Impressions Games and Sierra Announce Development of Lords of the Realm III

CAMBRIDGE, MA (October 12, 2001) - Impressions Games(tm) and Sierra(tm) today announced development of Lords of the Realm(r) III, the long-awaited return of the companies' highly successful Lords of the Realm series of games. The ultimate medieval simulation, Lords III covers the entire life of being a lord in the middle ages - castle building and design, rural estate management, acquiring knights and soldiers to make armies, warfare and conquest, politics and diplomacy, and the struggle with or against the Church, and with the rising merchant class. The elements that made the Lords of the Realm series a best seller worldwide are now powered by an all-new 3-D graphics engine designed to catapult the game to the forefront of the strategy genre in late 2002.

Already hotly anticipated in the gaming community, Lords of the Realm III is named as one of the "Ten Hottest Games of 2002" in PC Gamer magazine's December 2001 issue. In addition, Lords of the Realm 2 was recently named one of the "Top 50 Games of All Time" by the same publication.

"Lords of the Realm III will give gamers a real eyeful of medieval battles," said Alex Rodberg, brand manager for Lords of the Realm III. "We've done away with a lot of the interface elements that can often undermine the sense of immersion, and have made Lords III combat so visibly rich that clashes resemble something out of the movie Braveheart rather than those of a typical strategy game."

Like its predecessors, Lords of the Realm III is a historically-based strategy game combining resource management, castle building, siege, politics and conquest. However, unlike its predecessors, Lords III utilizes an all-new 3D engine developed by Impressions Games, and is played entirely in real time. The game may be played by a single player, or by two to eight competing players. The multiplayer game includes various short, single-session scenarios or modes of play in addition to longer campaigns.

Lords of the Realm III is set in the medieval period or the "Middle Ages," between approximately 850 AD and 1350 AD. Various scenarios and campaigns encompass the British Isles, Germany, France, Normandy, Brittany, Flanders and Denmark. Many figures, places, peoples, events and other things familiar and recognizable today (some historical, some fictional) arose in the Middle Ages, and are encountered in Lords III. Examples include: people like William Wallace and Robin Hood; places like Stonehenge and the Tower of London; and events such as the Crusades and the scourge of the Black Plague.

About Lords of the Realm III Lords of the Realm III is the long-awaited, highly-anticipated continuation of Impressions Games' popular Lords of the Realm series. With two award-winning, commercially successful games in its family, Lords of the Realm III promises to propel the series to new heights.

Beginning with a brand new 3-D engine, Lords of the Realm III is a carefully researched, richly detailed historical game of warfare and politics in a beautifully rendered medieval world. In Lords of the Realm III, players strive to rise from simple beginnings to rule a medieval empire, overcoming land-hungry bishops and scheming merchant princes, while exploiting the knights, soldiers, peasants, and craftspeople at their disposal.

About Impressions Games Impressions Games has been a leading developer of strategy games for over ten years, with offices in Cambridge, MA. Impressions Games has created some of the most innovative, best-selling titles in the interactive entertainment industry, including the Lords of the Realm(r) series, Lords of Magic(r), Robert E. Lee: Civil War General(, Civil War Generals 2: Grant, Lee, Sherman(, and the Impressions' City Building Series(tm) which is comprised of the Caesar(tm) line of games, Pharaoh(tm), Pharaoh Official Expansion: Cleopatra(tm), Zeus(tm): Master of Olympus(tm), and Poseidon(tm). More information can be found at http://www.impressionsgames.com.

About Sierra Sierra On-Line, Inc. http://www.sierra.com, a studio of Vivendi Universal Publishing and part of its Games division, is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software. Sierra is renowned for releasing critically acclaimed and award winning titles that represent a wide variety of computer entertainment on both next generation console and PC platforms.

About Vivendi Universal Publishing Vivendi Universal Publishing (VU Publishing), the publishing division of the world's second largest communications group (Vivendi Universal), is an international leader in multi-platform publishing and content distribution. As one of the top three players in the global publishing market and the only publisher with an international reach, the Company's key content areas include literature, reference, education, games and consumer press. VU Publishing publishes content in four major languages, including English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and has strong local publishing brands, including Anaya, Atica, Houghton Mifflin, Knowledge Adventure, Larousse, Nathan and Scipione. In the games category, VU Publishing is a leading publisher of online, PC and console-based games. Its studios include Blizzard Entertainment, The Flipside Network, Sierra and Universal Interactive.