Hamsters Rule! Activision Publishing and GameMill Publishing Announce ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch for Wii™ and Nintendo DS™

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Activision Publishing (Nasdaq: ATVI) and GameMill Publishing, Inc., in association with Cepia, LLC, today announced ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch, a brand new videogame based on the smash hit ZhuZhu Pets™ toy line. ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch will be released this Fall and offers all new hamster friends and wild adventures on both Nintendo DS™ and Wii™. The ZhuZhu™ Pets toy line is hotter than ever, recently winning three toy industry awards including "Toy of the Year", "Girl Toy of the Year" and "Innovative Toy of the Year."  

ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch features all new super cute action with fun and furry pals. Fans will get to care for and play with all of their new Wild Bunch friends plus the original ZhuZhu hamsters. ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch features an expanded Zhu-niverse and new, action packed sidescrolling gameplay. On Wii™, multiplayer will allow families and friends to pick up and play together.

The initial release of ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch will come packaged as a Collector's Edition with an exclusive cute and cuddly chipmunk, Nutters. This limited edition version of the game will be available on Nintendo DS™ for $34.99 MSRP and Wii™ for $39.99 MSRP.  

 "ZhuZhu Pets™' success continues to snowball and it's been a thrill adapting this property into videogames," said David Oxford at Activision Publishing. Gary Miller, President, GameMill Publishing, stated, "The toy's passionate fans will love the fresh direction we've taken in ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch, and it's fantastic that Wii™ owners can now join in the fun!"

"ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch captures the imagination of those who adore our brand," said Natalie Hornsby, Vice President of Marketing, Cepia, LLC.  "This game is an important next step for us as we continue to evolve the ZhuZhu Pets™ experience."

ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch 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 ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch for Nintendo DS™ and Wii™. Please visit www.thezhuniversetour.com for more information.

ZhuZhu Pets™: Featuring The Wild Bunch 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 ZhuZhu Pets™

ZhuZhu Pets™ are innovative, realistic, interactive, plush, and artificially intelligent hamsters that talk and move around in their own playsets.  ZhuZhu Pets include two play modes: nurturing mode where the hamsters coo and purr and adventure mode where the hamsters explore their habitat with intelligent audio and mechanical responses to various habitat stimuli.  Over a dozen add-ons can be purchased to build an ever-evolving hamsterworld for your hamster to play in and explore.  Powered by 2 AAA batteries (included), ZhuZhu Pets™ are suitable for ages 4 and up.  For more information, please visit www.zhuzhupets.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 Black Lantern

Black Lantern Studios, Inc. is an independent interactive entertainment software developer for consoles and the PC. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, Black Lantern Studios is committed to providing the highest quality, richest, and most satisfying gaming experience to its customers, and delivering value to its publishers and partners. For more information about Black Lantern Studios, please visit www.blacklanternstudios.com or e-mail [email protected].

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. 

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SOURCE Activision Publishing