LucasArts And Indiana Jones(R) Whip Interactive Entertainment Forward With Groundbreaking euphoria Technology From NaturalMotion Ltd.
ALL IN-GAME CHARACTERS ACT LIKE REAL PEOPLE WITH THIS REVOLUTION IN BEHAVIORAL SIMULATION, ENSURING A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE EVERY TIME YOU PLAY
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Thursday, April 27, 2006
- LucasArts announced today that Indiana Jones' first
expedition on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment
system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 will feature the
revolutionary euphoria behavioral-simulation engine from
NaturalMotion Ltd., creators of the award-winning Dynamic
Motion Synthesis (DMS) technology. For the first time ever,
euphoria enables interactive characters - from Indiana Jones
himself to the foes he pulverizes - to move, act and even
think like actual human beings without the limitations of
traditional animation. Characters move and adapt
realistically to their given situations on the fly, resulting
in a series of experiences and payoffs that will never be the
same twice. As one of only two publishers with early access
to the technology, LucasArts is well advanced in integrating
euphoria into Indiana Jones' 2007 next-generation
adventure.
Imagine a swaying rope bridge. With euphoria in action,
characters visibly attempt to balance themselves, their feet
stumbling, their arms flailing, and their hands reaching for
security as the unpredictable movements of the bridge
threaten to send them plummeting to their doom. Perhaps they
all survive. Perhaps they all fall. The use of euphoria means
the action isn't scripted - it's simulated - so you'll never
be able to predict exactly what will happen, no matter how
many times you've experienced a certain scenario.
"With euphoria, A.I. drives character behaviors so that
there's a different payoff every time. The depth of this
character interaction gives us true next-gen gameplay that
you simply couldn't do with earlier generations of hardware,"
said Peter Hirschmann, vice president of product development
at LucasArts. "We've been working with NaturalMotion since
2004 to help bring their groundbreaking technology to games,
and there's no better character to demonstrate it than
Indiana Jones."
"We have big plans for euphoria, and we are absolutely
thrilled to be able to show it off in the first
next-generation release from LucasArts," said Torsten Reil,
CEO of NaturalMotion. "LucasArts is an excellent partner with
a real passion to raise the bar for next-gen games, and we
look forward to working with them to apply euphoria
technology to its games for years to come."
LucasArts will demonstrate euphoria in action when it debuts
its next-generation Indiana Jones game on May 10-12 at the E3
Expo in Los Angeles, CA.
About LucasArts
LucasArts, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company, is a leading developer
and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide
for video game console systems, computers and the Internet.
Based in San Francisco, Calif., as well as on the Internet at
www.lucasarts.com, LucasArts was created in
1982 by George Lucas to provide an interactive element to his
vision of a state-of-the-art, multifaceted entertainment
company.
Lucasfilm Ltd. is one of the world's leading film and
entertainment companies. Founded by George Lucas in 1971, it
is a privately held, fully integrated entertainment company.
In addition to its motion-picture and television production
operations, the company's global activities include
Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, serving the
digital needs of the entertainment industry for
visual-effects and audio post-production; and Lucas
Licensing, which manages the global merchandising activities
for Lucasfilm's entertainment properties. Additionally, Lucas
Online creates Internet-based content for Lucasfilm's
entertainment properties and businesses. Lucasfilm's
motion-picture productions include five of the 20 biggest
box-office hits of all time and have received 19 Oscars and
53 Academy Award nominations. Lucasfilm's television projects
have won 12 Emmy Awards. Lucasfilm Ltd. is headquartered in
San Francisco, Calif.
About NaturalMotion Ltd.
NaturalMotion Ltd. is the first company to create 3D
character animation software based on Dynamic Motion
Synthesis (DMS), a technology that utilizes Adaptive
Behaviors and artificial intelligence to simulate the human
nervous system. Based on Oxford University research on the
control of body movements, NaturalMotion's first product,
endorphin synthesizes off-line 3D character animation in real
time. With customers such as Sony, Capcom, Namco and Konami,
endorphin has rapidly become the tool of choice for many
leading games and visual effects artists creating high-end
animation. euphoria, NaturalMotion's latest technology, is a
run-time animation technology for game play and development
on next-generation platforms, including PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox
360 and PC. Also based on NaturalMotion's DMS
technology, euphoria uses the CPUs of next-generation
platforms to synthesize interactive animations on the fly,
resulting in truly unique game moments that occur during the
player's experience. For further information on endorphin and
euphoria please visit NaturalMotion's website www.naturalmotion.com, or join the 20,000
endorphin LE users at community.naturalmotion.com.
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