EA/Bioware: Gift of the Yeti [Facebook]

From/De: EA/Bioware

BioWare Introduces ‘Gift of the Yeti’ Facebook App

Players Can Raise Money for Child’s Play Charity and Earn Holiday Discount for Digital Purchase of Dragon Age: Origins

EDMONTON, Alberta–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced Gift of the Yeti, a fun and fast-paced social game for people of all ages. Available now as a free¹ Facebook app, the game has been developed at BioWare by the studio’s new R&D group, BioWare Labs™. Gamers who play Gift of the Yeti will receive a $10 discount² off the purchase of the dark, heroic fantasy Dragon Age™: Origins. Additionally, BioWare will donate up to $10,000 to the Child’s Play charity, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing holiday gifts to children in need.

In the Gift of the Yeti game, players have a chance to help a sick Santa by delivering gifts on his behalf. Facebook friends can compete to beat each others’ high scores. The backstory of the Yeti will unfold through a clever Advent day calendar, with each day revealing a new piece of the storyline. Gift of the Yeti also allows players to choose from a variety of different gifts that they can send to their friends to invite them to save the day for Santa, and support the Child’s Play organization.

“Gift of the Yeti is BioWare’s digital holiday card to its fans. We use social networking as a powerful tool to connect meaningfully with our tremendous fan community,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and the Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group at EA. “Gift of the Yeti is a fun, engaging holiday present from BioWare to our fans, the first in a series of compelling social experiences from BioWare Labs.”

“Child’s Play draws the bulk of our support from video gamers and the games industry, and we are honored to be part of BioWare’s Gift of the Yeti campaign,” said Kristin Lindsay, Program Coordinator, Child’s Play. “Now gamers can help support pediatric hospitals in the US, Canada and worldwide simply by playing the game and having fun! When gamers give back, it makes a big difference.”

For every play of Gift of the Yeti, BioWare will donate a minimum of a penny, up to $10,000 to the Child’s Play charity. Child’s Play is a community-based charity grown and nurtured from the video game culture and industry, distributing toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals worldwide. Originally supported by Penny Arcade, more information about Child’s Play can be found at: www.childsplaycharity.org.

Players can check out Gift of the Yeti by visiting: http://apps.facebook.com/giftoftheyeti.

1 Gift of the Yeti is available to play free only on Facebook at www.facebook.com. All players must register for a Facebook account to play.

2 Value of discount will be deducted from total order at time of purchase. Valid for new purchases of Dragon Age: Origins of equal or greater value only. Discount is valid only on purchases from the EA STORE at www.eastore.ea.com. This offer expires on January 1, 2010, and cannot be combined with any other offer, Gift Card, rebate or other discount coupons. Valid only in the U.S. and CANADA. Limit one offer per person. Subject to availability. Customers are responsible for shipping, handling and applicable sales tax. Offer may not be substituted, exchanged, sold or redeemed for cash or other goods or services. Void where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law.

About BioWare

BioWare develops high quality console, PC and online role-playing games, focused on rich stories, unforgettable characters and vast worlds to discover. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world’s most critically acclaimed titles, including Baldur’s Gate™, Neverwinter Nights™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, Jade Empire™ and Mass Effect™. BioWare operates in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec) and Austin (Texas). BioWare’s announced projects include the dark heroic fantasy game Dragon Age: Origins, as well as Mass Effect 2™, the epic sequel to Mass Effect, and the story-driven massively multiplayer online game, Star Wars®: The Old Republic™. In 2008, BioWare was acquired by Electronic Arts, a leading global interactive entertainment publisher. For more information on BioWare, visit www.bioware.com; to join the millions of fans already registered on our community, go to social.bioware.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EATM, EA SPORTSTM, EA MobileTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

About Child’s Play

Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play (www.childsplaycharity.org), a community-based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over five million dollars in donations of toys, games, videos, books and cash for sick kids in 70 partner Children’s Hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since its inception. While the main Child’s Play toy drive effort launches in the fall each year, donations are accepted year round, and community-driven fundraisers take place all over the calendar. Child’s Play relies strongly on these independent fundraising efforts, and is proud to have benefitted from community gaming marathons, tournaments, donations drives and other events. For more information on how you can be a part of Child’s Play, please contact program coordinator Kristin Lindsay at klindsay@childsplaycharity.org.

BioWare, BioWare Labs, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. in the U.S. and/or other countries. EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.