Buckle up! Our distracted driving game, Don’t Kill the Squirrel!, has been approved by Apple. Look out for the release of the premium version next week at a special launch price of just 0.99 cents! 

We’ve had so much fun creating Don’t Kill the Squirrel!. How could we not when you combine cute squirrels, chaotic cartoon roads and feral distracted drivers! We’ve also been busy developing new ways to use our game to educate people about the dangers of distracted driving with the aim to change driving behaviors for the better in real life! Stay tuned for a special announcement about our new partnership as part of our launch next week. 

If you think you’re a great driver and awesome multi-tasker, put your skills to the test in Don’t Kill the Squirrel!. Collect points for each second you last dodging pedestrians, avoiding dump trucks and swerving cute squirrels.  The game features 3D cartoon graphics, easy steering and a working in-car radio with multiple channels. 

Speaking of the radio we want to give a shout out to the following incredible musicians who were kind enough to provide the music for our game!

The Plants for ‘If I was a fish’- Check out their website, preview their new album onFacebook and follow them on Twitter.

Wayne Potash for ‘Ready for dinner’- Check out his music, like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. 

Kevin MacLeod for ‘Neolith’ and ‘Stringed Disco’ - Check out his music and follow him on Twitter. 

If you haven’t already signed up for first access to the game and entered our competition to win the new iPad, you have just a few more days to visit www.dontkillthsquirrel.com and enter your email. Share the message ‘Distracted Driving is NUTS!’ with your friends and get more entries into the draw.

If you’re a game reviewer or media and are interested in previewing/reviewing Don’t Kill the Squirrel! contact us at press@warninglabelgames.com. We have a limited number of promo codes available.

In 2009, 5,474 people were killed and 448,000 people were injured in crashes involving driver distraction! Imagine if all those drivers were aware of the dangers of distracted driving and had taken positive steps to prevent it!

We believe we can help achieve just that with the release of our upcoming game for iPad, Don’t Kill the Squirrel!

BUT as scientists, we like to prove our assumptions. So leading up to the launch of Don’t Kill the Squirrel!, The Professor has designed a little experiment of his own that tests the power of spreading a message that benefits society in return for reward.

AIM:

Get 5,474 people (the same amount that were killed by distracted driving in 2009) to share one very simple message that could SAVE LIVES – Distracted driving is NUTS!

THEORY:

We all like to do good and share fun things with friends, but imagine if you could also be rewarded with the chance to WIN the ‘new iPad’ (that’s the iPad 3 in case you were counting) just for signing up for first access to our game! And what if the more you share this message with friends, the more likely you are to win…

METHODOLOGY: (How to enter)

1. Go to dontkillthesquirrel.com
2. Enter your email in the space provided
3. Share your unique link and the message ‘Distracted driving is NUTS!’ with everyone you know via Facebook, Twitter and email.
4. FEEL GOOD – any of your friends that see your message will think twice about driving distracted (you might have saved their life!). Not to mention, every time one of your friends signs up using your unique link, you will get another entry into the draw to win the iPad 3!
5. You can also go back to the site and check how many entries you have – compete with friends to see who’ll have the better chance to win!

Competition rules

RESULTS:

The competition opens at 6:00pm Thursday, March 1, 2012 and runs until 11.59pm on March 31, 2012. You can come back to www.dontkillthesquirrel.com anytime, enter your email address and see how many people have clicked your link and share it again. The winner of the iPad 3 will be drawn on April 1, 2012.

Follow Warning Label Games on Twitter and Facebook to see how our experiment is progressing.

WinPrizesOnline: Sweepstakes
Free Sweepstakes
Contest Hound

Hello World… Or to put it more precisely, hello gamers, press, bloggers, readers, social media addicts, change-makers and squirrels! It’s the Professor here, excited to officially announce that I have taken a job as the Head of Research and Development at a fantastic little (for now) mobile gaming start-up called Warning Label Games.  When they telephoned me the first thing they said to me was “Professor, we have a challenge for you – we want to change the world for the better through gaming”. Well, my dear friends… challenge accepted!

Today, we have changed the world… the world wide web that is, by launching our website, where you will see plenty of yours truly (that was in my contract J) and more about our games and causes. We are also excited to announce the forthcoming release of our first game for the iPad, Don’t Kill the Squirrel! (I suggested Refrain from causing the demise of Sciuridae as a more accurate title but was voted down by our pesky marketing team – tweets of support from my fellow scientists are more than welcome).

“What?” I hear you say! “Why would anyone want to kill the squirrel?!” Well you wouldn’t, I have it on good authority that squirrels are ‘cute’. But when people insist on operating their automobiles whilst at the same time trying to communicate via short message service, open a soda and set the Global Positioning System…terrible things inevitably happen. Why anyone in their right mind would drive distracted and put the Sciuridae squirrels, not to mention themselves, in peril is quite beyond me! However, using games to influence people to change such irrational behavior – that, my dear friends, is my particular area of expertise.

You might have heard about this ‘games for change’ movement – where my colleagues and I are leveraging the entertainment and engagement offered by games to benefit society.. A noble pursuit it is and one to which I can apply my own teachings in human behavior. Like how one rarely succeeds in influencing humanoids unless they make sure they’re stimulating the brain’s nucleus accumbens (or in laymans terms the brain’s fun center). Rigorous experiments I conducted during my most recent PhD led me to this simple truth and so I have pioneered the study of what I like to call ‘Game Influenceonomics’ or GI for short.

Of course GI is a complex science, well beyond the understanding of the common man, but to put it simply for you – it’s the creation of cleverly crafted games that expose issues in a fun, addictive, ironic and satirical way so people can have a laugh while actually learning something. Aha! Yes, It’s my Play Bad. Do Good philosophy – let people play ‘bad’ in the game while positively influencing their behavior in the real world. 

Oh but at Warning Label Games we do know that this is a much bigger challenge than just the individual. So I’m looking for some helpers, partners they say, to join me in the lab so we can raise more awareness and contribute dollars to help address these very serious issues and worthwhile causes. Good science is so often at the mercy of money.

But quickly, because we need to get started. Don’t Kill the Squirrel! is planned for release in March and is now in the hands of my colleagues – which means, assuming I’m not constantly interrupted by their bothersome talk on exacting technical standards and passionate speeches on social change, I can get back to work in my lab. I will enjoy the sound of a thousand mosquitos buzzing with trepidation as I conduct experiments on influence from the point of view of the mosquito. Mosquitonator! Hero or villain? Find out in our next game for change…Mosquitonator!

In the meantime stay connected with the team on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to sign up for first access to Don’t Kill the Squirrel! and help us raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving – because, to put it crudely - Distracted Driving is Nuts!