West Hollywood, Calif. - The original creators and founders of the social network and online game Neopets, which was sold to Viacom's MTV Networks for $160 million in 2005, on Tuesday announced the launch of Meteor Games, a new independent game studio based in West Hollywood, Calif. The company's first product will be an all-new intellectual property that combines massively multiplayer online games and social networking, and is being designed and created by Meteor co-founders Adam Powell and Donna Williams.

New York - Viacom's MTV Networks plans to invest more than $500 million in video games over the next two years, as part of a plan to incorporate games into all new programs at their inception, Reuters reported.

Los Angeles - Viacom's MTV Networks has announced that its Nickelodeon children's cable network plans later this month to launch a series of animated mini-shows based on Neopets, the online virtual pet community acquired by MTV Networks in 2005 for an estimated $160 million. The mini-shows will air in between other shows, and serve to introduce kids to Neopets characters and drive traffic to the website, which claims 40 million registered users. Neopets.com also launched Neovision, a broadband video player that will showcase both the mini-shows and user-generated content.

Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group, today announced that Kyra E. Reppen, the former head of NickJr.com and creator and architect behind the recently launched ParentsConnect brand, has been named Senior Vice President & General Manager of NeoPets, the largest and fastest growing youth community on the Internet. Prior to joining Viacom, Reppen was a corporate associate in several law firms, including Dewey Ballantine and Schulte Roth & Zabel.