Humongous to Create ‘Blue’s Clues’ CD-ROMs

Children’s software maker Humongous Entertainment will announce today that it has signed a deal with Nickelodeon to create software based on “Blue’s Clues,” the No. 1 show in the commercial TV market for preschoolers.

Under the five-year worldwide agreement, New York-based Nickelodeon and Woodinville, Wash.-based Humongous will develop CD-ROMs for release next fall.

This is the first time Humongous, known for its popular talking purple car, Putt Putt, and characters such as Pajama Sam and Freddi Fish, has strayed from its mission of developing original characters. The company develops interactive software targeted at preschoolers.

“We’ve been contacted for years by companies like Disney and Warner who had properties and wanted us to develop them into a CD-ROM,” said Ralph Giuffre, executive vice president of marketing and licensing for Humongous. “When I saw ‘Blue’s Clues,’ I knew it was something special. It’s perfect from a product fit with our properties.”

The show features a talking animated dog, Blue, who leaves paw-print clues for her human friend Steve to help him solve puzzles.

The success of “Blue’s Clues,” which attracts nearly half the preschool-aged kids watching TV during its morning time slots, has surprised even its creators. A new show airs each Monday and is repeated throughout the week.

“ ‘Blue’ was launched about a year ago, and it has really taken off in a way that we hadn’t predicted,” said Tom Ascheim, Nickelodeon’s vice president of business development, publishing and multimedia.

Parents asked Nickelodeon to develop a CD-ROM based on the show so kids who already “leap up and point at the screen to tell Steve where the clue is” would be able to fully interact with the characters, Ascheim said.

“ ‘Blue’s’ highest rating is on a Thursday--they watch it again and again. A CD-ROM offers that same ability to go back again and again and know what you’re doing,” Giuffre said. “This allows a kid to feel empowered, and that’s exciting.”