Press release: 2000-05-11: Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.'s Gathering of Developers Returns to the Promised Lot At This Year's Electronic Entertainment Expo

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Language: English
Original source: The Free Library


E3Expo 2000

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2000

The Promised Lot makes a second coming play! Developer-driven computer and video game publishing company Gathering of Developers, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), makes the pilgrimage to Los Angeles this May 11-13 for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Gathering's E3 line-up will be located at "The Promised Lot," a parking lot (located at the corner of Pico and Figueroa) across from the LA Convention Center's main entrance. The company will showcase 13 PC games and three Sega Dreamcast titles. The PC line-up, demoed in individual, air-conditioned motor homes, includes Max Payne, FLY! 2K, 4x4: Evolution, Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2, KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child, Rune, Kingdom Under Fire, Rune, Tropico, Shadowbane, and all three volumes of the upcoming games based on the Blair Witch Project property. Gathering will have a special Sega Dreamcast Pavilion for viewing Railroad Tycoon II, KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child and 4x4 Evolution. Gathering of Developers will also have a presence within the SMP booth (No.1346, South Hall). Additional Gathering at E3 information can be found at www.godgames.com

The Promised Lot was named Best 1999 E3 Booth by several magazines and Web sites including Entertainment Weekly and All Games Network. Celebrity visits include B-movie star Julie Strain, star of the upcoming Heavy Metal 2000 movie and model for Ritual Entertainment's Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2 game, Kevin Eastman, Ron Jeremy, Heather Kozar, the 1999 Playboy Playmate of the Year (Friday, May 12, 11:00-3:00), and Duke Nukem, accompanied by some of his gal pals from Planet of the Babes. E3 attendees can enjoy live music, and free food and drinks at The Promised Lot. Bands playing at The Promised Lot include The Young Dubliners, Beth Wood, Lily Wilson, Champagne Velvet and The Flametrick Subs featuring Satan's Cheerleaders. In addition to game demos in motor homes and the Sega Dreamcast Pavilion, The Promised Lot will show Hollywood-style game trailers in a huge trailer/movie theater, seating up to 50 per viewing. The Promised Lot is being co-sponsored by industry partners Phantagram, AMD, Nvidia, GameWeek, Showbiz Data and P & A. GameWeek will have a halfpipe featuring professional rollerbladers, skateboaders and bikers. - More -

"The Promised Lot was a tremendous success for Gathering last year plus we had a great time," said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gathering of Developers. "We believe The Promised Lot is more reflective of an industry that is supposed to be having more fun than what is going on inside the convention center. And, you can actually sit down and have a conversation without yelling over techno music under strobe lights."

The Promised Lot features games in a variety of genres from simulation to RTS to 3D action/adventure. The following games will be shown:

Ritual Entertainment's Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2 (Federation Assigned Ketogenic Killzone) is a third-person 3D action/adventure game based on the upcoming sequel to the explosive and groundbreaking animated film, Heavy Metal 2000. Featuring artwork and music from Kevin Eastman's Heavy Metal 2000 movie, the game is set in the Melting Pot Universe thirty years after the movie leaves off. The player controls Julie, also known as the StarStrider, as she fights to defend her homeworld Eden2 from the marauding Gith Industries despoilers. Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2 combines Tomb Raider-esque exploration and puzzles with a unique fighting-game style combat system. Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2 will be available for the PC in September 2000.

KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child is a 3D first-person shooter developed by Third Law Interactive. KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child features a demonic world of mystery and horror where the player must battle hideous freaks-of-nature spawned by the conception an unborn evil, the Nightmare Child, whose arrival has perverted the fabric of reality. The player begins as a mere mortal and progressively acquires the powers of The Elder, a supernatural being. The Elder, embodied by four alter egos -- the Demon, the Starbearer, the Beast King, and the Celestial (based on the KISS characters) -- together prevent the unraveling the universe. Each KISS-character represents a different type of game-experience, each having unique game-locations, challenges and powers. KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child is utilizing the LithTech engine. Tremor Entertainment is developing the Sega Dreamcast version, which utilizes an original engine designed specifically for the platform and features new gameplay modes such as split-screen. The online, multiplayer deathmatch mode will use the new Sega.com network. KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child will be released in June for the PC and in July for Sega Dreamcast.

