Welcome to Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa!

Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa News
	11.12.05 Venture Africa Previewed/Reviewed on GamersInfo.net GamersInfo.net reviewed a pre-release version of the game with great acclaim. The reviewer found that it was challenging and fun for her and a great change of pace for her kids. It's one of her kids' favorite games now; it can be yours too! Read the review here...
	10.14.05 Pocketwatch Games in BusinessWeek Online BusinessWeek just ran an IGC wrapup that focuses on Andy Schatz, Pocketwatch Games, and Venture Africa. It's maybe a bit overly glowing about Andy's financial situation, but it's still pretty cool! READ IT HERE!
	10.9.05 Runner-Up in 2 Categories of the Player's Choice Awards at IndieGamesCon Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa took 2nd place in the "Most Innovative" category and the "Best Overall" category of the Player's Choice Awards this week. Considering that there was very little PR done for the game, it seems as if almost everyone who saw the game voted for it. Facade took home first place in the "Most Innovative" category and TubeTwist was awarded "Best Overall". Congrats to those games and all the other participants.
	10.5.05 MumboJumbo Signs on for Worldwide PC/Mac Retail Rights From the press release: MumboJumbo LLC is a leading developer of games for online distribution and the preferred publisher of premium casual games for the retail channel. The company maintains strong relationships with leading retailers, including Best Buy, CompUSA, GameStop, OfficeMax, Sam’s Club, Target, and Wal-Mart as well as publishing relationships with Activision, Funkitron, GameHouse, iWin, Jamdat, PopCap, Reflexive Entertainment and many others. MumboJumbo’s other retail publishing rights include Bejeweled 2, Insaniquarium, Lemonade Tycoon 2, Luxor, Super Collapse!, and Zuma Deluxe. That's right! What began as a project for Andy to do while he was waiting to get in to business school has turned into something a bit bigger than expected! Good thing he didn't get in to any of the schools he applied to... The retail version (meaning the version you can buy in a box at stores) will be available in February or so.
	9.1.05 Venture Africa in MacAddict MacAddict, one of the top print magazines dedicated to the Macintosh platform, featured Venture Africa in their October issue. It was featured on page 13 with other no-name games like Doom III, World of Warcraft, Fable, and Myst, and included a screenshot (albiet an old one). The blurb stated: Good Times In the Jungle Vines Unlike other Tycoon-esque games, you don't build a park or railroad to rake in the dough in Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa; instead, you try to build a thriving ecosystem in the Serengeti. Dr. William Willoughby and Miss Julia Carrilou guide you (in rhymed verse) through the game from their hot-air balloon. When you complete challenges, you earn Combo Jewels that you can use to create rain or quicken plant growth. And when your ecosystem needs a little divine intervention, you can take direct control of your animals -- just jump into the body of a roaming wildebeest, for example, and wander into a pack of hungry lions for instant population control. Thanks MacAddict! Couldn't have said it better myself!
	8.21.05 BETA! The game is officially beta! This means that we've released the game to a small portion of the public to help us finish the game up for launching to the public. It's a good thing too! We're really listening to everyone's thoughts and opinions and trying to get in as much as we can. The game will launch sometime in mid-October.
	7.25.05 We've Gone Alpha! Everyone's favorite not-yet-released animal simulation has just gone alpha. That means that all non-aesthetic features are complete, and the game doesn't crashity-crash anymore. Lovely! The game will go beta in one month.
	7.6.05 Venture Africa on GameTunnel GameTunnel's mid-term report on Indie games this year featured Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa under the "What we're looking forward to most" heading in the simulation section of the article. The article was then posted on Slashdot! Go to page 2 of the article and check out the simulation section here! For those not in the know, GameTunnel is the premier website dedicated to indie game reviews, previews, and downloads, and Slashdot is one of the most visited websites in the world.
	5.17.05 Bringing Africa to E3 Andy Schatz, founder of Pocketwatch Games, is driving in his beat-up Toyota to E3 right now to promote Pocketwatch Games' first title. Hopefully, he'll be driving back down to San Diego with a console publishing deal in tow. Wish him luck!
	5.16.05 Website and Forums have gone live! Well. Ok. Duh. Still, it's newsworthy. A lot of our ability to make innovative, fun games comes from the support and input of the community, so please head on over to the forums and register! We won't spam you or sell your email address. We are the good guys!