This month, top players from around the globe will compete for the sporting worlds other top international prize the Altador Cup. On June 8, 2006, concurrent with the start of the World Cup, Neopets.com will kick-off its first ever Altador Cup Tournament, offering its 25 million members the opportunity to compete internationally in the online sport, "Yooyuball" (pronounced you-you-ball).
Interactive games have always been the most popular site activity among NEOPETS players," said Rik Kinney, evp, NeoPets Inc., in announcing the contest. "We believe the Altador Cup is a perfect complement to the World Cup international sporting event. It offers challenging online team competition for people of all ages, and you dont have to be a world-class athlete to participate."
Those wishing to compete in the Altador Cup Tournament, which concludes on Thursday, July 6, play Yooyuball a sort of hybrid between soccer and lacrosse, but with a special Neopian twist. The "ball" is actually a new Petpet species, so they also take an active role in the game. As players try to control them, the Petpet balls exhibit their own distinct personalities, which gives the game unpredictable and unique challenges.
Would-be participants can sign up for the tournament at www.neopets.com and join their favorite of the 16 teams in the single elimination contests. Each team member will face off against an opposing teams player, with each elimination round spanning one week Thursday to Thursday (Friday to Friday in the Asia-Pacific Region). Winning teams for each round are determined by the teams collective wins/losses and the number of goals each individual player scores.
At the end of each round, players on losing teams can join another team and continue in the Tournament. The ultimate Altador Cup champion team will be declared at the end of play on July 6, with Players who participate on that team in every round receiving a virtual Neopian grand prize. Other virtual prizes will be awarded to all Tournament players, based upon their level of Tournament participation.
NeoPets Inc., recently acquired by MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom Intl Inc., owns and operates Neopets.com, one of the world's leading online youth communities. Neopets.com, consistently ranked among the top-10 stickiest sites on the Web by Nielsen//NetRatings, has more than 25 million members and generates more than five billion pageviews per month worldwide. The company is headquartered in Glendale, California.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
