BACKBONE VANCOUVER RECEIVES ACCOLADES FOR AGE OF EMPIRES(R): THE AGE OF KINGS(R) Studio wins ELAN, nominated for BAFTA Game Award
VANCOUVER, BC - September 20, 2006 - Backbone Entertainment, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment, has won recognition for its Vancouver studio's work on Age of Empires ® : The Age of Kings ® for Nintendo DS, published by Majesco Entertainment. The game took home the Canadian Award for the Electronic and Animated Arts in the category of best design and has been nominated for best strategy game from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Game Awards.
"We knew we put out a top-notch game, and this recognition is a tremendous validation of all of our hard work," said Joe Bonar, Backbone Vancouver's studio head. "This game is just one example of the high quality products developed by our studio."
Added Joseph Sutton, executive vice president of research & development for Majesco Entertainment: "It was a pleasure working with the talented professionals at Backbone Entertainment, and this award is certainly well-deserved."
The Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts (ELANS) were distributed on Sept. 14. In its inaugural year, the ELANS aim "to become the standard by which Canada and the rest of the world recognizes the amazing talent and product that Canada is delivering to an enormous and ever-growing market."
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Game Awards will be announced on October 5 as part of the London Games Festival. The nominees were selected by a group of short-listers, who were recruited from all aspects of the gaming industry.
Backbone Vancouver is currently at work on two high-profile titles, Sonic Rivals for the PSP, to be published by Sega; and Death, Jr. & the Science Fair of Doom for Nintendo DS, to be published by Konami; as well as other unannounced projects.
About Backbone Entertainment
Part of Foundation 9 Entertainment ( www.F9E.com), the largest independent game developer in North America, Backbone specializes in developing original and licensed IP for all platforms and creating merchandising opportunities in diversified entertainment genres. Backbone is based in Emeryville, CA, Vancouver, BC, and Charlottetown, PEI and can be found on the web at: www.backboneentertainment.com.
Backbone, along with The Collective, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine, and Digital Eclipse make up Foundation 9 Entertainment. The company's studios have developed more than 300 titles, including more than 40 in 2005 alone. Foundation 9 Entertainment employs more than 350 employees, and has offices in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Emeryville, Vancouver, Boston, Eugene, Charlottetown and Honolulu. For more information on Foundation 9 Entertainment, please visit: www.F9E.com.
About Majesco Entertainment Company
Headquartered in Edison, NJ, Majesco Entertainment Company(NASDAQ: COOL) is an innovative provider of digital entertainment products and content, with a focus on publishing videogames for leading portable systems such as the PSP ® (PlayStation® Portable) system, Nintendo DS TM and Game Boy ® Advance. Current product line highlights include Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS TM , Guilty Gear Judgment for the PSP ® and JAWS TM Unleashed; as well as digital entertainment products like Frogger ® TV Arcade. Majesco also offers Game Boy ® Advance Video versions of the beloved DreamWorks Animation movies Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale. More information about Majesco can be found online at www.majescoentertainment.com.