For Immediate Release, 10/26/99

MindRover(tm) Goes Gold, Unveils Unique Marketing Strategy

Acton, MA CogniToy(tm) announced today that its first game, MindRover: the Europa Project(tm), has just gone gold. It will ship in the first week of November. The list price is $45, but for the first few weeks, CogniToy is offering its customers huge discounts in return for help in getting the word out.

"We are a small, independent game developer with a limited budget," explained Kim Quirk, CEO. "Instead of paying huge sums of money to an ad agency up front, we pay our customers, directly, for each email address they give us. This way we buy our ads one pair of eyeballs at a time."

The deal works like this: MindRover is available only through the CogniToy web site (https://cognitoy.com). The order form allows the customer to recommend the game to friends. Each recommendation is worth $5 off the price of MindRover. This is an immediate discount, not a coupon, rebate or multi-level marketing scheme.

At first, CogniToy will discount for up to six recommendations, allowing the earliest customers to buy MindRover for as low as $15. The deepest discounts will expire over time.

MindRover itself is a unique game that doesnt fit into traditional genres. It gives players the tools to create their own intelligent robotic vehicles to compete in a variety of challenges. CogniToy classifies it as a "Strategy Programming" game. Players start with an empty vehicle and add components such as sensors, weapons, and engines. Next they wire those components together using an innovative visual programming system, and finally set the vehicles free in the game world to compete without further intervention. MindRover asks gamers to "think more and twitch less."

"Weve taken the old robot battle idea and pushed it to a new level," says Kent Quirk, CTO of CogniToy. "Weve put in full 3D graphics, a visual programming system, a large variety of components, and competitions that include races, puzzles, sports and battles."

Underlying the entire MindRover system is CogniToys proprietary ICE programming language, which is used to build components, scenarios and vehicles. This modular system allows CogniToy to release new components and scenarios on its web site. In early 2000, CogniToy plans to release an ICE development kit that will allow players to build and share new levels and components.

MindRover was selected as one of 15 finalists in the 1999 Independent Games Festival at the Game Developers Conference.

Headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts, CogniToy is a privately funded developer and publisher of computer games that engage the brain as well as the hands. The company motto is "Intelligent Toys for Intelligent Minds."

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