THE KID VOTE IS IN AS FAMILYFUN.COM ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE FIRST ANNUAL VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS

Editors' Holiday Video Game Picks Also Revealed

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 2004--FamilyFun.com today announced the winners of its first annual Video Game of the Year Awards (www.familyfun.com/videogameawards). FamilyFun Video Game of the Year, a new sister program to the renowned FamilyFun Toy of the Year Award (T.O.Y.), is designed to help parents understand which video games are both family friendly and loved by kids.

Games rated E (everyone) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) were eligible and evaluated in two age categories. Fifteen hundred children participated in the in-home game testing handled by Digital Research, Inc., a leading independent market research firm that has a long history with the T.O.Y awards. Games released too late in the year to undergo formal kid testing were considered for the FamilyFun.com Editors' Hot Holiday Release Picks list.

The Video Game of the Year for kids ages 6 - 8 is Power Rangers: Dino Thunder (publisher, THQ). Players of this game help the Power Rangers to stop the plans of the mad scientist Mesagog who is trying to send the world back into the age of dinosaurs.

The winning game for kids ages 9 -12 is Shrek 2™ (publisher, Activision). This game, based on the movie sequel, takes 1 to 4 players on a twisted fairy tale adventure to solve puzzles, fight monsters and complete wild and dangerous adventures.

"These were games that the testers' parents told us they felt good about. At the same time, the kids couldn't rave enough about how much fun they had playing them," said Lee Woodruff, contributing editor of FamilyFun. "Video games often top kids' wish lists these days, and as parents head in to the holiday shopping season they want to know what games kids will keep playing after December 26."

In addition to the award winners, FamilyFun.com editors have highlighted their "hot holiday release picks" for games that were released too late in the year to be part of the formal kid-testing process. They are:

Games for all ages

-- Taiko: Drum Master™ (publisher, Namco)

-- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events™ (publisher, Activision)

Games for 6 - 8 year olds

-- The Polar Express™ (publisher, THQ)

-- SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie (publisher, THQ)

Games for 9 - 12 year olds

-- Spyro™: A Hero's Tail (publisher, Vivendi Universal)

-- Fifa Soccer 2005 (publisher, EA Sports)

Game reviews and tester comments on games evaluated for Video Game of the Year, as well as a complete list of editor's holiday release picks, are available at www.familyfun.com/videogameawards. This area of the site will be updated regularly as new games are released.

"We want parents to have a year-round resource for insights into the games kids are requesting and playing," said Emily Smith, vice president of FamilyFun.com.

Games qualifying for Video Game of the Year were screened, tested and ranked on a 100-point scale by kid testers throughout the country. Kid testing is augmented with comments from parents who have played the games with their kids.

The Top-10 games from the Video Game of the Year program are:

-- Power Rangers: Dino Thunder (publisher, THQ)

-- Pokemon LeafGreen (publisher, Nintendo)

-- Shrek 2™ (publisher, Activision)

-- Kim Possible 2: Drakkens Demise (publisher, Disney Interactive)

-- ESPN NFL 2K5 (publisher, ESPN Video Games/Sega)

-- Ty the Tasmanian Tiger™: Bush Rescue (publisher, EA Games/Krome Studios)

-- Dragon Ball Z(R): Buu's Fury (publisher, Atari)

-- Crash Bandicoot(R) Purple: Ripto's Rampage (publisher, Vivendi Universal)

-- Spyro™ Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy (publisher, Vivendi Universal)

-- Crash Twinsanity™ (publisher, Vivendi Universal)

Referred to by the Wall Street Journal as the "Oscars of the toy industry", FamilyFun magazine's annual Toy of the Year (T.O.Y.) Awards have the unique advantage of being tested and selected by kids. As video games for kids become progressively popular, Family Fun.com has installed this new award in conjunction with the T.O.Y. event. T.O.Y. winners are chosen after thousands of hours of play testing and voting by more than 1,000 children at childcare centers across the country. The finalists and winners are featured in the November issue of FamilyFun magazine and on FamilyFun.com. Over the years, several memorable toys such as Rescue Heroes™ and Tickle Me Elmo™ were launched into the holiday retail spotlight after being announced as winners of the T.O.Y. Awards.