Allstar Baseball; 9th Inning Baseball; Baseball; Become a batting champ, pitch a perfect game, and win a World Series in one of our baseball games. You can play as a variety of characters, from MLB players to cartoon classics. Compete in a homerun derby as Bugs Bunny, play with colorful bobblehead dolls, or step up to home plate as a bat.

BEVERLY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 2003--As the baseball season begins, Infogrames, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFGM) and Major League Baseball Properties have announced that a new game, Backyard Baseball(TM) for Nintendo GameCube(TM), has shipped to retail stores nationwide. Backyard Baseball for Nintendo GameCube is the newest game in the award-winning Backyard Sports(TM) line-up, the only series that lets kids play with kid-sized versions of professional athletes. In Backyard Baseball for Nintendo GameCube, some of today's hottest Major League Baseball stars, including Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers(TM) shortstop and Backyard Baseball highlight player, play alongside the 30 Backyard Kids(TM) that are found in every Backyard Sports game.

'We are excited to be teaming up with Major League Baseball Properties to deliver a new baseball experience to the console market,' said Petrina McPhee, director of brand marketing for Infogrames' kids' line. 'Backyard Baseball for Nintendo GameCube builds on the success of the Backyard Sports franchise while adding rich 3D environments and action.'

In addition to Rodriguez, Backyard Baseball for Nintendo GameCube features nine other Major League Baseball athletes including Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants(TM), Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers(TM), Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners(TM), the New York Yankees(TM) Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks(TM), Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox(TM), Mike Piazza of the New York Mets(TM), Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs(TM) and Jim Thome of the Philadelphia Phillies'(TM). Kids create their line-ups by choosing from the 10 Major League Baseball pros and the 30 Backyard Kids.

In Backyard Baseball for Nintendo GameCube, players select to play as one of the 30 Major League Baseball teams or design their own team by choosing custom team names and uniforms. Then it's off to the field where kids can choose one of seven fields and whether they want to play a single game or a season's worth.

The difficulty level (Rookie, Pro or All Star), game length (six or nine innings) and season length (18 or 32 game season) can be chosen and other options like powers-ups, pitch locator, stamina, errors and draft style can be turned on or off. If the power-ups option is selected, kids have the chance to play well and earn pitching power-ups like the 'Fireball' or the 'Fang' and batting power-ups like the 'Screaming Line Drive' or the 'Sonic Boom.' Players can also unlock two fields and a secret player, Abner Dubbleplay.

Backyard Baseball for Nintendo GameCube also contains 'Home Run Derby,' a practice area where players can practice hitting homers to see who is the top power hitter, and a 'Hall of Fame(TM) where players can check out the record books to see which teams and coaches have the greatest achievements in Backyard Baseball history.

Developed by Humongous Entertainment, Backyard Baseball for Nintendo GameCube is suited for ages 7 and up and is available at retail nationwide for an approximate retail price of $29.99. The award-winning Backyard Sports line-up also includes the new Backyard Soccer(TM) 2004 PC CD-ROM game as well as the Backyard Hockey(TM), Backyard Basketball(TM), Backyard Baseball(TM) 2003 and Backyard Football(TM) 2002 CD-ROM games. Other console games currently available are Backyard Football for Nintendo GameCube(TM) and Backyard Football and Backyard Baseball for Nintendo's(R) Game Boy(R) Advance system. Additional information about the Backyard Sports games and Infogrames' other kids games can be found at www.funkidsgames.com.

About Infogrames

New York-based Infogrames, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFGM) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles are distributed under two brand lines: ATARI, hard-core, genre-defining games such as Driver(TM), Enter the Matrix(TM), Neverwinter Nights(TM), Stuntman(TM), Test Drive(R), Unreal(R) Tournament 2003, and Unreal(R) Championship; and INFOGRAMES, mass-market and children's games such as Backyard Sports(TM), Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues(TM) and Dora the Explorer(TM), Civilization(R), Dragon Ball Z(R) and RollerCoaster Tycoon(R). Infogrames, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more information, visit www.infogrames.com.

(C) 2003 Infogrames Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(C) 2003 Humongous Entertainment, a division of Infogrames, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(TM), (R), Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube are trademarks of Nintendo. (C) 2001 Nintendo.

Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. Visit Major League Baseball on the web at MLB.com

(C) MLBPA-Official Licensee, Major League Baseball Players Association. Visit the Players Choice on the web at www.bigleaguers.com.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.