Gamers Worldwide Get Ready for the BattleForge Open Beta on November 7th
Redwood City, CA. – October 31, 2008 – Phenomic™, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today announced that the Open Beta for BattleForge™ will begin on November 7th. In the open beta, fans from all over the world will be able to start collecting their favorite cards and experience magically-charged battles online. Players can register for the open beta at www.battleforgecardhunt.com. In North America, players are guaranteed access into the beta by pre-ordering BattleForge from participating retail partners.*

Developed in Ingelheim, Germany, BattleForge is an epic real-time strategy (RTS) fantasy game that combines the elegance of RTS gameplay with the collectability of trading cards in an online environment where friends can play together. BattleForge pioneers strategy gaming with its online multiplayer design and robust community. Players can get in the game by purchasing the title at retail in early 2009 and then take their game online to play with the larger BattleForge community.

”After three years in development, we are very excited to open the game to a mass audience and see how people play. It’s going to be a great process watching players experience the revolutionary concept of creating their own armies and teaming up on a massive scale in RTS,” said Volker Wertich, Creative Director.

In BattleForge, players use virtual trading cards to build the perfect army and lay waste to their foes. The cards are the tools of war each representing a unit, building or spell that is conjured directly onto the RTS battlefield. They enable you to customise and combine factions, and play with a unique army of your own design. With no base building and production queues BattleForge players are instantly immersed into fast-paced RTS action.

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Beta Testers Find Virtual World Brings the Family Together For Shared Playtime

PLANO, TEXAS- Aug 06, 2008 - Online entertainment company KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc announced the successful completion of closed beta testing for virtual world Wizard101. The final beta testing phase has now been opened to the general public at www.wizard101.com. Wizard101, which emphasizes magical adventure and card-collecting in an online 3D world of Wizards, is expected to officially launch within the next month.

“We more than doubled our anticipated beta audience for Wizard101,” said KingsIsle CEO Elie Akilian. “It turns out that the solid game mechanics and whimsical fantasy environment appeal even beyond the tween audience. We’ve had a great response from testers that included everyone from grandmas who play with a grandchild sitting in their lap to twenty-something traditional gamers.”
Wizard101’s collaborative play style supports an environment where players benefit from working together in adventure quests. A tiered chat system and pre-defined character name generator create a safe community for younger players while an Arena provides a spot for more traditional gamers to show off their player versus player spell-casting skills. As they adventure, players can upgrade their costume and magical accessories, adopt bizarre pets, solve puzzles and play mini-games. At launch, Wizard101 will be free to play, with advanced play content available by subscription.

KingsIsle had Wizard101 under development for three years before the beta period, which means testers experienced a very fully fleshed out game with detailed graphics, fantastic worlds and fully-functional game play. There has been an increasing online buzz about Wizard101. Testers, including those below from esteemed virtual community The Syndicate® have been saying things like:
“Wizard101 is a great game for the whole family, especially for kids. I watch my 6 year old AND my 14 year old laughing with each other instead of irritating one another, as brothers tend to do. I play right along side of my kids.” “Having been a gamer for 30 years now, playing with my kids has to be the most fun I have ever had … They enjoy the ability to get many different spells and see all the amazing animations, and both are always wanting to start new wizards to try the others. I think the variety of schools and the spells that goes with them makes Wizard101 stand out over [other online games].”

Anyone with a PC who would like to join the final beta testing phase can now sign up at www.wizard101.com and instantly download and install the initial software to join the large cast of good, bad, and frequently silly in-game characters and other players. Beta testers play the game for free and provide feedback to the game’s creators leading up to the official launch.

For additional details go to www.wizard101.com.