[PR} Interplay announces Black Isle Studios division and web site at Gen Con.
Meghan Jenks (Interplay)
INTERPLAY ANNOUNCES BLACK ISLE STUDIOS DIVISION
AND WEB SITE AT GEN CON(TM)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 1998 - Interplay Productions
(NASDAQ:IPLY) announced today their new role-playing game (RPG)
division, Black Isle Studios(TM), and its web site, www.blackisle.com.
The announcement came from the site of North America's largest
role-playing game convention, Gen Con(TM), which hosts as many as
35,000 RPG enthusiasts, at the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin August 6-9, 1998.
Black Isle Studios is officially launching after the release of its
first title, 1997's RPG of the Year, Fallout(TM) and is currently in
development on a number of titles. This year Black Isle will release
Baldur's Gate(TM) and Fallout 2(TM) for Fall 1998 and Mordor II(TM)
(working title) for Winter 1998. The Black Isle booth at Gen Con
will include demos of both Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate as well as
some art and concepts on Mordor II and another top secret
soon-to-be-announced title.
With the new division also comes its official web site located on
the world wide web at http://www.blackisle.com. The new site will
feature streaming video from Gen Con from Thursday, August 6 to the
close of the show on Sunday, August 9. The coverage will include photo
stills from the convention, shots of the Black Isle Studios booth and
"roaming" coverage of the convention, incorporating attendees and
their reactions to the show, seminars, tournaments and night life.
Black Isle Studios is headed by Feargus Urquhart, a seven-year
employee at Interplay. Urquhart has produced more than 15 titles and
contributed game design, scripting and producing on Fallout and
Fallout 2. Other key members of the Black Isle Studios production
team include Guido Henkel and Zeb Cook. Guido Henkel is best known
for his work on the award-winning Realms of Arkania(R) series,
published in the U.S. by Sir Tech(TM). Zeb Cook is a former long-time
employee of TSR(R), and the author of the Second Edition of the
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons(TM) Rules.
"We have assembled a team of industry veterans and traditional
role-playing game designers to create true RPG's," said Urquhart, "the
way that RPG's should be made - much along the lines of 'the classics'
that people remember, such as Bard's Tale(TM) and the Ultima's(TM)."
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 produces titles for many of the most popular entertainment
software platforms, and currently balances its development efforts by
publishing interactive entertainment software for personal computers
and current generation video game consoles, such as the Sony
PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Interplay releases products through
Interplay, Shiny Entertainment, Tantrum, Black Isle Studios, VR
Sports, Flat Cat, Tribal Dreams and its affiliated labels. More
comprehensive information on Interplay and its products is available
through its worldwide web site at http://www.interplay.com.
The statements which are not historical facts contained herein are
forward looking statements that involve certain risks and
uncertainties, including changes in market conditions and other
factors which could adversely affect the Company's future operating
results.
# # #
NOTE: All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their
respective owners.
Mike Kulas
>first title, 1997's RPG of the Year, Fallout(TM) and is currently in
>development on a number of titles. This year Black Isle will release
>Baldur's Gate(TM) and Fallout 2(TM) for Fall 1998 and Mordor II(TM)
>(working title) for Winter 1998. The Black Isle booth at Gen Con
>will include demos of both Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate as well as
>some art and concepts on Mordor II and another top secret
>soon-to-be-announced title.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Black Isle is not developing Baldur's
Gate or Mordor II. The above paragraph is a little unclear on the
point. Black Isle is the publisher, not developer, right?
---
Mike Kulas, Volition, Inc./Parallax Software
Desslock
>Mike Kulas, Volition, Inc./Parallax Software
Heh heh, correct, as you know, Mike. It is a misleading press release,
although I guess the publisher distributes, and therefore releases in a
sense, a title. Some mention of BioWare and VB Designs would have been
nice.
But Interplay releases all kinds of good games, like Descent Freespace
<g>
Desslock
--
Desslock's RPG News: http://www.gamepen.com/rpg/
Desslock's Domain at Gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/misc/columns/desslock_980417.html
Desslock's Guide to RPGs - http://www.gamepen.com/desslock/ For detailed
interviews/previews relating to Asheron's Call, Baldur's Gate,
EverQuest, Exile Series, Gothic, Might and Magic VI, Wizardry 8 and
more...
Michael Duffy
future) going to be released under the Black Isle Studios brand name? Does
this include all RPGs developed both internally and externally? Will Black
Isle Studios develop/release games other than RPGs?
I'm curious on these points because I'll have to know where to submit the
propsal for my company's RPG when it is ready. (^_^)
Thanks,
Michael Duffy
mdu...@ionet.net or mduffy at studioblue dot com (spaced to avoid spammers
(^_^))
Eric Liebl
I haven't been to a gaming convention in 16 years and the clips brought back
some fun memories!
Eric
Meghan Jenks (Interplay) wrote in message
<35c9e5d0...@news1.newscene.com>...
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>
>INTERPLAY ANNOUNCES BLACK ISLE STUDIOS DIVISION
>AND WEB SITE AT GEN CON(TM)
>
>Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 1998 - Interplay Productions
>(NASDAQ:IPLY) announced today their new role-playing game (RPG)
>division, Black Isle Studios(TM), and its web site, www.blackisle.com.
