Award-Winning Charity Game The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures Ships To Retail Supported By Facebook Contest
Seriously Ill Kids Stand to Benefit from Creative Fundraising Campaign
Legacy Interactive today shipped The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures: Starlight Charity Challenge game to retail. The hybrid PC/Mac retail version of the animated arcade-style game is a first-of-its kind national fundraising campaign benefiting children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses via Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation (www.starlight.org), with fifty percent of the retail proceeds going to the organization. Simultaneously downloadable Mac, Flash, widget and Facebook application versions of The Tuttles have launched, with a Facebook "Friends" promotional contest designed to help spread the word about the charity fundraiser.
Starlight helps seriously ill children and their families cope with pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. Its programs include mobile entertainment units and laptop computers for hospitalized children, fun family events that take children and families away from medical treatments, a social network for teens with serious medical conditions and much, much more.
"The Tuttles looks great, is fun and makes you feel good. It's an easy choice for people to get behind this game because a significant portion goes directly to brighten the lives of real children," said Legacy's CEO Ariella Lehrer. "By making a $20 purchase and helping spread the word, anybody can make a difference."
Kicked off as a fundraising concept by Starlight, certainly many people have gotten involved in the game already. Actors William Shatner, Bob Saget, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ashley Tisdale, Dominic Scott Kay, Dave Thomas and Dave Coulier lent their voices to The Tuttles, a classic side-scrolling platformer game for all ages. The story line follows a vacationing family as they travel by flying mini-van through desert, jungle and even under water avoiding obstacles and collecting goodies along the way to the Alamo. The original comedic script and characters were designed by Emmy Award-winning Animax Entertainment. SomaTone Interactive Audio created the soundtrack and leading Mac portability developer TransGaming, Inc. (TSX-V: TNG) has made the game Mac compatible using their Cider Portability Engine.
The downloadable PC version of the game (www.tuttlesfamilygame.com) was released late last year and has already garnered a "Kids Game of the Year" award from GameTunnel.com and a 2008 Parents' Choice Silver Award. The retail version, rated E For Everyone, will be available through retailers for a suggested retail price of U.S. $19.99. TransGaming has launched the downloadable Mac version of The Tuttles online at www.gametreeonline.com, and is also donating a significant portion of those sales back to Starlight.
In addition, free Flash, widget and Facebook application versions of The Tuttles have launched today. Ten Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N2 digital cameras, each with an MSRP of $449.95, will be given away as part of a Facebook "Friends" promotion. Participants must add The Tuttles Sweepstakes Facebook application to their profile at http://apps.facebook.com/legacygames, then can answer questions about the game and invite "friends" in their Facebook social network to add the application. The participant will receive one entry when they submit their answers and an additional entry for every friend they invite that accepts and downloads The Tuttles Sweepstakes Facebook application. Camera winners will be randomly drawn from all entries received by April 20, 2008.
While the celebrities and companies involved in creating the game have given liberally of their time and services, the remaining sales income goes towards defraying the actual costs of the fundraiser.