Namco Bandai Games Establishes ShiftyLook to Re-Imagine Classic Video Game Character

Webcomics based on Sky Kid and other classic game titles to appear on ShiftyLook this March

TOKYO, JAPAN – February 17, 2012 – Namco Bandai Games Inc., a subsidiary of NAMCO BANDAI Holdings Inc. (TYO: 7832), announced today the upcoming launch of ShiftyLook, an IP cultivation and community platform featuring dormant high-potential intellectual properties of the NAMCO Bandai Group. At launch in March, the new platform will re-imagine Sky Kid and other classic Namco Bandai Games titles to create webcomics. ShiftyLook can be accessed at www.shiftylook.com.

“With ShiftyLook, we now have a platform where we can quickly test new ideas and get the community's reaction in order to help drive product development ” said Shin Unozawa, Executive Vice President and Representative Director of Namco Bandai Games. “We are enhancing the cornucopia of characters we work with that our fans know and love.”

Initially focused on webcomics, ShiftyLook re-imagined characters may later be expanded in the near-term into areas including mobile games, web animation, hobby products and various forms of related merchandise. Managed out of the Namco Bandai Games worldwide headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, the service will be headed by Rob Pereyda, Manager, Business Development, Network Strategy Office at Namco Bandai Games.

“In developing the ShiftyLook project, we recognized the need for a strategic approach to IP cultivation that could be a nimble combination of both analytical and cool,” said Rob Pereyda, Producer, Editor-in-Chief & Head of ShiftyLook. “We believe that what we have built will provide the community as well as the NAMCO Bandai Group the opportunity to re-discover some really exciting properties.”

Sky Kid, based upon the classic arcade game of the same name originally released by NAMCO in 1985, will be made for ShiftyLook by UDON ENTERTAINMENT, with writing by Jim Zub and art by Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz. The remaining titles will be announced in the days leading up to the launch of the service.Promotional poster for Sky Kid created by UDON ENTERTAINMENT ©Namco Bandai Games Inc.

Sky Kid's Jim Zub will be appearing alongside other talent from the launch titles at the Video Game Characters Reborn! Namco Bandai Games Presents ShiftyLook panel at WonderCon in Anaheim, California on March 17, 2012 (2:30PM to 3:30PM, Anaheim Convention Center Room 208AB).

Webcomics on ShiftyLook will be available worldwide in English, free of charge, through web browsers for PC, Mac, iOS and Android. Participation in the ShiftyLook community is exclusively through BANDAI NAMCO ID, the NAMCO Bandai Group's official user ID system, which may or not be available in a particular region. BANDAI NAMCO ID is not required to interact with the official ShiftyLook Twitter account (@ShiftyLook) or Facebook Page (facebook.com/shiftylook)