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“Finally a Meerkat game for the Nintendo´s WiiWare Service!”

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Hot off the press: Lapland Studio Ltd Announces Lead The Meerkats™ for WiiWare™, Nintendo´s new downloadable game service for the Wii console that offers fresh game play experiences and new opportunities for creators. 

Lead The Meerkats™ will be released:

• Europe: May 28th, 2010
  
• North America: June 7th, 2010

The publisher of the upcoming WiiWare title “Lead The Meerkats™”, Lapland Studios reached an agreement with the FKMP (Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project) to make a donation per copy of the game sold from first day sales.

Ilkka Immonen, CEO of Lapland Studios commented,  “We have naturally been working very hard to find the balance between the realistic depiction of Meerkats and key engaging gameplay elements as possible, so that it looks and feels like a game, and has that something interesting yet exciting to offer the player! When you consider the traction Meerkats have gotten as a result of very popular TV documentaries and the hard work of both the KMP and FKMP (Kalahari Meerkats Project and Friends thereof) it was obvious to us that we needed to show our appreciation to such groups, for making the subject matter what it is today”. “We felt that we wanted to give something back to a group that is truly on the ground when it comes to their efforts with supporting the conservation of these creatures and that really does a lot in terms of the grass roots research that helps us as people understand them better, so we contacted the KMP and FKMP to put this together”.

Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock, Professor of Animal Ecology of the University of Cambridge and the Author of Meerkat Manor - The Story of Flower of the Kalahari (2007, Weidenfeld & Nicolson; ISBN 0297844849), commented that,  "I am excited to see the development of a game that will help people to understand the decisions that individual animals have to make in the course of their daily lives. Purchase of each game includes a donation to the Kalahari Meerkat Project so sales of the game will also help to support our research and safeguard the meerkats".

Evi Bauer, President of FKMP commented, “We've been waiting for this for ages: a meerkat game that is fun to play, lovely to look at, and realistic in what it is about: meerkats”! “And the best of it is that for every copy of the game bought a donation is made to the FKMP to support KMP meerkat research”!

Join the “Lead the Meerkats™” Facebook site now and be ready when this Nintendo Wii game hits the shelves to get a copy for yourself, your kids, your grandkids...

What is it about?

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In Lead the Meerkats™ you are a young meerkat and you have a lot to accomplish. You have been separated from your group and the time has come for you to form your own meerkat family.

Name your group and meerkats. Dig burrow networks and enlarge your territory. Forage for food and grow your group size. Stay on guard and be ready to make quick decisions. Run to the safety of the burrows or fight your enemies. Go head to head with a rival meerkat pack. Lead your group to victory and rule the savanna. Are you ready for the challenge?

Lead the Meerkats™ is an exciting real-time strategy game, and certainly the first to simulate the life of meerkats. By taking advantage of the unique and intuitive control system of Nintendo Wii, players are trust into the lively and endearing world of these quirky meerkat creatures, and all their trials and tribulations. The game offers fun and extremely engaging gameplay experiences for Wii players of all ages.

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See a few samples of the great artwork yourself, or take lessons in how to play meerkat! Just click on the pictures below.

Enjoy!!!