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Seasoned Account Executive Brings 14 Years of Video Game Industry Knowledge and Experience

Los Angeles, Calif., (July, 2008) – Red Lion Interactive continues to build upon its team of industry veterans with the addition of Tod Musgrave as National Accounts Executive. In his new position, Musgrave will be responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities with national retail chains. As a distributor of video game peripherals, Red Lion Interactive is poised to become the leading supplier of accessories to the nation’s retailers and the addition of Musgrave serves to further its ascent.

Musgrave joins Red Lion with more than 11 years of industry experience. After spending three years as an Account Manager with SVG Distribution, Musgrave then spent the next eight years at Performance Designed Product (PDP), manufacturer of the Pelican line of video game accessories, where he held the position of Sales Manager and National Account Manager respectively.

During his tenure with PDP, Musgrave was directly responsible for the development of numerous national retail accounts and managed a sales team that generated annual sales in excess of $32M.

“Our commitment to our customers’ success begins with the investment in our team of employees,” stated Tom LaVoie, Red Lion’s President. “We take great pride in our long-term industry experience in the accessory category. Tod is a perfect example of our continued efforts to offer our clients a wealth of knowledge and expertise. His proven experience in the video game industry, in the distribution of peripherals as well as software and hardware, will prove invaluable to our national retail partners.”

The addition of Musgrave to its team furthers Red Lion Interactive’s focus on commitment, integrity and trust as it continues to expand and improve its operation.

Spellborn Timeline

The Awakening (501 AC – 524 AC)

- 501 AC: The Barbarian Seal crashes into Quarterstone and as a result, the Undying Ice melts and releases its prisoners. Awakening from their magical slumber, the humans and daevi survivors discover the fate of the world. The world as they knew it is no more, the sky and the sun are gone. Instead they are covered by what seems to be a monstrous rock surface. It would take time before they would fully grasp the truth, but in the meantime the High Houses would be reinstalled in an attempt to pick up their lives again.

- 524 AC: Having used the Barbarian Seal to remove the Undying Ice on Quarterstone completely, the High Houses discovered a giant cache of eggs within its caverns. These turned out to be the eggs of the Vhelgar Queen Satanamura and from them lesser Vhelgar would hatch. It would be a matter of time before these flying creatures were tamed and these ‘Vhelgar Steeds’ would allow them to travel beyond the carapace of Quarterstone and discover the true extent of the Great Collapse.

Barbarian Seal
The Barbarian Seal is actually a piece of the Altar of the Undying. After the Altar exploded and the Great Collapse took place, fragments of the Altar remained in the Deadspell Storm. It was by mere chance that one of these fragments landed in Quarterstone and melted the Undying Ice. Its name stems from the fact that this piece was once part of a mural within the Altar, showing a barbarian human in combat.

Though many more of these pieces are bound to exist no one has ever found a second. As such, this artefact is of the utmost importance to the High Houses. Unfortunately, it is no longer in their possession.

Quarterstone

The City of Quartered Stone, as it was known before the Great Collapse, was used by the Vhelgar as a main hub for slave trade. Before the uprising, many of the human slaves here were traded and maintained by the daevi, under order of the Vhelgar. The city was ruled by the Vhelgar Ormoburu, but it is unclear what happened to him after the Great Collapse. Nowadays, Quarterstone is the capital of the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices, due to its location and its importance within Enclave history. It consists of seven districts, each with its own characteristics:

Arena District: The Arena within the district was built by House Silver to serve as training grounds for the Guilds. It was only a matter of time before this started attracting a public of its own and became a major source of income for House Silver. House Maul can also be found here training its people.

Fountain District: This upper-class residential district houses most of the wealthy families and people of importance. It is a pleasant district with a large pool of water near its entrance and, of course, fountains. After the Green District incident it also became home to Citizen’s College: a replacement building for House Rune now that their Citadel of Ail was destroyed.

Green District: The Green District housed the working classes, and its lush vegetation and beautiful surroundings made it a joyous place for anyone to visit. The Citadel of Ail, House Rune’s main university, was the bustling centre for mages, scientists and scholars. The district was the heart of Quarterstone. That was, until an explosion at the Citadel rocked the entire district and magic corrupted it. Nowadays, the Green District is in quarantine as the Enclave desperately tries to uncover all the details concerning the incident.

Palace District: Being the official centre of the Enclave, the Palace District and its Enclave Palace primarily serve a ceremonial task. The grandeur of the palace is displaced by the fact that politics are conducted on the Shard of Parliament instead. Fortunately, the Veridan have moved in and maintained its importance to the Enclave.

Pit District: The Pit District’s claim to fame is the large bottomless Pit. People have been throwing things in forever and as such it is now used as Quarterstone’s garbage dump, though it never ever seems to fill up. As for the people living there… They aren’t the nicest of folk and the sole reason most would ever want to go there is to visit the Graveyard next to it.

Statue District: Being the commercial heart of the city, Statue District is home to most of the merchants, though after the Green District incident, some of the working classes moved here as well. Its docks are always busy and the populace likes to shop around the various streets. Statue District, naturally, also features various statues of heroes both old and new. It also features the last remaining entrance to the Quarterstone Mines.

