Cowabunga! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, and the ZAM Network is honoring the birthday of the heroes in a half shell with more than just pizza. We have begun development on our first MMO, and we've chosen Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael to lead us into the virtual sewers.

TMNT Online will allow players to enter the world made famous in comics, cartoons and movies as a Ninja Rat, Reporter, Sports Vigilante or Ninja Turtle. Or, if you'd rather align yourself with Shredder and Krang, you can do so by signing up to join the Dark Legion of Dark Forces. Don't be surprised if you need to work your way up from being a Foot Soldier, but trust us, it will be worth it to man your weapons in the Technodrome.

Speaking of PvP, friendly fire is off, so keep an eye out for your allies in the midst of battle. All it takes is one misplaced nunchuck swing and your teammate could be down for the count. But since there are no experience points in our game, all you need to do is purchase some "Turtle Power", and use your ooze-infused abilities to remind your enemies that you're part of the world's most fearsome fighting team!

For more information on TMNT Online, keep reading after the jump for the full press release. We'll keep you posted as we get closer to beta testing, but until that time you'll have to be patient like Splinter. We also want to encourage any feedback you may have in our TMNTO announcement thread.

LOS ANGELES, CA - April 1st, 2009 - ZAM, LLC, the internet's largest community of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) gamers, today announced that it is entering the MMO industry by commencing the development of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Online, a new MMO based on one of the most famous North American comic books of all time.

"The opportunity to bring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to MMO gamers is something we are very proud of," said Jeff Moyer, ZAM President and founder of Allakhazam. "We have decided that commencing development on a TMNT MMO would be an amazing opportunity to push these pop culture icons into the new and exciting medium of digital gaming."

Developed by ZAM Interactive, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles online tells the story of the origins of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and follows their battle against Shredder and Krang in the TMNT Universe. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Online offers players a chance to join the TVRM Alliance (The Turtle, Rodent, Human, Vigilante Alliance) to fight anarchy as the Ninja Rat, the Reporter, the Sport Vigilante and, of course, the Ninja Turtle. Alternatively, fans can do evil with Shredder and Krang by joining the Dark Legion of Dark Forces.

TMNTO will also offer the ability for participants to engage in our patented 'reality' PvP, where the only limit is... there are no limits! TMNTO's PVP will be the most complete simulation of real life combat; not only will players be forced to deal with the spells and arrows of their enemies, but they will need to strategically plan their battles so that they don't accidentally take a hockey stick in the face from their allies!

Finally, TMNT Online will be the first MMO to entirely scrap the notion of experience points. Players will be able to purchase "turtle power" from the turtle store for a monetary fee; players can then 'use' the turtle power by yelling "Cowabunga" into their microphone to gain bonuses like 'vision,' and 'movement' for five minutes. "We've decided to integrate the same technology used to automate phone based customer service for players." said Andrew Beegle, Executive Producer of TMNTO. "NPCs will recognize and respond appropriately to what players are saying. Unfortunately we'll only be supporting this feature in English and Spanish at launch."

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About ZAM
ZAM Media operates the largest and longest running sites dedicated to information and community for the Massively Multiplayer Online gamer.  Its first site, Allakhazam.com was founded in 1996 and serves as the backbone for its community.  ZAM, LLC was formed in May of 2006 and has enjoyed success as the leader in the MMO information space.  The ZAM family of sites covers more than 250 titles, such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Warhammer and Final Fantasy XI.  ZAM strives to deliver the most engaging sites, message boards and community tools.  They are currently serving over 674,580 million page views a month and are enjoying almost 920 million unique hits across their sites, according to January '19, Google Analytics.  ZAM is privately owned and continues to put resources behind its content and technology initiatives to maintain its position as an innovative industry leader.  With offices in Los Angeles, the company maintains a large distributed network of contributors around the country and globe, favoring expertise and dedication above location. The company's backers include Goldman Sachs and Oak Investment Partners in addition to others.