EPIC GAMES ANNOUNCES 3RD ROUND WINNERS IN THE "$1,000,000 NVIDIA MAKE
SOMETHING UNREAL" CONTEST Aspiring 3D Programmers, Artists and Game Designers
Cash in On More Than $150,000 Prizes in Multi-Round Competition Based on
Epic's Unreal Engine and Editor Technologies
RALEIGH, NCAUGUST 5, 2004Epic Games, the leading developer of cutting-edge
3D technology and games, today announced the winners in the third round of the
"$1,000,000 NVIDIA Make Something Unreal" mod-making contest. The
multi-round competition, sponsored by NVIDIA Corporation, Atari Inc, AMD,
Alias, CoolerMaster and Digital Extremes, continues to attract talent from
around the world, with 52 mod-making teams collecting more than $150,000 in
cash and prizes in an exciting third-round of entries. The year-long
contest, which challenges aspiring 3D programmers and artists to put their
artistic affinity to work to create game modifications (mods) and game levels
using the Unreal game engine and editor - a free tool included with Epic's
best-selling Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 PC games - has
attracted over one thousand entries to date and is set to conclude later this
fall.
"We knew if we put the Unreal editor in the hands of gamers that they would do
amazing things with it," said Mark Rein, vice president at Epic Games. "The
level of creativity, depth and skill that we've seen coming out of the
community as a result of this contest has been just incredible."
The winning entries across the 11 featured categories in the third round
include:
* Best first-person shooter (FPS) - "Red Orchestra"
* Best non-FPS - "Alien Swarm"
* Best Level - "CTF-CBP2-Pistola"
* Best Level with Original Contest - "DM-CPB2-KillyBilly Barn"
* Best Mutator - "Unreal4Ever MSU Edition"
* Best Model - "MonstAr"
* Best Voice Pack (or Audio Modification) - "Alien Swarm"
* Best Vehicle - "Clone Bandits"
* Best Tool - "Ushock"
* Best Game Type - "Jailbreak 2004"
* Best Use of Karma Physics - "Unwheel"
A complete list of winners and winning entires from all three rounds of the
$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest" can be accessed from the official
contest website located at
www.makesomethingunreal.com.
The contest, which kicked off last year, has paid out more than $500,000 in
prizes to date, with winners receiving cash and high-performance PCs in each
round. Each of the PCs are equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce(tm) 6800 GT
graphics processor, NVIDIA nForce(tm)2-based motherboards with Dolby(r)
Digital audio output provided by Abit and the AMD Athlon XP processor. The
grand prize contest winner, to be announced later this year, will also receive
an Unreal Engine commercial license, valued at $350,000 for which they'll have
the opportunity to use to market their creation.
"We dreamed up the $1,000,000 NVIDIA Make Something Unreal" contest with Epic
as a way to reward a growing community of gamers that are helping to spark the
evolution of 3D entertainment," added Bill Rehbock, NVIDIA's Director of
Content Development. "The quality and sophistication of these winning mods
represent the amazing things creative minds can do when given the opportunity
to experiment with the latest software tools and graphics hardware
technologies."
About Epic Games
Epic Games Inc., based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and established in 1991, is
a leading developer of cutting-edge computer and video games and 3D engine
technology. The company is best known as the creator of the hit series of PC
3D action games Unreal and Unreal Tournament. The award-winning games have
each sold more than one million copies. Unreal technology has been used to
create more than 70 games; among them are the 2002 console game of the year
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell(tm) (on PC and console platforms), PC Gamer
magazine's 2000 PC Game of the Year Deus Ex, America's Army from the US Army
and Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone from EA Games. Prior to their 3D
success, Epic Games was will known for the hit shareware games Jill of the
Jungle, Jazz the Jackrabbit and Epic Pinball. Additional information can be
obtained at the Company's website located at
www.epicgames.com.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation is a market leader in visual computing technology dedicated
to creating products that enhance the interactive experience on consumer and
professional computing platforms. Its graphics and communications processors
have broad market reach and are incorporated into a wide variety of computing
platforms, including consumer PCs, enterprise PCs, notebook PCs, professional
workstations, handhelds, and video game consoles. NVIDIA is headquartered in
Santa Clara, California and employs more than 1,900 people worldwide. For
more information, visit the Company's Web site at
www.nvidia.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 games such as Driver(tm), Enter the Matrix(tm),
Neverwinter Nights(tm), Stuntman(tm), Test Drive(r), Unreal(r) Tournament
2003, and Unreal(r) Championship; and mass-market and children's games such as
Backyard Sports(tm), Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues(tm) and Dora the Explorer(tm),
Civilization(r), Dragon Ball Z(r) and RollerCoaster Tycoon(r). Atari, Inc. is
a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA
(Euronext 5257), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more
information, visit
www.atari.com.
About Alias
As the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology, Alias develops
award-winning software, custom development and training solutions for the film
and video, games, web, interactive media, industrial design, education and
visualization markets. In 2003, the company was awarded an Oscar(r) for
Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for
its development of Maya software, the professional 3D animation and effects
package. Alias also offers a powerful range of services for new to advanced
users in the most demanding environments. Learning Tools and training,
support, and professional services help meet rigorous production deadlines.
Entertainment customers include: Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., CNN, Core Design
Limited, Digital Domain, Disney, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic,
Factor 5 LLC, Midway Games, Nintendo, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Pixar, Sega,
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Square Co., Ltd., Warner Feature Animation and Weta
Ltd.
# # #
Unreal is a registered trademark of Epic Games Inc. Copyright ? 2004 NVIDIA
Corporation. All rights reserved. All company and/or product names may be
trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners
with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and
specifications are subject to change without notice.
t CUT all the way
