Ty Inc Taps Animax

Ty Inc, the makers of the world famous Beanie Babies, has tapped Animax Entertainment to lead development efforts of the Ty Girlz kids brand. In particular Animax is building a free-to-play model into the Ty Girlz girl focused virtual world, developing new content and building in new revenue opportunities through advertising and microtransactions through the sale of virtual goods. The news item got picked up by a few outlets in the social game, virtual world, toy and kid press:

• Virtual Worlds News
• Playthings
• Kidscreen
• The Toy Book
• Cynopsis Kids
  
• Ypulse
  

Read the full press release here.

And if you're a little girl, play for free on Ty Girlz right now!

My Mini Peeps are Coming

The new My Mini Peeps virtual world for kids is in the works. Stay tuned for the launch of the 3D world but for now you can read this article on the company creating it, Masher Media, and its founder, Sherry Gunther. Animax Entertainment worked with Masher on the upcoming site. We also have one of those things in the foreground of the photo.

Let's Engage at Toy Fair

This February NY Toy Fair and the Engage Expo are teaming up to run a conference about the next generation of play. Animax's Michael Bellavia is moderating a panel called Adding A Powerful Online Presence To An Existing Offline Brand with executives from Scholastic, Mattel and Hidden City Games.

For anybody attending #EngageExpo in NYC http://bit.ly/M6VoM, here is a discount code "SPEAKERVIP" for $200 off.

Check Out Octoball

One of the newest online games Animax Entertainment developed is live in Petpet Park, the Neopets offshoot virtual world. Octoball is a cool variation of the classic carny skeeball game. In Octoball there are a bunch of different balls each with their own unique spins and performance enhancers. Try your hand at a toss or two.

One Billion Dollars

The virtual goods market is a one billion dollar market and is growing quickly. You see them in social networks, virtual worlds, online games, mobile apps, etc. We're leveraging them for clients and prepping Fun Nugget to take advantage of them as well. Animax Entertainment's Tucker Aaron was quoted in AOL's Money and Finance blog WalletPop about the growth of virtual goods. This week the Virtual Goods Summit is going on in San Francisco. We weren't able to make it to that conference because we're busy participating in Unite, the Unity 3D Developers conference also going on in San Francisco. Let us know if you'd like to meet up.

Meet Animax at Engage Expo

Animax's Tucker Aaron is leading a panel at the Engage Expo entitled "Leveraging Virtual Worlds to Engage and Monetize." The conference itself is all about games, virtual worlds, and social media. If you're attending let us know and we can meet up.

Virtual Goods Market Size

Forbes, in its Intelligent Tech section, has an article by Sramana Mitra covering the rapidly growing virtual goods market. Animax gets a nice call out in the article, but we're a little perplexed about why Mitra finds the trend to be a disturbing one. It's like we commented:

"Not sure why you find the rising virtual economy a disturbing trend. A virtual good is really no different than a physical good -- it's just comprised of pixels instead of plastic. These new forms of goods can be anything from an emblem of status to an emotional expression -- basically they aren't too different from real world baubles and trinkets ... Animax Entertainment http://animaxent.com helps our clients take advantage of some of the opportunities around virtual goods and virtual worlds to unlock new revenue streams."

But you guys already knew that, so we're basically preaching to the choir.

New Neopets Game

Animax Entertainment really loves the new game in the Neopets virtual world that just launched. It's the newest Game Challenge and it's called Attack of the Slorgs II: Slorgs in Space! Ready, aim, splat away as each level gets more difficult.

Liv Launches

Spin Master, one of the top toy companies in the world, launched a new line of highly articulated fashion dolls called Liv and a virtual world to go along with the toys at www.livworld.com. The website unlocks access to daily diaries of each doll's life to anyone who's purchased a Liv doll. Girls will also be able to collect fashions in their virtual closet, watch webisodes, play games and more.

Animax Entertainment is seeing more and more toy companies connect plastic to pixels - basically linking physical toys to virtual worlds in order to offer a more robust play experience.

Nicktropolis Rooms

Hey kids, check out some of the fun new rooms in Nickelodeon's virtual world, Nicktropolis. Interact with other Nicktropolis avatars in rooms themed to Transformers, the hit Paramount movie. Animax Entertainment created 3D animations, background art and more for the virtual world experience.

NY Toy Fair Mixer

If you're going to NY Toy Fair then it's your lucky day. You're invited to a mixer for everyone interested in Online Toys & Gaming. Come mingle with folks interested in virtual worlds, online games, interactive toys and games, video games, elearning, computer software, USB and web connected toys, etc.

When: Monday, February 16th (President's Day)
Time: 6:30 - ?
Where: Coopers Tavern @ New Yorker Hotel
481 8th Avenue & 34th Street | New York, NY 10001 | 212.244.0719
What: Cash bar with 10% off food and drinks if you say the secret word

RSVP to mbellavia[@ ] animaxent.com. See you then.

Virtual Worlds Forecast 2009

Animax participated in the Virtual Worlds Management Industry Forecast 2009 issued by Show Initiative. The survey collects responses from over 60 industry execs, analysts, observers and thought leaders on what the coming year holds for the virtual worlds industry. An interesting read especially for those interested in youth, entertainment and toy driven virtual worlds.

World of Hosers

Hhmm... Seems like MediaCaster Magazine may have jumped to conclusions about the Animax partnership with RocketOn. They connect a few dots about Animax and the upcoming "Bob & Doug" animated TV show featuring the McKenzie Brothers made famous by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis when in the article they posit: "Bob & Doug sipping a virtual brewski in a great white Web world?"

Or maybe they saw this placeholder site... World of Hosers - the first ever virtual world focused on the favorite pasttime of Bob & Doug McKenzie.

Animax & RocketOn

Animax announced at the Virtual Worlds Expo that we've partnered with RocketOn to produce and develop parallel virtual worlds. Read the coverage in Animation Magazine and Kidscreen.

Virtual Worlds News & Other Press

Animax's announcement of the launch of KID KONCEPTS has been picked up by a few different news outlets.

• Virtual World News
• Worlds in Motion
  

KID KONCEPTS

Leading up to next week's Virtual Worlds Expo in Los Angeles that we are sponsoring, Animax announced the launch of its new KID KONCEPTS initiative. Read the press release.

KID KONCEPTS leverages Animax's expertise in entertainment and virtual world development, in order to simplify the complexity most brands face with getting into virtual worlds. This includes creative scoping, positioning, core functionality, site differentiation, business model development and financial modeling. Animax helps clients determine the business case, investment and launch plans for entertainment, toy, confection, publishing and other kid-focused brands interested in developing a presence in virtual worlds.

KID KONCEPTS was founded on the success of Animax's work in building kids virtual worlds from the ground up, developing components for existing worlds, and ongoing world maintenance. Currently, Animax has multiple KID KONCEPTS clients with virtual worlds scheduled to launch Q2 & Q3 of 2009.

Virtual Worlds Expo Sponsor

Animax is a sponsoring the upcoming Virtual Worlds Expo here in sunny Los Angeles. We'll have a table in the expo area - booth 117 so feel free to drop by.

Seattle Casual Connect

Animax is a Bronze Sponsor of the upcoming Casual Connect Seattle 2008 event. So if you are looking for a development house to work with to produce casual games, virtual worlds or MMOs, look no further than Animax. Please contact us to set up a meeting.

Virtual Worlds 2007

Michael Bellavia of Animax Entertainment is speaking on Thursday at Virtual Worlds 2007. He'll be presenting a case study on the first ever virtual world for girls. Approach us at the conference either in person or virtually.