SEATTLE - August 7, 2007 - Giant Campus, the nationally-recognized leader in technology education programs for youth, today announced an agreement with Bonus.com (http://beta.bonus.com), the interactive family entertainment site, to help strengthen families through a new online collaborative gaming and social networking site for kids and parents.
Giant Campus is the award-winning creator of the nation's longest-running series of technology education summer programs, including Cybercamps (http://www.cybercamps.com), which is now offered at more than 60 prestigious university campuses across the U.S., and livewire, which was designed in cooperation with the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
"It is always exciting when two companies that share common goals work together," said Pete Findley, Giant Campus CEO. "Working with Bonus.com compliments our focus on developing and empowering today's youth with skills they need to succeed in the 21st century."
Cybercamps and livewire are the only technology training programs for youth that combine the fun of a traditional summer program with hands-on courses in 3-D video game design and production, Robotics, Flash animation, digital photography techniques and Photoshop, programming (i.e. C++, HTML), graphic design and many more.; Cybercamps is also the only technology summer program program to be fully accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA) at every location Giant Campus operates.
With the new partnership, Bonus.com plans to introduce its new beta site to Cybercamps attendees as an online playground where kids and parents can play side-by-side multi-player games, design collaborative Web comics and avatars, and socially-connect with each other in a safe, entertaining environment that fosters creativity and a deeper understanding of technology.
And for the true gaming fan who will be attending Giant Campus' action-packed Weekend Gamerz events this summer, Bonus.com plans to introduce its new multi-player game, Battlefield 2: Rogue Battalions, which offers the casual-gaming family a fun way to come together online.
"Both of our companies share a vision of reaching families with high-quality entertainment and learning experiences, so forming this partnership makes perfect sense," said Satoshi Okano, Chief Operating Officer of Bonus.com.
Giant Campus partners include some of the most respected and influential technology companies in the world, such as Microsoft Corporation, Symantec, Adobe, Macromedia, and now Bonus.com. Although details of the new partnership were not disclosed, co-marketing initiatives are expected to begin immediately.
About Giant Campus
For more than a decade, Giant Campus has combined serious fun with technology education and been considered a national leader in the industry; Independent research of Giant Campus' teaching methods and curriculum show up to a 90% increase in standardized test scores for students. While youth attend Giant Campus' fun programs, they learn skills that help them in school and future careers. With more than one million hours of instruction with youth, Giant Campus programs continue to deliver what teens and parents want. Giant Campus can be found online at www.giantcampus.com.
About Bonus.com, Inc.
Bonus.com (http://beta.bonus.com) is an experienced Interactive Family Entertainment company with deep roots in gaming and the kids market. With its new beta site, the company is poised to offer the next generation website for today's highly networked digital family. The new beta site offers make-your-own comics, self-expressive avatars, a family fridge for messages, magnets and fun ways to say hello, a Multi-plex theatre, cool two-player games and a unique matchmaking system that allows kids and parents to play the same game, but from different geographical locations. Bonus.com's beta site can be found online at http://beta.bonus.com