Bob the Builder Festival of Fun Wii

Blast Entertainment Ltd, part of the Mastertronic Group, today announced the launch of Bob the Builder Festival of Fun for Nintendo Wii. Following the success of the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS Bob the Builder titles, this original game for Nintendo Wii, featuring the enormously popular Bob the Builder, has launched in the UK and European market.

Bob the Builder Festival of Fun Wii is a truly collaborative game for parents to play together with their children, so even very young children with limited coordination can play, with the child using the Wii Remote to control the action movement and the older player assisting by using their own Wii Remote to guide and steer. It really does enable young children to control the gameplay themselves and with help from their parents they can share and complete tasks together cooperatively.

Bob the Builder, currently airing on BBC2, Cbeebies and Nick Jr, is the number three pre-school boys brand in the UK* and is recognised as the most-loved character for children aged 0-4 in the UK**. Bob the Builder has enjoyed 10 years of success with 2009 marking his 10th anniversary, with a UK single release planned for summer 09 and the return of Bob the Builder LIVE global theatre tour this Autumn. Bob the Builder Magazine remains a Top Ten UK preschool children’s magazine and the official website receives on average 20 million hits per month globally, and nearly 1 million Bob books were sold in the UK during 2008, with 30 new titles to come from Egmont in 2009.

In Bob the Builder Festival of Fun Wii the player enjoys a vast array of fun and diverse story-based challenges and can tackle tasks with up to three friends or family members in numerous exciting multiplayer modes, enabling them to play competitively or play collaboratively to get the job done.

The game makes full use of the unique Wii technology to control the gameplay, using the Wii Remote as a hammer, a pick axe and spade, to pick up rubbish, blow the leaves, mix the cement or even spin pizzas to help the Bob the Builder characters put on a grand festival for the town. After all their hard work, they can grab the Wii Remote and follow the on-screen cues to enjoy a fabulous sing-along with Bob the Builder himself!

Kirsty Payne, Mastertronic’s Marketing Manager commented: “Bob the Builder: Festival of Fun Wii is a fun and colourful gaming experience for children and parents that reflects the spirit of the TV series and incorporates a great balance of fun and learning with all their favourite characters, engaging tasks and diverse challenges.”

“Bob the Builder Wii is different insofar as it’s a truly collaborative game for parents and children to play together, so even very young children who can’t quite co-ordinate the controller can play with a parent or older sibling with one player steering the truck while the other player controls the digging. It means that children can do it for themselves rather than get frustrated that they’re being helped with the controller. This isn’t a ‘babysitting’ game, it’s for parents and children to play together, sharing the tasks and controlling the play cooperatively. It’s a must for parents and Bob the Builder fans!”

Bob the Builder: Festival of Fun will be released on Nintendo Wii with an SRP of £19.99

For more information contact:

Kirsty Payne – kirsty.payne@mastertronic.com

Joanne Wenn – joanne.wenn@mastertronic.com

Mastertronic Group, 1 Benjamin Street, London, EC1M 5QG

Tel: 0845 234 4242

www.mastertronic.com

About the Mastertronic Group Limited

Mastertronic is one of the best known electronic entertainment brands in Europe. It pioneered the European console market with its launch of the Sega Master System, invented the value retail sector and built an international development and publishing operation under the Virgin Mastertronic label. The brand was subsequently re-launched as The Mastertronic Group Limited in 2003 by founder Frank Herman, together with Andy Payne and Garry Williams. The Group now leads the European value publishing sector through its retail brands M.A.D. (Mastertronic Added Dimension), Sold Out (the UK's largest-selling budget operation, acquired by the Group in 2004) and PC Gamer Presents, a unique quality-assured brand in association with the leading games magazine publisher Future Publishing. The Group also offers, through its wholly owned subsidiary The Producers Limited (also acquired in 2004), a 'cradle to grave' total turnkey service for physical product, from marketing through packaging and warehousing, to retail and digital distribution. More recently in 2006, Blast Entertainment was launched as part of the group and has rapidly become a leading video game company exclusively aimed at the younger end of the Children’s market. Blast develops new content based on recognised family friendly licenses from films, TV, classic characters and toys and publishes on a variety of formats including PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii. In 2007 Just Flight, and its sister company Just Trains, the leading worldwide simulation specialists, were acquired by the group. Just Flight was established in 1995, and within three years became the world’s largest publisher of flight simulation software outside of Microsoft, with a reputation for high quality products, published by genuine enthusiasts.

About HIT Entertainment

HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax Partners, is one of the world's leading independent children's entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT's portfolio includes properties, such as Barney™, Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Fireman Sam™, Angelina Ballerina™ and Rainbow Magic™. HIT represents Chapman Entertainment’s Fifi and the Flowertots™ and Roary the Racing Car™ in North America and Japan. HIT also acts as a worldwide representative for The Jim Henson Company’s library of classic family brands and as representative for The Wiggles® in the UK. Launched in 1989, HIT’s lines of business span television and video production, content distribution, publishing, consumer products licensing and live events and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. HIT is a part-owner of US-based preschool channel, PBS KIDS SproutSM, and international preschool channel JimJam, (outside of the US, UK and China). For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.