March 24, 2004 - San Jose, CA, USA

For Immediate Release

Two years after the release of Syberia , Microïds follows up on its success with the launch of Syberia 2 , made once again with Virtools game development tools.

San Jose, March 24, 2004 - Virtools™, leading provider of interactive 3D authoring tools, announced the release of Syberia 2, developed by Microids with help of the Virtools highly acclaimed flagship product, Virtools Dev.

Virtools publishes a suite of software solutions used to create interactive 3D applications for simulation/virtual reality, as well as video games and marketing/multimedia applications. Virtools' revolutionary interactive 3D technology makes learning complex game or multimedia production easier than ever before.

The first episode of Syberia met with immediate international acclaim and won numerous awards. In the wake of this success, Microïds once again turned to Virtools as they launched their new project. Again featuring Syberia heroine Kate Walker, Syberia 2 portrays her as she guides Hans Voralberg on his search for mythical Syberia, land of the forgotten mammoths. As they cross Europe , their quest is full of obstacles and encounters with suspicious characters.

Like Syberia the sequel targets a wide audience, with appealing gameplay to meet the demands of frequent adventure game players and a captivating story to reach new gamers.

For the Syberia series, Microïds placed great importance on realism and needed a game engine that would make it possible to build high-level interactivity fast. Rather than concentrating on development issues, the focus had to be on creating exquisite, realistic graphics and providing an immersive game environment.

The Virtools Software Suite is particularly geared to creating and publishing specialized content such as games. With Dev 3.0 users now have access to low-level features such as programmable vertex and pixel shaders, along with the Action Manager for smoother development and NXN alienbrain asset management integration for improved teamwork and productivity. New behaviors include Web BBs for dynamic file download and content exchange to and from webservers (media, database etc).

Breaking away from traditional authoring environments, Virtools solutions help optimize timescales and budgets to help meet game production requirements on schedule while significantly reducing production costs and overall risks.

"Virtools' graphical programming platform let us edit and tune all the components of our game in real time. That meant we had more time to devote to aspects like quality and gameplay to make our game a success," commented Marie-Sol Beaudry, Production Director.

About Virtools™

Virtools launched its commercial activities in 1993 with consulting and services targeting the VR sector. With the needs of this and other key markets in mind, Virtools built the company's initial software solution, Virtools Dev. As an Independent Software Vendor since Q4 1999, Virtools specializes in providing comprehensive software development environments for creating highly interactive 3D content. With several thousands of users throughout the world, Virtools is the leading provider of development environments for building interactive 3D applications.

The Virtools Software Suite is used for prototyping, developing and deploying offline and online/networked applications in the fields of industrial simulation, visualization and virtual reality, as well as video games and marketing/multimedia.

Virtools clients include major game studios such as Electronic Arts, Microïds, Microsoft Ensemble Studios, Warner Bros Online, Blue Fang Games and Ubisoft, as well as industry leaders such as EDF, EADS, CEA, CNRS, France Telecom, Matsushita, American Department of Energy, Intel, Publicis Networks/Renault, Arte TV and L'Oréal.

More information at: http://www.virtools.com

Press contacts

Virtools SA
93 rue Vieille du Temple
75003 Paris
Julie ERCOLANI
ercolani@virtools.com
+33 1 42 71 46 86