Zeebys 2008

Casual gaming fundraiser event, with voting now open for the People's Choice Awards.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on June 10, 2008

LOS ANGELES – Gamezebo and the Casual Games Association has announced that voting is now open for the Zeebys’ People’s Choice Awards. The winners will be revealed at the second annual Zeebys Award Show from 6:30 – 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at the Casual Connect Conference in the Taper Auditorium located inside of Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The show will be taped by Lifetime Networks and broadcast on its Web site, myLifetime.com.

"This year's Zeebys will be bigger and better than last year's to celebrate the ascent of casual games into mainstream entertainment," says Joel Brodie, CEO of Gamezebo and founder of the Zeebys. "We are now a $ 2.25 billion dollar a-year industry, and compete with the likes of TV, music and movies. We've arrived."

The theme of this year’s Zeebys is “Casual Games Giving Back,” with 100% of all ticket sales benefiting the Zeebys’ official charity partner, Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. Starlight is a nonprofit dedicated to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. Tickets for this year’s Zeebys Award Show can be purchased for $20 at www.starlight.org/zeebys2008.

"What better way to celebrate the innovation and diversity of casual games than to open voting to members of the public and support a cause as important as Starlight's," says Jessica Tams, Managing Director of the Casual Games Association,

The Zeebys reward the very best in casual games as voted by the general public. Starting today through July 5, 2008, everyone is invited to vote for the best casual games of 2007 by visiting http://www.zeebys.com/vote-2.php. There are two types of Zeebys Awards: 1) The People’s Choice Awards, which represent the best casual games of the year as voted by the people; and 2) The Craft Awards, which reward excellence in game design itself as voted by peers in the Casual Games Association.

Nominations for the People’s Choice Awards have been chosen by members of the Casual Games Association, the largest membership-based association within the casual games industry. New People’s Choice categories to vote for this year include Best Hidden Object/Adventure, Time Management, and Web Game. New Craft Award categories include Best Mobile, Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA), and Social Networking Game. For more about the Zeebys, visit www.zeebys.com.

As one of the top destinations for casual games for women, MyLifetime.com, Lifetime Network’s online community for women’s entertainment and escape, is the exclusive video partner of the awards show and will stream the entire show at MyLifetime.com. The exclusive production partner is SomaTone Interactive Audio, which is producing and providing live music for the show.

Gamezebo

Gamezebo is the leading editorial Web site and community for people passionate about casual games. Gamezebo features reviews, previews, strategy guides for the latest and greatest in casual games, as well as industry insider editorials and interviews. Gamezebo also provides the social tools to rate, share, and connect with people online who are passionate about casual games. Founded by industry veteran Joel Brodie, former head of business development at Yahoo! Games, Gamezebo is a Webby Nominee for Best-Games Related Site of 2008 and our content is translated and viewed by millions online through our Web site and syndication partners. For more information, go to: http://www.gamezebo.com.

Casual Games Association

The Casual Games Association is an international organization with a membership of more than 10,000 gaming executives, publishers and developers. Dedicated to promoting casual games for general consumers and providing educational resources for game development, the association hosts annual conferences in Seattle, Kyiv and Hamburg, publishes a magazine three times a year, and issues research reports on the industry. The association was founded in 2005 by members of the casual games industry.

MyLifetime.com

myLifetime.com ( http://www.mylifetime.com), the ultimate digital destination for women’s entertainment and escape, is a site where nearly three million women per month (comScore Media Metrix) connect, play and share. The site’s games channel offers hundreds of compelling online and downloadable games, and ranks among the top 25 online gaming sites for women. myLifetime.com offers lifestyle content in Beauty & Style, Home & Crafts, Entertainment, Health, Relationships, and Astrology channels, original broadband video series, and full episodes, behind-the-scenes content and features that enable women to engage deeper with Lifetime’s television programming. The site also features a vibrant community of more than 2.4 million members who connect with each other via an array of social networking tools. Combined with the reach of the Lifetime Networks, myLifetime.com provides national sponsors an unrivaled opportunity to reach women with targeted cross-platform experiences.

SomaTone Interactive Audio

SomaTone Interactive Audio is the number one provider of original music, sfx, VO, localization, and audio integration for the casual games industry. Specializing in game audio, the SomaTone Team provides soundtracks for around 200 games a year divided between casual, handheld, console, console-downloadable, online, and mobile. A full audio production house with production studios in San Francisco, Los Angeles, & Munich, clients include Big Fish Games, Konami, PlayFirst, PopCap, Wild Tangent, Mumbo Jumbo, EA, Disney, and many others around the globe. ST works with over 250 developers in 22 different countries. Focus is on providing exceptional service and management to offer a top, affordable source in audio. For more information on SomaTone, please visit http://www.somatone.com.

Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation

When a child or teenager has a serious medical condition, everyone in the family is affected. For 25 years, Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation has dedicated itself to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. Starlight's programs have been proven to distract children from their pain, help them better understand and manage their illnesses, and connect families facing similar challenges so that no one feels alone. Through a network of offices, Starlight provides ongoing support to children, parents and siblings in all U.S. states and Canadian provinces with an array of outpatient, hospital-based and Web offerings. Programs are also delivered internationally through affiliates in Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. To learn more visit http://www.starlight.org.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Donna DeDario

Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation

(323) 556-3322

donna.dedario@starlight.org

Joel Brodie

Gamezebo

650.387.5179

joel@gamezebo.com

Craig Holland

Casual Games Association

(714) 504-6592