THQ Inc. and Nickelodeon announced NICKTOONS UNITE! for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance has shipped to retail outlets throughout North America. NICKTOONS UNITE! allows players to interact with the stars from some of the most popular Nickelodeon TV shows, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Timmy Turner (from THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS), Jimmy Neutron and Danny Phantom.
"Our partnership with Nickelodeon has yielded a portfolio of successful products in recent years, with more than 16 million games sold in to date," said Kelly Flock, evp, worldwide publishing, THQ. "Last year's Nicktoons: Movin' was one of the top stand-alone games for the EyeToy USB Camera (for PlayStation 2) during the 2004 holiday season, and we're looking forward to bringing Nicktoons to additional videogame platforms this holiday season with the new Nicktoons Unite!."
"With Nicktoons being the only brand where characters from various top-rated Nickelodeon TV shows co-exist, we're excited to have the opportunity to launch this new game on multiple gaming platforms," said Steve Youngwood, svp, entertainment products, Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products. "NICKTOONS UNITE! is a great opportunity for Nickelodeon fans to simultaneously interact with many of their favorite characters."
NICKTOONS UNITE! is a 1-4 player cooperative, 15 level videogame featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, Timmy Turner, Jimmy Neutron and Danny Phantom. In this new game, Professor Calamitous has pulled together Plankton, Vlad and Crocker to form a group known as The Evil Syndicate. The wicked foursome has begun to wreak havoc throughout Retroville, Amity Park, Dimmsdale and Bikini Bottom in an attempt to take over the world. Not to be outsmarted, Jimmy Neutron calls upon his own band of Nicktoons to take out The Evil Syndicate, along with the devastating Doomsday device.
Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products manages the third largest licensing business in the world with $4.7 billion in retail sales in 2004, from such properties as SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS and DORA THE EXPLORER. The department handles the merchandising for Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, MTVN International and Spike TV.
Nickelodeon, now in its 26th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. The company includes television programming and production in the U.S. and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 89 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for ten consecutive years. Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom Intl Inc.
THQ Inc. is a leading worldwide developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. The company develops products for all popular game systems, personal computers and wireless devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles County, California, THQ sells product through its global network of offices located in the U.S., U.K., Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Korea and Australia. More information may be found at www.thq.com and www.thqwireless.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
