I-play Challenges You: Are You 'The Weakest Link™?
San Mateo, CA & London, UK - November 1, 2007: I-play, the mobile entertainment company, today announced the North American and UK launch of the third game in the hugely successful mobile series of the "The Weakest Link 2008", based on BBC Worldwide's popular trivia quiz game television show format, which has more than three million viewers in the UK each week and six million in the US.
Developed under licence from BBC Worldwide, the mobile version of The Weakest Link brings all the excitement of the hit television show direct to your mobile phone. Packed with sharp-witted phrases and a wealth of challenging questions, this is a single-player quiz game for the seasoned trivia player. You must answer a series of multiple-choice questions on a variety of subject categories all before time runs out.. The game challenges players with a range of question categories across topics including entertainment, geography, history, general knowledge, nature and science. Can you answer, from the medical science category, 'Which infectious disease is known as Kissing Disease?' Dengue Fever, Scarlet Fever, Typhoid Fever or Glandular Fever?
The third in the series delivers photo-realistic graphics, the biggest number of questions ever packed into a mobile game with more than 1,500 nail biting
questions and answers, as well as the ability to personalize contestants with ten different avatars with photo realistic graphics and animated emotion for
extra realism. Advanced and improved AI of the opponents. It increases the importance of the strategy during the vote. The game has already received critical acclaim:"I-play has managed its source material admirably. The Weakest Link 2008 is an impeccable conversion"8/10 Silver Award, PocketGamer
The show has aired for over six years making it one of the best TV branded shows over the past ten years with high awareness and lasting appeal, with national versions of the game broadcast in over 23 countries. Phrases from the show have entered people's everyday vocabulary, especially the "You are The Weakest Link. Goodbye!" put-down when a contestant is evicted from the show.
The new mobile version of the Weakest Link is the latest deal for BBC Worldwide's mobile division and marks a further development of the company's drive into the space. Alongside branded formats for games applications, the division also offers a broad range of mobile content types such as ringtones, icons and wallpapers based on world-famous content brands.
David Gosen, President, I-play: "This casual, trivia title has had a huge following in Europe and North America already, and successfully combines a stimulating mental challenge with compelling mobile fun, which should make it another hit."
Peter Mercier, Head of Mobile, BBC Worldwide commented: "We're constantly looking to leverage our huge archive of formats and content across all possible media channels, and this latest version of Weakest Link is great demonstration of how that process can work at its best."
"I-play has created several fantastic mobile games from our highly popular franchise. Now fans of the show will be able to test their wits and knowledge and by taking on this latest challenge to see if they can escape being 'The Weakest Link."
Editor's Note
The Weakest Link format was created by BBC Entertainment and Fintan Coyle and Cathy Denning.
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About I-play
I-play brings the best in mobile entertainment to an audience of over one billion people via a network of more than 120 carriers worldwide. I-play has been creating mobile games since 1998 and continues spearhead the creation of mobile entertainment for the next generation.
I-play is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oberon Media, the world's leading casual games company. Oberon's Game Centre platform, is the industry standard and has been adopted by many of the world's largest corporations. The platform combines casual game content, merchandizing and features to fulfil each partner's specific needs. Oberon Media's publishing arm works with the industry's best, award-winning game developers to produce the top-selling casual games, which can be played in more than a dozen languages on PC, web-based, mobile and console platforms.
Founded in 2003, Oberon Media is headquartered in New York, with offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
For more information visit us at <http://www.iplay.com/>
I-play is a trademark and trading name of Digital Bridges Limited.
About BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The company exists to maximise the value of the BBC's assets for the benefit of the licence payer and invest in public service programming in return for rights. The company has six core businesses: Global Channels, Global TV Sales, Magazines, Content & Production, Home Entertainment and Digital Media. In 2006/07 BBC Worldwide generated profits of £111 million on sales of £810 million.
For more information contact:
Esther Brown
Communications Manager
Esther.brown@bbc.co.uk
020 8433 2506