Skechers Signs Licensing Agreement for Skechers-Branded Youth Electronics

Skechers USA, Inc. has signed a licensing agreement with Sakar International to produce youth electronics and accessories featuring Skechers branding and Skechers Kids’ animated characters. The line is scheduled to launch in the Q1 2012 at retailers across the United States.

Under the agreement, Sakar will design, produce and distribute a wide range of Skechers-branded electronics and accessories, including MP3 players, molded earbuds, speakers, digital cameras, cases, skins, and USB flash drives inspired by Skechers Kids’ footwear styles. Products will be designed for boys and girls from elementary through high school with artwork from Skechers’ Zevo-3 animated television series, the Twinkle Toes by Skechers collection, as well as additional Skechers Kids’ characters and Skechers branding.

SwaddleDesigns Introduces New Angry Birds Baby Products

SwaddleDesigns and Rovio have signed a definitive agreement granting SwaddleDesigns licensing and merchandising rights for Angry Birds. SwaddleDesigns’ Angry Birds Baby products are now available for pre-order at SwaddleDesigns.com and shipping worldwide.

SwaddleDesigns is introducing products featuring Angry Birds including the Ultimate Receiving Blanket, Marquisette Swaddling Blanket, zzZipMe Sack wearable blanket, Baby Lovie security blankie, and Baby Burpies. Products will begin shipping by October 10.

—The TLB Team

Sesame Workshop and Callaway Digital Arts, interactive publisher of children’s and lifestyle apps for the iPad, announced that “The Monster at the End of This Book” for iPad is now available in Apple’s App Store. This is the first Sesame Street app designed specifically for iPad. Based on the 1971 book, the app is narrated by the Sesame Street character Grover and highlights words to help build beginning reading skills. The app also features tips for parents.

New licensing deals are in the works for DeLorean Motor Company. Mattel has released DeLorean Hot Wheels in black and gold, and Urban Outfitters will be selling Trademarked DeLorean T-shirts in select stores and on www80stees.com. Nike will be producing a DeLorean sneaker, scheduled to debut this fall.

Additionally, DeLorean has partnered with Facebook to be part of a new game called Car Town. You can learn more about Car Town and view a clip here.

Vertigo Films and Novel Entertainment have announced the production of a 3-D, live-action movie based on Novel’s children’s property Horrid Henry. Vertigo, producers of Europe’s first 3-D feature film, Street Dance 3D, will produce the live-action feature with Paradise FX Europe.  The film will be a co-production between Vertigo Films and Novel Entertainment.

British director and editor Nick Moore has been signed as the film’s director. Casting has already begun, with filming scheduled to take place in October and November. The film, to be shot entirely on location in the UK, is slated for release in 2011.
The live-action adventure will be the first British kid’s movie to be filmed in 3-D. The film stars Horrid Henry, Lord High Majesty of the Purple Hand Gang, as he wages his ever-constant battle against the tyranny of adults. Only this time it seems the adults really are out to get him, forcing him into an unlikely alliance with his irritating little brother Perfect Peter and the infuriating girl next door, Moody Margaret.

Ludia and Classic Media today announced the availability of Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey for iPad in HD on the App Store worldwide. The game features new HD graphics and Multi-Touch game play exclusive to the iPad, including the new Party Mode that enables two players to compete on the same device.

Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey for iPad provides an interactive Waldo experience. Players will compete in a hidden-object game, as they scour the virtual globe in search of Waldo and his friends Wizard Whitebeard, Wenda, and Woof, along with Waldo’s foe, Odlaw. There are hundreds of hidden items to be found within 12 magical worlds, and gameplay is enhanced with surprise elements that are designed to challenge and/or help players gain advantage during their search.

Following the online success of the “Pocoyize” feature, which allows users to create personalised Pocoyo-style avatars, entertainment brand specialists Zinkia Entertainment has unveiled a “Pocoyize” application for iPhones, which is now available from the gallery at Apple Store.

Users can design their own character by accessing the micro website , where a host of different options are available to define features and style, including World Cup football shirts from each participating country. Completed creations can be used as iPhone profile pictures, sent to friends, or posted on social networking sites such as Facebook.

The App, which is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, has more than 6 million characters ‘Pocoyized’ to date. Competitions are being organized to create celebrity lookalike characters, World Cup team players, and generally to inject some laughter into life.

Since Pocoyo first aired on the small screen in 2005, the property has evolved into a multi-platform global brand. The series has been licensed to more than 100 countries worldwide, with over 100 licensees on board, over 1,000 licensing references in the market, over 4.5 million visitors to the virtual world pocoyoworld.com, over 130 million hits on YouTube, and 25 million downloads from the offical Pocoyo website.

As a not insignificant number of you probably know, Apple’s iPad hit stores on Thursday and sold more than a half million units its first weekend. What you might not have known is that the very same iPad you might be holding serves as a highway to the danger zone.

On Friday, Paramount Digital Entertainment released its Top Gun app for the iPad, which expands on the popular game for the iPhone and iTouch. The display on the iPad is bigger, and the new game incorporates new graphics and controls.

Just in time for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, following the recent publication of The Earth Book by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette Digital today announced the release of The Earth Book as a digital picture book that introduces the concept of “going green” to children. The Earth Book app features illustrations from the original picture book plus additional features.

The complete audiobook, read by Todd Parr, comes synced with the text and illustrations so children can listen as they read along. Readers can easily move along the story themselves by tapping on arrows, while Pinch & Zoom capabilities allow children to explore their favorite illustrations close up. And even beginning readers can jump easily from one part of the book to another by viewing the table of contents as a collection of visual representations of the story.

An intuitive recording interface makes personalizing the audio easy, so that kids, parents, or grandparents can record their own audiobook.

The Earth Book app is now available in the iTunes app store, where it joins more than 20 of Todd Parr’s bestselling children’s books as iPhone apps. Each book is sold as a separate app via ScrollMotion’s Iceberg Kids, and features the same interactive navigation system, which enables kids to read along with the audio narration by Todd Parr or even record their own voices.

Experience the digital world of Todd Parr online.

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, and ATP Electronics  are releasing Sesame Street Video USB drives with a special “wearable” connector strap.  The collection includes seven characters: Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Abby Cadabby, Ernie and the Sesame Street street sign.

The drives, which will be available at retail next month, merge Sesame Street’s educational content with a new technological format that enables storage for files containing documents, video, photography, and music.

The drives hold a capacity of 400 photographs, songs and printable content. Each wearable drive comes with a complementary character-specific full-length home video: The Best of Elmo, Abby in Wonderland, Big Bird’s Do the Alphabet, Bert and Ernie’s Word Play, Cookie Monster’s Best Bites, A Celebration of Me: Grover, and Sesame Street’s 25th Anniversary: A Musical Celebration.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could play golf at work, on the train, or in your own home? As it turns out, you can.

Jump Games has introduced the official Putt-Putt golf to Apple’s iTunes App Store with the release of Putt-Putt Golf 3D for the iPhone and iPod touch. The licensing deal was brokered by ACA The Licensing Group.

Putt-Putt Golf 3D features 90 holes scattered across five courses, as well as five characters based on the original Putt-Putt mascot, Buster. Putt-Putt Golf 3D variations of the mascot include Howdy Partner, Tee Hee Hee, and others, each with its own personality and abilities.

The game offers several modes of play. There’s Quick Play for the novice player, Pass & Play to challenge your friends, Time Trial for that quick game on the go, and Championship for those ready to push themselves and test their skills. Players also have the chance to win virtual medals and trophies. Additional features include the ability to show off high scores and kick up a challenge by posting scores on Facebook and Twitter.