Yes, all MMOs have avatars in them, and Xbox 360 will now have avatars in it, too. But the MMO that Nickelodeon is unveiling this September is about the pseudo-anime TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. I guess I'm not up on what the kiddoes like these days, because I thought the Avatar craze was kind of over, but Nickelodeon says its recently-wrapped Season 3 finale was its highest-rated TV show ever.

M. Night Shyamalan is even making a live-action movie called "The Last Airbender" based on the series, to debut in July 2010. With Avatar interest at an all-time high, Nickelodeon seems to have decided the time was right to make an MMO that serves as a "prequel" to the TV series.

Regardless of how you feel about Nickelodeon cartoons, this is actually an immensely cool idea — when Nickelodeon re-airs episodes of Season 3 in the fall, fans tuning in will get episode-specific hints from the TV show about unlocking things in-game. Having a multiplayer online game that runs concurrent with a TV experience is a great way to encourage players to be more involved with both game and show, I think.

Full announcement follows the jump. By the way, which TV show would you most love to have a tie-in MMO going on with?

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Nickelodeon is expanding its moves into the areas of virtual worlds and games with the formation of two separate divisions, the company announced today.

The Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games Group includes all of its gaming initiatives, both paid and subscription, for online, PC, handheld and console, and will be led by senior VP and GM Dave Williams. It also includes Nickelodeon's Addicting Games and Shockwave sites, for which the company recently promised 1,600 new casual games in 2008. The company will be seeking new game developer and publisher partnerships under this division.

The virtual worlds group, which includes the company's Nicktropolis and Neopets online worlds for kids, will be led by Neopets SVP Kyra Reppen to support its kids and family-friendly online worlds efforts and casual MMOs. Nickelodeon has several virtual worlds in the works based on Nickelodeon IP as well as existing properties.

Full release follows the jump.

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Earlier today, we reported that THQ's portfolio of Nickelodeon titles has hauled in more than $US 1 billion in sales, with the publisher looking forward to its 2008 lineup of more Nickelodeon properties.

THQ's survived a series of hard knocks in the market thanks to the strength of its kid-friendly titles based on licenses from the likes of Nickelodeon and Pixar, even while its stock has taken a serious dive since January of this year. The company's about to announce its fiscal fourth quarter results tomorrow - as a new year begins for THQ, is it on track for smoother sailing?

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Never underestimate the power of the licensed children's video game. For every one of us who laughs at the very thought of THQ's upcoming The Naked Brothers Band: The Video Game, there are ten children who would savagely tear off your limbs to get their hands on it. THQ, Nickelodeon's long-standing partner in the game-space have revealed just how lucrative the market for licensed Nick-fodder has been for them over the years, claiming sales of US$1 billion and 50 million units worldwide. The 2008 lineup features said Nakie Brothers game, a concert tour sim, SpongeBob's Drawn to Life, and games based on their Avatar, Back At The Barnyard, and Tak and the Power of Juju shows. Wait, a Tak game based on the TV show based on the video game? Tak has truly gone full circle. Such is the power of the juju.

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Nickelodeon plans to develop 600 games in the next few years. Most of the titles, it sounds like, will be web-based games, with nearly a third popping up on Nick.com alone, Yahoo reports.

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On Sunday, March 29th, rock and roll hero and sometimes actor Jack Black returns to the Nickelodeon stage to host the 21st Annual Kids' Choice Awards, where the stupid children decide who wins the awards! Now I know there are some pretty smart children out there, but they are all busy playing games like Portal or BioShock (with their stupid parents proudly ignoring them in the other room), thus the nominees for the 2008 Favorite Video Game Award:

Dance Dance Revolution
Guitar Hero
High School Musical: Sing It!
Madden NFL '08

There's really not much I can say here. I mean, Guitar Hero is nice and all, but they just list Guitar Hero...not II or III. Same with Dance Dance Revolution. There are 20 bajillion versions of DDR out there. Pick one! Madden 08 just goes to show that they were running out of kid-friendly titles to nominate, and if High School Musical: Sing It! wins? I am driving over to my nephew's house and smacking him upside the head just for associating with people his own age.

Kids' Choice Award's Official Nominee Announcement [Nickelodeon]

Microsoft has just added over 100 new episodes of "family content" to their LIVE movie service. Looney Tunes is probably the pièce de résistance for most of us, with 50 classic episodes available for HD download. Other content includes the first season of Blue's Clues and some other Nickelodeon content, including XBLA title SpongeBob SquarePants: Underpants Slam, which sounds just delightful.

There's a little more content in the press release we'll put after the jump for you family folks, but I for one am going to hop on Live and waste money on content I'm sure that I could find for free somewhere. Actually, the only bummer is that the release doesn't specify that the content can be rented, only "purchased." And that catch decreases the "walletability" about 1000% in my eyes. Does anyone out there actually "buy" movies for download?

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2K Games and 2K Sports have a new little brother / sister to kick around as Take-Two announces the formation of 2K Play, a new publishing label dedicated to causal, family-friendly fare. To prove their family-fare-iness, they've also announced a partnership with Nickelodeon to develop games based off popular children's properties. The first two games released under the 2K Play label will be Dora The Explorer and Go, Diego, Go! for the DS.

"We welcome our new partnership with 2K Play," said Shaul Olmert, Vice President/Digital Media products for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. "This is the first time Go, Diego, Go! is coming to handheld and console systems and will mark Dora the Explorer's debut on the popular Nintendo DSâ„¢ system. We are excited to welcome 2K Play into our growing family of innovative digital products."

I've not seen GDG (hip appreviation for children's program), but Dora seems like a natural fit for the DS. Finally we can poke that bastard Swiper right in the damn eye. Everybody chant "Backpack" to get to the press release!

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