ATARI SHIPS THREE NEW GAMES BASED
ON BLOCKBUSTER CHILDREN’S BRANDS
#1 Kids PC Publisher Ships New
Dora the Explorer, MY LITTLE PONY and TONKA Titles With Special Premiums in
Innovative Packaging
BEVERLY, MA – October 19, 2004 –
Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) announced three new games based on best-selling and
award-winning franchises have shipped to retail stores nationwide today. Dora
the Explorer™: Fairytale Adventure, MY LITTLE PONY and TONKA Construction™ PC
Play Packs are the newest additions to Atari’s successful line of children’s
games. Each game features a premium item including a miniature plastic Dora®
doll, a metal TONKA® MIGHTY DUMP truck and an exclusive collectible baby pony
only available by purchasing the MY LITTLE PONY PC Play Pack. The three new
titles, all labeled PC Play Packs, feature innovative packaging that show off a
premium item in the front of a clear plastic box and the CD in the back and sell
for $19.99, the same retail price as a regular CD-ROM game.
“The strength of these phenomenal
brands has been proven time and time again in many different forms of media,”
said Nancy MacIntyre, vice president of marketing for Atari, Inc. “These popular
games which include fun premium items and innovative Play Pack packaging are
sure to delight kids this holiday.”
The Dora the Explorer brand
continues to grow with the Nick Jr. show steadfastly holding the number one
position in preschool programming on commercial TV and sales of interactive
games exceeding 650,000 copies sold in the U.S.* In Dora the Explorer: Fairytale
Adventure, players help Dora become a “true” princess in order to save her
friend Boots the monkey from an enchanted sleeping spell cast by an evil witch.
Kids lead Dora on a magical journey through Fairytale land where they use
problem solving skills, numberical recognition, color and shape matching and
musical and artistic creativity in a variety of 15 activities each with three
levels of difficulty. Dora the Explorer: Fairytale Adventure also includes an
interactive storybook filled with pages to color and print out, and four
Dora-exclusive locations and songs.
MY LITTLE PONY is one of the most
popular properties for girls aged 3 to 6 and with the MY LITTLE PONY PC Play
Pack, PONYVILLE comes to life on the PC. Developed under license from Hasbro,
Inc. (NYSE: HAS), the MY LITTLE PONY PC Play Pack lets kids play as one of four
ponies, including SUNNY DAZE™, SKY WISHES™, PINKIE PIE™ and SPARKLEWORKS™.
Players create invitations, letters and pictures to send to pony friends in the
game to invite them to the “Friendship Ball™” at the end of the game. Players
help ponies prepare for the ball through a variety of activities that include
picking out clothes and accessories, getting their hair done at the salon,
baking cakes at the café, choreographing dance moves at the dance studio,
decorating the castle and customizing the pony bedroom. To capture all the
important moments leading up the big event, kids can snap up to 100 pictures to
store in their pony scrapbook. Kids also help pony friends with over 20
important jobs throughout the game like picking flowers, finding charms and
decorating cupcakes and can print out coloring pages, cake recipes and dance
moves for fun off the computer. SPARKLEBERRY SWIRL™, the newest baby pony that
was named by fans that voted on
www.mylittlepony.com, is featured in the game and comes packaged
exclusively for fans that purchase the game.
With an established leadership in
the toy market for over 50 years, U.S. interactive sales totaling over $80
million* and the market leader in the Construction and Rescue PC categories,
TONKA is a tough brand to beat. The TONKA Construction PC Play Pack, also
developed under license from Hasbro, capitalizes on that history and puts kids
in charge of everything – driving TONKA tough trucks, digging, bulldozing,
dumping and more. With 12 easy to operate TONKA trucks, kids take charge of new
construction projects with various missions to accomplish and four demolition
modes. Work sites in each of the four environments offer several unique
challenges that kids must overcome. Players can also customize and personalize
their own TONKA city by creating buildings from top to bottom – from the windows
and rooftops, to landscaping and paving – and save and print their best work.
The Dora the Explorer: Fairytale
Adventure PC Play Pack (ages 3 & up), MY LITTLE PONY PC Play Pack (ages 3 & up),
and TONKA Construction PC Play Pack (ages 4 & up) were developed by ImaginEngine,
Corp. and are currently available at retail for a suggested retail price of
$19.95. Additional information about other game from Atari can be found at
www.atari.com/kids.
*Through August 2004 according to
data from The NPD Group, Inc.
About Hasbro Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is a
worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure time entertainment products
and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys
ranging from traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its
PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER and WIZARDS OF THE
COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play
experiences in the world.
About Atari
New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq:
ATAR) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest
third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The
Company’s 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as DRIV3R™,
Enter the Matrix™, Neverwinter Nights™, Stuntman™, Test Drive®, Unreal®
Tournament 2004, and Unreal® Championship; and mass-market and children’s games
such as Backyard Sports™, Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues™ and Dora the Explorer™,
Civilization®, Dragon Ball Z® and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari, Inc. is a
majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext
– ISIN: FR-0000052573), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For
more information, visit www.atari.com.
# # #
2004 Atari, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
2004 Viacom International Inc. All
Rights Reserved. Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Dora the Explorer and all related
titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.
HASBRO, MY LITTLE PONY, PONYVILLE,
FRIENDSHIP BALL and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used
with permission. 2004 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
HASBRO, TONKA, MIGHTY DUMP and all
related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. 2004
Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Developed by ImaginEngine, Corp. Fox
Libraries Copyright 2000 by Vipah Interactive. All Rights Reserved.
All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
