Warner Bros. Ent. announced today that it is developing an immersive online animation experience along the lines of social networking phenomena Second Life and Habbo. Dubbed T-Works (short of Toon Works), the ad-supported site will feature key characters from the studio’s core animated properties as users create avatars to navigate the environment.
Bringing characters from the Warner Bros. Animation, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics worlds together for the first time, T-Works will allow visitors to interact with other users, play games and watch originally produced content and classic cartoons from the extensive Warner Bros. library. There will also be a user rewards system and a grab-and-go functionality that will enable custom avatars to be transferred to other online environments, including MySpace and Facebook.
‘While the focus of T-Works is our amazing collection of animated superstars, this online destination represents much more than that,’ says Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn. ‘T-Works presents us with a great environment and thus a great platform to highlight many of our current projects, from feature films to made-for-videos, consumer products, comic books and more.’
‘T-Works will offer original entertainment content, social interaction and an intimacy with our beloved and iconic characters like never before in an environment that’s safe and appropriate for all ages,’ adds Lisa Judson, the new president of Warner Bros. Animation. ‘People have literally grown up with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Flintstones and Scooby-Doo, and we’re building an innovative, creative, cutting-edge home where people of all ages can interact and play with our characters in a compelling entertainment environment.’
Warner Bros. Animation and Studio 2.0, the digital production arm of the Warner Bros. Television Group, are developing two new animated projects for T-Works. An untitled Batman shortform series and an untitled project based on The Wizard of Oz will debut exclusively on the site some time after its launch in the spring of 2008. We’re told more details on these projects will be announced in the near future.
In addition to new programs and hundreds of hours of classic cartoon content, T-Works will offer visitors the ability to create their own toon remixes with the Video Mash-Up Maker. Other features will include personalized channels and a dedicated area for younger users featuring age-appropriate activities based on such family-friendly favorites Baby Looney Tunes and Krypto the Super Dog.
