American Idol Star Experience

Free download for PC, with Facebook integration.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on May 26, 2010

MONTREAL, CANADA May 24, 2010 — Interactive entertainment company Ludia and FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) today announced the American Idol Star Experience game will be available on May 26th to coincide with the Season 9 finale of the smash hit American Idol™ TV show. The game enables fans to continue their Idol obsession as they unleash their creativity by producing jaw-dropping online performances for family, friends and the whole Facebook community to rate and compare against other players.

Idol enthusiasts simply use their existing Facebook login to create a game account to access the free Performance Creator download for PC. The Performance Creator enables players to design their own unique stage performance, including building a custom avatar from head to toe, choosing a song to sing from dozens of hits, choreographing dance moves, and directing a multitude of staging elements like camera angles and special effects. The player can then post the performance to Facebook with one click, to be rated to see how they compare to other performers in singing, styling and staging categories.

Members of the Facebook community can also enjoy the American Idol Star Experience game in a highly social context as members of the “audience” view and rate performances, choose favorites, leave comments for performers and discuss the best (and worst) of the performances- all within the Facebook environment.

“We are excited to release a unique game experience based on American Idol, one of the most important entertainment franchises in the world,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “American Idol Star Experience reinforces our existing multiplatform game strategy, now seamlessly integrated with robust social features.”

American Idol Star Experience features:

• A free downloadable Performance Creator, available via players’ existing Facebook account.

• Personal avatars that players build head to toe, including body type, face, eyes, hair and more.

• Dozens of hit songs available in a wide variety of genres to suit all musical tastes including rock, punk, pop, hip hop, disco, R&B and country.

• Customization of all elements of a performance via a simple “drag and drop” interface, including:

• Recorded singing- Players can select pre-recorded voice tracks, or use their own voice to sing karaoke-style.

• Personal styling- Hundreds of hair styles, wardrobe items and accessories to choose from.

• Unique staging- Stages modeled after the famous American Idol stage, with special effects, lighting, camera angles, dance moves and props that players can craft to create a one-of-a-kind performance.

• Social interaction within the Facebook community as members of Facebook can visit http://apps.facebook.com/playamericanidol to view and rate performances based on singing, styling and staging criteria. Players have also the ability to invite select Facebook friends to a private viewing of their performance.

“After more than eight top-rated seasons on television, the Emmy-award winning American Idol is one of the most successful properties on TV,” said Olivier Delfosse, Director, Interactive, FremantleMedia Enterprises, licensor for the program. “We are pleased to extend American Idol to both the existing fan base and new audiences alike with a highly immersive game experience that further deepens consumer engagement with the franchise.”

American Idol Star Experience is available for PC as a free download at http://www.PlayAmericanIdol.com .

ABOUT LUDIA INC.

Ludia creates and distributes cross-platform interactive entertainment with mass consumer appeal. Located in Montreal and founded by experienced industry players, Ludia's innovative and high-quality product portfolio consists of original and branded properties including American Idol®, The Bachelor & The Bachelorette, Family Feud®, Hell's Kitchen™, Press Your Luck™, The Amazing Race™, The Price Is Right™ and Where's Waldo?®.

www.ludia.com

About “American Idol”

AMERICAN IDOL is created and executive-produced by Simon Fuller, founder of 19 Entertainment; and executive-produced by Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO, FremantleMedia North America; and Ken Warwick, executive producer, FremantleMedia North America.

ABOUT FREMANTLEMEDIA ENTERPRISES & FREMANTLEMEDIA

FreemantleMedia is one of the leading creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world. FremantleMedia is part of the RTL Group, Europe's largest television and radio broadcast company, which is in turn 90 percent owned by Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's major media and entertainment companies. FremantleMedia's worldwide production arm is responsible for many of the world's highest rated prime time entertainment, drama, serial drama and factual entertainment programmes. FremantleMedia Enterprises is the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, offering a one-stop-shop for all Licensing, Distribution and Home Entertainment around the world. The FremantleMedia Group (which includes talkbackTHAMES, UFA and Grundy amongst others) has operations in 22 countries, one of the most comprehensive global networks, creating nearly 10,000 hours of programming a year, rolling out more than 60 formats and managing over 300 individual titles. FremantleMedia has some of the world's most sought after and long running formats in its catalogue, and globally, produces such programmes as: Idols (co-produced with 19 Productions in the US), The X Factor (co-produced with Syco in the UK), Got Talent (co-produced with Syco in the UK and the US), Neighbours, The Bill, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Farmer Wants A Wife and Hole In The Wall.

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Ludia Inc. PR Contact:

mPRm Public Relations

Lisa Bustamante

E-mail: lbustamante@mprm.com

Tel: (323) 933-3399

FremantleMedia Enterprises Contacts:

Lainie Rosenthal

Sunshine, Sachs & Associates

rosenthal@sunshinesachs.com

Tel: (212) 691-2800

Belinda Thomas, Sr PR Manager, FME