Press release: 1998-10-16: BioWare to Develop MDK2 for Sega Dreamcast and PC (From The Developers of Baldur's Gate Comes the Sci-Fi Sequel to MDK)

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English third-party Original source: The Free Library

EDMONTON, Canada, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- BioWare Corp., announced today the ongoing development of their first Sega Dreamcast title, MDK2. The sequel to last year's sci-fi action thriller MDK, the game hosts an array of dynamic new features and technology. Built with the breakthrough BioWare Omen Engine, MDK2 provides an unsurpassed single-player experience with totally new and unique gameplay elements driven by ingenuity and creativity. Published by Interplay Productions (Nasdaq: IPLY) a release date of Q4, 1999 is anticipated for the Sega Dreamcast, with a PC version to shortly follow.

MDK2 will take players back to the unique world of MDK as originally developed by Shiny Entertainment. The MDK2 world will counterbalance shadows and mystery with quirky situations involving a peculiarly engaging alien race. The result will be a surreal adventure that focuses on stealth and guile as well as outright aggression. Players will take a third person perspective of the game's hero, Kurt Hectic, as they control him through eight levels of creative gaming, bizarre 3D environments, and engaging storylines. Rejoining Kurt in his adventures will be his friends, the eccentric Dr. Fluke Hawkins and Max, the robotic dog.

Greg Zeschuk, President and Joint CEO of BioWare, captured the essence of the game when he explained that, "MDK2 represents the pinnacle of single player games. Our aim with MDK2 is to explore new directions and expand beyond the constrictive environments established in other 3D games." Regarding the Sega Dreamcast, Lead Programmer on MDK2 Cameron Tofer, says, "The Dreamcast hardware gives us all of the features that we could ever want from a gaming system. Because of the Dreamcast we are able to take MDK2 further than we ever imagined."

MDK2 exploits the BioWare Omen Engine, a truly multi-platform engine developed internally at BioWare Corp. Perhaps the most important feature of Omen is the support for real-time level-of-detail control that allows for round, smooth surfaces and highly detailed life-like characters and environments, all the while maintaining high frame-rates. Other key features include realistically modeled object physics and complex scripted AI that provides the world with life-like inhabitants that interact with the player in an intelligent manner.

BioWare Corp. is located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As an electronic entertainment company BioWare both develops games and creates animation for television and film. BioWare's games include Shattered Steel, published by Interplay Productions in 1996 and the upcoming Baldur's Gate, also published by Interplay's Black Isle division. BioWare's animation work has also been seen in segments of the children's television show Be Alert Bert, and the Canadian version of Intuit's Quick Tax.

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