VIVENDI
UNIVERSAL GAMES RE-TEAMS WITH MYTHIC ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE RELEASE OF DARK
AGE OF CAMELOT™ EXPANSION PACK
New Deal Grants VU Games Exclusive Distribution Rights
In North America, Australia,
New Zealand and South Africa
LOS ANGELES – May 16, 2002 –
Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games), a division of Vivendi Universal
Publishing, today announced
the signing of an exclusive distribution agreement with Mythic Entertainment
surrounding the highly anticipated Dark Age of Camelot™ expansion pack.
Scheduled for release in late 2002, Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Islesä is the next installment of the award-winning massively
multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Mythic.
The contract grants VU Games
the exclusive license to manufacture and distribute Dark Age of Camelot:
Shrouded Isles throughout North America, Australia, New Zealand and South
Africa. Additionally, VU Games will expand its initial North American
distribution agreement for the original Dark Age of Camelot to include
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa territories. Both games are developed by Mythic
Entertainment and co-published with Abandon Entertainment (www.abandonent.com).
“The MMORPG market is a
burgeoning category in the games industry, and Mythic Entertainment has proven
that it is one of the leading game developers in this arena,” said Luc Vanhal,
President and COO, North America of Vivendi Universal Games. “Given the success
of the original Dark Age of Camelot, we expect Shrouded Isles to
be another blockbuster hit.”
Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles enriches and expands the mythological fantasy world of the original game by adding stunning new graphics and whole new areas to explore for each Realm. Players of Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles will also discover that the Realms will be populated with three new races and new character classes. As previously announced, the expansion will include a significant graphical upgrade to the game by utilizing DirectX 8.1 and the new NetImmerse 3D engine version 4.0 from Numerical Design Limited. This new technology will improve overall graphical performance as well as provide support for advanced graphical features such as shadowing, more spectacular spell effects/animations, reflective surfaces, and much more.
“With the tremendous success of the original game, it made sense for us to start development on Shrouded Isles immediately,” explained Mark Jacobs, President of Mythic Entertainment. “Vivendi Universal Games played such a major part in the success of the original game and we are excited to have them on-board again for the exciting new installment of the game.”
Headquartered in New York, NY, Vivendi Universal Games (www.vugames.com) is a global leader in
multi-platform interactive entertainment and a worldwide operating division of
Vivendi Universal Publishing, the world’s third largest publishing company. A
leading publisher of PC, console and online-based interactive content, Vivendi
Universal Games’ portfolio of development studios includes Blizzard
Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment and Universal Interactive. Through its
Partner Publishing Group, Vivendi Universal Games also co-publishes and/or
distributes interactive products for a number of strategic partners, including
Empire Interactive, Fox Interactive, Mythic Entertainment and Simon &
Schuster, among others. Games are one
of parent company Vivendi Universal’s key content areas, along with movies,
music and other publishing activities.
Mythic Entertainment
(www.mythicentertainment.com)
is one of the most successful online gaming developers in the industry
today. With twelve online games to its
credit, Mythic has been a major part of all of its distribution and publishing
partners pay-for-play games including AOL, the Centropolis Gaming Center,
Gamestorm, and ENGAGE. Their titles include some of the most popular
online-only games of all time including Spellbinder:
The Nexus Conflict, Aliens Online, Starship Troopers: Battlespace, Silent Death
Online, Rolemaster: Magestorm, Darkness Falls, Darkness Falls: The Crusade,
Splatterball, Godzilla Online, and Dragon’s
Gate.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Leslie Hollingshead (North America)
leslie.hollingshead@vuinteractive.com
(310) 431-4533
Kim Watt (Asia-Pacific)
kim.watt@vup-interactive.com.au
+61 (0) 2 9902
7737
Mythic Entertainment
Craig Sinel
(323) 436-0882