>The announcement came from the site of North America's largest
>role-playing game convention, Gen Con(TM), which hosts as many as
>35,000 RPG enthusiasts, at the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee,
>Wisconsin August 6-9, 1998.
>
>Black Isle Studios is officially launching after the release of its
>first title, 1997's RPG of the Year, Fallout(TM) and is currently in
>development on a number of titles. This year Black Isle will release
>Baldur's Gate(TM) and Fallout 2(TM) for Fall 1998 and Mordor II(TM)
>(working title) for Winter 1998. The Black Isle booth at Gen Con
>will include demos of both Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate as well as
>some art and concepts on Mordor II and another top secret
>soon-to-be-announced title.
>
Meghan Jenks (Interplay)
wrote:
>Ok, Meghan can you clear this up? Are all of Interplay's RPGs (present and
>future) going to be released under the Black Isle Studios brand name? Does
>this include all RPGs developed both internally and externally? Will Black
>Isle Studios develop/release games other than RPGs?
>
>I'm curious on these points because I'll have to know where to submit the
>propsal for my company's RPG when it is ready. (^_^)
Hehe.. sure :) Unless there were extenuating circumstances or
crossovers, Black Isle will be publishing the RPGs both internally and
externally developed (I say crossovers because I've heard Die By the
Sword, which was published by our action division Tantrum, will have a
lot of RPG elements in its sequel which will also be published by
Tantrum.
So yeah, Black Isle is the RPG division and that's all they do.
You'll want to submit the proposal to them. ;)
--
Meghan S. Jenks Interplay Productions By Gamers. For Gamers.
mje...@interplay.com http://www.interplay.com alt.games.interplay
Get the Descent:Freespace demo! - http://www.interplay.com/freespace
Coming soon, Heart of Darkness - http://www.interplay.com/heart
Meghan Jenks (Interplay)
wrote:
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but Black Isle is not developing Baldur's
>Gate or Mordor II. The above paragraph is a little unclear on the
>point. Black Isle is the publisher, not developer, right?
Most of Mordor II is done by the developer, although we've done a
little bit of the interface here at Interplay. You're right that Black
Isle is publishing Baldur's Gate, not developing it. The wording is a
little unclear (I know that release was a rush job - they had about 6
days to pull the whole announcement and Gen Con trip together).
Andreas Bytzek
> >first title, 1997's RPG of the Year, Fallout(TM) and is currently in
> >development on a number of titles. This year Black Isle will release
> >Baldur's Gate(TM) and Fallout 2(TM) for Fall 1998 and Mordor II(TM)
> >(working title) for Winter 1998. The Black Isle booth at Gen Con
> >will include demos of both Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate as well as
> >some art and concepts on Mordor II and another top secret
> >soon-to-be-announced title.
>
> Gate or Mordor II. The above paragraph is a little unclear on the
> point. Black Isle is the publisher, not developer, right?
>
> Mike Kulas, Volition, Inc./Parallax Software
BioWare is the developer of Baldur's Gate...
Ray@BioWare
wrote:
>Listen, I only express my views on the game. If I accidently sent you an email,
>I'm sorry. But you don't have to be an asshole and send the email you did to
>me. OK. If you don't like getting email from ppl, don't put it in your setup.
What email did you get Eric? Just curious - never mind if you'd
prefer not to mention what it was and who it was from.
ray
------------------------
dr ray muzyka
cfo and joint-ceo, bioware corp.
producer, baldur's gate
www.bioware.com
www.interplay.com/bgate
------------------------
Ray@BioWare
wrote:
>>Black Isle Studios is officially launching after the release of its
Correct Mike, just as you guys developed FreeSpace and
Tantrum/Interplay was the publisher, for Baldur's Gate BioWare is
developing the game, and Interplay/Black Isle is the publisher. The
same applies to Mordor II.
Interplay/Black Isle is indeed supplying some stuff for the game -
localization (translation) services into other languages, sound/music,
and QA testing services. However, all art, programming, design,
animation and the original game concept is done here at BioWare Corp.
furq...@interplay.com
Yep, Black Isle is publishing Mordor 2 and Baldur's Gate. The Press Release
should have been a little more clear.
Feargus Urquhart (furq...@interplay.com)
Division Director
Black Isle Studios (www.blackisle.com)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Black Isle Studios is working on Fallout 2,
Baldur's Gate (Developed by Bioware Corp.),
Torment (A Planescape RPG), Stonekeep 2,
Mordor 2 (Developed by VB Designs),
and other RPG's.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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furq...@interplay.com
Matt Toschlog
>Yep, Black Isle is publishing Mordor 2 and Baldur's Gate. The Press Release
>should have been a little more clear.
The confusion wasn't over who was *publishing* these games, but rather
over who was *developing* them.
Matt Toschlog
Outrage Entertainment
furq...@interplay.com
Ok just to make sure it is clear. Black Isle is publishing Baldur's Gate and
Mordor 2. Mordor 2 is being developed by VB Designs, and Baldur's Gate is
being developed by Bioware Corp.
--
Feargus Urquhart (furq...@interplay.com)
Division Director
Black Isle Studios (www.blackisle.com)
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