Turbine Taps Eberron® Creator Keith Baker For Dungeons & Dragons Online(TM)
Baker to Develop All-New Stories for Turbine's Popular MMOG
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WESTWOOD, MA - May 2, 2006 - Turbine, Inc.
announced today that Keith Baker, the original creator of the
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Eberron® campaign setting, will pen
additional storylines and works of fiction for DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach (DDO). The game is
the first massively multiplayer online (MMO) roleplaying game
based upon the iconic world of D&D®. DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach, developed by Turbine and
published by Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAR), launched in North
America on February 28th and quickly became one of the
fastest growing MMOs in North America. The property is under
license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual
property development arm of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS).
"Keith Baker is the creative genius behind Eberron, the
setting for DDO. His fiction is sure to engage and entertain
our players in the months to come," said Jeffrey Anderson,
president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. "We are delighted to be
working with him."
A longtime fantasy devotee and game designer, Keith Baker's
breakthrough occurred when he entered a contest in 2002 held
by Wizards of the Coast, maker of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
roleplaying game and a subsidiary of Hasbro. The contest
sought an innovative concept for a new world in which fans
could play DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. Chosen from more than
11,000 submissions, Baker's Eberron world won the contest and
became Wizards of the Coast's setting for the third edition
of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, as well as the setting for DDO.
Baker also published his first novel, City of Towers, which
released in February 2005, to critical acclaim.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach brings the essence
of the classic pen-and-paper roleplaying experience - with an
emphasis on small party-based dungeon crawling adventures -
to the PC. Authentic features in the game include
customizable characters; dungeons filled with devious traps;
monsters and stories from the Eberron campaign setting; an
on-screen d20 (20-sided die) and a dungeon master. The unique
online world of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE represents a
new paradigm for the MMO genre with unique features including
party-based quests, integrated voice chat, real-time action
combat, and award-winning graphics.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach is currently
available online and in retail stores for $49.99. Additional
information can be found at www.ddo.com.
About Turbine
Turbine, Inc. is a premier developer, publisher and operator
of online subscription entertainment and is headquartered in
Westwood, Massachusetts. The company is one of the largest
privately-held online games company in North America.
Turbine's catalogue includes some of the most famous online
entertainment brands, including Asheron's Call®, DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach, and The Lord
of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. For
more information on Turbine and its services, please visit
www.turbine.com.
About Atari
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 franchises such as DRIVER, The
Matrix (Enter The Matrix and The Matrix: Path of Neo),
Stuntman and Test Drive®; and mass-market and
children's franchises such as Nickelodeon's Blue's
Clues and Dora the Explorer, and Dragon Ball
Z®. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of
France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext - ISIN:
FR-0000052573), the largest interactive games publisher in
Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.
About The HASBRO PROPERTIES GROUP
The Hasbro Properties Group (HPG), the intellectual property
development arm of Hasbro, Inc., (NYSE:HAS), translates one
of the industry's richest portfolios of brands into a world
of fun and excitement for children and adults globally.
Through a host of publishing, digital media, lifestyle and
entertainment platforms, HPG is able to surround fans
worldwide with consumer products that expand Hasbro's core
brands, such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, MY LITTLE
PONY, MONOPOLY, G.I. JOE, TONKA and PLAYSKOOL.
# # #
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS,
D&D, STORMREACH, and EBERRON and related logos are
trademarks of Wizards of the Coast Inc. in the United States
and/or other jurisdictions, and are used with permission.
Hasbro and its logo are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Hasbro, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other jurisdictions, and
are used with permission. Atari and the Atari logo are
trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. Turbine and the
Turbine logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Turbine, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other jurisdictions. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
Contact:
Adam Mersky
Turbine, Inc.
amersky@turbine.com
781-407-4487
Stacey Clement
360 Public Relations
sclement@360publicrelations.com
617-585-5774