Activision Publishing and GameMill Publishing Get Fur-ocious This Fall With Kung Zhu™ for Nintendo DS™

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Activision Publishing (Nasdaq: ATVI) and GameMill Publishing, Inc., in association with Cepia, LLC, announced today that Kung Zhu™ is coming to Nintendo DS™ this fall. Based on the smash hit toys, Kung Zhu™ lets players choose adorable hamsters, train them into ultimate warrior fighting machines, and take them to battle!

An exclusive, rough-and-tumble Kung Zhu™ hamster, named Tull, will come packaged as a Collector's Edition with the initial release of Kung Zhu™ for Nintendo DS™. Tull sports a never seen before color scheme and will be available for $34.99 MSRP.

"Kung Zhu™ is packed with pets that are cute but become ultra-cool and tough, so it's a lot of fun seeing that transformation in a videogame," said David Oxford at Activision. Gary Miller, President, GameMill Publishing, stated, "We are thrilled to be able to bring Cepia's hottest new line of toys to videogames in light-hearted, family friendly battle style."

Kung Zhu™ takes players on a high-action journey with the action-packed hamsters of the Special Forces and Ninja Warriors tribes. Play along with the fierce Special Forces hamsters: Stonewall, Sergeant Serge, Rock'O and Rivet, or with the stealth Ninja Warriors hamsters: Yama, Azer, Drayko and Thorn. Fans might even run into a few surprise soldiers from different tribes along the way! Developed specifically for Nintendo DS™, Kung Zhu™ gives players the ability to outfit their pets with battle gear and unleash them to rumble in 35 levels with authentic sounds and motions.

"Kung Zhu™ is on a trajectory to achieve the same level of incredible acclaim and success as the original ZhuZhu Pets™," said Natalie Hornsby, Vice President of Marketing, Cepia, LLC. "We're seeing this new property create new fans, and this videogame just adds fuel to the fire through its employment of the brand's core elements."

Kung Zhu™ can currently be seen on the Zhu-niverse Tour, stopping in cities all over the country. Tour attendees will be among the first to get their hands on Kung Zhu™ for Nintendo DS™. Please visit www.thezhuniversetour.com for more information.

Kung Zhu™ is available this Fall on Nintendo DS™. This game is not yet rated by the ESRB. For more information visit www.activision.com or www.gamemillpublishing.com.

About GameMill Entertainment

GameMill Entertainment is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. GameMill is a third party publisher of various Children's and Casual games for the PC, Nintendo DS, and Wii from Nintendo. With development across the globe, GameMill is a source of entertaining and fun games for all ages. www.game-mill.com.

About Cepia, LLC

Cepia was founded in 2002 in St. Louis, Missouri by a senior management team boasting over 100 years of combined history in the toy industry.  Ingenuity, creativity, playfulness, and passion are the heart of Cepia and everything it creates.  Cepia is especially known for its use of advanced technology, which is employed in such an unobtrusive way that the toys are not only fun to play with, but often viewed as "wonderful" or "magical." Cepia's toy brand building enterprises include Glo-e a light-up plush bear, Hydro Max a motorized water blaster, Sky Raptors, Sk8, and their newest venture ZhuZhu Pets™.  For more information, please visit www.cepiallc.com.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com. 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Activision Publishing generally uses words such as "outlook," "will," "could," "would," "might," "remains," "to be," "plans," "believes," "may," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "estimate," future," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "project," "remain," "scheduled," "set to," "subject to," "upcoming" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Publishing's titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Publishing's ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms, declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Publishing's products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, industry competition including from used games and other forms of entertainment, litigation risks and associated costs, rapid changes in technology, industry standards, business models including online and used games, and consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as music, first-person action and massively multiplayer online games, protection of proprietary rights, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors, and third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and developers that can create high quality "hit" titles, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities and potential challenges associated with geographic expansion, and the other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

©2010 Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. Nintendo DS is a trademark of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Activision Publishing, Inc.