1 million new games for the price of one

Actualize, the company responsible for building the Rally Championship series into one of the strongest brand in the market, announce the September 2001 launch of The 3D Game Maker - a unique game creation concept. Using a team of experts formerly with Europress software and responsible for launching other similar products such as The Games Factory, Klick and Play and Art Attack, Actualize has created a product with unrivalled depth and simplicity of use “Within minutes of installing the game, with just a few clicks, anyone can be playing a game of their favourite genre,” says Richard Vanner, Commercial Director, “And, with no programming knowledge whatsoever, anyone can create customised games.
“Using the more advanced features is simple too. You can even scan your own picture and become the star of your own game.
“You can quickly create a random game, so it is easy to make and play a new game every day. There are so many customisable features in the product that millions of games can be instantly created at random.”
The 3D Game Maker was developed by Dark Basic Ltd, a company established in 1999 by a team with a vast amount of development and management experience. They have previously been involved in projects such as The Games factory, Klik and Play, Lego Mind-Storm, Art Attack and Mobil 1 British Rally Championship
The 3D Game Maker will be available in all leading computer stores from September 21st 2001 and will be priced at £34.99.

Actualize, recognised experts in the field of rally simulations, announce the September 2001 launch of Rally Championship Xtreme - setting the new standard in driving games. Sixth in the best selling Rally Championship franchise series, Rally Championship Xtreme expertly combines the thrill and excitement of Xtreme sports whilst maintaining the realism of a true rally driving simulation.
The key points that make this simulation stand out from both its predecessors and other products currently on the market are:

Most realistic damage to cars ever seen in any game
Superb gameplay
Drive anywhere - not just down a tunnel around the track
Includes four Xtreme world rallies - Arctic, USA, Safari and British
Over 24 tracks - as Xtreme as they come !
Five game modes
Over 20 up-to-date cars - plus classics
Amazing car physics
On-line rallying - including league and cup competitions
Race against real drivers
More car set up features than ever before
Progressive management mode - from privateer to World Champion

Rally Championship Xtreme has been developed by Warthog, a hugely accomplished developer, renowned for their technical and creative expertise together with being masters of on line gaming. They have undertaken leading products for major companies including Microsoft and were responsible for developing the critically acclaimed Starlancer The eagerly awaited Rally Championship Xtreme will be available in all leading computer stores from September 21st 2001 and will be priced at £34.99.

Worms, Germany, August 20, 2001


Heli Heroes updates the old school “shoot ´em up” arcade machine games to new dimensions on today’s PCs.

Developed by Reality Pump Studios (Earth 2150, World War III: Black Gold) the console style title is designed for both PC and X-box platform. The PC version will be finalized in autumn this year and shows the latest possible in fast action graphics and arcade gameplay.

The player commands an AH-64 Apache Longbow or a Russian Hokum helicopter. The goal is to fly through various levels and carry out the mission objectives. During the mission player will find on the map, a different type of weapon and additional offensive and defensive systems. The game’s look and feel is made up of a 3-dimensional landscape that the player flies his helicopter over, through and into.

The story takes place in World War III scenario. The mix of reality and Sci-Fi missions vary from destroying Iraqi oilfields up to fighting against the “big boss” enemies in Alaska.

The key to Heli Heroes: The best of a classic arcade shooter on your PC/ X-box.


Like a good arcade game it offers the following:

Fast and fun to play - not too long and packed with intense action.
The player can jump right in and start playing.
No need to learn complex menus, keys or unit lists.
Easy to understand missions with clear-cut goals.
Support for all pads and joysticks.
Single Player and Companion Mode for 2-player simultaneous play.
Internet competition and campaign mode.
High-quality graphics with support for Geforce 3 and other top cards.
Resolutions from 640x480 to 2048x1800 in 16/32 bit color depth.
Music in Dolby Digital 5.1, designed to enhance, not distract.

Our team brought in all their technical experience in creating a game that everybody can just have fun with.

More information and screenshots about the title are available under www.zuxxez.com .

The planned release date for Heli Heroes is Q4, 2001.

Another update for you. Enno Rehling, one of the AO programmers, has taken the time to share with you what the team is currently focusing on.

