Disney's Toontown Online launches in UK

Disney has announced the UK launch of Disney's Toontown Online for the PC. The game, which has been available in North America since June 2003, is the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game to be designed specifically for children and their families.

Toontown is in danger because Scrooge McDuck has accidentally unleashed creatures known as Cogs who are determined to turn its fun-filled and colorful landscape into a gray metropolis of skyscrapers and businesses. Assuming the role of a toon, players will find that the game offers hundreds of different quests to undertake as well as plenty of minigames with names like Lucky Number, Underwater Ring, Boom-a-Toon, Toon Tag, Match Minnie, Dodge-a-Cog, and Catching Game. Competing in minigames earns players jelly beans that can be used to buy battle props from Goofy's Gag Shop, and the props can then be used in the ongoing mission to defeat the Cogs.

Visitors to the UK Toontown Web site will be able to access a free three-day trial of the subscription-based game, which normally costs £6.99 per month, £34.99 for six months, or £59.99 annually. A separate Web site is available for North American players interested in the game.