ahead for future waves.

 There are 10 different tower types that can each be upgraded twice. These towers all have unique tradeoffs that affect ideal placement, such as line-of-sight attack or ballistic trajectory fire; a large area of effect or damage over time; and minimum and maximum ranges. Over the course of the game, players battle 15 different types of enemies, each with unique capabilities and strategies.

About Hidden Path Entertainment

Hidden Path Entertainment is an independent video game development company established to develop and produce interactive entertainment software for current and future generations of video game consoles, as well as other computing platforms.  Hidden Path's team is made up of industry veterans who have each contributed to highly successful titles in multiple genres and on multiple platforms.  Hidden Path is currently developing fun and innovative titles for some of the most popular companies in gaming and their respective platforms. Hidden Path recently released the family party and trivia game Wits & Wagers on Xbox LIVE Arcade, but returns to its core gaming roots with Defense Grid: The Awakening.   Hidden Path Entertainment can be found online at www.hiddenpath.com. 

About Steam

The leading online platform for PC games and digital entertainment, Steam delivers new releases and online services to over 10 million PC users around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.steamgames.com/.

About Valve

Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. The company's portfolio of entertainment properties includes Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress and Portal. Valve's catalog of products accounts for over 20 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 80% of PC online action gameplay. In addition, Valve is a developer of leading-edge technologies, such as the Source game engine and Steam, a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content. For more information, please visit http://www.valvesoftware.com/.