Digital Praise Continues Awards Sweep With Accolades
From iParenting Media, National Parenting Center
Extraordinary Recognition Demonstrates Widespread Critical Acclaim For
New Company's Software Titles that Encourage Values While Delivering Fun
FREMONT, CA (October 3, 2005) - Adventures in Odyssey¨ and the Sword of the Spirit and Adventures in Odyssey and the Treasure of the Incas, the first two children's computer games from Digital Praise, Inc, a leader in family-friendly entertainment software, continue to capture the praise of the nation's top children's advocacy groups via new awards from iParenting Media and the National Parenting Center.
iParenting Media, an organization that evaluates children's media and juvenile products using the expertise of licensed childcare centers, experts, and parents nationwide, gave Adventures in Odyssey and the Sword of the Spirit and Adventures in Odyssey and the Treasure of the Incas unprecedented recognition by naming the games as two of only five winning software titles in its distinguished iParenting Media Awards 2005 Outstanding Product listing.
The two products have also garnered the Fall '05 Seal of Approval from The National Parenting Center, a nationwide organization dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and responsible parenting advice. The group's Seal of Approval program, created in 1990, identifies "the finest products and services being marketed to the parent/child audience."
"Digital Praise is humbled by the level of support we are receiving outside our organization," said Tom Bean, president and CEO of Digital Praise, Inc. "Parenting groups, children's advocates, game reviewers and software experts have all given Treasure of the Incas and Sword of the Spirit high marks for playability, educational value, moral encouragement and just plain fun. Our thanks go out to the National Parenting Center and iParenting Media, as well as to our exceptional creative teams at Digital Praise that have allowed these products to achieve such high levels of quality."
2005 Outstanding Product
Among its other activities, iParenting Media produces all the content for three national newsstand
magazines concerned with parents and families: Pregnancy, Baby Years, and Women's Health & Fitness.
The company also operates a network of over 40 web sites devoted to the entire family lifecycle, from
pregnancy through teenage years.
Hundreds of companies participated in the iParenting Media Awards 2005 Excellent Products competition, with thousands of products entered. The organization evaluates each product using a team of reviewers who complete an extensive survey including written feedback. In addition, the iParenting Media Awards Executive Committee reviews all submissions.
Only 68 software titles have earned the iParenting Media Award designation since its inception, and only five were named 2005 Outstanding Products this year. "Digital Praise's achievement of two of the five Outstanding Product awards is truly remarkable. We're thrilled to be so honored," Bean stated.
"Great Success"
The National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval program is an independent testing procedure conducted to judge a variety of products introduced and marketed to the parent/child consumer market. The program places products before parents, children and educators to test various factors including desirability, sturdiness, interactive stimulation and other traits that make up a quality product. Scores from testers are then averaged in order to establish final product rankings.
In its review of Fall '05 Seal of Approval winner Adventures in Odyssey and the Treasure of the Incas, the organization stated, "Digital Praise felt it was time that someone started reversing the trend of violence in video and computer games and according to our testers, they have done so with great success ... our testers felt the message was one that promoted kindness and cooperation, which is hard to disagree with." The commentary for Adventures in Odyssey and the Sword of the Spirit was equally positive: "Computer adventure games are best when they grab the player and immerse them in the environment and challenges presented ... It will take time and patience to work your way through all the levels [in Sword of the Spirit], which is a good thing according to our testers."
Challenging Adventures
Based on the characters found in the long-running and highly popular Focus on the Family radio
series, Adventures in Odyssey, Sword of the Spirit features characters Whit, Connie and Eugene as they
overcome mental, physical and moral challenges to find the legendary Sword of the Spirit; Treasure of
the Incas, the second in the series, follows the same threesome as they unravel mysterious accusations
made against Eugene's parents.
Adventures in Odyssey and the Sword of the Spirit and Adventures in Odyssey and the Treasure of the Incas both feature Digital Praise's underlying FunWare technology, which supports either the Windows or Macintosh platforms. The proprietary technology automatically adjusts the level of difficulty of each individual challenge during game play, ensuring a meaningful and developmentally- appropriate challenge for the player.
Both Adventures in Odyssey titles have achieved extensive distribution at major retailers nationwide since their debut several months ago, as well as strongly positive reviews from media outlets ranging from Gannett News Service to The Houston Chronicle and The Washington Times. Among the games' other official recognition are "Family Approved" and "four-Dove" ratings for quality from the Dove Foundation as well as awards from Dr. Toy's Guide and Plain Games.
For more about Digital Praise edutainment software for children, visit www.digitalpraise.com.
About Digital Praise, Inc.:
Digital Praise is an independent developer and publisher of family-friendly entertainment software for
personal computers. The company produces faith-based and mainstream titles for families looking to
enjoy interactive entertainment software with principled character-building themes and "just good clean
fun." Digital Praise products have achieved top recognition from leading children's gaming and
advocacy groups including iParenting Media, the National Parenting Center, The Dove Foundation, Dr.
Toy and Plain Games. For more information, visit www.digitalpraise.com.
PRESS CONTACT:
Roxanne Pipitone / Rebecca Jurek
S&S Public Relations
800-287-2279
roxanne@sspr.com / rjurek@sspr.com
©2005 Digital Praise, Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Praise is a trademark of Digital Praise, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.