MOM AND DAD WILL SOON GET THEIR SMARTPHONES BACK: PLAYMG CORP ANNOUNCES PRE-SALE ON AMAZON.COM AND PLAYMG.COM OF MG™—FIRST POCKETABLE WI-FI ANDROID APP-GAMING SYSTEM FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
MG to Pre-sell at $20 Savings with Additional $40 Preloaded Including SpendSmart Prepaid MasterCard, an 8GB SD card, Pre-Loaded Games From Electronic Arts and Com2uS and New Family Collaboration System Making Traditional Parental Controls a Thing of The Past.
SAN DIEGO, CA – Oct. 16, 2012 – PlayMG™ Corp., a startup comprised of technology, game and social industry veterans (and parents) who have come together to reimagine play for young people with the introduction of MG™—the first dedicated, pocketable Wi-Fi app-gaming system for the Android market—announced today that it is now taking pre-orders at Amazon.com (Amazon.PlayMG.com) and PlayMG.com. Through November 4, the sleek new MG—loaded with up to $40 in added value—will be available for a special pre-sale price of $149 before it ships this holiday season for a suggested retail price of $169.
The MG was specifically designed to fill a huge void currently experienced by young people who either are not old enough to have their own smartphones, or whose parents have found data plans costs prohibitive. With no monthly charges or expensive cartridge games to buy, and an all-new Family Collaboration System poised to make traditional parental controls seem a thing of the past, the MG enables young people to enter the world of portable “freemium” app play, while parents can safely and affordably give it to them. MG delivers a sophisticated, sleek look, and many new features to the portable gaming category—ensuring young people will finally, and gladly, stop asking to borrow Mom and Dad’s smartphone or tablet.
“We spent a lot of time designing the MG concept and prototypes to determine what would be cool enough for young people to actually want to give back their parents’ smartphones,” said T. Scott Edwards, PlayMG Founding Partner. “They want something specifically designed for their generation that fits in their pocket, doesn’t look at all childish, has expandable memory and gives them the most financial independence and play possible. We are excited to be able to deliver this ‘wish list’ of features, and are now working to get the word out to parents and the estimated 52 million 5-18 year-olds in the US who don’t currently own smartphones.*”
MG FAMILY COLLABORATION SYSTEM: (Not just another name for ‘Parental Controls’)
The MG Family Collaboration System includes “Digital Wallet” and “Remote Trust” notification functions, which are new to the portable gaming space. Parents no longer need to be bothered every time their teen wants to make a 99-cent purchase or worry about surprise charges.
The MG “Digital Wallet” lets parents create and manage “game allowances” through the reloadable SpendSmart™ prepaid MasterCard® for teens. The MG is the first portable gaming system to include this unique feature, allowing teens the freedom to discover, download and play the games they want from the app marketplace while staying within set spending limits defined by their parents.
Parents wanting more than just traditional parental controls, which have been devised to shut down access to entire activities or categories, can opt into MG’s “Remote Trust” notification to receive email updates on MG activity, or for instantaneous notifications, can simply check on the MG device itself. Remote Trust was designed to allow young people to get the most out of their MG and the ever-expanding world of app play, but within agreed upon parameters.
LIMITLESS EXPANDABLE MEMORY
Every MG comes with 4GB built in memory and an additional 8GB SD card. The MGs standard SD port allows unlimited expandable memory to download and save as many apps, music, photos and videos as desired. This is an important advantage as many smartphones and tablets carry a higher suggested retail price than the MG, but offer only a fixed memory with no ability to ever expand it.
“You are not held hostage to the MG’s memory,” said Edwards. “With the MG’s built in memory and included SD card, every MG will come with 12GB of memory capability and the option to add even more inexpensively.”
UP TO $40 WORTH OF ADDED VALUE AND EXCLUSIVE PRELOADS RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX
In addition to a $10 offer from SpendSmart™ prepaid MasterCard®, MG comes preloaded with EA Mobile™ hit titles ‘Need for Speed Hot Pursuit™’ and ‘NBA JAM™’—a $10 value**. EA Mobile™ is a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA). PlayMG has also partnered with award-winning developer and publisher Com2uS to include preloads of the popular games Slice It, Swing Shot, Homerun Battle2, Tiny Farm, Tower Defense, 9 Innings Baseball, Super Action Hero and Derby Days. The 8GB SD card included with every MG is a $20 added value.
Another preload and exclusive MG feature is the proprietary MG Origins Avatar System. As young people play on their MG, they gain points, customize and unlock the origin story of their own personal gaming companions, which makes setting up and using the MG a game in and of itself. The MG also comes with a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, the ability to shoot and play video and is one of the first systems operating on ICS 4.0 to include its new Face Unlock security feature.
PlayMG™ Corp. is a startup formed in 2012 comprised of technology, game and social industry veterans (and parents) who have come together to affordably reimagine play for young people, while enabling mom and dad to get back their smartphones and tablets. PlayMG is the visionary creator of MG™— the first dedicated, pocketable Wi-Fi app-gaming system for the Android market. To learn more or order the MG visit www.PlayMG.com. “Like” MG on facebook.com/mgmoregame .
*Estimated 52M US kids 5-18 years-old who do not currently own smartphones (Sources: Pew Internet & American Life Project Report on Teens, Smartphones & Texting and Kaiser Family Foundation Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds)
**Limited time only.
The SpendSmart Prepaid MasterCard is issued by University National Bank, member FDIC. MasterCard and the MasterCard brand mark are registered trademarks of MasterCard International Incorporated.
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