Kuma Games and The History Channel announced yesterday that the two are teaming up to develop an online video game companion to The History Channel series Dogfights. Beginning July 13 with the launch of the second season of the acclaimed aerial combat series, Kuma will release video game recreations of the historic battles online simultaneously with upcoming television episodes, allowing viewers to watch the show and then re-live the historical battles. Kuma's "game-isodes" will let viewers experience what it takes to dogfight via free download.

This marks the second collaboration between The History Channel and Kuma Games. According to Kuma, last year's Shootout! partnership was "a trailblazing success, attracting close to one million gamers who have played more than 16 million total game-isodes, proving that Kuma's 'view it, then do it' cross-medium entertainment model works." With Dogfights, Kuma and The History Channel take their partnership to a new level, delivering a combined first person shooter/flight-simulation game with advanced gameplay and detailed landscapes. Built around a modified version of Valve's Source game engine, Dogfights recreates dozens of detailed fighter planes of the era - including legends like the Zero and the Hellcat - for spectacular aerial battles in beautiful, photo-realistic environments.

"We are at the cutting edge of an entertainment revolution," says Keith Halper, CEO of Kuma Reality Games. "For the TV fan who wants more, we provide a free, high-quality, fully-immersive game experience that corresponds to the TV episode you just saw. We are very excited to be partnering with The History Channel's top-quality programming to produce what we believe to be the next wave in entertainment."

"With the amazing success of Shootout! we decided to expand our efforts and offer the interactive experience with 'Dogfights,' which is our highest-rated original series," said Paul Jelinek, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, A&E Television Networks. "We're excited to be working with Kuma Games to pioneer a new arena of cross-medium interaction and story telling, bringing TV and games together for a truly cohesive experience."

Virtual flyboys can check out the premiere of Dogfights season two Friday, July 13 at 9:00pm ET/PT. Viewers can then log onto www.History.com and www.KumaGames.com to download the game for free immediately after each episode airs.