Kotaku: dogz

Wendy's Puts Petz In Their Kids Meals

Mike Fahey — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:40:00 MDT

Fast food restaurant Wendy's and video game publisher Ubisoft have teamed up to create Petz kids meals, delivering Petz-themed toys, games, and coupons to unhealthy children throughout North America.

Starting on March 23rd, Wendy's kids meals will come packaged inside a special bag covered with fun Petz activities, which children will quickly discard in order to get to the toy hidden inside. Each week's meal will contain one of five pieces of Petz merchandise: the Petz Catz PC game, Petz Dogz PC game, a Catz toy balancer ball, a Dogz plush toy, or a Petz-themed card game. I'd say this was the first time a PC game showed up as a children's fast food premium, but I'd probably be wrong. Parents might want to hold onto the bag, as it contains a discount coupon for Ubisoft's Petz Dogz Pack for Nintendo DS or Petz Sports for the Wii.

This marks the first time Ubisoft has teamed up with a major fast food chain to offer such a promotion. While I was personally hoping Splinter Cell would be the first game to get the kids meal treatment (Real Working Garrote!), I suppose this is a start.

UbiPetz Unleashed Upon Unsuspecting Consumers

Mike Fahey — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:40:00 MST

Before this year's E3 back in July, we kind of, sort of, in a way predicted that Ubisoft would be releasing a line of plush animals with special game codes on them that would allow purchasers to access special items in the popular Petz series of games. Sure we got the game series wrong, but we were pretty damn close, and anyway that's not the point. The point is that UbiSoft and Commonwealth Toy have just announced the release of the first wave of these monstrosities are now hitting stores. Fear them.

“We’re excited to introduce our young fans to a new way to interact with their favorite Petz games,” said Andy Swanson, senior director of strategic sales & partnerships at Ubisoft. “The partnership with Commonwealth Toy provides users with a unique opportunity to play with their toys in both an online and offline environment.”

The first wave is made up solely of catz and dogz, which feature codes for the DS titles Petz Dogz Pack and Petz Catz Clan, with monkeyz on the way in the spring. Bad move Ubisoft...you always lead with monkeyz. Always.

Ubisoft® Expands PETZ® Franchise with Innovation Licensed Toy Line

SAN FRANCISCO — November 3, 2008 — Today Ubisoft and Commonwealth Toy announced the release of a new series of UbiPetz™ plush toys in North America for Ubisoft’s Petz Dogz® Pack, Petz Catz® Clan and Petz Monkeyz™ House games for the Nintendo DS™ system. Ubisoft’s Petz games allow young players to create and care for cute, furry pets chosen from many different breeds of dogs, cats, horses and monkeys.

The initial series of furry plush toys includes a variety of dog and cat characters, with a line of monkeys debuting in Spring 2009. Each animal has a unique code on the bottom of the toy that the consumer can scratch off and enter on Petz.com to unlock exclusive UbiPetz items, including activity games and coloring pages. After entering the code online, users will receive a secret password to enter on Petz Dogz Pack, Petz Catz Clan or Petz Monkeyz House games to bring their plush toy to life as a character in their Nintendo DS game.

“We’re excited to introduce our young fans to a new way to interact with their favorite Petz games,” said Andy Swanson, senior director of strategic sales & partnerships at Ubisoft. “The partnership with Commonwealth Toy provides users with a unique opportunity to play with their toys in both an online and offline environment.”

The UbiPetz plush toy series features over nine assorted breeds of cats and dogs, available in the toy section at major retail locations including Target and Toys ‘R Us in the U.S. and Canada, and they will also be sold at Limited Too in November. Target stores will feature additional, exclusive cat and dog characters.

Petz Dogz Pack is available at retailers nationwide on November 4, 2008, and both Petz Catz Clan and Petz Monkeyz House will be released on November 18, 2008.

For more information on UbiPetz plush toys and Petz games, visit www.petz.com.

