Alert: The Nanovor are coming with one huge ad campaign

If you're the parent of a seven-to-12 year-old boy, get ready for the Nanovor. What's a Nanovor?

They are silicon-based nanoscopic dust mites that live inside your computer. At least that's the story behind the fictional world created by Jordan Weisman, a Seattle area gaming executive who has been known to strike gold with his past creations.

After nearly two years of secrecy, Weisman and his team of game and toy designers at Bellevue-based Smith & Tinker are unveiling the free online monster battle game today.

But Nanovor is much more than just another online strategy game or virtual world. It's a physical toy. It's a cartoon series. It's a comic book. And -- most importantly -- it's a new type of entertainment product that allows kids to participate in both online and offline play.  

Quite simply, Nanovor represents one very large bet. And the folks at Smith & Tinker are spending some big bucks to get the word out.

Backed with an undisclosed amount of funding from the likes of Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, Foundry Group, Alsop Louie Ventures and others, Smith & Tinker plans to spend $4 million between now and the end of the year on TV ads, newspaper circulars and other marketing efforts, said Smith & Tinker co-founder and president Joe Lawandus.

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