News

Riptide GP2 Multi-Player Awesome-Sauce

2013-05-23T21:01:06Z

Want to see what multi-player racing looks like in Vector Unit's upcoming Riptide GP2? Well my friends your desires are answered in this awesome video of a real, live multi-player match on 3 different Android devices using Google Play game services:

Vector Unit dives into Google Play game services

2013-05-15T17:54:46Z

San Francisco, CA – May 15, 2013 — Vector Unit, the indie game developer known for top-selling mobile racing titles Beach Buggy Blitz™, Riptide GP™ and Shine Runner™, announced at Google I/O, Google’s developer conference, that all its games will offer full support for Android’s new Google Play game services starting immediately.

“We love to connect players in our games, but until recently on Android there have been a lot of competing social platforms without a single standout,” says Vector Unit CEO Matt Small. “Google Play game services offer a unifying platform that every Android gamer can join easily, has all the features we could want, and that we as developers can support without worrying about whether it’s going to still be around in 2 years.”

The company’s premium water racing titles, Riptide GP and Shine Runner, and its popular free-to-play “endless driver” Beach Buggy Blitz, all receive updates today that allow users to log in with their Google accounts to earn Achievements, post scores to Leaderboards, and sync their game progress using Cloud Save.

Vector Unit’s upcoming sequel Riptide GP2 is also showcased at Google I/O this week to demonstrate Google Play game services’ real-time multi-player capabilities. Google I/O attendees can play Riptide GP2 this week in the Sandbox on the third floor, and also with NVIDIA, where it’s being shown running with extra graphic features on NVIDIA’s new Tegra 4-based Shield devices.

“Multi-player is a major focus of Riptide GP2,” explains Ralf Knoesel, Vector Unit’s CTO. “Google Play game services provide a robust and easy to use real-time multi-player experience. The elegant invitations and notifications allow players to easily connect with their friends to show off their hydro jet racing skills.”

Riptide GP2 is due to be released on Android and iOS this summer. In addition to multi-player gameplay, the game features a new deeper career mode, player and hydro jet customization, and a stunt combo system with dozens of spectacular stunts.

Beach Buggy Blitz Nominated for 2 Best App Ever Awards

2013-05-03T18:34:21Z

We're thrilled to announce that Beach Buggy Blitz has been nominated for not one but TWO Best App Ever for Android Awards!

Beach Buggy Blitz is nominated for both Best Racing and Most Innovative game categories. Please vote for us by clicking on one (or both!) of the links below. Voting is super easy, you don't have to sign up or give your email or anything!

Vote for Beach Buggy Blitz for Best Racing Game

Vote for Beach Buggy Blitz for Most Innovative Game

Voting is open til May 15, 2013. Winners will be announced at Google I/O in San Francisco that very same day.

Incidentally, Riptide GP is also nominated for Best Racing Game, so if you really love Riptide GP more you can vote for it, too!

You can find out more about the Best App Ever Awards here.

Riptide GP2 Interview on Gamerlivetv

2013-04-26T16:03:48Z

At GDC last month Gamerlivetv conducted an interview with Vector Unit's Creative Director Matt Small about Riptide GP2. Here's the video!

We cover tons of information about the game, including the new career mode, multiplayer, and more. Check it out, and let us know if you have any more questions of your own we can answer!

Fan Club Friday!

2013-04-05T16:43:32Z

It's Fan Club Friday! Time to give away something awesome to the members of the most elite fan club since the dawn of humankind.

This week we're going to give away codes for free coins in Beach Buggy Blitz!

If you're already a member of the Vector Unit Fan Club, you don't have to do anything -- you're automatically entered! We'll notify the winners via email at the end of the day (US Pacific time), and will shout out in an update to this post.

If you aren't a member of the VUFC -- what are you waiting for? Join today, and you can download awesome ringtones, wallpapers, and -- of course -- win fabulous free prizes!

Free Club Friday Official Rules

Competition is open to everyone 13 years old or older, except for employees or family members of employees of Vector Unit.
Winners will be randomly selected from all registered and confirmed Vector Unit Fan Club members.
Winners will be contacted by a Vector Unit staff member via the email they use to create their Vector Unit Fan Club account, and will be expected to respond to that staff member within 24 hours, else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected. Vector Unit’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Winners agree that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by Vector Unit.

Giveaway provided by Vector Unit. Any questions regarding this giveaway should be directed to info@vectorunit.com.

Riptide GP2 demo on NVIDIA's Project Shield

2013-03-08T21:51:47Z

Here's a sweet video of Riptide GP2 running on Project Shield. One thing the guy doesn't mention is that the whole game is being rendered with real time shadows, which you can see when the rider casts a shadow on the hydro jet during the stunts.

Check it out!

Beach Buggy Blitz hits 10M on Android, time to give some stuff away!

2013-03-07T18:05:59Z

10,000,000 is a big number. Like, if you started counting from one right now and kept going til you hit 10,000,000, I'm pretty sure you would get bored or hungry and give up way before you got there.

As game designers, when we make a new game and release it to the wilds, we're hoping that somebody out there will like it. If a few thousand people like it, that makes us feel good. If a million people like it, we're like, "Woah!"

Well today Beach Buggy Blitz was downloaded for the 10,000,000th time on Google Play. We don't even know what to think about that, except to say, "Thanks!"

So by way of saying "Thanks!", we're going to give away some stuff! Specifically, this stuff:

Grand Prize (5 Winners)
Beach Buggy Blitz T Shirt* AND a code for 100K Coins in BBB
Awesome Prize (10 Winners)
Code for 100K Coins in BBB
Super Prize (20 Winners)
Code for 25K Coins in BBB
Booster Prize (40 Winners)
Code for 10K Coins in BBB

Here's how to enter:

If you haven't already, join the Vector Unit Fan Club. It's easy, and it's awesome.
Leave a comment on this post. Say whatever you want. Say something about Beach Buggy Blitz, about your favorite car, your craziest moment. Say something about one of our other games, or about video games in general. Just be nice to each other.

