Press
Release date: 17th March 2009
Pushbutton has collaborated with Sky Vegas to lauch Chain Reactors on interactive TV. The popular, arcade-style, ‘tumbling faces’ gambling game is now live on Sky Vegas.
To win, the amusing and quirkily animated ‘tumbling faces’ must match up in clusters of at least five faces. Lining up the faces causes a chain reaction, where the matched faces will disappear in a puff animation, winning money for the player. New faces will then tumble down the screen to replace them. The fun part of the game is when your luck is in, and you start to get multiple chain reactions.
Three levels of progressive jackpot can be won from Mini through to a whopping Maxi Jackpot of £100,000! Players have the option to try out the game for fun only, although cash prizes and jackpots are not available on ‘Free play’.
Pushbutton was commissioned to develop the satellite TV-based version of the game. Working closely with Sky Vegas to deliver the game on time, and on budget, to an exacting schedule.
Pushbutton is particularly proud of the quality of the animations and sound effects that have been achieved in this satellite-based, interactive TV game.
Many of the subtle UI effects that made the web ‘Chain Reactors’ game so successful have been reproduced in the set-top box version as well… for example, the characters in the grid animate when idle, and exhibit behaviours like ’surprise’ as the grid empties and fills. Explosions of the chain reactors are colour-coded to each character and clever development means that the animation is super-fast, even on the slowest legacy set-top boxes.
Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said “Chain Reactors is the latest in a series of successful projects for Sky Vegas and its quality proves Pushbutton’s credentials in developing TV-based gambling and arcade style games.”
Release date: 15th October 2008
Pushbutton has designed and built a fully transactional broadband video player for the leading American sports media brand, ESPN. The company partnered with Entriq on this project.
The European portal enables ESPN viewers to browse and select the latest NFL football games, baseball, ice hockey, basketball and many other exclusive matches available from the number one name in American sports television.
Pushbutton’s role was to design and develop the front end of the portal, and handle all of the integration with ESPN’s technology provider, Entriq. The player also integrates closely with the DoubleClick ad serving and reporting technology.
Pushbutton Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said “The ESPN portal is a tremendous showcase for Pushbutton’s growing broadband and IPTV output. We are well known for our interactive television design and build work on the satellite platform, now customers can see the benefits of using a design firm with a TV heritage, as opposed to Web shop background, for broadband projects based on TV and video properties.”
Release date: 15th September 2008
Pushbutton has provided an interactive application to support a new finance channel dedicated to the products and services offered by the UK’s leading finance broker, Ocean Finance.
Pushbutton has provided an interactive application to support a new finance channel dedicated to the products and services offered by the UK’s leading finance broker, Ocean Finance.
The channel went live on the 15th of September on Sky channel 888. Pressing the red button on the Sky remote controller enables viewers to bring up an application where they can view additional videos and read more content about Ocean’s range of products.
Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said, “We are delighted to have collaborated with Canis Media and with Ocean Finance on the launch of their new channel, and we wish them every success.”
Release date: November 10, 2007
The recently relaunched interactive services on ITV’s digital satellite channels make use of designs originally created by Pushbutton.
These include the 24/7 menu, which has undergone a complete revamp, and most of the show-specific areas, including The X Factor, Rugby World Cup 2007, Trinny & Susannah Undress The Nation, Dolmio (sponsorship), and Maltesers (sponsorship).
Pushbutton’s Development Director, James Cumberbatch, commented – “It’s great to see that these great UI designs have stood the test of time; the fact that they’ve been successfully ported across to ITV’s new application framework is further testament to their lasting appeal”.
The new interactive services are built using the Modelstream suite of tools.
Release date: October 30, 2007
The popular “Stickers” game, that features in the interactive content for Disney Channel UK, has been “spooked up” a bit today by Pushbutton, with the addition of some new stickers.
The stickers tie in with the autumnal seasonal theme that Disney are promoting as “Hannahween” (a play on the name of Hannah Montana, one of the most popular live-action characters).
Amongst the new stickers is an animated black cat that users can drop onto their TV screens; once unleashed, the cat has a mind of its own, running from side to side, mewling, and jumping!
Also newly featured are stickers featuring some of the best-loved characters from Disney Channel’s live action shows. Other Halloween stickers include pumpkin, ghost, and an animated cloud of bats!
Pushbutton’s Managing Director Paula Byrne said “It’s great that the game can be kept fresh in this way; regularly adding new stickers means kids have a reason to keep coming back to explore, and it means they feel they’re really interacting with Disney Channel’s seasonal programming”.
Release date: October 22, 2007
Disney Channel UK’s interactive TV portal was enhanced today by the addition of an innovative “Stickers” game, the first game that Pushbutton have supplied for this channel.
Viewers who play “Stickers” can take snapshots of their favourite Disney Channel shows, and decorate them with a selection of virtual stickers, some of which are animated.
The “Stickers” game works with users in several ways… It can act as a simple ’snacking’ game experience, for viewers who are waiting for their favourite show to come on, or it can provide an novel and rich way for viewers to interact with the characters, and with the Disney Channel brand as a whole.
The application was rapidly developed by Pushbutton using their proven OpenTV SDK code libraries. The broadcast content is carefully structured to facilitate inclusion of fresh stickers, themed by season or to tie in with new Disney Channel show launches; this means the service can be kept fresh and interesting, and also gives the channel operator plenty of opportunities to get across their brand or marketing messages.
Pushbutton’s Development Director, James Cumberbatch, said “We’re really pleased with the way this product turned out; above all, the game is great fun to play with! We’re sure it’ll be a great hit with viewers”.
To view the game, visit the Disney Channel portal application by pressing red on Disney Channel or Disney Channel +1.