PopTop Software's Tropico is a 3D building, strategy/simulation game with a helping of Latin American political intrigue to create an absorbing gaming experience. In Tropico, players take on the role of a newly instated dictator of a remote Caribbean island and are challenged to build a path of progress for a nation mired in poverty, civil unrest and infighting. Based on their economic vision, gamers build hotels, mines, factories, and over 100 other structures.

Diplomacy and politics will factor heavily in Tropico, as players must pacify various internal factions and external threats. If the island's growth is well planned, the player will have plenty of money to buy the peoples' favor and ensure prosperity. If growth is poorly planned and the economy falters, the population may revolt, forcing the player to institute martial law. Tropico will be released during the first quarter 2001 for the PC, Mac and Sega Dreamcast.

Terminal Reality's 4x4 Evolution, a fast-paced, 4x4 off-road simulation, puts virtual drivers behind the wheel of their favorite real-world SUV and/or light truck. Drivers are challenged to race through a variety of detailed off-road environments. Featuring 16 tracks, each with its own distinctive design, music score and difficulty level, 4x4 Evolution also has a variety of obstacles such as gates, trees, tractors in junkyards or on-coming traffic in construction zones. Virtual drivers choose their own path as they begin with a basic truck and compete in a series of off-road races to win cash. This money can then be used to upgrade and customize their vehicle with a bevy of enhancements such as heavy-duty off-road suspension, brush guards, performance exhaust, and special off-road racing tires. 4x4 Evolution utilizes the new Sega.com network and GameSpy's "peer-to-peer" technology to support Internet multi-player options between three platforms: Sega Dreamcast, PC, and Mac. In a first for Sega Dreamcast, 4x4 Evolution's multi-player version will allow up to four Sega Dreamcast owners to compete online. The PC and Mac versions will support up to eight players over the Internet or a LAN. The game will be released in August 2000.

Max Payne, a third-person 3D shooter co-developed by Remedy and 3D Realms, puts PC gamers in the shoes of Max Payne, a hardboiled, fugitive undercover cop who is being framed for the murder of his boss. A mission to revenge his slaughtered family is taking him on a bridge burning, rock n' rolling rampage through the criminal underworld of New York City. Max goes up against a horde of stone cold murdering mobsters, drug-enhanced killers, bad cops, professional assassins, corrupt politicians, and other diabolical masterminds lurking in the city's heart of darkness.

Rune is a 3D game of intense action and adventure, steeped in a blend of Norse mythology and high-fantasy. Developed by Human Head Studios and Epic Games, Rune transports gamers into the Dark Ages, when the Vikings were the conquerors of a cold, dismal world and paganism ruled all of the northern lands. Taking on the role of Ragnar, a rugged young Viking warrior, players are challenged to fight off Nordic creatures and uncover an evil perpetrator who is annihilating the Viking population. Rune combines melee combat and exploration, with a colossal story line and an active environment, to recreate a period in history characterized by savagery and the sword. Rune is based on the Unreal game engine and will be available for the PC in August 2000.

Kingdom Under Fire, Phantagram's 3D action real-time strategy (RTS) game, offers PC gamers dynamic, real-time strategy play enhanced with role-playing (RPG) elements and three unique play modes. Players are immersed into a world torn apart by a series of racial wars and are challenged to re-enact past battles and discover hidden truths about the races through seven character-specific RPG missions and 20 race-specific RTS campaign missions. Kingdom Under Fire features 120,000 animation frames, unit level-ups, 70 unit characters, formation and leader appointment, an intuitive interface and numerous combination key controls for advanced attacking. Kingdom Under Fire offers three multiplayer modes: real-time strategy, hero deathmatch and hero RPG Online Quest. Kingdom Under Fire will be available in September 2000.

Wolfpack Studios' Shadowbane is a massively multiplayer game, designed to allow up to tens of thousands of gamers to gather online simultaneously. Shadowbane's persistent, immersive world combines role-playing and large-scale strategy gameplay. In Shadowbane, players are challenged to carve out their destiny in a world blanketed by political unrest and torn apart by storms, disease, starvation and an endless war. Brutal warlords have assumed control of the land and a dark age has descended upon mankind. Shadowbane's design adds a large-scale warfare system to the completely functional role-playing game, allowing players to unite, form armies, build kingdoms and conquer virtual territories. This twist gives rise to a new realm of gameplay - guild politics and siege warfare.