Comments must be posted before Wednesday 3/13 at 9am Pacific Time. After that time we will randomly select the winners from the entrants, and notify them via email. See below for more rules.

*Please note you must be a resident of the United States or Canada to get the T-Shirt!

Official Rules:

Competition is open to everyone, but only residents of the United States of Canada will get a T-Shirt.
One entry per person. Employees or family members of employees of Vector Unit are not permitted to enter.
Competition entries are only accepted via comments left on this post, and must be dated no later than 9am PT on March 13, 2013. Entries left in the comments section of any other post, or received by any other means, will not be recognized.
Contestants who post vulgar or inflammatory comments will be disqualified.
Winners will be contacted by a Vector Unit staff member via the email they use to create their Vector Unit Fan Club account, and will be expected to respond to that staff member within 24 hours, else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected. Vector Unit’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Winners agree that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by Vector Unit.
Prizes consist of five Beach Buggy Blitz T-Shirts, 15 Ultra Pack Codes, and 20 Super Pack Codes. There are no other alternatives for prize winners unless these prizes become unavailable, in which case Vector Unit reserves the right to substitute another prize of similar value. Giveaway provided by Vector Unit.
Any questions regarding this giveaway should be directed to info@vectorunit.com.

The Sweet Taste of BlackBerry

2013-02-12T18:30:13Z

Today Riptide GP splashes down on the BlackBerry World app store for BlackBerry 10.

Last week we released Beach Buggy Blitz for BB10, and it's already become one of the most popular and highest-rated games in the BlackBerry World store.

We've been working closely with the team at BlackBerry to ensure that we squeeze every ounce of juice out of their powerful new BB10-based devices, and we're excited to be part of this new step in the BlackBerry legacy!

In addition to performance enhancements, our BlackBerry games also feature full Scoreloop integration, with support for Achievements, Leaderboards, and cloud storage.

You can find Riptide GP for BlackBerry here.

And Beach Buggy Blitz for BlackBerry here.

... and keep and eye out for Shine Runner, due in a few short weeks!

Vector Unit Teams Up with Nyko for Playpad Giveaway

2013-02-04T18:49:41Z

Guess who's the Nyko Playpad Game of the Week this week? That's right, it's our very own Beach Buggy Blitz!

Over the last couple of years we've had a chance to sample a lot of different Bluetooth gamepads for mobile devices. Two of our very favorites are the Nyko Playpad and Playpad Pro. Both of these controllers are durable and well made, with great-feeling joysticks and buttons and long lasting batteries. Best of all they offer support for multiple standard formats, like iCade on iOS and the standard HID on Android (which means they'll work with ANY game that supports controller inputs on Android 3.0 or higher.)

About the Nyko Playpad

About the Nyko Playpad Pro

You can also find out more about the Playpad family and other Nyko products by following them on Twitter (@NykoTech) and Facebook (www.Facebook.com/NykoTech).

TO ENTER:

All you have to do to enter is follow these simple steps:

Be a resident of the US or Canada (for shipping purposes).
If you haven't already, follow @VectorUnit on Twitter.
RT (Re-Tweet) the Twitter announcement from us about this giveaway (dated Feb 4, 2013). Your RT must happen BEFORE 9am PST on Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
Sit back and wait for the end of the contest, and hope you get picked!

We’ll choose FOUR winners at random from the entries. Two will win Playpads, and two will win Playpad Pros!

RULES:

Competition is open to residents of the US and Canada only. One entry per person. Do NOT tweet multiple entries or tweet from multiple Twitter accounts or you will be disqualified. Employees or family members of employees of Nyko and Vector Unit are not permitted to enter.

Competition entries are only accepted via the specified Twitter tweet, and must be dated no later than 9am PST on February 6, 2012. Entries left in the comments section of this or any other post, or received by any other means, will not be recognized.

Winners will be contacted by a Vector Unit staff member via direct message in Twitter upon being selected and will be expected to respond to that staff member within 24 hours, else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected. Vector Unit’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Winners agree that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by, but not limited to, Nyko and Vector Unit. Prizes consist of two Nyko Playpad Pros and two Nyko Playpads. There are no other alternatives for prize winners unless these prizes become unavailable, in which case Vector Unit reserves the right to substitute another prize of similar value. Giveaway provided by Vector Unit. Prizes provided by Nyko. Any questions regarding this giveaway should be directed to info@vectorunit.com.

Riptide GP 2 Announced at CES 2013

2013-01-08T19:03:49Z

It's official -- Riptide GP 2 is in development!

Perceptive fans noticed the splash screen and icon for the sequel in Jen-Hsun's NVIDIA CES keynote on Sunday night. Reports are that the game is playable on the show floor in the NVIDIA booth, running on NVIDIA's blazing fast new Tegra 4 mobile superchip!

Riptide GP 2 will deliver all the fast action, incredible physics, and polished visuals of the first game -- and then some! The new game delivers even better quality graphics, including better splashes and wakes, more detailed water, and realtime lighting and shadows (on supported platforms). It will be available for multiple platforms, and includes special enhancements for Tegra 4 devices like the new Shield gaming platform.

In addition there's a new career mode, hydro jet customization and upgrades, and tons of new content!

Riptide GP 2 is coming to Android and iOS, and is slated for a release in early Summer 2013. Stay tuned here and in our other social channels for more updates!