First-Person Shooter/Space Action Adventure Represents Studio's Second Original Property Release
Posted by Ben on Friday, August 30 2002

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. and LONDON, Aug. 29 - Vivendi Universal Games' Black Label Games has acquired the worldwide console rights from Crave Entertainment for "Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter(TM)," the eagerly anticipated first-person shooter about a former government ranger seeking revenge. "Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter" immerses players in a universe of huge corporations and futuristic gunslingers as Mace seamlessly moves between first-person action into space flight combat tracking quarry and unraveling a deep and very dangerous mystery. The title is being published for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo GameCube(TM) and Xbox(TM) video game system from Microsoft with a scheduled release in March 2003. According to the agreement, Electronic Arts will publish the PC version worldwide.

"'Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter' is representative of the league of premium games featuring compelling content and characters that we are aligning under the Black Label Games brand," said Torrie Dorrell, general manager of Black Label Games. "A first person shooter with an engaging storyline and seamless transitions between first-person shooter combat on land and in space, the game reaches beyond any product in its category." Both the console and PC versions of the game are being developed by Warthog Entertainment, producers of the highly-acclaimed "Starlancer" and "Star Trek Invasion" games.

Backstory
"Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter" takes place hundreds of years in the future, where both human and alien settlers are rapidly colonizing the galaxy. The player will assume the role of an ex-Special Ops officer, Mace Griffin. Against a backdrop of corporate, political and religious intrigue, Mace Griffin is framed for being involved in his comrades' deaths. After spending time in prison, he becomes a bounty hunter, a vocation that gives him access to classified information and a means to aggressively pursue his search for the people who framed him.

Features
"Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter" offers a wealth of innovative features, including the following:


Seamless transition between first-person combat and space flight action

An epic story with the pacing and drama of a blockbuster movie

Consistent flight control and weapons management systems in both space and on the ground

The ability to pilot six different ships from alien fighters to massive carriers

Lifelike Non-Player Characters (Artificial Intelligence) react depending on their intelligence, bravery, health and weapons

Diverse missions that may be story-driven or incidental creating a dynamic and realistic universe

10 different player weapons and 11 different spaceship weapons

An array of diverse environments offering different physics, obstacles, inhabitants and creatures. Examples include gas refineries, alien cattle ranches and temples located on planetoids, space stations and ships.

"Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter" has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

About Electronic Arts:
Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.3 billion for fiscal 2001. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for the Internet, personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA GAMES(TM), EA SPORTS BIG(TM) and EA.COMSM. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.info.ea.com .

About Black Label Games
Black Label Games is a studio of Vivendi Universal Publishing's Games division (VU Games) and is focused on developing titles based on original intellectual properties, as well as content licensed from external strategic partners. During 2002, Black Label Games will publish "The Thing," the highly anticipated action/survival-horror game, a sequel to John Carpenter's 1982 cult classic movie of the same name, and "Enclave" for the Xbox platform. The unit will also release games based on the greatest literary epic of the 20th century, J.R.R. Tolkien's worldwide best-selling saga "The Lord of the Rings," as part of Vivendi Universal Publishing's long-term agreement with Tolkien Enterprises.

About Vivendi Universal Publishing
Vivendi Universal Publishing (VU Publishing), the publishing division of the world's second largest communications group (Vivendi Universal), is an international leader in multi-platform publishing and content distribution. As one of the top three players in the global publishing market and the only publisher with an international reach, the Company's key content areas include literature, reference, education, games and consumer press. VU Publishing publishes content in four major languages, including English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and has strong local publishing brands, including Anaya, Atica, Houghton Mifflin, Knowledge Adventure, Larousse, Nathan and Scipione. In the games category, VU Publishing is a leading publisher of online, PC and console-based games. Its studios include Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra On-Line and Universal Interactive.

Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and EA GAMES are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. EA.COM is a service mark of EA.com Inc.

Nintendo, Nintendo GameCube and the Official seal are trademarks of Nintendo. (C) 2001 Nintendo.

Xbox is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.