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Neopets is now being turned into a TV show

Press paws.

Neopets, the early-Noughties virtual pet website beloved by teens and hated by IT teachers, is getting a new lease of life.

A Canadian TV company has snapped up the telly rights to the Neopets franchise, and an animated show is now in the pipeline.

Neopets' website is still going strong today, more than 20 years after its founding (and after I got Flash blocked on my school's computers for playing it during lessons). It looks remarkably retro.

Founded in the UK by a couple of bored university students, Neopets quickly attracted corporate backing to grow into a gaming platform visited by millions of people every day, spawning console game spin-offs and a whole heap of merchandise.

The story of its changing ownership over the years (and Scientology involvement) makes for an interesting tale. At present, it's run by US developer JumpStart games which is in turn owned by Chinese online gaming publisher NetDragon.

The TV show was announced via Neopets' Twitter last night - and for fans (and long-lapsed players) - its furry good news.

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