HONG KONG and TOKYO, June 5, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- TV ASAHI, Japan's major terrestrial TV station and Hong Kong based Artificial Life, Inc. (OTCBB:ALIF) (www.artificial-life.com), a leading full service provider of award winning mobile technology and applications, today announced the launch of a one hour interactive mobile participation TV show with the Japanese title: "Hoshi-ichi owarairyoku test" scheduled to air late night of June 14th, 2008. The Japanese celebrity, Kendo Kobayashi, will host the pilot show and guide television viewers through the innovative one hour game show format.
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During the program, participants use their mobile phones to interact with the live show by controlling their own 3D animated avatars which appears on their own TV screen and compete with other viewers by using their avatars for answering quiz questions. The winner of the quiz challenge is awarded a prize sponsored by TV ASAHI.
Eberhard Schoneburg, Artificial Life's Chief Executive Officer, said, "This is a great opportunity for us. We are excited to be airing our first interactive TV show in Japan. The format of the show is very unique even for Japan in that viewers will be able to interact with live 3D representations of themselves in the form of cute animated avatars as well as to participate and interact with the show's hosts in real time. Our SMS Galaxy is already successful in Europe and we are now entering the Asian markets as well as live sports entertainment arenas with this unique technology. We are very thankful to TV ASAHI for the positive and promising cooperation we now have together."
The TV show is produced by Artificial Life, Inc. and runs on their unique real-time 3D scene engine and mobile TV interface technology, SMS Galaxy(tm). SMS Galaxy(tm) enables live TV broadcasters to support real-time viewer interaction with their shows using their mobile phones. Viewers may use mobile web, short message service (SMS) or any other communication channel supported by SMS Galaxy(tm) to register before or during the show to select their on-TV screen name along with their animated 3D avatar of choice. In the television studio, a real time joystick control allows a studio operator to generate a camera path flying through the 3D scene of all participating viewers' avatars. SMS Galaxy is highly scalable and can animate over 100,000 participants in real time. The system consists of special purpose hardware and servers and proprietary software to control the mobile interaction.
Naoto Ueda, TV ASAHI Corporation, Co-Director, Intermedia Programming, Programming Department, said, "We are extremely pleased to introduce such an adventurous entertainment project to our Japanese audience tied with Artificial Life, Inc. In this age of demassification and diversification, it is vital for us to redefine ways to enjoy TV programs such as by combining them with other media devices. Now that a mobile phone has literally become an alter ego, particularly for the young generation, I am convinced that they will truly enjoy the excitement of virtually appearing on TV as a 3D animated avatar, thanks to SMS Galaxy(tm)."
About TV ASAHI Corporation
TV ASAHI Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange 9409) is a major broadcaster with 23 local affiliates that extend coverage across the entire Japanese archipelago. Our global network of 15 bureaus abroad ensures speedy newsgathering from all over the world. The headquarters, situated in the southeastern area of the Roppongi Hills complex, consists of 5 major TV studios, facilities for program production and broadcasting, and headquarters' office, which together function as a cutting edge digital media station. Through its interactive capability, we are strengthening innovative developments in audience participation oriented programs such as TV shopping and quiz shows.http://company.tv-asahi.co.jp/e/index.html
About Artificial Life
Artificial Life, Inc. (OTCBB:ALIF) is a public U.S. corporation headquartered in Hong Kong with offices in Berlin (EMEA headquarters) and Tokyo. We are a leading global full service provider of award winning mobile technology, mobile TV, content, games and business applications (see also our Company's homepage: www.artificial-life.com; and our m-commerce portal: www.botme.com).
Contact: Ada Fong, +852 3102 2800, ir@artificial-life.com
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our future results of operations, financial condition and business prospects. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Although such statements are based on our own information and information from other sources we believe to be reliable, you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual market trends or our actual results of operations, financial condition or business prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward looking statements for a variety of reasons. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to obtain additional funding to operate and grow our business; the unproven potential of our mobile gaming business model; changing consumer preferences and uncertainty of market acceptance of our products; timely adoption and availability of 3G mobile technology; market acceptance for use of mobile handheld devices to play the interactive games; unpredictable mobile game development schedules; our reliance on a relatively small number of brands; our ability to license brands from others; our dependence upon resellers and telecommunication carriers and operators to distribute our products; our ability to successfully develop, introduce, and sell new or enhanced products in a timely manner; and the timing of new product announcements or introductions by us or by our competitors. For additional discussion of these risks and uncertainties and other factors, please see the documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 13, 2008. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this press release.
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