Terminal Reality's FLY! 2K is the enhanced version of the technologically-advanced general aviation simulation FLY!. FLY! 2K furthers its predecessor by providing virtual pilots with enhancements made and a host of new features including the SKY! Environment Exciter, Roger Wilco support for online voice chatting, and an expanded global elevation database. FLY! 2K was released for the PC and Mac in April 2000.

Tremor Entertainment's Railroad Tycoon II for Sega Dreamcast features all of the engrossing and addictive gameplay of PopTop Software's PC version of Railroad Tycoon II Gold and combines it with a boxcar load of new enhancements including a full 3D game engine and a streamlined interface and financial structure. Players move more than 40 cargo types using over 60 different train engines from around the world as they establish transportation empires and outmaneuver fellow robber barons. Over 70 of the original scenarios are included plus new ones designed exclusively for the Sega Dreamcast version. Gameplay spans the industrial age from 1804 to beyond 2000, allowing for worldwide exploration and expansion, while a stock market for Wall Street plunderers tests players' entrepreneurial prowess. Gamers will be able to test their prowess against other robber barons with the online multiplayer mode, which uses the Sega.com network. The game will be available in June 2000.

The Blair Witch Project Games each feature a unique protagonist, setting and weapons and combine the film's mythologies with Terminal Reality's Nocturne characters. Nocturne, a 3D-action horror PC game released in October 1999, was touted for its cutting-edge technology and gameplay. The Blair Witch Project Games utilize the Nocturnea game engine that offers a full-fledged cinematic experience. The games are being developed for the PC. o Developed by Terminal Reality, Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr is set in 1941 immediately after Rustin Parr's conviction for murder. Parr is the old hermit that murdered the seven kids and claimed he did it for an old female ghost. Gamers take on the roles of Doc Holiday (a Nocturne character) from the Spookhouse to investigate the crimes. o Blair Witch Volume 2: The Legend of Coffin Rock, developed by Human Head Studios, takes place in Burkittsville, MD during the fall of 1886 and involves Robin Weaver, a young girl believed to be missing in the Black Hills Forest. Players take on the role of Lazarus and try to uncover the mystery behind Robin's disappearance and discover a bit about their own character. o Ritual Entertainment's Blair Witch Volume 3: The Elly Kedward Tale is set in 1786 and places gamers in the role of witchhunter Jonathan Pyre. Children are mysteriously missing and Elly Kedward is accused of and found guilty of witchcraft. Kedward is banished to the woods.

Gathering of Developers Founded in Dallas, TX in January 1998, Gathering of Developers is a developer-driven computer and video game publishing company, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. The company's mission is to be the worldwide leader in the development and delivery of commercially successful computer game software designed for a range of platforms. The company's pioneering partners are industry leaders and proven hit makers 3D Realms, Epic Games, PopTop Software, Ritual Entertainment, Terminal Reality Inc and Edge of Reality. For more information visit Gathering of Developers Web site at http://www.godgames.com. Headquartered in New York City,

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an integrated global developer, marketer, distributor, and publisher of interactive entertainment software games and accessories for the PC, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Game Boy Color and the Sega Dreamcast. The Company publishes and develops products through various wholly owned subsidiaries including: Rockstar Games, TalonSoft, Joytech and DMA Design. The Company maintains a publishing and distribution partnership with, and 19.9% equity interest in, both Gathering of Developers and Bungie Software. The Company's Jack of All Games value added distribution arm maintains sales and marketing offices in Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Milan and Sydney. The Company recently formed Broadband Studios, Inc. to independently pursue technology and content opportunities within the emerging world of broadband game delivery.

All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained herein which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, risks associated with the Company's future growth and operating results, credit risks, inventory obsolescence, technological change, competitive factors, product returns, failure of retailers to sell-through the Company's products, and unfavorable general economic conditions. The Company's actual operating results may vary significantly from such forward-looking statements. Take-Two undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained within this press release.
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