Driving the Creative Arts Scene in HiPiHi Virtual World

—— Three-way partnership forged between HiPiHi, Centric and 3Di

BEIJING, China – November 15, 2007 - HiPiHi, China's pioneer of 3D virtual worlds, today announced a 3-way market partnership with Centric, an interactive agency focusing on social media and virtual worlds, and 3Di, the Japan-based virtual world services provider. The focus of this tripartite partnership will be on creative arts and video production inside the HiPiHi virtual world. Through a collaborative approach towards market education and development, the three companies will enhance the in-world vibrancy and commercial application of the HiPiHi virtual world.

Centric, the Agency of Change, is an interactive agency working in social media and virtual worlds, with a strong focus on both US and Asian business. Founded in 1994, Centric's clients include MGM, Memorex, HP, Epson, Warner Brothers, Nautilus, L'Oreal Europe, ING Asia/Pacific, University of Oregon, Freestyle, and Veeco. Centric's principals are professional science fiction writers, screenwriters, game designers and filmmakers, with deep knowledge of multiple forms of entertainment. Centric is based in Hollywood, and maintains offices in Shanghai and Tokyo.

3Di is a Japan-based subsidiary of the internationally renowned ngi group. 3Di is a virtual world services provider and is currently extending its capabilities towards supporting the entire value chain of the global virtual world industry. 3Di's recent projects include Jin-sei, the first virtual worlds platform developed in cooperation with the open source community and Movable Life, the first system that allows users access to Second Life® using only a web browser. Mixi, Inc., the largest social networking service in Japan, has decided to partner with 3Di and implement Jin-sei as part of their virtual worlds initiatives. 3Di also has deep technological experience in virtual world content development.

The potential of the virtual world medium, for creative arts and video production, is gaining in prominence and adoption around the world. This was aptly demonstrated in the hit NBC drama CSI: NY. A recent episode not only weaved in the virtual world Second Life into its TV airtime, but also created a parallel project in Second Life to let its viewers participate in the pursuit of the murder suspect, stretching the conventional conceptions of the performer and spectator. Virtual worlds are unconsciously reconstructing the ecology of the creative industry, the mode of media production and artistic creation are undergoing subtle but meaningful changes and all these represent the emergence of new business opportunities.

It is this change that forms the basis of the partnership between HiPiHi, Centric and 3Di. Centric will leverage their rich experience in Hollywood to bring internationally renowned projects into HiPiHi and promote it as an international platform for creative expression. 3Di's strengths in content and service development will ensure creative ideas achieve their full potential when represented in the virtual world. Being China's first virtual world platform, HiPiHi's industry leadership position and huge market potential will also greatly raise the standards and scale of Centric and 3Di's virtual world service capabilities and provide greater potential for future development opportunities.

The enlistment of Centric and 3Di as HiPiHi's market partners marks the expansion of our global strategy and the construction of a global value creation chain. Through promoting strategies like regionalized market partnership, third-party developers partnership and community partnership, HiPiHi cooperates with companies that have advanced capabilities in virtual world content and service development in various countries and fields to promote HiPiHi world's prosperity and advancement.

HiPiHi founder and CEO XU Hui said, "Virtual worlds open up new possibilities to redefine the mode of artistic/cultural production and creative expression, transcending the distance between art works and spectators, constructing a brand new interactive instrument of artistic creation and expression. Centric and 3Di will bring artistic creativity and cutting-edge media production technologies from Western culture into the HiPiHi world. This mix of Western-Oriental artistic and cultural fusion and exchange, in a virtual world medium that cuts through space-time constraints, is about to begin and give rise to amazing and wondrous opportunities. The eventual benefit in all these activities will far exceed any economical value affixed to it and will be a significant innovation in terms of fusing art and information technology."

Ken Brady, Centric's Director of International Strategies said, "This is a best-case partnership scenario, where we can combine our strategic marketing, social media, and story-development skills with two preeminent technology partners. Both HiPiHi and 3Di have stunning capabilities for innovation, and the opportunities for bringing media properties into China are endless. We're very excited."

Toshitaka Jiku , 3Di's executive vice president and CTO said, "Through this partnership, 3Di will be entering the Chinese market for the first time. We agree with HiPiHi's vision that there are no boundaries in virtual worlds, but a great power in connecting people from different cultural backgrounds. This partnership between a Japanese, Chinese, and American company is an attempt at breaking through geographical, racial, and cultural barriers."