It's bliss as Codemasters signs stylish, casual action game Bliss Island

Accessible, frantic, fun, yet fiendishly compulsive, Codemasters today reveals its latest signing: "Bliss Island", an original mass-appeal action puzzler, that will appear across a range of formats, from web game to console systems.

To introduce the title, Bliss Island is receiving a unique rollout. Today, three sample stages appear as a free-to-play web game on Funsta.com, Codemasters casual gaming portal. For a moment of bliss, visit www.funsta.com/bliss

Later in May, Bliss Island will be available as a graphically enhanced 'try-before-you-buy' downloadable PC casual game, featuring over 90 game stages from five very different game modes. The game will then evolve further and launch for the PSP (PlayStation®Portable) system later this year.

Bliss Island is an original funky, competitive and accessible interactive entertainment property created by and licensed from Pompom Software, a London-based studio that focuses on accessible gaming concepts with distinctive visual styling. Pompom's previous games include the award-winning blaster Mutant Storm.

In the game, players take on the role of Hoshi the Zwooph, a small blue fluffy creature with a long trunk, as he competes in loads of mini games that revolve around his unique ability to expel precision puffs of air at high velocity from his trunk - the game's signature and unique gameplay mechanic.

Hoshi's great puffs can be used to bounce or control objects in the game world to complete individual challenges such as diverting pieces of falling fruit into hungry mouths, or blowing creatures around an obstacle course. Competing against other Zwoophs, if Hoshi could win the games he competes in, it would be Bliss.

Says Nick Pili, Codemasters' Director of Casual Gaming:

"Signing Bliss Island is a key development in Codemasters' activities in the casual gaming space. By bringing outstanding original product into the mix it strengthens Funsta.com's attraction as an online destination for casual players. Extending the title and making it available as a casual try-before-you-buy downloadable PC game, then as a full title for the PSP system, gives the game an organic expansion as the audience for the game grows."

Comments Michael Michael of Pompom Software:

"Codemasters immediately understood the potential of Bliss Island and we're delighted to be working with a company that shares our vision of 'gameplay first' games, as well as one that shows such innovative thinking in the way it plans to grow the audience and Bliss Island brand."

Prepare for your time on Bliss Island with the web game and more online at www.funsta.com/bliss