BALDUR'S GATE II: THRONE OF BHAAL SHIPS TO RETAIL
Vast new expansion product completes the epic saga of Baldur's Gate
Irvine, California, June 20, 2001 - Black Isle Studios, the role-playing
game division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: IPLY), and BioWare
Corp. announced today that the expansion product to the award-winning
role-playing game Baldur's Gate(tm) II: Shadows of Amn(tm) entitled Baldur's
Gate(tm) II: Throne of Bhaal(tm), has shipped to retail. The add-on product
expands and enriches the gameplay experience by adding several new
locations, high-level spells and powerful new characters to the Baldur's
Gate II game. Set in the Forgotten Realms* campaign world of the Dungeons
& Dragons game, Throne of Bhaal is the ultimate conclusion of the Baldur's
Gate legend as gamers fulfill their destiny as a child of Bhaal.
Developed by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios, the Baldur's Gate
franchise -- consisting of Baldur's Gate, its Tales of the Sword Coast(tm)
expansion and Baldur's Gate II -- redefined the role-playing genre and has
since dominated the PC game charts with sales of over 3.5 million units
worldwide. The franchise continues to receive accolades from press and
pundits around the world. Top PC gaming magazines Computer Gaming World and
Computer Games Magazine have awarded RPG of the Year nods for Baldur's Gate
in 1998 and Baldur's Gate II in 2000, as have the popular gaming-oriented
online sites, GameSpot and IGN (Black Isle Studios has been presented the
RPG of the Year award from Computer Gaming World and Computer Games Magazine
for the last four years running). Additionally, Computer Games, Computer
Games Online, IGN and Vault Network named Baldur's Gate Game of the Year for
1998, while leading websites such as MSNBC.com have named Baldur's Gate II
Game of the Year for 2000, an honor rarely bestowed upon role-playing games.
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal takes players through an all-new storyline
rich with intrigue and treachery as they unravel the mysteries of the
Dungeon of Watcher's Keep and explore other new areas such as the City of
Saradush, the Fortified Monastery of Amkethran, Sendai's Underdark Fortress
and the player's own Planar Stronghold. Throughout their journey, characters
may reach up to level 40, made possible with a raised experience cap of 8
million points, quite possibly the highest level ever achieved by characters
in any Advanced Dungeons & Dragons computer game. Also included in the quest
are over 40 new powerful high-level spells and abilities. The Wild Mage
Character Kit will also be included to the already extensive class list
allowing gamers to create a powerful new character able to cast spells with
very unpredictable results.
Baldur's Gate II players will be pleased to hear that the Dungeon of
Watchers Keep (the add-in section contained within the Throne of Bhaal
expansion pack) is fully playable either while questing through their
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn adventure or while completing the Child of
Bhaal Saga (as part of the add-on section of the Throne of Bhaal expansion).
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal has shipped to retail for Windows®
95/98-based computers and gamers will need to own the original Baldur's Gate
II: Shadows of Amn in order to play.
Black Isle Studios recently announced their next epic game, TORN(tm). Set in
an original high-fantasy world created exclusively by Black Isle Studios,
TORN includes many of the popular gameplay elements found in the
award-winning Fallout(tm) series and adds unique new features that will
heighten the player's experience. This exciting, real-time 3D saga, which
takes place in the ancient kingdom of Orislane in western Agathe, will be
available for Windows® 95/98/00/ME-based computers in Q4, 2001. More
comprehensive information about Black Isle Studios can be found on the
official Black Isle web site, located at http://www.blackisle.com.
BioWare Corp. is an electronic entertainment company that develops computer
and console games. Their published projects include: Shattered Steel(tm),
the genre-defining Baldur's Gate role playing game series, MDK(tm)2 for
Dreamcast and PC and MDK(tm)2:Armageddon for Playstation 2. BioWare's
developers are currently hard at work on Neverwinter Nights(tm) for PC,
Linux, Mac and BeOs - to be published by Black Isle Studios/Interplay.
Information about BioWare Corp. can be found at the BioWare website -
http://www.bioware.com. BioWare Corp. is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada.
Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) and the worldwide
market share leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game
categories, is a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment
products as well as the owner and operator of one of the nation's largest
specialty game retail chains. Producing both the Pokémon(tm) and world's
best-selling Magic: The Gathering® trading card games, the company holds an
exclusive patent on the play mechanic of trading card games. Publisher of
adventure games such as the classic Dungeons & Dragons games, family card
and board games and electronic media products, Wizards of the Coast is also
one of the world's leading fantasy and science fiction book publishers. The
company's retail locations, many of which provide game-play areas, include a
growing chain of Wizards of the Coast® specialty game retail stores as well
as 53 The Game Keeper® stores. Headquartered near Seattle, Washington,
Wizards of the Coast has international offices in Antwerp, Paris, Milan,
London and Beijing. For more information on Wizards of the Coast, visit the
company's web site and electronic retail store at http://www.wizards.com.
Black Isle Studios is a division of Interplay Entertainment Corp., a leading
developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software
for both core gamers and the mass market. Interplay currently balances its
development efforts by publishing for personal computers and current
generation video game consoles. Interplay releases products through
Interplay, Shiny Entertainment, Digital Mayhem, Black Isle Studios, 14*
East, its distribution partners and its wholly owned subsidiary Interplay
OEM, Inc. More comprehensive information on Black Isle Studios, Interplay
and its products is available through its worldwide web sites at
http://www.blackisle.com or http://www.interplay.com. For investor
relations' inquiries, please contact Patrick Sutton (pat@liolios.com) or
Christopher Rosgen (chris@liolios.com) at Liolios Group, Inc. (949)
574-3860.
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