Ultizen's Crazy Mouse Becomes First Chinese-Created XBLA Game

China-based game development and outsourcing company Ultizen says its upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, Crazy Mouse, will be the first game on the service to be developed by a Chinese studio. Crazy Mouse -- releasing during the Chinese "Year of the Mouse" -- hits XBLA tomorrow, October 15. It's a 32-level puzzle-action title that tasks the player with guiding a gastronomist mouse through a colorful maze, collecting food and avoiding obstacles. The fine food-loving mouse must ultimately confront his opponents to discover the true identity of a legendary gourmet. Crazy Mouse has two single-player modes, Story and timed Battle, and a multiplayer mode for up to three players either collaborative or competitive, locally or over Xbox Live. The game was born out of the Chengdu Incubation Center, established in 2006 in a strategic collaboration between Microsoft and the Sichuan Culture Bureau, the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and Sichuan Huachuang Tianfu to create Xbox game projects. "I am very proud of Crazy Mouse, the first... Xbox Live game ‘born' in Chengdu," says Dou Weiping, Deputy Director General of the Sichuan Culture Bureau. "We hope that this milestone success of CDIC will attract more game development companies and talent to come to CDIC, working together to build Chengdu into a regional hub of digital entertainment." Microsoft Game Studio Asia general manager Andrew Flavell says, "Microsoft takes great pride in working with and supporting the local software industry, and the success of Crazy Mouse further demonstrates how working together can deliver amazing wins for Microsoft, Ultizen and China's games software ecosystem." "Ultizen Games is extremely proud to release this game to the Xbox Live community of gamers," said Lan Haiwen, CEO, Ultizen Games. "Being the first China-based gaming company to develop an Xbox Live Arcade game is a tremendous accomplishment for our company as well as the gaming development industry in China."