Mad Catz Secures Petz Licenz

Mike Fahey — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:20:00 MDT

Accessory manufacture Mad Catz have just announced that they've signed a licensing agreement with Ubisoft to create branded accessories for the Petz series of games for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Yes, that's right - Mad Catz is going to make accessories branded with Catz, as well as Dolphinz, Dogz, Horsez, Bunnyz, Tigerz, Hamsterz, and any other number of animals that can be pluralizes by swapping out an S for a Z. The only question is why this didn't happen sooner.

“Ubisoft develops some of the most engaging, popular video game franchises and we look forward to enhancing the Petz gaming experience by producing accessories that capture the personality and excitement of these titles,” said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz.

No word on what sorts of accessoriez we can expect, but I'm thinking carrying cases for the DS, maybe a custom stylus or two. May the union of the misspelled animals be a fruitful one.

Mad Catz Secures License Agreement to Produce Ubisoft’s Petz® Branded Accessories
SAN DIEGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that it has secured a license from Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, to produce branded accessories for the Petz® series of video games on Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ video game system platforms. The multi-year agreement allows Mad Catz to distribute products licensed under the agreement throughout the United States and Canada.

Petz is a series of games in which players adopt, raise and care for cute, furry pets chosen from many different breeds of dogs, cats, horses, hamsters, dolphins, tigers and bunnies. The series currently includes Petz Dogz®, Petz Catz®, Petz Horsez®, Petz Hamsterz Life™, Petz Bunnyz™, Petz Wild Animals: Tigerz and Petz Wild Animals: Dolphinz.

“Ubisoft develops some of the most engaging, popular video game franchises and we look forward to enhancing the Petz gaming experience by producing accessories that capture the personality and excitement of these titles,” said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. “The addition of the Petz franchise license further strengthens and diversifies what we believe to be the video game accessory industry’s most extensive portfolio of brand licenses that already includes all of the major North American professional sports leagues and many of the most popular recent and upcoming software titles.”

Why Do Ubisoft End Animal Games With An Inappropriate "Z"?

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:30:00 MDT

Yeah, it was a joke. The new Prince of Persia DS game is not called Imagine: Prinze of Perzia. But it so could have been. Why? Because Ubisoft love putting the letter "Z" at the end of their game titles. Petz, Babyz, Catz, Dogz, they love it. Even if you don't. So why do they persist with it? Is it some cunning marketing ploy? Some means of tapping into our consumerist subconscious? Sadly, no. Speaking with Gamasutra about the latest Dogz title, Ubisoft's Benoit Galarneau said "This title was [originally] developed in 1995 when PF Magic released the first of the series, and we kept it. And since it's always there and nobody else is doing it, maybe it's coming back into fashion". Maybe! Though maybe nobody else is doing it is because 1995 was a long time ago.

Ubisoft's Galarneau On The Rise Of The Petz [Gamasutra]

Ubisoft Buys Japanese Kids

Mike Fahey — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:00:15 MST

Relax, they're only Digital Kids. Ubisoft further extends their spidery reach around our tiny blue marble as they announce the purchase of Japanese developer Digital Kids. Think of an animal. Now pluralize it with a Z. That's Digital Kids. The minds behind Ubisoft's Catz, Dogz, Wolverinez, Squidz, etc. According to Ubi's Yves Guillemot, it's all part of the company's plan to expand their presence in the casual gamespace.

"When it comes to Nintendo DS games, Digital Kids has demonstrated a leading knowledge that has resulted in creative animal simulation titles that appeal to Japanese and Western audiences alike, which is quite rare," Guillemot said in a statement.

I'd make some sort of snippy comment here, but the fact of the matter is I purchased Catz for my new mobile phone last night in a fit of pure, sleep-deprived mouse clicking, so I am not one to talk. My kitty is named Whiskers.

Ubisoft Buys Japanese Studio [Next Generation]