Dinotopia ships today for GBA
by Jolex Del Pilar

Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Game will be based on the biggest mega-series to date on a television.

TDK Mediactive announced today that Dinotopia® The Timestone Pirates for the Game Boy® Advance has shipped to stores. The release of the game coincides with the premiere of Dinotopia, the eagerly anticipated miniseries from Hallmark Entertainment, beginning May 12 on ABC. This “mega-series” is the largest production ever brought to television.

Based on James Gurney’s vision of a unique civilization where dinosaurs and humans live peacefully together, “Dinotopia” for Game Boy Advance immerses players in a colorful action-adventure. Thrust into the role of Clayton, the young hero, players will journey across land, sea and air on a quest to return stolen eggs to a fierce herd of tyrannosaurs, and ultimately claim the legendary Timestone.

“The vibrant culture and amazingly detailed world of James Gurney’s Dinotopia set a high standard for our game,” said Stefan Serwe, vice president of marketing at TDK Mediactive. “With that in mind, we crafted an action-adventure with vivid graphics, enthralling characters and an enticing storyline that is true to James Gurney’s remarkable imagination.”

In the world of Dinotopia, players will travel through five different levels, including the Sunken Caves, Treetown, Waterfall, Canyon City and Diamond Caverns. Propelled forward through the story by lively cinematic sequences, young Clayton must pilot a flying dinosaur, navigate a submarine and ride a massive hadrosaur before his quest is complete. Throughout Dinotopia, players will collect various “care packages” that restore health, in addition to a myriad of other health and power-ups, including sunstones that shock, shake the ground or shoot laser beams.

Following the innovative television mega-series, ABC and Hallmark have announced that principal photography has begun on 13 one-hour episodes of Dinotopia: The Series, set to air in 2003 on the ABC Television Network.

--- Jolex Del Pilar, E3 lackey