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DAILY NEWS
Oct 1, 2008 10:21 AM
Comedians Team up in Parallel Virtual Worlds
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Bob & Doug sipping a virtual brewski in a great white Web world?
It may come to pass, following the announcement of a new partnership between RocketOn, Inc., creator of the Parallel Virtual World Platform, and Animax Entertainment, an Emmy-winning multiplatform entertainment studio co-founded by the alter-egos of Bob and Doug, otherwsie known as Animax Co-Founder Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis.
RocketOn will benefit from Animax's expertise in creating high quality animated content and from its relationships with major brands, media networks & movie studios, the companies describe. Animax and its clients will have access to RocketOn's Parallel Virtual World Platform and authoring system, making it easy to rapidly deploy virtual spaces, avatars and games across any website.
"RocketOn is a great way to launch and manage parallel virtual worlds," said Michael Bellavia, CEO of Animax, in a release. "It enables us to create rich browser-based, virtual environments anywhere on the web without a user download. In a matter of weeks, we can literally build out a virtual space, deploy it on a website and populate it with content."
RocketOn manages the entire platform, including integrating the content, running the servers, and providing billing, e-commerce, analytics, maintenance and customer support. Animax's team would determine the strategic implementation, develop the marketing plan and produce the creative.
"Animax has a world-class reputation of building virtual world platforms from the ground up and developing for existing platforms," said Steve Hoffman, CEO of RocketOn. "They have a wealth of creative ideas, talent and experience that will make our partnership a success. We're looking forward to building parallel virtual worlds together and sharing the benefits."
Animax's reputation for online branded content is renowned. Its diverse portfolio includes projects with Disney, ABC, ESPN, BBDO, Ford, JWT, Kellogg's, MTV, Kodak, NBC, PBS, Sundance Channel, Sesame Workshop, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., WWE and Yahoo!
RocketOn is based in San Francisco, California. RocketOn's management team has worked at top game publishers, including SEGA, Vivendi-Universal, Sony (SNE), Atari (ATAR), and Electronic Arts (ERTS).
Animax Entertainment is an award winning full-service creative agency that creates fun, character-driven experiences for all screens. Winners of the first Broadband Emmy Award Animax produces virtual worlds, games, animation and other media for leading entertainment studios, toy manufacturers, game studios, and brands. In 2008 Animax expanded operations into Canada.
A new animated prime-time television series entitled "Bob & Doug," based on characters made famous by Animax Co-Founder Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, is currently in production and will air on Global Television in Canada beginning in January 2009.
