Atari Announces Neverwinter
Nights 2; Obsidian Entertainment to Develop Sequel to BioWare's Revolutionary
Product
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--Aug. 4, 2004--Atari Interactive, Inc., Obsidian
Entertainment and BioWare Corp.™, under license from
Hasbro, Inc., have announced plans for Neverwinter Nights™ 2,
the sequel to BioWare Corp.'s best-selling and genre-defining
role-playing game set in the popular Dungeons & Dragons® Forgotten
Realms™ universe created by Wizards of the Coast. Atari,
Inc. will publish the title. Originally developed by BioWare,
Neverwinter Nights has set a new standard in the role-playing
genre with a deep and engrossing storyline; immersive character
development; stunning graphics; and, an expansive multiplayer
experience like none other.
"Neverwinter Nights is
one of the most beloved RPG's of all time and we're pleased that Obsidian
has taken on the challenge," said John Hight, executive producer,
Atari. "Feargus and his team at Obsidian Entertainment are the
best people on the planet to take up where BioWare left off and bring
this great game to new levels. They are intimately familiar with what
makes Neverwinter Nights special, they know what it takes to make a
great game and they have the respect of the RPG community."
The Neverwinter Nights franchise has sold more than
two million copies worldwide, is translated into ten languages, sold
in more than 40 countries and features one of the largest and most active
fan communities in all of gaming at www.bioware.com.
To date, fans of the franchise, which includes Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter
Nights: Shadows of Undrentide™ and Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of
the Underdark™, have created nearly 4,000 modifications to the
original game using the award-winning BioWare Aurora Toolset, the groundbreaking
software included with the full game that allows players to create their
own universes, quests and storylines.
"BioWare and Atari created an immense community
of players attracted by both the immersion of an interactive gaming experience
and the ability to create their own pen-and-paper styled modules. Neverwinter
Nights changed the very nature of roleplaying games," said Feargus
Urquhart, Obsidian Entertainment's CEO. "With Neverwinter Nights
2, we're going to take that incredible experience to the next level by
combining a huge new single-player game with deep character development
and many new upgrades and enhancements to the already powerful BioWare
Aurora Toolset for the modding community."
Neverwinter Nights 2 will be developed by Obsidian
Entertainment, founded by Feargus Urquhart who, as the President of Black
Isle Studios, was responsible for the publishing of the Baldur's Gate
and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series and the development of the Icewind
Dale and Planescape: Torment franchises, both powered by BioWare Engine
Technology, as well as overseeing the creation and development of the
Fallout series. BioWare will provide tools, technology, and game assets
from the original Neverwinter Nights as well as lend creative input and
oversight to the development process.
"From our development of Baldur's Gate™ and
Neverwinter Nights to our engine licensure on Star Wars®: Knights
of the Old Republic® 2, we've been working collaboratively with Feargus
and other members of the Obsidian Entertainment team for years," said
Dr. Greg Zeschuk, BioWare Corp.'s Joint CEO. "Neverwinter Nights
remains one of the most important titles BioWare has ever created. We
certainly plan to remain involved in the production and development of
Neverwinter Nights 2 and we're delighted to initiate another partnership
with Obsidian Entertainment and Atari," added Dr. Ray Muzyka, BioWare
Corp.'s Joint CEO.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is scheduled for release in 2006.
More information about Neverwinter Nights 2 can be found on the Atari
website at www.atari.com/nwn2,
which includes user forums, project news, development updates and more.
Obsidian Entertainment is a premier software development
company passionately dedicated to creating high quality, next generation
role-playing games for PC and console systems. Obsidian is currently
developing Star Wars® Knights of the Old Republic® II: The Sith
Lords™ (to be published by LucasArts) for the PC and Xbox. More
information about Obsidian Entertainment can be found online at www.obsidianent.com.
BioWare Corp. is an electronic entertainment company
that develops computer and console games. BioWare's developers are currently
hard at work on Jade Empire™, a BioWare-created intellectual property
to be published by Microsoft for the Xbox; and Dragon Age™, a PC
RPG set in a brand new world created and owned by BioWare. BioWare is
also developing an unannounced title based on yet another BioWare-created
intellectual property plus several other projects internally and also
other projects through partnerships with other developers. Star Wars:® Knights
of the Old Republic,™ released July 18, 2003 for the Xbox and November
18, 2003 for PC, is currently enjoying critical praise and great commercial
success with its opening weekend launch ending with Microsoft proclaiming
the title as the fastest-selling Xbox game in history. Neverwinter Nights™:
Hordes of the Underdark™, the second official expansion for the
critically acclaimed PC role-playing game Neverwinter Nights, was released
on December 2, 2003, and has enjoyed critical and commercial success.
Previously published projects include: the award-winning Neverwinter
Nights,™ the genre-defining Baldur's Gate™ role playing game
series for the PC, MDK™2 for Dreamcast and PC, MDK™2: Armageddon
for PlayStation®2 and Shattered Steel™. Additional BioWare
information can be found online at www.bioware.com.
Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro,
Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop
roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of
game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent
on trading card games and their method of play (TCGs) and produces one
of the world's best-selling TCGs, Magic: The Gathering®, as well
as the celebrated Dungeons & Dragons® roleplaying game. Publisher
of adventure games, family card and board games, and electronic media
products, Wizards of the Coast is also one of the world's premier book
publishers of fantasy series fiction whose novels have made numerous
appearances on The New York Times best-seller list and have sold millions
of copies worldwide. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast
website at wizards.com.
Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children's
and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including
the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from
traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL,
TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER, and WIZARDS OF THE COAST
brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable
play experiences in the world.
New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops
interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party
publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's
1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as Driver™,
Enter the Matrix™, Neverwinter Nights™, Stuntman™,
Test Drive®, Unreal® Tournament 2004, and Unreal® Championship;
and mass-market and children's games such as Backyard Sports™,
Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues™ and Dora the Explorer™, Civilization®,
Dragon Ball Z® and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. In the U.S., the Company
also publishes and distributes all titles developed by Atari Interactive,
Inc. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames
Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257), the largest interactive games publisher
in Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.
Forgotten Realms, Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter
Nights and Magic the Gathering are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast
in the USA and other countries.
