bam! entertainment Develops Sports Illustrated For Kids Titles for the Game Boy

May 14, 2001 -- bam! entertainment today announced it will develop Sports Illustrated For Kids Baseball, Sports Illustrated For Kids Football and Sports Illustrated For Kids Basketball for the Game Boy Advance. Baseball and Football are scheduled to launch this fall. Sports Illustrated For Kids Basketball is expected to launch early next year. Sports Illustrated For Kids Baseball, Football and Basketball will combine extensive character development, character trading, club management and arcade-style play into a unified system of game play. Kids can choose a team, a team name, color, uniform style, mascot, and then train players to make their team better and advance through the leagues.

Each athlete has three key statistics that define their abilities within the game, strength, speed and agility, which are used to define the natural characteristics of an athlete. Statistics are generated randomly when a team is first created and will change during the course of "the season" and as the player trains his or her team. Gamers can acquire skill points through training and playing in a game. They can then determine which statistics they will put their points into.

Once gamers have developed their winning team, they can go head-to-head against the computer or a friend to see who has created a superior lineup. Graphic effects add to the excitement of the lineup and an athlete who gets faster may have smoke and flames under his feet when he runs, or a baseball athlete that learns to swing harder may have a shockwave come from his bat. Overall the interface stylistics of the games will be reminiscent of the Sports Illustrated For Kids magazine, with modern, bold typefaces and a slick, clean look.

As part of the Play Rewards system, an athlete that improves and performs well will be immortalized with a trading card. The trading cards are not easy to come by, and will be an exciting reward to earn during the course of the game. Additional secret bonuses of the Play Rewards system are stadium improvements. If an athlete is doing well during a season, their hometown stadium may receive various upgrades -- a better back wall or additional stands.

The ability to develop winning players over time, mixed with rich graphics will provide kids with hours of gaming fun. Stadiums filled with cheering, animated fans will make their victory of the championship seem that much more real.

bam! entertainment will preview its upcoming line-up during the Electronic Entertainment Expo, May 17 - 19, 2001, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Concourse Room 153A. www.bam4fun.com.

SOURCE bam! entertainment