NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - January 15, 2013) - E-Line Media, a pioneer in games that engage, educate and empower youth, announces today the launch of two new E-Line game development studios, E-Line Seattle and E-Line Phoenix.  E-Line Media's mission is to harness the power of games for learning, health and social impact. E-Line Seattle will be focused on consumer games that fire the imagination, inspire curiosity and empower youth to deepen their interests across informal and formal learning channels. E-Line Phoenix will be focused on highly engaging, research-based educational games and game-infused curriculum developed in collaboration with the ASU Center for Games and Impact and other leading universities and foundations.

E-Line Seattle is being led by game industry veteran Sean Vesce who will also serve as E-Line Media's Chief Creative Officer. Vesce has spent close to two decades in commercial game development, working in a variety of creative and management roles, most recently as General Manager at Crystal Dynamics where he led the revitalization of the Tomb Raider franchise. Prior to Crystal Dynamics, Vesce held multiple senior-level positions throughout the industry, including as an award-winning designer at Activision leading the creative direction for the Mechwarrior and Interstate '76 franchises.

"After many years working on successful triple-A commercial entertainment, I'm fascinated by the prospect of leveraging games as a medium to achieve positive social impact," said Vesce. "I am particularly excited about E-Line's approach of partnering with leading game developers, philanthropic foundations, universities and social entrepreneurs to create exceptional games that are fun, engaging and do good."

Vesce is assembling a world-class team in Seattle including Lead Game Designer Mike Wikan, Lead Programmer David Koenig, and Art Director Dima Veryovka. Wikan, a 20-year game industry veteran, was a Senior Designer on Donkey Kong Country Returns and the award-winning Metroid Prime series. Wikan's games have won multiple industry accolades including numerous Game of the Year titles, some of which were featured in the Smithsonian Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibit. David Koenig is a veteran programmer with more than 12 years in the games industry, making significant contributions to many acclaimed games, including QuakeLive, Rage and Doom IV. Dima Veryovka is an accomplished artistic and creative director who has served the games industry in leadership roles at Sony Corporation of America and Zipper Interactive where he worked on the SOCOM series. Collectively, the team has held leadership roles in games that have sold in excess of 40 million units.

"Kids today spend as much time engaged with digital media and games as they do in school," said E-Line President and Co-Founder Alan Gershenfeld. "Sean and his team have demonstrated that they can create games that drive millions of hours of engagement, and we are thrilled that they want to pour their talents into making great games that also educate, inspire and empower audiences." Gershenfeld is a former SVP of Activision Studios and Chairman of Games for Change.

E-Line Phoenix is being led by game-industry veteran Graeme Bayless. Bayless has been directing computer and video game development for over 25 years and has worked on over 75 games in nearly every genre on a wide variety of platforms. Bayless has worked as programmer, producer, creative director, game designer at multiple leading game companies including Electronic Arts, 2K Games/Take Two Interactive, Sierra On-Line, Sega, EIDOS and Namco Bandai. Bayless has held leadership roles on games that have collectively generated more than a billion dollars in revenue including the Madden NFL, NHL 2K, MLB 2K and Enslaved franchises. Joining Graeme will be Jake Martin, a game designer with over a decade of experience working on several leading game franchises including Starsiege, Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk: Shred. Most recently Jake served as the Design Producer for Zynga Eugene leading design on FrontierVille.

"We are serious about making great games, making money and making a meaningful, positive impact in the lives of youth," says E-Line CEO and Co-Founder Michael Angst. "We are excited to work closely with Sean and Graeme to build teams that share these goals and look forward to building a new model for video game publishing."

About E-Line Media
E-Line Media is a publisher of game-based learning products and services that engage, educate and empower youth, helping to prepare them for lives and careers in the 21st century. As a double bottom line company, E-Line partners with leading foundations, universities, government agencies and social entrepreneurs to harness the power of games for learning, health and social impact.

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