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NEXT GENERATION OF CLOSE COMBAT GAMES ON THE HORIZONAward-winning Atomic Games Joins forces with Destineer and Gathering to Create Highly Realistic, Action-oriented Battlefield Simulations
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – April 1, 2004 – Destineer, Atomic Games, and Gathering announced two new titles; Close Combat: First to Fight, a team-based 3D shooter anticipated to be released in late 2004, and Close Combat: Red Phoenix, a real-time strategy game anticipated to be released in early 2005. Both games are being developed with the close involvement of the United States Marine Corps and feature next-generation graphics enabled by Destineer’s proprietary 3D engine. Gathering, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: TTWO), will exclusively distribute both products in North America and publish them in Europe.
“The Close Combat formula has always been to present warfare in a realistic and respectful way,” said Keith Zabalaoui, creator of Close Combat and president of Atomic Games. “We’re now bringing this approach to the modern battlefield and extending Close Combat’s realism to both 3D shooters and real-time strategy games.”
Close Combat: First to Fight is an authentic, team-based first-person shooter created under the direction of active-duty United States Marines fresh from the front lines of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Set in a modern mid-eastern urban battleground, players lead a four-man Marine fireteam through the perils of modern urban combat. Together with the United States Marine Corps and Atomic Games, Destineer is creating First to Fight as a training simulation for use by the Marine Corps and will make it available to consumers in late 2004 for Xbox®, Macintosh®, and Windows®.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Sharp of the United States Marine Corps, “Marines from the First Marine Expeditionary Force have been working closely with Destineer and Atomic throughout development to ensure as much realism as possible in these games.” Peter Tamte, Destineer’s president adds, “There is no guesswork on how to make the games realistic since we are developing First to Fight and Red Phoenix with significant input from Marines who, just weeks before, were being shot at in Iraq and Afghanistan. ”
First to Fight is brought to life by a visually advanced 3D engine created from the ground up by Destineer. This engine, filled with next-generation features like volumetric shadows, normal maps, natural skin lighting and specularity, promises to give players a first-hand look at the chaos and terror of modern urban combat.
The next in the series, Close Combat: Red Phoenix™, is a realistic real-time strategy game set on the challenging terrains of today’s Korean peninsula. Loosely based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Larry Bond, Red Phoenix puts players in command of a reinforced rifle platoon of U.S. Marines or South Korean soldiers fighting against an invasion by North Korea in 2006. Red Phoenix is scheduled for worldwide release in early 2005.
The original Close Combat® series, released between 1996 and 2000, merged realistic warfare with modern technology. Created by Atomic Games® and originally published by Microsoft®, the result was a groundbreaking game series that went on to win dozens of military strategy game awards, as well as being named by PC Gamer as one of “The 50 Best Games Ever” in October, 1998.
More information about these games is available at www.closecombat.com.
About Atomic Games
In 1992, Atomic Games scored a Game of the Year award for their first title, V for Victory. Over the ensuing 14 years, Atomic has released more than 14 titles and won dozens of industry awards. In 2003, the United States Marine Corps released Atomic's "Close Combat Marine", the first game of commercial origin to be developed with the US Marines and released throughout the Marine Corps. That game is now being used as a tactical training tool within the Marine Corps and at the US Military Academy at West Point.
About Destineer
Destineer was created in 2001 by former Bungie Software Corp. executive vice-president Peter Tamte and is managed today by Mr. Tamte and CEO Paul Rinde, formerly a senior vice-president of Atari. Destineer® develops and publishes electronic entertainment for personal computers and videogame consoles. The company’s Destineer Studios builds games using Destineer’s proprietary 3D engine. The company’s Destineer Publishing Corp. publishes products created by Destineer Studios as well as third parties. The company’s MacSoft® is a leading developer and publisher of entertainment, education and productivity software for Macintosh® computers.
About Take-Two Interactive Software
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, PlayStation® game console, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Xbox®, Nintendo GameCube™ and Game Boy® Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned subsidiary labels: Rockstar Games, Gathering, Global Star and Joytech. The Company maintains sales and marketing offices in Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Milan, Sydney, Breda (Netherlands) and Auckland. Take-Two’s common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.
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Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The statements contained herein which are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to them. The Company has no obligation to update such forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary significantly from these forward-looking statements based on a variety of factors. These important factors are described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2003 and on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended January 31, 2004 in the section entitled “Cautionary Statement and Risk Factors”.