Temple District: Temple District, or Oracle District as some like to call it, is home to the Temple of Awareness which houses the Oracle itself. It connects to all the other districts and takes a central place in city life. Many of the Veridan can be found here praising the Oracle, and it is a comforting place to be in general.

Satanamura

Satanamura was the most feared Vhelgar. Being the Vhelgar Queen she resided at the Altar of Undying, protecting it while governing her kingdom. Legend has it she could manipulate humans and daevi alike as if they were mere puppets. She was one of the few Vhelgar with a humanoid face, but that did not make her any more human. On the contrary, she was delighted by the suffering of the servitor races. She was overrun by the humans and daevi as they destroyed the Altar of the Undying rather than slain, thus no one knows what happened to her after the Great Collapse.

Visit the Spellborn website for all the past information on this Unreal Engine-powered MMO. http://tcos.com/news/index.php?from=www.spellborn.com

UK based developer steps into publishing with ambitious development plans

Award winning strategy games developer Slitherine has announced it will start self publishing its own titles starting January 2009. The new publishing house has already started a strategic development plan to approach the retail market with a fully developed release schedule starting Q1 next year.

The newly formed entity will still remain faithful to its original mission and approach to games, by developing, and now publishing, highly playable and approachable history-themed games to the mass market.

“We have always been committed in bringing games that are both playable and enjoyable to the market and to allow all kind of player, from the strategy enthusiast to the curious newcomer, to have an entertaining experience”, said Iain McNeil, Development and Production Director at Slitherine. “By moving directly into publishing we will be in full control of the content of our products and can leverage on the experience we’ve accumulated over these long years of development and production”.

Slitherine has simultaneously announced it has raised an initial 5million Euros funding to carry these plans to fulfillment over the next 3 years.

“Our funding package ensures that we can approach the market in the best possible way to achieve success. We know this is a quality and marketing driven business and this will allow us to be proactive and to invest our money where it will make a difference”, said JD McNeil Business Development Director of the company. “Being able to invest our resources in the most efficient way is nothing new to Slitherine, but now we have the funding to invest in future development, marketing and communication for our new and exciting product line up. We aim to make this a success from the very beginning”.

Slitherine will remain in the field of history-themed games as it always has done, but bringing the same enjoyment to the console market.

“We had a mission as a developer and we will stick to this as a publisher”, said Marco Minoli, Marketing Director. “History is fun. There are many products in the entertainment market that already prove this case and we intend to make sure we become established as a major player in this field. We now have in place the right elements to be successful; we know how to develop compelling products, we have the historical knowledge to do this and now we also have some great licenses and amazing content to make sure our games are even more appealing to audiences of all ages”.

Slitherine will shortly announce more details on the release schedule and the list of new titles.

VOLOGDA , Russia – July 30, 2008 – Playrix Entertainment announced today that its latest title Fishdom is set to hit retail shelves.

Launched just a little over a month ago, the game has enjoyed positive reviews of many online and offline publishers. Its performance and results in the top ten charts of large gaming portals exceeded the records previously set by Playrix’s earlier hit title – The Rise of Atlantis – and now Fishdom is entering the European and American retail markets.

“Based on Fishdom’s successful online performance, our expectations about its retail distribution are very high,” commented Dmitri Bukhman, Playrix’s CEO and co-founder. “Thanks to our valued partners the game is already available at retail in the Benelux countries; it is set to appear in stores in US and Canada in Q4 2008 and in the French market shortly thereafter. We’ve also been talking to several partners in Russia and are currently looking for retail opportunities in German-speaking countries.”

Fishdom is a quite addicting game combining two very popular casual game genres: sim and puzzle. Players get a unique chance to build up their own dream aquarium and fill it with lovely fishies and eye-catching ornaments. To do that they need to earn money by progressing through challenging boards and solving immersive puzzles. Once the dream aquarium is ready, it can be set up as a beautifully animated desktop screensaver.

Women’s Volleyball Championship Is Here And Ready To Bring The Heat On The Court

SUNNYVALE, CA – July 29, 2008 – Agetec, Inc. today announced its new robust volleyball game, Women’s Volleyball Championship, for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system has been shipped in North America. In Women’s Volleyball Championship, players can play as one of twelve countries or create their own team of super athletes battling for the right to be declared number one.

“The developer wanted to make the game the most realistic volleyball video game out there,” said Mark Johnson, producer at Agetec. “They’ve worked really hard to make sure they captured the true heart and passion of the court in this game – they wanted players to feel like they are really in the game, bumping, setting, and spiking.”

Women’s Volleyball Championship features six venues from around the world and allows players to enjoy volleyball at its finest. If players so desire, they can create their own team by training customized volleyball players using various skill cards such as spiking, blocking, passing, setting, serving, squatting, and sprinting. Team members will also be affected by hindering conditions, such as exhaustion and injuries, during training adding another level of realism to the game.

Women’s Volleyball Championship is rated “E” for everyone and is available now for $14.99.

For more information visit www.agetec.com.