Hello Rubi-Ka,

Time for another update on what's happening here in Oslo! Being a programmer, I'll stick to the development side of what's going on.

It's been almost a week since we fixed the major performance problem on the server. It was caused by a little piece of code that puts items into the vending machines of newly generated shops and into the chests of mission dungeons. You would be affected by others that were playing on the same physical server as you, and the amount of players going into dungeons and shops turned this little thing into a major problem for everyone.

The servers themselves have become very stable, and the only time they go down these days is for patching. Which doesn't mean that everyone can play for hours on end, unfortunately, because there are still issues with players getting disconnected. We're working on this issue as well, the next client patch will hopefully improve conditions for people playing at prime-time.

Of course, the big question everyone is asking these days is "When are you going to fix the memory problems?". It's currently the number one priority, and we've assigned everyone who is able to help to the task. We have tracked some possible reasons for it, but I can't give an ETA on when we'll have the fixes done and ready for release.

I think it's sunny outside, but it's been two days since I checked.

Enno Rehling,
AO Programmer

Verado has released the first computer game specifically for
Information Technology (IT) professionals called "Verado: The
IT Security Game."

"Verado: The IT Security Game" is a hilarious, frenetically paced,
and poignant first-person shooter game that puts the player in the
position of a harried IT worker with too many responsibilities and
too few resources. Featuring constant attacks from a wild
collection of eccentric but dangerous adversaries, Verado takes
the experiences that IT experts face daily and turns them into a
humorous barrage of data threats.

Fending off an exaggerated assortment of spammers, pingers, data
thieves, and corporate spies, the player must use any weapons at
his disposal -- from a low-tech trash can lid to a souped-up PDA
-- to defend his data and save his servers from certain destruction.

New Version 2.0 Now Available:

The Network Nasties are back in full force -- tougher, stronger,
and meaner than ever before. If you thought VERADO version 1.0
was a trip, buckle up. Version 2.0 is an even bumpier ride.

Some of its features include:

* Fourteen total levels

* Two new levels-"Rats!" and "Load Balancing"-each with an "easy"
and "hard" round

* New soundtrack

* Web-based scoreboard - impress your friends and mock your enemies

Credit Card Payment for London CPL available

We are happy to offer all participants the possibility to pay the entrance fee for the ELSA CPL European Championships (www.elsa-cpleurope.com) with a credit card. This will allow most participants an easier signup and instant confirmation of their spots. Everyone who has already signed up will be able to pay via credit card as well.

If you haven't signed up by now make sure to do so fast, only a very few tournament spots are still available.

The game will use the Unreal Warfare technology. Epic's code was also the basis of the first game. The designers and programmers (most of whom are Deus Ex alumnae) are already familiar with how the previous Epic engine works. Making the leap to the new technology obviously requires an adjustment -- even more so considering how heavily the developers have modified the code already to include significant lighting and AI improvements -- but the team is confident that the actual production of the game will benefit from the team's familiarity with the engine. The use of the versatile new Unreal engine is also a further concession to the game's proposed cross-platform development.

The CPL Europe presented the official ELSA CPL European Championships event website today under the address www.elsa-cpleurope.com. The event website is the first public presentation of the upcoming CPL Europe event in London, set to take place from August 3rd through August 5th. In its initial phase, the event website will feature various information ranging from game rules to hotel lists. More content is set to follow in the following days. Registration should begin some time next week and will be announced beforehand. Demand is expected to be high.

Qualifiers for the London event are being held in England (The Playing Fields), Ireland (Does Not Compute), Austria (Down Under 4 LAN), and Russia (Cyberfight). More are to follow.

Visit http://www.cpleurope.com/ or http://www.elsa-cpleurope.com/ for details.

Microsoft today announced that the Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty Expansion Pack will be available this holiday at retail locations throughout North America. The first of its kind for the franchise, this expansion pack includes the original Asheron's Call as well as many new features and a compelling new landmass. Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty will be available at retail for only US$19.95 and will include one free month of play.










"Turbine is very excited about the expansion pack, and our continued relationship with Microsoft. The Asheron's Call franchise is a very important part of our company," noted Jeffrey Anderson, President and CEO of Turbine. "We are firmly committed to developing and delivering high-quality online entertainment."

