September 22^nd, 2003 (12:00am) - Vivendi Universal Games has partnered with participating McDonald’s restaurants for The Hobbit Video Game promotion, available to restaurant’s customers in regions of California, Oregon and southwest Washington. The promotion features three components -- access to three exclusive The Hobbit PC on-line game demos, a sweepstakes with prizes including next-generation video game console systems and a mail-in rebate offer. The promotion starts September 22, 2003 and ends October 12, 2003.

McDonald’s customers in Greater Los Angeles, Greater San Diego, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Palm Springs, Eugene, Medford, Portland and southwest Washington will have the opportunity to play three exclusive The Hobbit PC demos from the upcoming The Hobbit videogame, set to ship from VU Games in November 2003. Each week during the three-week promotion, a new code will be featured on both McDonald’s trayliners and on standard carry out bags at the participating restaurants. Promotional messages will direct customers to log onto www.hobbitdemo.com and enter the featured code necessary to download a new The Hobbit game demo each week during the promotion.

The second element of the promotion is a mail-in sweepstakes. The entry forms are available to McDonald’s customers on standard carry-out bags, trayliners and on a restaurant counter displays. Multiple prize packages will awarded at the grand, first and second place levels. Grand Prize winners will receive the Xbox or a Nintendo GameCube of the winner’s choice and a copy of The Hobbit video game on the corresponding platform; First Prize winners will receive a copy of The Hobbit video game; and, Second Prize winners will receive a Prima Strategy Guide for the The Hobbit video game. Sweepstakes entries must be postmarked by October 14, 2003 and received by October 21, 2003. The drawing will occur on or about October 28, 2003 from all eligible entries.

A retail mail-in rebate offer will also be featured on McDonald’s trayliners and standard carry out bags. McDonald’s customers can purchase The Hobbit video game from any retailer and receive a $5.00 check when they mail in their completed coupon, UPC from the game and the store receipt to the address noted on the coupon.

The Hobbit video game is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s best selling book of the same name which has been translated into 26 different languages and has sold close to 100 million copies worldwide. The upcoming action-adventure game will be released this fall on all major platforms, including the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and the PC.