Press Releases
Total Entertainment Network Unveils Online-Only Games
First Four Titles to Appear in 1997; Three to be Available Only on TEN
SAN FRANCISCO May 14, 1997 Total Entertainment Network (TEN), the market and technology leader in online multiplayer gaming, today unveiled a lineup of new online-only games. The company also announced that the first of these titles, a role-playing game (RPG) called Twilight Lands, will be freely available under a new "open beta program" in late May (see separate release dated today). As part of its online-only games strategy, TEN will act as the distribution solution for the new titles, the first four of which will appear on the TEN network over the next six months. With two online-only titles already on the TEN service (Dark Sun Online and Panzer General), TEN is continuing to pioneer this newest PC entertainment format.
"This is the kind of infusion of new content that gamers have been hoping to see on the Internet for some time now," said Greg Harper, vice president of business development at TEN. "This latest generation of online-only titles is really the first to take full advantage of online multiplayer gaming as a revolutionary new medium for interactive entertainment. All of the new online-only games we'll be adding to TEN were designed and developed with the online, multiplayer experience in mind. And since three of the first four titles will be TEN exclusives, subscribers to TEN will have access to a wealth of new content that's not available anywhere else, and that they don't have to purchase at retail. TEN's value to subscribers increases, while the cost does not."
The first in the new lineup of online-only titles on TEN, Twilight Lands is a 3D persistent environment, first-person POV role-playing game. Developed by Vancouver, Canada-based ICE Online, the game combines traditional RPG elements with a real-time combat system, and can accommodate more than 125 simultaneous players. Following Dark Sun Online and Diablo, Twilight Lands is expected to strengthen TEN's position as a leading destination for online RPG fans.
"Twilight Land's immersive, firstperson POV environment makes it a welcome addition to TEN's current RPG lineup, which includes Dark Sun Online and Diablo," said Alex Beltramo, RPG producer at TEN. "Because it was created with online, multiplayer gaming in mind, Twilight Lands also has the important advantage of being serverbased. As a result, it's easy for the developers to modify and expand the game, while nearly impossible for players to hack or cheat."
In addition to Twilight Lands, which will be available on TEN in June, TEN will launch three other online-only games in 1997, each of which will be exclusively available on TEN. These include Confirmed Kill, a flight sim from Eidos, and a futuristic POV hover-tank simulation and a space exploration combat game, both of which will be named later. As part of its strategy for delivering online-only games, TEN will offer "open beta periods" for each, so that non-subscribers have an opportunity to try out the new games at no charge, prior to their official posting to the TEN network.
A recent report from Forrester Research indicates that 47 percent of game developers surveyed are currently designing online-only games. For smaller game development companies, such games are an effective solution to the increasingly competitive battle that CD-ROM-based titles must wage over retail shelf space. Partnering with TEN in particular provides such developers with a distribution channel through the TEN CD-ROM and other marketing programs. Conversely, online-only titles appeal to TEN in that they attract new subscribers to the service and further differentiate TEN from other online gaming solutions.
"We received a number of offers from various online gaming services, but the decision to put Twilight Lands on TEN was fairly easy," said Kris Hatlelid, president of ICE Online. "With an online-only game such as ours, the goal was threefold: Find a gaming service with a dedicated following, a tradition of building and maintaining large, devoted online communities, and establish an immediate revenue stream back to ICE. With those issues in mind, TEN was the obvious choice."
Total Entertainment Network is the premier entertainment network for game playing consumers on the Internet. TEN has online rights to more than 30 games -- half of which are TEN exclusives -- by leading software publishers including 3D Realms Entertainment, Apogee, Blizzard, Eidos Interactive (formerly Domark), id Software, GT Interactive, Maxis, MicroProse, Sierra Online/Papyrus, SSI and Westwood Studios. Based in San Francisco, TEN was formed in 1995 from the merger of Outland, Inc. and Planet Optigon, Inc. TEN received its initial funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, with subsequent investors including: Ameritech; Goldman Sachs; Robertson, Stephens & Co.; Vertex Management; and Wasserstein Perella Ventures.
For More Info, Call
TEN Press Contact:
Garth Chouteau
Tel: (415) 778-3774
Fax: (415) 778-3520
Internet:
garth@tenetwork.com
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T E Network, Inc.
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