CDV and Nival Challenge Player’s Clandestine Skills with Hammer & Sickle

BASINGSTOKE, ENGLAND (June 9th 2005) - CDV Software Entertainment today announced that they have secured the publishing rights to Hammer & Sickle, a PC gaming title set in the award-winning Silent Storm universe, and currently in development by Nival Interactive.

Hammer & Sickle is a tactical RPG set in the spring of 1949. The player will assume the role of a top Soviet spy on clandestine duty in the British-American controlled sector of Germany during the early years of the budding Cold War. In a world where no one is quite who they appear to be, the player is trapped in a hellish ploy that could trigger a third world war, this time between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective nuclear arsenals. Gamers will have to navigate a web of intrigue and make decisions that could determine the fate of the world.

• Extensive Freedom of Action - The story unfolds based on a compelling story and the player character's in-game actions. Decisions in the present will have long-term ramifications, both positive and negative. Players can choose to act directly to achieve mission goals or "do their homework" by completing various secondary missions and background gathering tasks in order to more easily achieve their primary objectives.

• Time of Day Matters - Certain times of day may make some missions easier or impossible to complete. An infiltration of a home to search for secret documents may only be possible when the occupant is away for the day. The purchase of weapons or the preparation of forged documents may only be possible during such establishments' business hours. Daylight also impacts combat and stealth, providing the opportunity to sneak up on an enemy or to be caught in an ambush.

• A Living, Breathing Game Universe - Player actions and events have a persistent, global impact. A thoughtless act of violence in a small village, for example, may bring law enforcement or enemy reinforcements to the village as well as across that region. Regions can be explored and re-visited as the player prefers with new events triggered as the story unfolds.

• Persistent Tracking of Appropriate In-game Behavior - The player's alter ego is a secret agent in "enemy" territory. Each incremental player action that is inconsistent with that premise will gradually draw the unwanted attention or ire of non-player factions. This reduces the player's ability to forge needed alliances, to maintain stealth and secrecy, and eventually to avoid the escalation toward another world war.

• Sophisticated Dialog and Personality System - The player may respond to characters encountered in a myriad of ways; all interactions and responses have an impact on the game world and on the characters encountered. This includes their initial and subsequent attitude, hostility, and willingness (or refusal) to help. Through player actions and team-member temperament, characters, even within the player's team, may clash with each other causing them to defect, or they may become particularly adept at attracting new allies of compatible personality.

• The Right Object for the Right Task - In addition to observed actions, non-player characters respond to character dress, possession of documentation and concealment of weapons. Disguises and appropriate documents may ease the player's progress; open brandishing of weapons or missing identification will lessen chances for success or result in arrest by the authorities. Objects in the game may be destroyed or employed, hindering or aiding subsequent mission completion by eliminating existing or creating additional problem solving options.

• Extensive World War II Era Weaponry - Hammer & Sickle includes some 90 different authentic weapons that look and function as their real-world counterparts from the post-war era, including prototype and secret arms. Weapons may jam and require successful remedial action to fire again, while ammunition and reloading are tracked and required. Shots may be fired quickly with little or no accuracy or a time-consuming carefully aimed shot may result in the successful incapacitation of a key enemy across the game map.

For all UK press enquires relating to HAMMER & SICKLE, please contact:

MEDIA CONTACTS:

DAVID BLUNDELL,

HEAD OF PR

+44 870 027 0982

David.Blundell@kochmedia.co.uk

NEIL PULLMAN,

PR EXECUTIVE

+44 870 027 0982

Neil.Pullman@kochmedia.co.uk

About CDV Entertainment:

CDV Software Entertainment AG is dedicated to publishing and distributing top-notch war and strategy games worldwide. The publicly traded company, founded and headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, has its North American offices located in New Jersey and North Carolina. As publisher of critically acclaimed titles like Codename: Panzers, Divine Divinity, American Conquest, Sudden Strike, Combat Mission, Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars and the Blitzkrieg series, CDV is Europe's leading publisher of PC strategy titles.

About Nival Interactive:

Nival Interactive, Inc. is an international video game developer with corporate offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and its main creative studio in Moscow, Russia. Since its inception in 1996, Nival Interactive Russia is the leading, and also the largest, game development studio in Russia with five development teams in Moscow and Ekaterinburg. Nival Interactive has earned critical acclaim worldwide from press and gamers alike for titles including the Rage of Mages, Etherlords, Blitzkrieg and Silent Storm series. Currently, Nival Interactive is developing several games, including Blitzkrieg II and Hammer & Sickle, both slated for publication by CDV Software Entertainment in 2005.