The Expansion Pack delivers on new additions such as housing and storage, two of the features most requested by our customers. Players will be able to purchase their own homes on designated plots of land, as well as use their residence for secure storage purposes. The Expansion Pack also kicks off the next chapter in the on-going Asheron's Call story-line by introducing the island of Marae Lassel. Marae Lassel is a sprawling new landmass which will contain new quests, dungeons, and treasures and will be accessible to all levels of players who purchase the Asheron's Call Expansion Pack.

Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty builds upon the epic, evolving storyline by paving the way for the return of an old nemesis. "We don't want to give everything away," says Nik Davidson, producer of the Expansion Pack, "but suffice to say that the name of the expansion pack is a big clue."

"Microsoft is making a significant investment in Asheron's Call with both the expansion pack and in the sequel to Asheron's Call which we announced earlier this year," explained Matthew Ford, Lead Program Manager for Asheron's Call.

DIABLO(R) II: LORD OF DESTRUCTION GOES GOLD
Destruction Awaits June 29, 2001

IRVINE, Calif. - JUNE 21, 2001 - Blizzard Entertainment announced today that Diablo(R) II: Lord of Destruction the vast new expansion set to the company's number-one selling Diablo II* series has gone gold. The expansion, with initial orders of 2 million copies, will be available at retail outlets worldwide in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Korean, Japanese and Chinese language versions, on June 29, 2001.
"We are delighted that Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is complete, stated Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment president and co-founder, "We have worked very hard on increasing the gameplay and depth of Diablo II with this expansion and are quite proud of our accomplishments. With the addition of new character classes and areas to explore, we believe we have created a truly compelling product that will appeal to both avid Diablo players and novice gamers alike."
In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, players travel to the Barbarian Highlands of the North in pursuit of Baal, the last surviving Prime Evil. Traveling with a horrific army of demonic minions, Baal plots to corrupt the powerful Worldstone that protects the whole of the mortal plane from the forces of Hell, thus damning the world for all eternity.
Key features of the expansion include two new character classes, the Assassin and the Druid, each equipped with 30 unique skills and spells. Players will also enjoy the opportunity to take their favorite Diablo II characters on the new quests found in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. A new Act set in the Barbarian Highlands, complete with 6 new quests and hours of further challenges, unfolds as players strive to stop Baal and his followers from destroying the world. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction also features support for 800x600 resolution, giving the player a larger field of view and superlative graphic detail.
To aid players in combat, thousands of new weapons, armor and magical items, including class-specific, crafted items, Rune Words and Elite Unique items have also been included. To secure these new armaments, the amount of storage space in the player's private stash has also been doubled, giving them the ability to maintain a much greater supply of items. Adding to the gameplay experience is an extensive list of over 50 new monster classes, with 7 innovative boss monsters. Single-player, multiplayer TCP/IP and Battle.net Realm games are supported.
Debuting in June, 2000 Diablo II has dominated PC game charts with sales of 4 million copies worldwide according to PC Data and key retail accounts around the world. The game has also been awarded several accolades including the prestigious Computer Game of the Year, Computer Role Playing Game of the Year and Game of the Year for 2001 by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
When the original Diablo released in 1997, it was considered a critical success and reached number one on PC Data during its first month in stores. The game has sold in excess of 2.5 million copies worldwide and was honored as the number-one selling computer role-playing game in 1997 as well as named Game of the Year by Computer Gaming World.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was developed by the Blizzard North design team and will support Windows(R) 95/98/ME/2000/XP/NT and Macintosh(R) formats. The hybrid Macintosh format will be available on June 29, 2001 in English and Japanese language versions. A retail copy of Diablo II is required to play Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Available at most computer and software retail chains worldwide, the expansion set will sell for approximately $35. The game will also be offered directly from Blizzard at (800) 953-SNOW and www.blizzard.com. The game has received a Mature rating from the ESRB.
Best known for blockbuster hits including the Warcraft(R) series, StarCraft(R) and Diablo(TM) series, Blizzard Entertainment(R) www.blizzard.com, (a division of Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing) is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard's track record includes four consecutive number-one selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's free Internet gaming service Battle.net(R) reigns as the largest in the world with millions of active users.